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I guess now is as good of a time as any. Good on you for speaking up aff, it had to be done. I’m sad to see AEco go.
I can confirm that I have been given a permanent ban from r/electronic_cigarette.
I did not discuss any of these matters publicly whatsoever until now. Apart from speaking my mind in no uncertain terms in private chat groups, I have not sought to incite drama on the sub, nor organise any kind of “brigade”. What I did do though, was PM the “older” mods with my concerns, along with screenshots for proof of what I am claiming. Which is, extremely poor and unethical moderation with black and white violations of sub and Reddit rules by the mod team themselves. How they’ve gotten away with it so far is mind blowing.
This revolves around u/Sychophantom and his many alts harassing users, likely engaging in vote manipulation and reports of doxxing / IRL threats against members of ECR on discord. There has been persistent and bizarre support from u/lestermagneto, u/Anthony_vapes, u/corvusfan23 to allow this to continue and now the rest of the mod team are aware, I can only assume they are at least complicit in the situation. Make no mistake, the sub is controlled by this buddy club to their own ends. Anyone speaking out will be silenced or banned. u/Sychophantom as well as not being banned like he should have been, was snuck back in as a moderator (fucking unbelievable) before being demodded again, and as I understand it is still a member of a private chat group for moderators.
It was 9 days after sending this PM that I received a permanent ban with zero explanation. Here’s the album of screenshots that was provided to the moderators. As I don’t know how modmail works, I was not willing to risk my message being hidden from mods that may actually care about the situation. Giving these links may be unethical, but I can say that I have permission from those included from private chats, while the others are publicly available. Anyway, I suppose I don’t have much to lose at this point.
It is absolutely no secret that I dislike u/Anthony_vapes. His argumentative and egotistical attitude being a main reason (along with generally poor electronics knowledge), and now it’s added to the fact that him being a moderator is a massive conflict of interest. Reddit guidelines literally say to avoid moderating a forum which you may be biased in, and yet here he is recommending his own product for his personal financial gain. How is this okay?
I cannot even begin to cover the unfair and unjustified bans which have been plentiful, and let me just say that using rules such as “inciting drama”, “don’t be a dick” etc, are fucking bullshit excuses for the mods to ban people or delete comments to suit their own agendas. Also directing any concerns to modmail where it can be ignored and hidden is cowardly. I can honestly say the sub was far better off when mods simply weren’t present. I’m extremely saddened that many valuable and good people have been lost through what has happened. Long standing members that have given their heart and soul to helping people. I’m not surprised that their tempers have boiled over.
So there we go, there’s 3 years of trying to help people, thousands of dollars of my own money invested, hundreds of hours of work testing devices, and I’m banned for speaking up for what I believe in, to people I hoped I could trust. I will continue to help and post in other subs where I can.
Edit: Since I can’t reply to Anthony’s comments in the ECR version of this thread I’d just like to clarify a few things. I was never harassing you, I made it a point to only make contact with you when your technical information was incorrect. Even then I kept it on-topic. I was never warned for anything, except for a misunderstanding where I was actually giving a compliment which was assumed by AA to be sarcastic. i especially did not receive any warning before being banned. You guys haven’t debunked anything I’ve stated, that’s an outright lie. How are you debunking any of the actual screenshots or of you being in a mod position when you shouldn’t be? Also, nice try with saying I’m guilty because I didn’t challenge the ban. Guilty of what? There has been no explanation or reasoning for the ban. I’m not grovelling for my ban to be overturned if that’s what you’re wanting to see.
Sorry to see you banned vapey, guess you corrected AVs basic electronics knowledge and misinformation one too many times.
I am glad to see these issues gain more visibility with folks as this is the shit I've been dealing with for 6mo after outting sycho as villian and all the shit that came with it.
I've gotten IRL death threats from the ~~mod~~ mob crew since then, you know the kind I can actually back up with evidence unlike this mysterious harassment claims coming from them against folks like yourself that they clearly cannot back up. It's just you chose to maintain friendships with their "enemies" and are now guilty by association.
Can't say I haven't loved watching interest and participation drop off the face of the planet on ecr the last couple months, they're doing a bang up job of driving everyone out... Night chats used to get 100-200 comments, now lucky to hit 20 with mod crew chatting each other up... Feel mostly bad for the newbies that are stuck believing AV has any idea what hes talking about though!
