Quoting for posterity, because might as well.
Quoted from PinRebel:Looking back at that thread that's pretty lame if that was the case because I don't understand why he was told to stop discussing something there in the first place and I'd be upset too. But I heard he used some bad language with that moderator and then he was frozen. But that seems pretty lame also if it was done in a PM and not publicly. Pretty extreme.
Quoted from PinRebel:What does this mean and why is that bad?
I was only referring to that last thread he posted in that you noted. It just reads like that moderator had an issue with him personally, first.
Quoted from PinRebel:You are seriously misguided here. There is nothing illegal about him owning a prototype game that never went into being manufactured. Nothing. Your anger should only be directed at that Kevin guy.
Quoted from PinRebel:It was never a production game and never will be. It was a prototype that traveled to many shows. I have no idea why that has anything to do with the apparent money that is owed to pre-order people. There is apparently hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting out there somewhere and you are worried where the prototype went? Go find the money before Kevin spends it all at auctions and elsewhere.
Quoted from PinRebel:Only that he never handed any money to Kevin and never dealt with Kevin in any way from what I understand. He bought it from someone else. I don't know how long ago the prototype was sold or given away but it may certainly be long before any legal action was started.
Quoted from PinRebel:He responded to me a little bit ago on Facebook. He has it but not under the circumstances that people have said. Apparently someone on here contacted him on Facebook in a very threatening manner to him and his entire family. I'm kind of sickened now how people on here are responding and my part for mentioning I know him.
A little strange that you seem to have just edited your post to remove your comment that you need to unfreeze him and let him respond directly to the accusations and threats here. And it seems a little ironic that his last comments on this site were to discuss the dangers of pre-orders and lack of openness and you basically told him to shut up in that Alien thread that LTG referred to.
Reading back through the comments here, why is there no moderation of the threats and personal attacks on him especially since he cannot respond? Why is this mob mentality allowed to grow? This is disgusting to allow him and his family to be threatened and if you think your occasional comment that Pinside does not condone threats is enough to relieve you of responsibility I think that is sad.
Quoted from PinRebel:As a lawyer, do you believe it is legal to publicly solicit parties to join what could be considered a class action lawsuit in the state of Michigan? To solicit people to provide information on class action litigation? That seems interesting.
Quoted from PinRebel:Really? Nothing seems threatening to you?
Nah. Nothing threatening in your mind about comments like these I guess? From what he said of the FB messages and threats it is much more disgusting. But those messages can be traced back to right here from where the unwarranted anger and hate was allowed to grow.
Quoted from PinRebel:Sorry. It just appeared that you were the person who froze his account so it just seems strange that you were not aware of the extent of his ban or whatever it is. I thought you had stated yourself you were interested in hearing the reality of him being in possession of this game. I have now made more posts on this site then I think I have done in 3 or more years on RGP and feel like a fish out of water. But I do feel very bad for this guy because from what I knew of him he was a very good guy and well respected. I still know him on Facebook and I saw his post a little while back showing the game. It didn't even cross my mind that it was something controversial.
I am not a lawyer just another software consultant but I thought it was illegal to solicit folks or encourage them in any way to join a lawsuit like this especially prior to filing. If you are a lawyer then you probably know more?
Quoted from PinRebel:That is a pretty serious threat dude. That's not cool. It's creepy enough you stalked him and took pictures of him from a distance. Are you telling us he wasn't driving a Porsche or even a brand new fancy truck? Maybe I'm missing where it was discussed in the past but how is it that out of 250 pre-orders there are only 15-16 people at this point on a lawsuit with this Keith? I thought the majority of the pre-order people were here on this site? Is it possible the majority of people have gotten their money back now and don't want to brag about it or hurt other people's feelings who haven't gotten their money back yet? I obviously don't know the details of how many people are still looking for their refund but inciting people to confront him in a threatening way does not seem right at all. This crap should stop. Let it work through the legal system.
Quoted from PinRebel:He stated "come back here next month, I DARE YOU". That is very threatening. Not sure how you see it otherwise. That's not right.
You can certainly believe whatever you want but you are absolutely out to lunch. You obviously have no understanding of the legal system dude. He did nothing wrong. Anyone here can build 1 or 2 games of any copyrighted material they want. As someone else said there are apparently a half dozen people on this site publicly doing just that! That is fair use of IP and selling the game for the money you put into building it is not illegal either. Mass producing the game and selling it for profit would have been illegal. But they didn't do that. As far as anyone here knows that I can see Kevin has been reimbursing as many people as he can as fast as he can. You have 15-16 left on this lawsuit with this Keith guy. Maybe 6% of the pre-orders?? WTF?
I don't know if Tim will explain or not but my guess is he would absolutely do it if he could.
Quoted from PinRebel:Is there not a difference between selling something for the money you put into it and selling something for profit? I specially stated selling it to recoup his costs. Not for the intention of making profit.
Quoted from PinRebel:Yah, that sounds a little crazy to me too. 250 games goes beyond just creating some fan art or something. But Im really just curious about all the people making custom games right now using copyrighted IP. Can they really never sell those games to recoup costs? Could they even trade those games for something they consider of equal value? Or can it really never change hands technically? I thought as long as they didn't sell it for profit then it was no big deal but I'm definitely not a lawyer.
Quoted from PinRebel:And why is nobody going bat sh.t crazy over all the people that create pinball toppers and other mods using copyrighted IP? It's everywhere.
Quoted from PinRebel:I spend half my time contracting to Ford in Dearborn Michigan which is where I met Tim some time ago. I have never met Kevin and know little about him myself.