Dear Liz, i have had my little moan which i think i am entilted to, just like everyone else that has expressed their views, i wrote what i believe to be true, i might not have been 100% spot on, but i am sure i wasn't to far away from what really happened.
I have built my last 2 computors and fix friends ones, which is no big deal, most school kids could probably build one a lot quicker than me, i do know a computor pro as well, and he laughed and laughed when i told him what we were suppose to believe from JL, he said " your having me on aren't you "? so thats all i am going to comment on this thread, this is going no were.
Have a nice day or night were ever you are in this silly world we live in :)

Old Brain Talk; Tardy Admin. No wonder it Conked Out!
 

I lost my password on the old site ages before it went down and could never get back on. I tried re-registering with different names etc but the site would never send to me a confirmation email. I tried to contact the administrators over and over and they just ignored my emails.

I managed to sign on when the new / old site got up and running though. And here I am on here too.

Mr Bojangles

well...welcome mr bojangles. :D

I'm not exactly sure what got this thread going again, but about OBT and JL and charity:

I have found all his posts related to his soliciting and collecting money from us, and see differences in what was reported to US, vs what was reported to the Second Life folk.

It is clear from what he wrote online that he took money from a nonprofit and used it on a commercial site to buy land for an endeavour that one could hardly therapeutic.

I believe it is fraud, and when I get a minute, and remember, I want to send the info on to the regulotory commission of Mass Charities. Unfortunately, I had hunted it all down for NY, then forgot to hunt for who to report fraud to in Mass.

I was rather taken aback at the responses of my computer literate, geeky friends. They found the things he wrote to us a bunch of gobbledygook which made a simple problem seem incredibly expensive, and then, somehow, managed to still not solve it. He had promised, for instance, that he was buying, and bought, elaborate backup mechanisms for the database. Which then somehow disappeared.

I feel conned into giving money to him.

I am also sorry at how many people still post over there, and theydo have a lot of acivity, because it's all just support for John, the great community builder, who is making gobs of money at Second Life. Personally, I don't think he's done a great job of building a community (rather a fascist state), and when I check over there from time to time I see he has virtually nothing to do with it. He never explained what happened, and doesn't come back to talk with folk. He's got a great job now.

I think this link will take you to the road I followed to the "smoking gun" of the misuse of charitable donations for personal profit. Please remember, building an island on Second Life to attract aspies is NOT a therapeutic activity. It is a fun thing for aspies to do, and is another market for the Second Life product.

If interested:

http://www.lizajane.org/PN/Users/liz...ester File.doc

It's long, butt he salient things are highlighted.

Anybody will knowledge of who monitors massachusetts charities, I'd be happy to hear from.

I don't know about Mass, but in CT charity fraud and misuse of charitable funds is reported to the Attorney General.

When I type MA charity fraud into google, it is the Attorney General for MA that comes up as the first result.

This site might help you-
http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=972

Page Not Found
 

LizaJane - I got the following message when trying to access your "If interested: http://www.lizajane.org/PN/Users/lizajane/Lester\'s writings.doc." Would love to read this information.

Page Not Found

The page you tried to access does not exist on this server. This page may not exist due to the following reasons:

1. You are the owner of this web site and you have not uploaded (or incorrectly uploaded) your web site. For information on uploading your web site using FTP client software or web design software, click here for FTP Upload Information.

2. The URL that you have entered in your browser is incorrect. Please re-enter the URL and try again.

3. The Link that you clicked on incorrectly points to this page. Please contact the owner of this web site to inform them of this situation.

Diana

hi liza, the page got bumped back up by a new member. mr bojangles. then i welcomed him. :)

not really bumping up the topic per say.

bumped
 

whether because of interest in the topic or welcoming Mr Bojangles, it's here. So here's the correct link to my research on the topic of money given to braintalk. It's not organized, because it's just notes for myself.

The original link didn't work because it had an apostrophe, sorry, though now I've corrected that.

I'm not pushing people to join me on my bandwagon; but the writings are there, if anyone is interested.


http://www.lizajane.org/PN/Users/liz...ester File.doc

Agree with LizaJane
 

I agree with LizaJane.

First, John and the moderators are as arrogant, arbitrary, and uncommunicative as ever. I was flat rejected from reregistering in BrainTalk. The rejection message was incomprehensible to me. I sent three emails to the moderators and to John asking for an explanation and instructions to get back on the system, but received no reply. MrsD explained the error message to me, but what's with John and the moderators?

Second, why was there no database backup? I donated a large sum of money (for me) to BrainTalk for the promised new server and backup equipment several years ago. I think that we were lied to by John. Either no equipment was bought, no backup procedure carried out, or he intentionally didn't want to rebuild the existing database. Whatever, that's no way to run a business or a bulletin board.

Third, something precious and irreplaceable was lost through John's duplicity in not backing up or restoring the database: the "Sticky: useful websites" section. That section had been built and maintained by our community over a period of years, and belonged to us, not John. I saved some of my postings on my PC, such as the "Program" or "Buying Shoes with PN", but did not save other postings such as the one on current sleep research and techniques for dealing with insomnia. There were incredible threads there on many topics, such as dealing with IBS and gluten intolerance, or Roses thread on B12 deficiency and remediation, or a thread on drugs for PN...all gone.

What goes around comes around, but that is small comfort. I hope that he is eventually prosecuted for any crimes he committed in regards to our money and our community. I thank LizaJane for keeping this alive.

