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Michael Minkoff Aka Professionalpoker And Censoring At Two Plus Two


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Hello everyone. I was hoping to shed some light on the person that banned DN and also shed some light on NoahSD.Please PM me and move thread it it doesn't deserve it's own. I'm a writer for a small poker blog and was banned without warning for posting in the about the forums section in Two Plus Two. I did have infractions but they did not total 100 and was invited to post in the about forums section by Michael Minkoff aka professionalpoker. For those of you who cannot remember, this is who banned Daniel Negreanu a few weeks ago. The problems started when I posted in the thread that Malmuth created to gloat about the 60k they won in judgement off of Dutch Boyd. I posted that this was going to be used to take people's names that had the words "poker strategy" in it or at the very least it was going to be cited. You see pokerstrategy.com is extorting people to turn over their domains with those words in them. Malmuth quickly sent his lacky Michael Minkoff to censor the posts and give me warnings. I then was in PM communication with him and asked permission to post replies to questions I was being asked because people were interested in what I had to say. In one case it was a green mod asking me questions. I was granted permission, posted, and quickly was banned. During those pms I was invited to post thread in "about forums" section to file my grievousness. Anyways, it was temp ban, but was walking on eggshells afraid to post upon my return. I might add that I'm the author of the Caesars/Wynn ties to Organized crime thread. I was also threatened by Minkoff that he would delete my whole thred thats been there a year if I posted in Boyd thread again. He was cc'ing back and forth with Malmuth. Fast forward to Pokerstars buy Full Tilt Poker thread. I posted small link to Forbes.com where it shows Wynn and Pokerstars had meetings for years to partnership. It's no secret and well known they created Wynnpokerstars or whatever. I only posted small snippet of article and link. It was deleted. I posted again because it did not appear when I was back in thread and I was temp banned again. I had no idea it was deleted originally because I received no infraction and was not pmed. When I got my account back I saw NoahSD had created a whole new sticky section and used on of my posts to berate me. NoahSD has personal vendetta towards me because I called Kevmath and him out for shilling. They have been shilling for Full Tilt Poker for years. I called him out on his access to Full Tilt's back end that he gained access to. If you think about this logically, he either was shilling (leaking info) to expose Ivey's debt, or he illegally gained access without permission of the owners of the site. Anyways this thread is getting long, should I gone on or will it be deleted?

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HAHA deleted on here? Never. It never ceases to amaze me how they think this North Korean approach of censorship makes sense for them as a company. They overvalue their self worth immensely. I can't see ANYTHING you did as being worthy of a ban or a deletion. WTF x infinity

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HAHA deleted on here? Never. It never ceases to amaze me how they think this North Korean approach of censorship makes sense for them as a company. They overvalue their self worth immensely. I can't see ANYTHING you did as being worthy of a ban or a deletion. WTF x infinity
Thanks,More importantly, I was invited to post in the "about the forums thread" the time we (professionalpoker aka Michael Minkoff) were debating about Dutch Boyd. I have the PM's of professionalpoker giving me permission to post. Then, once I was posting things they did not want to hear (it did not reflect views of Malmuth) Malmuth instructed him to delete my posts. This made me look really bad , because the remaining posts did not make sense and seemed out of context. I also have insider information that some of the mods were shilling for FTP before Black Friday and Post BF. This has caused NaohSD and PP to watch every post I make. I posted this post and it was deleted right away:Twitter image of deleted postAs you can see it's a simple post with old link to Forbes.com article on Wynn and owner of Pokerstars. Then NoahSD placed a sticky about my other post a top NVG section. The post he made is here:noahsd stickyNow that's not why I was banned. I was banned for posting in about the forums section about NoahSD's sticky. The post was a line by line defense of the post he's referring to and sources for each statement and reasoning behind it. Now DN, I could see how you would not agree with some of what I posted, especially about the impending monopoly. You could simply debate me and counter it in open discussion as you have on many occasions. Back to Noahsd - He really has not explained how he was given access to FTP back end post BF. He suggests he can't say because it's ex employee. I suggest that he A) Was shilling for FTP to release Phil Ivey and others debt or B) He used questionable ethics and or violated the law by gaining unauthorized access. C) was shilling for both buyer/broker of FTP to get those debts paid by influencing public opinion of said playersHere is post I was banned for life for in "about forums section":http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-...r-post-1198046/I want to address NoahSD and his censoring and ridicule of my posts. I’ve been a contributing member of this forum for quite some time now and I’m very disgruntled with Noah and ProfessionalPoker. For the last couple of months many of my posts have been censored, deleted, and now posted in stickies to ridicule me.Case in point this one:http://twitpic.com/9dz86bIf your goal of Two Plus Two is an open discussion then I will contribute and provide insight. If your goal is to be a lobbyist and sway people in one direction by allowing 20 threads of PPA to sway the people in way that benefits only casino monopolies, then you should put a disclaimer on your site.I want to go line by line about my post and directly address each sentence and why this post and others should be allowable. Secondly, it’s mind boggling to me that this post was isolated ,yet thousands of threats against Full Tilt Poker owners have been allowed and not deleted. Not only that, but countless slanders of the owners as well. And yes I know that you want people to let off some steam.I will start with the first line of my statement:
Remember They need to use Licensed Casino in USA for legal poker here. Pokerstars owner will step down.