Hey your post makes my best of 2019 list, I should link it in every comment this year, especially ones that it has zero bearing on and ignore anything actually asked or stated!
e: a word
Holy shit I didn't even notice you were banned from there mate. (not that's a bad thing, New account and only browse every so often). We should start a new and better e cig subreddit without this drama. I lost interest a bit a few months back during another drama that I think was around sychophantom and his bullshit. Sad to see that and other shit wasn't resolved. Come back to r/aussievapers, we miss ya. Lol
Never left mate! And yeah, we’ve had a backup plan to start or move to a different sub without all this bullshit. Don’t blame you for skipping out for a bit, kinda wish I wasn’t in the thick of it. I just wanna test stuff and help people, it shouldn’t be this hard hey. Plenty of posts and tests almost ready as well as a giveaway btw, I’m looking forward to them. You’ll see them in r/aussievapers and other subs soon :)
Yeah it's a bit fucking shit with old mate talking his shit, and then there's you who actually knows what the fuck is happening in these mods. We had a good convo on my old account and you know your shit. I'd rather hear your experiences because you take shit apart and explain why it's good or bad, instead of the "I don't say good or bad, but I (always) will say, yes, this is a great mod" shit you hear from old mate. Imo you are the best cunt of the best cunts. And you're a total sick cunt. Hahaha (Americans, this is how you Australian). Haha
Thanks for putting all of this together. I have also been trying to bring attention to these matters, albeit in a less succinct way.(well done) I have been in contact with the ecr sub creator Lynda about many of these same issues. Sadly nothing has been done up to this point. I dont know if this will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, but I hope this leads to some positive changes moving forward. I wish the wider ECR community gets a chance to digest this as well. Good work mate.
Yeah I can't believe he has screencaps of all that shit. That's some serious dedication.
It wasn’t particularly hard to find, once you’re on the trail of bullshit. There’s a hell of a lot more I could be posting, that’s only part 1. I feel annoyed I’ve had to waste time on this tbh, I’d rather be doing something constructive like testing mods. Good on you for speaking up in the first place mate.
Thank you mate. It’s pretty shitty it all had to come to this, absolutely would have preferred things to be figured out in a sensible way. I’m not really left with any other choices at this point though. Honestly I doubt anything will be done about it, but at least things are out in the open. I’m waiting for retaliation but I guess they can’t ban me twice eh. They’ve certainly got an issue with you discord peeps.
Jesus dude, ECR is taking the big shit. I left after Sycho randomly got made a mod again (because things were somewhat resolved, so why not fuck that right back up?) and when I noticed Anthony became a mod without any announcement. There's no way in hell he should be a mod, that's a huge conflict of interest and ECR was already turning into a giant "ride Anthony's dick" fest.
Bullshit that you got banned. You were one of two people on there that actually brought the science. So, when are they going to ban Mooch?
I know some of the mods in ECR were mods in Vapistan as well, but ChasingRapture just gutted Vapistan of everyone but him for moderators and is going through and cleaning up the mess left behind. In other words, you (and anyone else) should be safe over there if you'd like
Agreed on all the above of course. I’ll still be doing testing and posts, I’m waaay behind due to a loss in the family a few months ago but I’ve got some good stuff lined up. It was a struggle finding the motivation to contribute with all this sub stuff going on too tbh. I’m not too worried about myself being banned, but I feel bad that companies have sent me gear to review and they likely won’t be getting the exposure they expected. I don’t get paid for tests but I still take it seriously. First couple of posts might be carpet bombed to multiple related subs until I figure out where is best. Super glad CR cleared out Vapistan too, great time for him to come back.
I'm sorry for your loss man!
Agreed, very good timing on CR's part lol. I've done reviews too, so I understand your feelings towards that. I can say that I'd love you to post them over in Vapistan. It may help breathe some life into the place. Like you said, the vendors might not get the exposure they were looking for, but that's not your fault and you can always point them to where you posted things. Maybe they'll see what's going on too.
Holy shit man you've been in P.I. mode for a while. Those 2 posts of mine were up maybe 2 minutes tops. A 3rd never made it to the front page because of fuckery. I was also banned that night. I was not as calm as you seem to have been but I didn't really give a shit. There's no correcting that shithole aside from burning it down and starting over.
Thanks for reposting here.
And yes DIY bros, I was also banned at ECR.
I heard you had, I looked up your last comment there, and looked at the deleted comments.
That shit was bad and the mods should feel bad.
Thanks for what you do brutha.
holy shit pevins is still alive?
You got banned and sycho is still a mod? You're only like 10% as bad as him. Really shows you the state of the sub.
edit: also, I was a bit worried when you were announced as a mod here to be honest because while I like you you are a bit abrasive but it just goes to show how to do it. You can separate one from the other and I'm glad you're modding here now.