Me Too. I was locked out for about 18 months! I sent about four or five emails to admin and all were ignored. Ah well, I suppose empire building takes up one's time. :rolleyes:

Mr Bojangles

Mr Bojangles - I haven't seen you post for a long time now, did they ban you for 18 months just because of that avator with the comic charactor droping his pants ? if so thats very childish on their behalf, it mad me laugh the first time i seen it, i don't know about any others but if it got up the admin's noses they could of just said to take it off, its not suitable, or something like that, not a complete ban.

Has anybody accessed and read any of the Lester File I linked to? I'm interested in knowing, and if you think this is enough to report fraud. To me, he is clearly telling the braintalk bulletin board that he is raising money for one purpose, while telling another community, the Second Life community, that he is using it to support a for-profit endeavour.

I've searched the Mass Attorney General website as Wittesea suggested, and found no links to forms for reporting fraud. There are such links for federal crimes and for NY, and Conn. Anybody know anything here?

http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=929


If you scroll to the area where it sats "consumer questions" you will see the hotline number, and below that is a link to a complaint form you can fill out and the address you mail the complaint form and supporting documentation to.

Hope that helps.

Liza - I have downloaded it but haven't had a chance to read it completely yet.

My Little man
 

Hello Brian
I did get sent to the sin-bin for a couple of weeks for my avator and got some pompous reason given. So I took the avator off an then I could post again after my 'time served". I think an incognito moderator got a bit drunk with all the power. So then I used to post with a blue pencil avator ( my way of highlighting silly censorship). Maybe that avator got up the admins noses, don't know.

Then I had computer trouble and lost my old password. I tried all manner of ways to re-register with different names; Joe Bangles etc but could never get back on-line so I just used to read the inputs.

Mr Bojangles
Still with no answer to my medical problems some 7 years on. Maybe getting close though.

Thats unreal, i thought the whole idea of a forum such as that was for people with neuro problems so they could post their concerns, big deal if you used a blue pencil avator, i thought Hitler was well gone but apparently not seems like he is still lerking at BT.:D, its a big differance here everyone is so friendy.
all the best,
Brian :)

Liza, with all due respect...
 

I am really disappointed to see this starting all over again.

I did read your document. And I did see it is missing some data.
There was an announcement posted on every forum, introducing Brigadoon
and asking for people to participate. There were more than one post on
Forum Feedback, about it too. I did not save them, but I recall one that
was a copy of an MSNBC story about it. I was not worried about it, and I thought it was a logical extension of the virtual chats that used to be on the old board.

I do recall that you were not a daily member on OBT and I do recall that
some time (months) would go by and we would not hear from you. So you
perhaps missed that.

Was fraud committed? I don't think so. People don't advertise fraud commonly.
Fraud to me would be using funds for non-related ventures, gambling,
fur coats, fueling hobbies, etc. Giving most of the monies to cronies or inflated salaries, as we have seen in Save The Children type charities.

Were we duped, lied to? Perhaps. I for one did not believe all that April 05 stuff about the server. And I know others who were skeptical too.

I personally feel that all the friendships I made and knowledge I learned there over the years was well worth what I had donated. Many of the boards, helped many people find relief from pain and suffering, and even turn their lives around. I am disappointed that the first database was turned off. I figured it belonged to MGH and they did not want it open anymore, probably for liability reasons. (that original experiment was over and the paper written).
I certainly believe we were "subjects" for that paper, and that is just as
hard to swallow, as the other things that followed for me.

And I think there might be a reason why the archives are not up yet, if ever.
I for one do not expect every detail of BrainTalk's functioning to be shared with me or the rest of the posters. This is where I differ from your point of view. Without Braintalk and its flaws, there would be no NeuroTalk as we know it. (Perhaps it would have appeared anyway, but as it stands, it was to help us out of that long down frustration). Without BrainTalk, I would never have met the wonderful people I now have in my life. The bucks do not compare to that.

Anger and hostility do not heal, but divide. Many are still confused, angry about things that happened at OBT. If one does not like it there, one can
leave. And I don't agree with you that it is busy there. I detect a loss of spirit on many of the boards. Only time will tell however, what develops.
In my opinion that board was plagued by trolls (allowing multiple user IDs was also destructive). The depression forum there was so out of control at one point, JL CLOSED it forever! It is unfortunate that innocent people were caught up in trying to control this. Bans on networks, inadvertently led to people getting blocked out. The heavy handed moderation was as an attempt at control, that lost control ultimately. Now OBT is trying again, and this board is trying its own way.
I think we are basically lucky to have
both, and a choice. I feel safer here, myself.

Hear, Hear,....Mrs D !

Mrs D
 

I understand that you do not want to see bad feelings, or fighting between communities or people, and nor do I. I still read OBT, and occasionally post there when I feel I have something useful to offer.

But my issue was with the donation and non-profit. If the Braintalk books were open, and I saw what was done with funds, and it was all above-board, I'd be fine. But Mr Lester has not made the non-profit's available, nor filed with the IRS (he wasn't required to), so his books are questionable, given what he has written about use of monies. I'd like to know that money was used for non-profit reasons. If it was not, then let the government do what it does in such cases. I have a strong suspicion, from Mr Lester's own posts, that he used money designated non-profit to enrich a for-profit endeavour.

That's all.

Let's all stay friends here, and all be free to speak our minds. That's what makes this community so wonderful.