Rational behind this statement: First part- It is unlikely that the Nevada Gaming Control Board would grant Pokerstars a license while the owner is under indictment. It is conceivable they would grant if he stepped down and it was someone else as Chairman… like Wynn. They could be granted even though they operated in USA because of the lobbyist they hired pushed the bill for them to be able to do so. :http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/pokerstars-h...d-member-18450/Second source for statement I made Shaun Deeb quoted on Cardrunners:“Anyways the deal is already done by what I am told;Players will be paid within 90 daysFTP will be open in the US marketIsai [scheinberg] will be stepping down from the company“Anyways the deal is already done by what I am told;Players will be paid within 90 daysFTP will be open in the US marketIsai [scheinberg] will be stepping down from the company”3rd It would be plausible for Wynn to be Chairman because they were agreeing to 50/50 partnership before black Friday and could do so once again. It poker bills were passed and Isai stepped down it is certainly plausible that in 50 50 partnership Wynn could be at the helm. My post was deleted when I posted link to the source of there partnership for posted link that was posted before. Yet there are constant links to same article in Subject Poker. I was posting to Forbes.com article and it was deleted and my account temp banned most likely by Professionalpoker.I will post more and show reasoning behind each line I posted.THEN BAN HAMMER:Professional Poker or NoahSD quickly deleted the post and Perm banned the writers account:You have been banned for the following reason:enough- 2+2 is not your blogDate the ban will be lifted: NeverNote : And consequently I have called DN out before and he won debate with me and I dropped it. That's two individuals having a conversation in public forum.
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The problem at 2+2 is that Malmuth lets the inmates run the assylum. The many moderators that are legends in their own mind over there, too often make it a dysfuntional environment.Some people need to live in a world of petty black and white rules to feel comfortable. Free thinkers are always going to be a threat to them. Before the whole Negreanu ban circus happened I had never even heard of Michael Minkoff (aka. BanHammer). After the QuadJacks interview, Minkoff sent me a pm explaining his position. I tried to reason with him. It was exasperating. It was as if he couldn't hear a word I had said. He was ticked off at Daniel for saying bad things about him. I told him that he had just called Daniel stupid in an open forum; what was he expecting? But more fundamentally I felt that it was unfair for Minkoff to campaign behind the scenes rather than respond directly to the many things that were being raised in the forums.I never really felt that what had happened over there had anything to do with spam. A day or two before the ban Negreanu had been pretty well trashed on the 2+2 PokerCast because of his comments about Lederer in his Vblog. Lederer and Malmuth are friends. I think that Minkoff (whether he understood his own motivations or not) really wanted to put Daniel in his place. The issue of spam was just a justification for doing that.Although I think that NoahSD is personally probably a very nice guy. He suffers from a similar affliction to Minkoff. He almost took down the last remaining viable poker network (Merge) singlehandedly by publishing a story about what he wanted to believe rather than what the facts actually were. It was only after one of his coworkers said something to me that proved false that the tides turned and he was forced to issue an apology. One of the Merge Reps told me that as low as my opinion was of NoahSD at that point, his was even lower.I'm not so sure that I agree with you about your opinions about NoahSD and FullTilt but it is almost the definition of the word forum to discuss these types of things in a forum.

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The problem at 2+2 is that Malmuth lets the inmates run the assylum. The many moderators that are legends in their own mind over there, too often make it a dysfuntional environment.Some people need to live in a world of petty black and white rules to feel comfortable. Free thinkers are always going to be a threat to them. Before the whole Negreanu ban circus happened I had never even heard of Michael Minkoff (aka. BanHammer). After the QuadJacks interview, Minkoff sent me a pm explaining his position. I tried to reason with him. It was exasperating. It was as if he couldn't hear a word I had said. He was ticked off at Daniel for saying bad things about him. I told him that he had just called Daniel stupid in an open forum; what was he expecting? But more fundamentally I felt that it was unfair for Minkoff to campaign behind the scenes rather than respond directly to the many things that were being raised in the forums.I never really felt that what had happened over there had anything to do with spam. A day or two before the ban Negreanu had been pretty well trashed on the 2+2 PokerCast because of his comments about Lederer in his Vblog. Lederer and Malmuth are friends. I think that Minkoff (whether he understood his own motivations or not) really wanted to put Daniel in his place. The issue of spam was just a justification for doing that.Although I think that NoahSD is personally probably a very nice guy. He suffers from a similar affliction to Minkoff. He almost took down the last remaining viable poker network (Merge) singlehandedly by publishing a story about what he wanted to believe rather than what the facts actually were. It was only after one of his coworkers said something to me that proved false that the tides turned and he was forced to issue an apology. One of the Merge Reps told me that as low as my opinion was of NoahSD at that point, his was even lower.I'm not so sure that I agree with you about your opinions about NoahSD and FullTilt but it is almost the definition of the word forum to discuss these types of things in a forum.