Hes not a mod in official status. Though Im sure hes pulling strings. He has definitely corrupted the others, as they all share the same rhetoric. Except for Foment. He is the lone wolf in the game.
10%? I take offense to that. The shit you don't know about him goes deeper, and deeper
Now you know how it feels. So go ahead and un-ban u/eyemakepizza from here.
Sad state of affairs over at ECR currently. Many users being banned from what appears to be moderators combing through post history searching for any minor infraction to justify perceived personal grievances. Claims of phantom brigading from some faceless bogeyman. It has gotten to the point of bizarro land at this point. Yesterday a member who has not posted on that sub for over 2 months was banned out of the blue. Of course, no proof of rule infractions are being provided to the affected parties. Then there is this gem.
I've enjoyed my time on ECR, but most of the mods (who I've had positive interactions with in the past) seem to have gone off the deep end. It's just not an enjoyable place to hang out these days.
On a personal level. Man, sorry things had to go down the way they did. I always enjoyed reading your posts, and I had a lot of respect for you listing the flavors you used. Way cool. Best of luck going forward.
Ps- I missed what happened with caveman, anyone wanna fill me in via pm? Thanks!
I’m sure someone will do better but caveman was an alt that the mods knew about. Basically called afflaq out about fulfillment issues, trying to get people to pull the pitchforks out, all while pretty much doxxing him. It was creepy as fuck too, mentioning all kinds of personal details like a fucking stalker. I’m sure there are screenshots out there.
This isn't the only issue either. it goes on and on. Sad thing is before most because mods(the new batch) I actually called a lot of them friends.
They were cool for a while but it went to their heads. Sycho should have never been made a mod. AV should not be a mod if he wants to use ECR to promote a product with his name on it. They are full of shit too. Transparent my ass. “Mod mail” is a fucking joke. Every gear question in ECR will have AV posting links to his lists and one of the mod team recommending his RDA. It’s a joke at this point. If they really cared about ECR as a community they would step the fuck down, but they don’t.
>who I've had positive interactions with in the past
I very much agree with this. As someone who does/has modded, admin'd, sysadmin'd, etc for many forums, subreddits, BBSes, PTs, IRC, etc I don't really understand how in the world they are coming up with people for mod positions except nepotism and, in the beginning, not actually knowing the people they selected in the case of the really old mods like Lynda making people who haven't even been there a year a mod.
They just add rules and mods with not a single announcement either. Its used to be the community had a say. Now its more of a prison with the warden jerking off in his office and letting the guards do whatever they want.
Anthony (and many others) said himself that he shouldn't be a mod because of conflict of interest. Now he is a mod, has his list in the sidebar and constantly spammed, spams reviews for every company out there, designed, sold, and marketed his product, but its cool because he gives free shit sometimes.
Those people are at worst a shill and at best someone subcontracted by a company making them subject to the same rules as any vendor but nope.
Its also completely bullshit that sycho got removed from his mod position(after a lot of complaints and several days to address the original issue) and was proven to be using alts to harass users and is now a mod again. I don't have any problem with him as a user but he should not have any mod power and truthfully he violated the rules and should have been banned for breaking them like anyone else.
If the old mod team was still in place when all that went down(if it even would have) you can guarantee they would have had an official post about it up the next morning addressing the issue openly(instead of hiding behind the I can't say because of legal reasons that didn't even make sense) and actually let people discuss the issues and made an effort to fix it instead of do what I say or I'll ban you.
Hell, mods were attacking people, banning people, etc and there was a big hurrah about the whole situation and how it was some super serious legal shit and they needed lawyers but when is the last time you heard anything about it aside from the one post that didn't even address the matter and was nothing but platitudes 4 fucking days after the event.
I've been on both subs for a long time. I can't tell you how many messages I've gotten saying ECR is going downhill fast or I left ECR because of what it has become here is my email so we can keep in touch.
At least this sub seems to be getting better and better.
For a while there 3 or 4 moderators were consistently posting product reviews. In the not too distant past, shills were called out routinely on ECR, they fucking have a hand in running the place now. It's a joke.
Yeah, I've started to smell fish ever since I saw a mod get in an argument and switch over to their official-mode mod account and give a warning about rudeness because the guy had the audacity to argue back. It honestly wasn't even a rude conversation. If it was rude, then there were about 10 other rude conversations happening on the subreddit at that same time that simply got ignored because those people weren't being rude to a mod. Ooooh, the audacity!!
It's ridiculous. The rules don't apply differently to mods, especially when the one in question is arguably one of the more outspoken rude people on the sub in the first place.
