I would like to apologize to everyone I offended with my actions on this thread. I am a very competitive person and for the past 4 years I have put up with a lot of stuff from Gene and those Australians. It went way beyond business a long time ago and became personal. There is no way anyone will ever understand what I've gone through these last four years. They made it a goal to put me out of business and ruin my reputation so I am very passionate about these matters. They didn't factor that I would fight back. Stuff like Damien making the post of a personal email which was sent to ONE person and editing it so that it fit the way he wanted it to fit to make me look bad (I'm good enough doing damage to myself on this thread) is just a minor thing but that is how they operate. That text was one of the worse. Not for me but for Python. Note that when I asked about ONE story I've ever made up they couldn't tell one. The reason is that I tell the truth and don't need to make up stories.

Regardless, it is no excuse for my actions and I take full responsibility and have no excuse for what I did and said. These matters don't involve anyone else but the combatants. I am sincerely sorry for everyone that had to read and be disgusted with the direction I took with this thread.

Now that the battles have been fought and the 4 year war has been won I can now ride off into the sunset on my own terms.

Thanks for reading and to those who still will hold a grudge for my actions I don't blame you.

Cheers,
James

Thanks, James. Time to move on...

Thanks James - now onto making those I-500 ramps!

Well said, James. Time to channel the energy to making deals, new parts, and a successful future.

we love you man... good job.. MANY?MOST here dont know/ understand all the deeds that GENE has done over the years....

James, ride off in an Opel GT and all will be good.

Brad

Agreed Pinballinc and mikepin, Gene is not a nice person.

What turned me sour on him was at Expo (Ramada O'Hare, now a Holiday Inn Express) when he had a King Pin in his booth, After I just spent over $100.00 on Dave Christensen books, I asked him if I could play a game on KP, He said sure, for $5.00 <pause> I asked is the money for a charity? To which he replied, yes, my charity to get the project to build the KP's off of the ground. I smiled and walked away from that <vulgar name deleted as this is a family forum>

Nice.... Very classy.

Ok thanks for that James from the bottom of my still waiting patiently for my Elvira ramp heart!

ehhh - a lot of us knew what had been going on and couldn't blame you for some well-deserved rants. Just hate to see ya get that worked up.

_{Post edited by Manic: 'cuz I'm dumb.}

I wasnt going to reply but I send you this out of respect for Pythons work..
Good on you for being big enough to apologise to everyone - but still with the accusations about the text being from Melbourne? give it a rest hey. That SMS was most vile and offensive indeed and I wish you would stop waving around public suggestions about how it couldnt possible be from anyone else or otherwise the person who really trolled you then wins.

Thanks to my day job I know the Australian Internet like you know the ramp business ... the CPE in the address means Customer Premise Equipment .. its the end user IP for sure. Surely Im not the only one who knows exactly who it is that lives up there?

It seems you have been successfully trolled by one of the most prolific pinball trolls in Australia.

The SMS was not from us. (I'll say 'us' for you because I know you're into that idea.. i'll even offer the term 'known associate' to replace 'lackey' and agree with you on it.

Please dont go away thinking I have some kind of problem with you. Im sure you're quite a character in real life and if you want more help with the IP address issue feel free to ask.

All the best to Python and you and everyone playing along at home. Ive been down the cancer road ...its a bitch...

Sooo.. why does he go through the trouble of bringing KP to shows? To show off? To let people know he's still working on it, or does he really believe he can charge $5 for people to play it? If it were me, I'd hand over the $5 and nudge the shit out of it. If he told me to be gentle, I'd be like "I'm paying $5 to play this, I'm gonna play the crap out of it"

Thanks Doug, I sincerely hope that your cancer experience is beaten and never shows it head again. There is more to the text story but the last thing I'll do is drag it up and turn this into what I did before because it really is time to move on. My offer still stands, if they match my $2000 donation to Python EVERTHING will be forgotten. He means more to me than anything I've been through so I'll watch to see if they make the donation. They do and I'll never confront them again on any forum about any matter. And I AM someone that honors my word.

http://www.gofundme.com/HelpPython

Cheers and thanks everyone.
James

I would like to thank wiredoug for reaching out to me in private. It was very much appreciated and showed a lot of class.

Thanks again Doug, best wishes.

-James

I've said a million times, good things come from confrontation and this is another example. This is also another example why you don't want to lock threads prematurely.

Well done, James.

Hear, hear! There's no doubt that animosity created in other threads similar to this bleed into other topics in the form of passive-aggressive thumbs down and trolling. If this hadn't been been played out, it's likely that there would have been other threads polluted. Let the more conservative mods take note of that.

Quite the opposite.. it's not enough people out there willing to work for all of us for almost nothing. There is no 'wealth' out there in this parts industry because of

- high up front cost
- low volume
- limited market
- market full of cheapskates

We are a hobby that most of the stuff still comes from people that do it out of passion for the hobby/game.. not because they think it's the answer to their money questions.

I have stayed away from responding as I have no dog in the fight, plus most of the time I just put my foot in my mouth. I do not like pissing wars. However, James we have never meet or at least not to my knowledge, we have never meet. I will say you won me over with the high road. If more knew how to do that, (Including myself) I think we would all get along better, after all there is not 1 person on here that all ways makes the right call or doesn't blow their top from time to time. I feel it takes more of a person to apologize than one who does nothing more than bash someone else. Good luck with your business ventures in the future and keeping pinball alive.