I do not think he (noah) is bad person deep down either. I do know that he was censoring me specifically. Secondly, he is linking to blogs all day long that are in is and his partners interests. I do believe he is a shill especially when it came to the Ivey debt. I am upset personally with Iveys 10 million debt but dont agree with how it was exposed. As far as Minkoff goes.... He is Malmuth's lacky andhe is responsible for Two Plus Two's declining book sales. Case in point: Have you seen how 2001 his website design is for Professionalpoker and two plus two book sale site? He has something to prove and needs Malmuth to need him. Only problem is that he has no people skills, is a dinosaur when it comes to websites, and doesn't have a forward thinking mind to maintain tpt 's forum dominance. They will be overtaken soon Two Plus Two trafficAs far as spam goes. What Mason Malmuth wanted was money from Pokerstars. If you recall, They did similar thing to PPA and weren't sure if they were going to back them. They all of a sudden they were having picnics together. They may have been receiving money from the PPA as you can well see the PPA has full reign of the forums. And btw I'm against the PPA. They were shaking down DN. They wanted advertising money it's as simple as that. BTW the PPA and Two Plus Two both share the same law firm called Greenberg Taurig. This is the same firm that employed Jack Abramoff during his stifling of Sun Cruz Casinos. That hostile takeover was very similar to what happened to FTP. It is my belief that Two Plus Two were / are being used like the NFL / Jack Abramoff used Focus on Family. I was not aware that Lederer and Malmuth were friends. Also, I'm not going to lie, I love Full Tilt Poker and believe they were set up for the fall by lobbyist. I think DN is good for poker but don't agree with the VLog statements. Nevertheless he should have never been banned as he was as it was unwarranted. Poker should be legal in a couple of weeks and everyone's going to get big payday. However, the American people were bamboozled. I will be happy to see everyone get paid, yet we should never had to give anyone anything for our right of enjoyment.
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I wanted to show everyone the sticky NoahSD put up to ridicule me and compare it to quote from a poker news site and industry speculator said today on onlinepoker.net:1_1335730617_373_noahsd%20sticky.jpgquote form websiteThe deal would then see PokerStars pardoned, potentially allowing it to partner with a land-based casino and apply for a license to enter the US market in the eventuality of legalisation. Under these circumstances, it has been suggested that PokerStars could even licence out Full Tilt’s software,with a Bodog representative commenting via Facebook:“I think it has to do with the software. I think they will keep the Full Tilt software ‘clean’ and license it to new operators in regulated states and jurisdictions looking to get into the online poker space.”Clearly what I said is something that the PPA , Two Plus Two , or NoahSD does not want people to know. The Country and players have been bamboozled. My Twitter about this was march 12 and I believe I have it in article months ago. These statements I make are based on whats now 500 hours of research on Black Friday and casino lobbyist.

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I wanted to show everyone the sticky NoahSD put up to ridicule me and compare it to quote from a poker news site and industry speculator said today on onlinepoker.net:1_1335730617_373_noahsd%20sticky.jpgquote form websiteThe deal would then see PokerStars pardoned, potentially allowing it to partner with a land-based casino and apply for a license to enter the US market in the eventuality of legalisation. Under these circumstances, it has been suggested that PokerStars could even licence out Full Tilt’s software,with a Bodog representative commenting via Facebook:“I think it has to do with the software. I think they will keep the Full Tilt software ‘clean’ and license it to new operators in regulated states and jurisdictions looking to get into the online poker space.”Clearly what I said is something that the PPA , Two Plus Two , or NoahSD does not want people to know. The Country and players have been bamboozled. My Twitter about this was march 12 and I believe I have it in article months ago. These statements I make are based on whats now 500 hours of research on Black Friday and casino lobbyist.
The PPA has monetary connections with 4. They don't allow badmouthing of any entity that's paying them.I got a similar warning about RPM and Seth's shilling.
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The PPA has monetary connections with 4. They don't allow badmouthing of any entity that's paying them.I got a similar warning about RPM and Seth's shilling.
Yes lrgetout, It is my belief that the payments are coming via the lobbyist law firm they share. What I have debated in the past is that Two Plus Two needs to post disclaimer that they are getting paid by PPA or otherwise could face "shilling" laws in some states or by feds. Anyways, NoahSD said he's coming on here and said he didn't ban me. That leaves Ban Hammer Michael Minkoff who is likely mod. Here's Noah from Twitter:NoahSD ‏ @NoahSD Reply Retweet Favorite · Open@pokergossip Eh.. getting too long for twitter. I'll respond when they approve me on FCP. In reply to pokergossip1h NoahSD ‏ @NoahSD Reply Retweet Favorite · Open@pokergossip I don't think 2p2's software tells you stuff like this, but fwiw, I didn't ban you. Don't think I deleted any of your posts ITT In reply to pokergossip1h 1h NoahSD ‏ @NoahSD Reply Retweet Favorite · Open@pokergossip A big part of the problem is simply that 2p2's software doesn't give moderators the ability to easily tell people what's up In reply to pokergossip1h NoahSD ‏ @NoahSD Reply Retweet Favorite · Open@pokergossip I can't respond to your thread until FCP approves me. I agree with some of what you said and disagree with some other stuff 1/2
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Curious to find out how I was "shilling" for Full Tilt.
Visit My Websitehttp://www.twoplustwo.com/ForumAlert.php29/news-views-gossip/annette_15-joins-full-tilt-773828/Email was sent to you by Pocketkings.ie night before this post to post it. Site is hacked right now but you are OP. Very innocent shill post yest nevertheless a shill post. That is not the purpose of this thread however. It's about censorship at Two Plus Two and undeserving bans.Mods are free to do what they want according to Two Plus Two professionalpoker. This is fine for small shill posts but when they start banning me for hypothesis and researched subjects, then they are crossing the line between open forum and paid advertisement.