Happy trails, and thanks to you both for bringing 04, ACFC, and CHIC into my life!
I unsubbed from that train wreck of a sub a few days ago because I just can’t even with all the Stanford Prison Experiment meets Stanley Milgram horseshit going on over there anymore, and have completely lost all respect for the moderation team there.
Damn you were one of my favorites over there. You gave me ton of help with the decision to pick up a vindicator and Kennedy build help.
🙂
Lately, I’ve been spending more time over at r/vaping helping out where I can, so I’m still around. Just not on ECR, at least not while the mods are spending their time alternating between self-examining for colon polyps the hard way and hanging crayon-and-construction-paper signs saying “NURDS & ICKEY GERLS STAY OWT” on their twee little blanket fort.
lol, have an upvote from a former psych major who appreciated the analogy.
I stopped visiting that sub a few years ago because it was literally the worst subreddit I've ever visited on reddit (except /r/The_Donald of course, but that's strictly for comic relief). Sad to say, it couldn't been more stereotypical, as it seemingly consisted of a bunch of uneducated hicks who enjoyed getting ripped off by eliquid manufacturers, while simultaneously sucking their dick (kinda like when Republicans vote in elections). Needless to say, it was odd and somewhat reminiscent of Stockholm Syndrome..
People who shouldn't be giving advice would be the ones giving it, and the majority of members thought they knew everything about anything. It was like watching a live experiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect in cyber Middle 'Murica. After combing through threads and reading conversations, I felt like I was getting dumber by the day, even though I was trying to learn. It eventually got to the point where I just had to quit that shit like another bad habit, cold turkey.
On the bright side (and for the sake of my sanity), it did lead me here...
Jesus Christ what a shitshow. I’m sorry you have had to deal with this level of nonsense from The ECR. I might just abandon ship and unsubscribe from that place. A belligerent air of nepotism and deceit has been permeating that place for some time now. Especially among the majority of the mods that “moderate” it.
Funny thing is they blame the old mods for pretty much everything but really its only gotten worse lately.
It really has. It was a mistake letting syco back in, for one, after that entire debacle with him. Then on the other hand you have mods picking and choosing who they reprimand. Most of the time people that didn’t even deserve to be reprimanded. Like when I called out that caveman asshole for being a needlessly belligerent dick. Here came Corvus to the rescue to “warn” me. A couple days after I called out caveman. Picking and choosing. And alts. I’m sure alts are back in play.
Oh there are definitely at least a few alts. its really sad this has what its become. I used to love loggin on everyday and chatting with friends and helping people. Seems those days are long gone. I'm not super combative but I do speak my mind and I'm always worried about posting and getting on someones wrong side even though I used to call many of them friends.
Well I’ll post a more thoughtful reply this time because I was trying to get it in before it got removed.
Almost a year ago to the day, my aunt got sick and I had to make some tough decisions regarding her care as her health care proxy. My brother came up from North Carolina to here (nyc) and we spent days in the hospital and nights at home watching mindless tv to zone out. I put in a order with you and it got a little messed up. You totally sorted us out and were a champ and those flavors became the olfactory soundtrack to a very difficult week. Maybe not the best reference but it’s true. I’ve got the last of that batch here, elixir 5 that I’m planning to finish this month. Weird as fuck as all this is to say, it meant a lot to us.
I do wish you the best.
-isuamadog
I’m glad I was able to be a good dude to ya at some point. Things sorta crumbled at the very end but I just didn’t have the time or motivation for it. Better to shut it down than carry on doing something I have no passion for anymore.
Damn. So sorry to hear this. Your juice, specifically Elixir M, is what got me off cigarettes about 10 months ago.
Best of luck in your future endeavors and thank you again for helping me get off cigs. And of course, a big thank you for the M recipe!
What an appropriate recipe for me to post then :) glad it was able to do some good!
Did some good for more than just me - fiancée switched to vaping from cigs a few weeks after me and still going strong. She recently found my stash of your cheesecake and has been sucking it down with gusto. We'll both miss your work and hope to see you still popping in around here.
Edit: Mixed up some M already and taking it with me tomorrow. My attempts to do something similar were waaaay off. Thanks again!
Very sorry to hear this. Elixir 01 is my very favorite juice of all time. Good luck in the future my man.
So... I heard a rumor...
Basically, every 50 times this gets crossposted (and subsequently removed, they last a couple seconds to a minute each) to ECR, Randy was gonna release another recipe.