James and I talked. We're cool.

We're also not mad at each other.

We all want to know ... who is this Aussie troll?

rd

1000% agree.

If more people were allowed to hash out their differences instead of them being silenced as soon as any conflict was identified, there'd be a lot less conflict overall.

Well the court system isn't exactly private.

I guess that advice works well for teenagers especially, but I think people are too non-confrontational these days and because of that, a lot of wrongdoing that would otherwise get nipped in the bud quickly, continues for much longer.

There are a lot of crooks who capitalize on people being too afraid to speak out against them.

I also often wonder, if there are people out there that really don't know how they affect others, and if more people spoke out, they might change? We tend to exist mostly in little like-minded communities these days, surrounded by those who are supportive and shrink away from those who are critical. I don't always think that's a recipe for personal growth.

So very true.

This happened with McCune and I well over a year ago. I now consider him a great friend.

I hear what you are saying but I have always been a natural mediator when it comes to conflict. Most of the time I am all for a civil conversation but this thread got uncivil for some time and I am glad it became civil again. Most of the time it doesn't get resolved. Was there a chance that this thread would become civil again? Sure...but a very slight chance at that. I would never want to bring negative attention to myself on the internet, especially if I was running a respected business that takes internet orders.

Everyone has an opinion of how things are supposed to be done. You imply that my advice would be great for teenagers. I find that punishing in private resolves most aspects in life rather than pouring gasoline on a problem and publicly throwing a match on it. So I guess we agree to disagree.

The best advice I ever heard was from my father recently about 5 years ago. I was dwelling on something that happened years ago. He said "Son, life is like the pixels on a television set. You look at each pixel (experience), you admire it, you learn from it and then you move on."

I think it all comes down to: picking your battles. Sometimes it's best to let it go. And sometimes it's best to fight back. It's up to each person to figure out what works for them.

Exactly!!! I couldn't have said it better.

Thought of Gene when I cracked this open today:

IMAG2277.jpg

I don't know gene personally but did see him at a few shows. He always seemed like a less than honest person just in his body language. Like the type of person who might share with you or help you if he thought it might pay off for him in the future.

You can't deny he did do some good for the hobby but as it is becoming clear now it wasn't for the hobby he did what he did but rather for the good of gene.

It's too bad he didn't realize he could have made as much money (or more) by treating people right.

Now all that's left it seems is to watch the buzzards pick the meat off his bones. All those he wronged will be lined up at the auction and will win in the end. Either that or his "fortune" ends up in a landfill. I can't imagine which one would hurt him more.... To see it sold at fire sale prices or to see it liquidated in one more to the dump.

To bad really, he had an opportunity to be a positive influence in coin op history and now it seems he will be remembered as a plague.

This is an interesting example of "do unto others..."

Chris Kruger

Somewhere in the middle as of right now.. so when do we start hearing about POSITIVE stuff from all of this fallout, now that I can't buy parts or glass at TPF this year?

That's pretty impressive perception. Was he twirling his moustache or tenting his fingers?

I recall his "ILLinois Pinball Update" at the October, 2000 Pinball Expo held at the Ramada O'Hare. Friday, October 20th to be exact. Gene would spout out a sentence or three followed by the statement: "Action will be taken". He said this several times whenever he would mention one of his Fred Flintstone or Ralph Kramden-esque schemes to make and sell something and then he would mention that if anyone else tries to do the same, "Action will be taken". I raised my hand and politely asked what does "Action will be taken" mean? He bluntly said "I'll take Legal action and Sue anyone who tries it".

Kind of ironic, eh?

Not many people sticking up for Gene here, so I'll say this in his defense: to the best of my knowledge he never murdered anyone.

Hmm.....

Snidely Whiplash 1.JPG

Snidely Whiplash2.JPG

Gene Gene the dancing machine.JPG

He never wronged me in any of my dealings with him.

He, in fact, allowed me to make much money from his playfields, backglasses, parts....

Gene tried hard to buy the ENTIRE Williams pinball business and keep it going, but Neil wanted to insure that pinball was DEAD.

+1 on Snidely. And only because I loved that cartoon.

Actually, no, Gene blew that up on his own.

LOL, Gene, of course tells a much different story.....

I thought Roger Sharpe was the one who had investors lined up but the write off was more valuable than any cash at that point because of DTLs.

I just put my Funhouse translite in my machine that I bought from IPB. I'm glad to have it and all, but its about half the thickness of the original.

Yet.......

oldguyshooting.jpeg

Hard to imagine someone WANTING pinball to die...

.

25bb6b2fdfe07d138da35f672dd376fd.jpg

Any updates? Will there be an auction of IPB inventory?

Did not see Gene at Texas Pinball Festival this year (last weekend in March).
If he was there, I guess I missed him.

I did see him at TPF last year, and in 2012 I believe,
and also saw him at the Houston Arcade & Pinball Expo Nov 2013 (and perhaps for the Nov 2012 Hou Expo).
He would mostly just hang out in his booth area, and make a quick cruise through the parking lot for the Sat morning swap meets.

Wonder who the Melbourne troll is?

I never got an answer to that question when I asked it before ...

rd

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/time-to-retire-from-pinball-inc-ramp-manufacturing-its-been-a-blast

I can only wonder if they didn't succeed. Would you be retiring from pinball now if you hadn't fought the war?

Good luck with your future endeavors. I look forward to reading your book.

Any updates on what is going on with IPB?