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Thanks for approving me. I might forget to come back to this thread later, but feel free to bug me on Twitter if I don't.OP, I appreciate that you're upset, and I think you're somewhat justified. I'll try to address your concerns, but there's sort of a lot of them, so I'll probably leave something out. Please please please don't take my leaving something out as evidence of anything other than laziness, stupidity, and/or forgetfulness.(Note that this is all from memory since the forums are down right now. I'm sure I've gotten something wrong, and I'm sorry for that.)Anyway, OP obviously cares about this a lot, so I figure he deserves a thorough response. Plus, I'm long-winded to begin with and have lots of thoughts on modding 2p2 that I wouldn't mind writing down. So, here's my long-ass response.Background WRT OPOP is basically a decent poster who doesn't cause problems. He has a strong interest in a few theories of his (Sorry for putting words in your mouth, but I think you wouldn't object to that), which is fine. But, he has a tendency to make many long posts about them in threads that really aren't about them. These are annoying for other posters because I don't think I've ever deleted any of OP's posts, but I have considered it at times because they're pretty derailing. (I did once move a thread of yours because I felt it was in the wrong forum. I don't really remember the story there, but I remember feeling sorta bad afterwards because you put a lot of work into it and weren't happy.) I think the other mods mostly left him alone before the day in question as well. I also never banned OP. (In general, I'm a very lax and lazy moderator. I probably delete less than one post per day on average, and I mod NVG, which has god-knows-how-many posts per day, many of them technically against a rule or whatever. I hate moderating because people naturally get upset when you delete something that they wrote.)Basically, I think most mods think of OP as someone who's really passionate about something, can be annoying about it, but doesn't really go too far. So, like, that's sorta the context. Background WRT 2p22p2's software sucks for moderating, and moderating NVG is really really hard, so that's a big problem. It particularly sucks in that it's really not set up properly to inform people when mods do take action. For example, there's no automatic notification to the user when her post is deleted, the room for the ban message is very short, and bans do not say which moderator banned them. I've been whining about this for a while, and pretty much everyone agrees that it should change as far as I can tell. But, 2p2 is very hesitant to make major changes to their forum software, so they haven't yet. I don't run one of the largest forums on the internet, so I don't really feel like I'm in a position to criticize them for that.This leads to a lot of confusion and anger from the few users who actually encounter mod action. Daniel experienced it not too long ago, and OP did as well. Mods have to deal with this, so it sucks for us as well.Also, most mods are unpaid volunteers like myself. From the outside, I see how it might feel like we're these authority figures who do Mason's bidding or something, but the reality of the situation is that we're people who have signed up to do an annoying chore because we like 2p2 and we feel like the chore is worth it. Just as an illustrative anecdote: When I asked to be a mod of NVG (because the then-current mods were busy at the time, so NVG had a lot of spam and gay porn and stuff in it that was quite annoying), a bunch of mods contacted me to tell me that I was an idiot because it's an unpaid extremely annoying "job". They were obviously right.We make plenty of mistakes--We're humans. We're doing a job that sucks that we're not paid for. There are a lot of judgement calls. We screw up. But, part of what sucks so much about being a mod is that everyone is always bothered when we delete what they wrote because that's how people are naturally. (I once had a post deleted, and I couldn't help but be pissed even though I clearly had just broken a rule.) So, a huge part of modding is having people contact me absolutely livid that I deleted their post that clearly deserved to be deleted. That's really annoying, and it makes me sad every time because I empathize, but it also makes it really hard to identify a true mistake, since we get complaints constantly.Also, there are no grand conspiracies. In fact, the exact opposite is true: Mason almost never communicates with the mods at all. When someone has a situation that they don't know how to handle, Mat Sklansky usually responds, and Mat almost always says the exact same thing (paraphrased): "It's your call. Do what you think is right." Nobody has ever given me an order in my capacity as mod on 2p2, and it would be really weird if they did. That's like the exact opposite of a conspiracy.Temp BanSo, OP posted something in that giant thread about Stars maybe buying FTP that PP deleted (I know Michael as PP, so I'll call him that). That thread was a nightmare because people were going there to read news and it was full of a billion derails and lots of crap, and it got a ton of complaints from users. (It's actually a really great example of a thread where moderating was really really needed, and a lot of people were thanking me for the effort that I put into making it slightly more readable.) So, I don't know why OP's post was deleted because the forums are down, but that's why it might have been. I don't really think that this is something that OP's complaining about.OP says he didn't know that it had been deleted, and I'll take him at his word. This goes back to the fact that 2p2's software sucks for moderating--OP should have gotten a message saying that it had been deleted, but the forum doesn't generate such messages. Ideally, PP would send OP a message, but that was a gigantic thread that needed a lot of moderation, so PMing everyone simply isn't at all practical.So, from his perspective, it might have been perfectly reasonable to just repost it. But, PP didn't know that OP was confused, obviously. (Maybe he should have assumed that he was confused? I don't know.) So, he saw this as OP deciding that he's just going to post shit whether mods want to delete it or not. Stuff like that is exactly why we have temp bans--to let someone who won't stop doing stuff that he obviously shouldn't do cool off. So, from PP's perspective that's a really obvious temp ban.Naturally, OP was really upset by this. He wrote a blog post about it calling PP and myself out (even though I'm not involved at all...). He tweeted at us on Twitter. Etc. I get that. It's a natural response. But, it's also not a good way to clear up a misunderstanding. It's really