So, everyone who has a couple alts to spare (or doesn't mind a permaban on their main account) can crosspost this thread a couple times. Anyone else wanna see how many recipes he'll release?
That was a joke lol, I’m not releasing more tonight. Don’t do that to the ecr sub. They may be slightly retarded but they’re not that bad of people.
Also, I plan on releasing additional apothecary recipes here soon with some explanations on how I came to conclusions on percentages and shit.
It wouldn't have done anything to the sub.
Woulda kept the mods busy for a couple hours tho...
I wish you luck in all that you aspire to do and I appreciate the work you've put in for others. I'm happy to have had your products in the past and present day.
Your cinnamon apple cereal specifically showed me that even if I think a flavor can be good that we don't have to settle for "good" when perfection exists. Got me to quit cigs and I can't thank you enough for that.
Rock the hell on.
Aw man. I recently just found out about you from searching for the coldest menthol possible. Went to the site and saw it was down. Super bummed I won't get to try any of your juices but I appreciate the elixir m recipe and look forward to making it. Best wishes and good luck on everything going on in your life!
Thanks to the mods for allowing this to be here and stay up. Seriously, thank you, it's appreciated.
The mds here don't have their orifices filled with the tongues of ecr mods the way the ecr mods do.
So ECR mods shove their own tongues up their own asses?
Always meant to get around to ordering from you, just never worked out. Anyways, I wish you the best in your new endeavors!
Wow this is ridiculous. I was wondering if there was some sort of mass exodus or something over there I may have missed since I haven’t seen many of you guys posting. Know I see.
moves sub to DIYEJ higher
It’s sad to see AECo drift off, but now I have my favorite recipe from you guys and am going to buy the flavors now. It would be cool to see others come about, or perhaps you guys comeback albeit smaller, but for now Elixir M is my jam.
While I completely agree there are mod issues on ECR, this entire post just seems like a smoke screen to deflect the hate off of someone that screwed people over and onto the mods.
> I took a new job and let my business responsibilities crumble. I screwed up and fucked over a lot of people over. Those people will stay fucked over. Hey, look over there, bad mods! Get them!
I don't know this situation at all, but 1- more than one thing can be happening at the same time, and 2- it seems like he admitted he fucked up (I'm not sure how much more you can do after you fuck up. Like, if it was that he had to let employees go--what the fuck can he do about that now? Go back into business?)
Make it right by refunding their orders? Business accounts are closed, so the customers can't get their money back. Some people have been chasing him for 6 months trying to get refunded on their orders that were never fulfilled.
If a vendor scams someone out of cash, then makes a public apogee to the community that he just lost interest, gave up, and decided to close up shop (sorry not sorry), that somehow makes it OK because he apologized?
s/lot of/few
But not really the point.
A more honest tl;dr - "Shit happened, I'm leaving anyways, so I'm free to say things that needed to be said, fuck you shilling hypocritical bastard mods, goodnight."
While I completely agree there are mod issues on ECR, this entire post just seems like a smoke screen to deflect the hate off of someone that screwed people over and onto the mods.
> I took a new job and let my business responsibilities crumble. I screwed up and fucked over a few people over. Those people will stay fucked over. Hey, look over there, bad mods! Get them!
^^This ^^was ^^posted ^^by ^^a ^^bot. ^^Source
Wow. Very sorry to hear how things went down man. Your juiceline was great, and particularly helped a friend of mine get off cigs when switching. Elixir 8 was the bomb. Lots of flavors I wanted to try but never got to.
I sympathize with you as well. I run a side gig out of my house but for a completely different sort of business (sewing and printing basically) but comepletely understand how crucial time and energy is.
The shit with Caveman is bonkers to me. I can't believe the state of ecr really. That being said, I can understand why there was some vitriol towards AE- it's not been uncommon for vapers to be burned by companies, and I think how professional AE was kind of hurt you in that regards. By that I Mean, it seemed like a bigger company than it was. I do think it's fair that people were concerned about shipping times and fulfillment, though I think you did everything you could without losing your marbles. Ecommerce can be a tough game, and not always that rewarding.
Good luck to you and yours.
Damn. I loved #4. You always replied to my emails and messages within minutes.
I found and joined reddit because of ECR almost 4 years ago trying to find info on vaping. I barely check it anymore. Just not the same place.
Wish you all the luck in future endeavors Randy.
I am now locking this thread. I believe it has gained the visibility it needed to have, and is now posted in multiple places. This is DIY_Ejuice after all. Time to get back to it. Most of you heathens only care about the recipe at the bottom of the post anyways!
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Can't you read? Both of you get SFA
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