Message from Carver (Thibault)

[shawnofthedead]

My friend Carver/Thibault was recently banned from this forum, he sent me this email that he wanted me to share with you, to explain his side of things. This is the email he sent to all members of mytobaccocellar.com.

Dear all,
First let me introduce myself, my name is Thibault (“tee-bo”), I am 36. I am from Belgium but have been living in China for the last 6 years.

I am married and my first-born daughter Eleanor was born 6 months ago.

I am an English Teacher and Academic Team Manager in the Private Education Sector in China.

I have been a pipe smoker for 2 years.
As you have noticed, MTC.com has been in “Maintenance” for several days now.

Although I have finished the “beta” version of the OWN MIXTURES module and will deploy it very very soon (it’s quite nice!!) the reason for being in “Maintenance” is very different.
The reason for the website to be inaccessible is that I am having issues with the administrators of tobaccoreviews.com.

And Transparency is also the reason for introducing and identifying myself clearly.
The issue is the following:

I have always been very honest and clear about this: the information about blends and tobaccos on MTC.com is not mine, I built the options, tools and the functionalities around it but the info came from them. I copied it.

I candidly (stupidly) believed that since their info is user-generated, since it most likely comes from manufacturers, and also can be found identical on few other websites, and since I placed numerous links to their website everywhere on mtc.com, I really believed that although they have refused at first, once the end result was there, they might be convinced.

That not only they’d be ok with it, but they might even want to partner up, work together with me, and collaborate to create something really cool and useful for the pipe community. (I know It’s questionable but I thought the end result was worth it and its value recognized.)
Well, they don’t.
I have been in communication with them for the past several days trying to explain my motivation, clarify the confusion and misunderstanding, apologise for the situation.

And also to clarify that, despite the questionable way, I am an honest man and, even though I didn’t think we’d be having this discussion, I have no intention of being a thief in keeping their data.
Thanks to the person I have been in communication with at tobaccoreviews.com, I also realize now that, partnering up my tools and their data is not the only way, I can also re-do it on my own. Yes it’s a set back, yes, we’ll have to spend some time recreating the blend information, but it’s ok, because it will be even more rewarding afterwards.

So, next step, we’ll have to take a breather, start over. I will have to create a system that allows myself, my team and everyone to refill/populate a new database like they did themselves.

I will also reshape and redesign certain sections of the website, that, as it has been reported to me, need to be improved and more original.
Furthermore…

In these circumstances, I have contacted the few people that had already subscribed to a premium account.

Even if they paid for functionalities that are not related to the blend info, I could not in good conscience keep their money and offered them a refund of their subscription.
I also explained to them, as I am telling you now, that when MTC.com reopens, I won’t be keeping functionalities reserved for premium accounts, that the initial inspiration for doing this website was to make something useful and fun, and that I want all to be able to have fun with it, not only the ones who pay and support.

People who support MTC should be doing just that, supporting and this way, it would show an even more awesome and generous act.
To my surprise, their reaction was awesome.

They have refused to be refunded.
To various degrees, they have expressed once more their sympathy and interest in mytobaccocellar.com, expressed how sorry they were that things didn’t work out with tobaccoreviews.com, shared their motivation to participate in the renewed project and that they want to consider themselves as the first supporters, and well, support they did !
I am still speechless. Thank you.

Thank you so much for your trust.
To all of you, please, accept my humble apologies for letting you down. If some of you feel like I have made you accomplices of an unacceptable behavior, it has never been my intentions.
Don’t worry about your cellar information, it will be safe. I am certainly not going to ask you to refill everything manually. I’ll take care of that. I’ll find a way to re-inject your data in the new system.
@Mr. “S”: although you must have felt really bad after discovering all this, you have kept your cool with me, you have taken the time to talk and communicate with me. And, probably without knowing it, you have helped me reboot my motivation to make it even better.

Thank you.
I’ll keep you guys posted on when the website is expected to be back online. It should not be that long. I can’t wait to get things back on track!
Kindest regards,
Thibault - MTC.com

 

[jvnshr]

Carver is banned? Probably the reason was advertising MTC here without any permission.

 

[tuold]

I read this with interest because I was involved in a similar dispute. In my case, I was providing free content for a Web site that offered free distribution of my work. Then the Web owner started charging for downloads of my content against my wishes. He wanted to be reimbursed for his costs of maintaining a Web site but had no concern about reimbursing me. In the end, I was successful in getting my stuff off his site. It's not just about the money but control over property. (And the money) It's like loaning your neighbor your lawn mower, then finding out he's renting it out for profit.

 

[shawnofthedead]

Well, actually Kevin, the admin of this forum, sent him a "congratulations and good luck for your endeavour" message but also told him that he had to take the post down because it wasn't, as you said, allowed to do advertising. Kevin did offer him ad rates. Carver was banned soon after that.
About the renting for profit thing, the library was free access. Only some of the tools Carver himself had developed for the "cellar management" part, were offered for people who subscribed. But the library was free, and he had done the work of translating most of it in French and Chinese for other people to be able to benefit from it.

 

[jvnshr]

Well, actually Kevin, the admin of this forum, sent him a "congratulations and good luck for your endeavour" message but also told him that he had to take the post down because it wasn't, as you said, allowed to do advertising. Kevin did offer him ad rates. Carver was banned soon after that.

Not my business at all, however I think something misses between Kevin did offer him ad rates. and Carver was banned soon after that. Carver was a nice guy though, I will miss his posts and pictures from China.

 

[sablebrush52]

I candidly (stupidly) believed that since their info is user-generated, since it most likely comes from manufacturers, and also can be found identical on few other websites, and since I placed numerous links to their website everywhere on mtc.com, I really believed that although they have refused at first, once the end result was there, they might be convinced.

And that's the crux of the problem. TR refused and Carver went ahead anyway. His intentions may have been good, but that's what paves the road to hell.

 

[kanse]

That's the same guy that ripped off code from pipetool.com.

The dev was unhappy about it and posted it on reddit a while ago.
My opinion, he deserved what he got.

 

[admin]

And that's that.