hard empathize with someone who's attacking you, though as mods we should try to.PermabanOP posted something in ATF complaining about his temp ban (don't remember the details). IMO, he should have every right to do so, but PP banned him. I completely disagree with this decision, and I said as much in the mod forum before the forum went down. I've talked about it with PP over skype just now, and he said he'll reconsider and he DMed OP to let him know.I mean.. he probably just made a mistake and will hopefully take it back. It's unfortunate, but mistakes are going to happen sometimes. It's particularly unfortunate because, in addition to you simply being upset that you're not allowed to psot on 2p2, which sucks already, you also now have come up with conspiracy theories about this stuff.StickyI'd had this idea for a while to create a sticky in NVG that said something to the effect of "Please make sure that your post is something that other people will want to read." I recognize that this is a bit patronizing, but a really really big problem with NVG is that people post stuff that clearly doesn't pass that test--random insults of other posters, "first!", etc. And, I'd tried something similar in various threads--coming in and posting something like "Hey, guys, please stop posting stuff like _______ because it's not really contributing." and that level of simple honesty seemed to really work well. So, I thought I'd try it in a sticky.The sticky itself was a bit goofy because, well, it's the internet and it's NVG and goofy is the standard. I included some examples, and I tried to make stuff a bit funny. Obviously, that means mocking some people, but this is the Internet--Daniel said that I (or the mods in general or whatever) treat 2p2 like it's North Korea ITT, for example. That's just sorta how the Internet works, and I'm comfortable joking about these things. Sorry if it hurt your feelings, but I don't really think there was anything inappropriate about my tone.With that said, someone actually pointed out to me that the post of yours that I quoted was in response to a direct question, so didn't really fit the description. So, I simply made a mistake there. I'm sure you can understand from my perspective how that post looked like it was a derail. I'm sorry about that, and I was going to change it but the forums went down. (I'm not making this up.. It's in the ATF thread about my sticky.) I still will, of course.. Remind me if I forget.Some accusation of shilling for FTPYou've said this a few times. I don't know what it means. It's weird from my perspective to read that you have proof that I did things that I know I didn't do. I think you once posted what you meant, but I've since forgotten.A requestI really really don't like being accused of doing things that I haven't done publicly on the Internet. My reputation in the poker world is extremely important to me, and I put a lot of effort into trying to act as ethically as possible in this world. I mean.. I basically gave up nine months of my life to keep the poker community informed. It really bothers me that there are forum posts and blog posts and stuff about me saying that I've done things that I simply haven't.I get that you're saying this stuff because you think it's true, and I can handle a little name calling on the Internet. But, I would appreciate it if you considered my feelings, just like I think it's fair to say I've considered yours.

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Visit My Websitehttp://www.twoplustwo.com/ForumAlert.php29/news-views-gossip/annette_15-joins-full-tilt-773828/Email was sent to you by Pocketkings.ie night before this post to post it. Site is hacked right now but you are OP. Very innocent shill post yest nevertheless a shill post. That is not the purpose of this thread however. It's about censorship at Two Plus Two and undeserving bans.Mods are free to do what they want according to Two Plus Two professionalpoker. This is fine for small shill posts but when they start banning me for hypothesis and researched subjects, then they are crossing the line between open forum and paid advertisement.
I think you posted the same link twice by accident?But, just to be clear, you think kevmath shilled because he posted that Annette 15 joined team FTP? Kevmath posts about everything that happens in the poker world. Maybe you think it's shilling because he got the announcement from FTP? Instead of attacking Kevmath and repeatedly saying that he shilled, why don't you simply replace the phrase "kevmath shilled" with "Kevmath started a thread on 2p2 about Annette 15 joining team FTP after they e-mailed him". It's a bit longer, but not impractical or anything. That way, people can interpret for themselves whether Kevmath did anything wrong or suspicious instead of having to take your word for it.Why do you think I shilled?
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They don't allow badmouthing of any entity that's paying them.
Have you read the Internet Poker forum? That's basically a ton of threads full of people badmouthing entities that advertise on 2p2. NVG is also full of criticism of the PPA. I've never heard of a single instance of a post being deleted simply because it was critical of someone. Hell, there's a whole thread about how much people hate Mason in NVG.
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Have you read the Internet Poker forum? That's basically a ton of threads full of people badmouthing entities that advertise on 2p2. NVG is also full of criticism of the PPA. I've never heard of a single instance of a post being deleted simply because it was critical of someone. Hell, there's a whole thread about how much people hate Mason in NVG.
If you'd like my PM thread from Mike Haven to back this up, I'll be happy to send it to you when 2+2 comes up.Or I can even post it here publicly, your choice.The point stands, however, that I was threatened with action because I spoke out against a 2+2 advertiser.
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If you'd like my PM thread from Mike Haven to back this up, I'll be happy to send it to you when 2+2 comes up.Or I can even post it here publicly, your choice.The point stands, however, that I was threatened with action because I spoke out against a 2+2 advertiser.
Yes.. I would like that. If you get PMs e-mailed to you, then you should have all the PMs that he sent you in your e-mail, though you won't have your side unless he quoted you.I'm guessing that you misinterpreted, but obviously I can't really say much about a situation that I know nothing about.My point that 2p2 does indeed allow people to criticize companies that pay it obviously stands, though. The forum is full of people saying bad things about 2p2's sponsors, 2p2's business partners, 2p2 itself, mods, admins, owners, etc.
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Yes.. I would like that. If you get PMs e-mailed to you, then you should have all the PMs that he sent you in your e-mail, though you won't have your side unless he quoted you.
I don't have them saved in email, though they are still in my PM box in 2+2.You have my explicit permission to view them there if the software allows it. (I do not know if it does.)If not, I will send them to you there once the site comes up.
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I don't have them saved in email, though they are still in my PM box in 2+2.You have my explicit permission to view them there if the software allows it. (I do not know if it does.)If not, I will send them to you there once the site comes up.
See my edit. Software does not allow that.
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My Gmail inbox currently has over 30,000 emails.Exactly ZERO came from Pocket Kings, let alone any asking me to "shill" Annette's signing.Like Noah said, I've started quite a few threads in NVG on a variety of topics, how that's "shilling" in your terms is beyond me.

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First of all I have to give NoahSD a lot of credit for taking the time to give such a complete response.As far as Michael Minkoff goes though I think that he is over his head as a moderator. He just doesn't seem to be able to think things out. During the Great Spam Debate it was claimed, by Minkoff, that Daniel Negreanu was expecting special treatment when DN in fact was only asking for rational treatment. I think that it is actually Minkoff who has been getting the special treatment as a result of his a long time friendship and association with Malmuth and Sklansky. His banhammer should have been taken from him a long time ago.

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My Gmail inbox currently has over 30,000 emails.Exactly ZERO came from Pocket Kings, let alone any asking me to "shill" Annette's signing.Like Noah said, I've started quite a few threads in NVG on a variety of topics, how that's "shilling" in your terms is beyond me.
Check 4/30/10. If I'm mistaken I'm sorry. I remember seeing your email when I was cc'd. I also remember stating that I was waiting for you to post. I also remember after replying to FTP with that, that I was waiting for you to post. Then you were first post on subject.
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Check 4/30/10. If I'm mistaken I'm sorry. I remember seeing your email when I was cc'd. I also remember stating that I was waiting for you to post. I also remember after replying to FTP with that, that I was waiting for you to post. Then you were first post on subject.
Wait what? : fishyeyes :
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Anyway, OP obviously cares about this a lot, so I figure he deserves a thorough response.
Thanks for the response, I do care about it because I have time invested in that forum. And although the group is small, I do have followers who have fact check some of the things I have said.
OP is basically a decent poster who doesn't cause problems. He has a strong interest in a few theories of his (Sorry for putting words in your mouth, but I think you wouldn't object to that), which is fine. But, he has a tendency to make many long posts about them in threads that really aren't about them. These are annoying for other posters because
I do make posts that seem unrelated sometimes. In the case of Boyd vs Malmuth I had a post deleted for being unrelated, but really it was totally relevant to the thread. So I went into PM and asked PP permission to post out of respect because I knew thread was vengeance against Dutch and I didn't want my account banned. He gave me permission once I asked:This is the message that was sent:***************If it is not insulting and presents facts and opinion I should have no reason to delete.BTW I am not on the payroll, so it is not "my" law firm.But if you turn out to be a shill for Boyd or anyone else, I will ban you. Boyd's 2+2 account is not banned so if he want to speak here he can.***************I then went back to comment and comments were quickly deleted. Comments were related to thread and citing recent actions by Pokerstrategy.com as an example. Pokerstrategy.com is attacking affiliates who have generic term "poker strategy" in the name. I commented on how the tpt case would be cited and hurt poker affiliates. My comments were then being deleted and what comments left made no sense because others were gone. Some of my posts were direct answers to green mods asking me questions. My account was later temp banned and I feel as though PP actions were because of that day. I was threatened that my Caesars / Wynn Ties to organized crime thread would be deleted too:Here are pm's http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/18/local/me-pellicano18 Here is link to someone else who's life was threatened from people that I've exposed. This is why I will not reveal identity. I can tell you this - I have a lot of contacts in poker world especially with other writers. Also, I have many contacts in tech. You said I could post, I asked you permission and you said OK. Then when I posted you didnt like that fact I didnt agree with punishment.---End Quote---PP:Actually I am thinking you are a nut. You fail to recognize facts and laws and just continue to spout your beliefs without for a minute considering that you are wrong. You fail to prove that you are what you state, an investigative reporter in any fashion. Why shouldn't we close your thread and ban you?CC: mason malmuthAs you can see there Mason Malmuth is Cc'd. It is perfectly normal for me to believe he was involved in this decision because he wasn't cc'd the other times.
I don't think I've ever deleted any of OP's posts, but I have considered it at times because they're pretty derailing. (I did once move a thread of yours because I felt it was in the wrong forum. I don't really remember the story there, but I remember feeling sorta bad afterwards because you put a lot of work into it and weren't happy.) I think the other mods mostly left him alone before the day in question as well. I also never banned OP.
It was small post but it was my 1000th. It was regarding Megaupload.com owner being imprisoned or DOJ hacked. I was not that pissed and got over it.
Basically, I think most mods think of OP as someone who's really passionate about something, can be annoying about it, but doesn't really go too far. So, like, that's sorta the context.
I can understand that. People who do the amount of digging I do generally are obsessive and focused. To me the PPA posting there every day to have players call up congressmen to do that exact opposite of what I want is annoying to me. Also, people seem blind to facts like Jon Kyl and his obvious flip flop. I'm happy to not fall into majority opinion especially when I look at the FTP thread.
Background WRT 2p22p2's software sucks for moderating, and moderating NVG is really really hard, so that's a big problem. It particularly sucks in that it's really not set up properly to inform people when mods do take action. For example, there's no automatic notification to the user when her post is deleted, the room for the ban message is very short, and bans do not say which moderator banned them. I've been whining about this for a while, and pretty much everyone agrees that it should change as far as I can tell. But, 2p2 is very hesitant to make major changes to their forum software, so they haven't yet. I don't run one of the largest forums on the internet, so I don't really feel like I'm in a position to criticize them for that.This leads to a lot of confusion and anger from the few users who actually encounter mod action. Daniel experienced it not too long ago, and OP did as well. Mods have to deal with this, so it sucks for us as well.
Daniel's ban was much more different than mine. It is my belief that he was not banned because he posted twice like I did. I believe that confusion happened, but that he was banned for not being a paid advertiser. I think the aftermath was poorly handled as well.
Also, there are no grand conspiracies. In fact, the exact opposite is true: Mason almost never communicates with the mods at all. When someone has a situation that they don't know how to handle, Mat Sklansky usually responds, and Mat almost always says the exact same thing (paraphrased): "It's your call. Do what you think is right." Nobody has ever given me an order in my capacity as mod on 2p2, and it would be really weird if they did. That's like the exact opposite of a conspiracy.
I never thought there was a mass conspiracy against me at TPT. I felt as though PP have chip on his shoulder because of boyd thread and that you did also because of our debate on DD. I respectfully backed out of that because I did not want to hurt FTP or Kevmath. I apologized to you but never pressed the FTP backend again until yesterday.
Temp BanSo, OP posted something in that giant thread about Stars maybe buying FTP that PP deleted (I know Michael as PP, so I'll call him that). That thread was a nightmare because people were going there to read news and it was full of a billion derails and lots of crap, and it got a ton of complaints from users. (It's actually a really great example of a thread where moderating was really really needed, and a lot of people were thanking me for the effort that I put into making it slightly more readable.) So, I don't know why OP's post was deleted because the forums are down, but that's why it might have been. I don't really think that this is something that OP's complaining about.OP says he didn't know that it had been deleted, and I'll take him at his word. This goes back to the fact that 2p2's software sucks for moderating--OP should have gotten a message saying that it had been deleted, but the forum doesn't generate such messages. Ideally, PP would send OP a message, but that was a gigantic thread that needed a lot of moderation, so PMing everyone simply isn't at all practical.So, from his perspective, it might have been perfectly reasonable to just repost it. But, PP didn't know that OP was confused, obviously. (Maybe he should have assumed that he was confused? I don't know.) So, he saw this as OP deciding that he's just going to post shit whether mods want to delete it or not. Stuff like that is exactly why we have temp bans--to let someone who won't stop doing stuff that he obviously shouldn't do cool off. So, from PP's perspective that's a really obvious temp ban.
I disagree and think it was either PP being overzealous with me, or the context of the post:1_1335755897_29_two%20plus%20two%20deleted%20post.jpg
Naturally, OP was really upset by this. He wrote a blog post about it calling PP and myself out (even though I'm not involved at all...). He tweeted at us on Twitter. Etc. I get that. It's a natural response. But, it's also not a good way to clear up a misunderstanding. It's really hard empathize with someone who's attacking you, though as mods we should try to.PermabanOP posted something in ATF complaining about his temp ban (don't remember the details). IMO, he should have every right to do so, but PP banned him. I completely disagree with this decision, and I said as much in the mod forum before the forum went down. I've talked about it with PP over skype just now, and he said he'll reconsider and he DMed OP to let him know.I mean.. he probably just made a mistake and will hopefully take it back. It's unfortunate, but mistakes are going to happen sometimes. It's particularly unfortunate because, in addition to you simply being upset that you're not allowed to psot on 2p2, which sucks already, you also now have come up with conspiracy theories about this stuff.
I was especially upset at the temp ban because of the innocence of the link to Forbes.com. I have a big problem with Pokerstars buying Full Tilt Poker for a number of reasons. Being temp banned at such a crucial time infuriated me. To me it's the equivalent of turning away voters at a registration center (being unable to post contrary to mass opinion on public forum) Although the site is a privately owned forum, it still is a public forum. Yes it is great that everyone is getting their money back, but the money should never have been taken in first place. I'm sure DN and I disagree on FTP's shortfalls, but we can always debate that here. Since the owners of PS are so mysterious, it's hard to research how they got their money. I find many issues with that meeting at sea between Wynn and Ps owner. First off why did PS need Wynn pre BF? Thee meetings were years ago and I don't believe the bills were public that stated that the owners of online poker licenses must have casino licenses with so many tables etc etc. But I could have missed something. Where these meetings to shed FTP by using Wynn's influence?
StickyI'd had this idea for a while to create a sticky in NVG that said something to the effect of "Please make sure that your post is something that other people will want to read." I recognize that this is a bit patronizing, but a really really big problem with NVG is that people post stuff that clearly doesn't pass that test--random insults of other posters, "first!", etc. And, I'd tried something similar in various threads--coming in and posting something like "Hey, guys, please stop posting stuff like _______ because it's not really contributing." and that level of simple honesty seemed to really work well. So, I thought I'd try it in a sticky.The sticky itself was a bit goofy because, well, it's the internet and it's NVG and goofy is the standard. I included some examples, and I tried to make stuff a bit funny. Obviously, that means mocking some people, but this is the Internet--Daniel said that I (or the mods in general or whatever) treat 2p2 like it's North Korea ITT, for example. That's just sorta how the Internet works, and I'm comfortable joking about these things. Sorry if it hurt your feelings, but I don't really think there was anything inappropriate about my tone.With that said, someone actually pointed out to me that the post of yours that I quoted was in response to a direct question, so didn't really fit the description. So, I simply made a mistake there. I'm sure you can understand from my perspective how that post looked like it was a derail. I'm sorry about that, and I was going to change it but the forums went down. (I'm not making this up.. It's in the ATF thread about my sticky.) I still will, of course.. Remind me if I forget.
I think goofy is a really poor word. Meme's are goofy and fun. Using my post as example simply is trying to make me look like a fool. The only place to complain was the about the forums section were I went. I was completely perm banned in seconds. What is really wrong about that sticky is that each statement had been quoted or posted rather in the forum or in the news. I stated a year ago that the FTP software would be leased out:Poker Domain SeizuresIn my opinion all of these studies the states are doing are wasting tax payers money. They could drag a third rate affiliate off any forum and that affiliate would be able to tell them that the state would not be able to get the conversions needed to have profitable poker eco system. You need thousands of players all day long to get games going. This leads me to the conclusion that the government went after Full Tilt Poker, UB, and Pokerstars to wipe out future competition for Caesars Entertainment Group. Once they have a bill in place for regulation of online poker, they will grant Caesars Entertainment Group a sweetheart license to run online poker sites in the USA. The state’s study will conclude that they can’t do it on their own, and that they will have to buy “skins” from Caesars Entertainment group. A skin is essentially a re-branded poker room that is running on the same network. So, let’s say the Rivers Casino Poker Room wants to do a online poker room after it passes Pennsylvania state law requirements. They will contact Caesars Entertainment group and purchase the rights to re-brand the software with their own logos. Users in Pittsburgh would log into Rivers Online Poker Room and would see graphics from Rivers Casino. In reality, they would be playing with people from all over the country and the world. Rivers Casino would get 40% of the revenue generated from only their players that are tracked to them, Caesars would get 50% and the state + US government would get the remaining 10%. This is why Harry Reid wanted a black out period…. He wanted to have Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker cease their LEGAL operations in the US so that he could get all his ducks in a row for the passage of a bill that will clarify to banks that it’s actually legal to make deposits to online poker rooms.I had said Caesars because they owned 888. I later said Zynga. I did not know it would be Pokerstars, because I didn't understand how fast the PS situation could be reversed or why Wynn would should his friend in the foot. However, I discuss how these lobbyist can do reversals in short time spans as in the case of Abramoff with the indian casinos and Sun Cruz:Jack Abramoff Indain casinos
Some accusation of shilling for FTPYou've said this a few times. I don't know what it means. It's weird from my perspective to read that you have proof that I did things that I know I didn't do. I think you once posted what you meant, but I've since forgotten.A requestI really really don't like being accused of doing things that I haven't done publicly on the Internet. My reputation in the poker world is extremely important to me, and I put a lot of effort into trying to act as ethically as possible in this world. I mean.. I basically gave up nine months of my life to keep the poker community informed. It really bothers me that there are forum posts and blog posts and stuff about me saying that I've done things that I simply haven't.I get that you're saying this stuff because you think it's true, and I can handle a little name calling on the Internet. But, I would appreciate it if you considered my feelings, just like I think it's fair to say I've considered yours.
I think that you have considered my feelings today but not the other day when I was posted in the sticky. I agree that sometimes I take a shot in the dark with some of my hypothesis. I resent the use of the word "theories" or "conspiracy theories" to me those are worse that the word Shill because a shill is at least paid whilst a "theorist" is looked at like hes crazy. The shill attachment came because I still don't understand the access to the backend access stuff. Also , poker is not the only subject I research when it comes to lobbyist. Many politicians or FBI agents etc etc get well paying "security" jobs after they do the bidding of the lobbyist. So at first they don't make a profit, but once the legislation or bill gets passed , they soon get high paying consulting job. I could use Louis Freeh and Michael Chertoff as an example as both run security firms now. That was my logic and the use of the shill word was used to hurt you because of mocking me in that thread. I retracted it at DD and reinstated it when the post was put in the sticky section. Yes it would not make sense to further publicize something that one is trying to hide, but I took it as sort of you using your respected opinion to discredit me, thus not only discrediting me for that mere post but anything I've ever posted. That's why I took it very personal. Also, some of my posts that seem unrelated to you or the other mods will be relevant in a couple of months or one year. Just like when I posted about the time frame to make claim with DOJ (I think it was months before anyone else). I think that the sticky should be taken down and an apology issued in it's place for 3 days to 1 week after forum is back up. As I've stated before , I think you are a good person and I think your a brilliant person. I attribute much of that to your father who is also well spoken. You have to take in consideration the devastation that this is going to have on Poker affiliates. The players will get there money back, but we have way more time and money invested than the players and we are going to get totally screwed. Both you, Two Plus Two and DN should also take into consideration the dangers of a poker (casino) monopoly. Sorry for my long winded response. I am very tired and there may be some ramblings.
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