Post by Mac on Dec 19, 2014 19:59:47 GMT -4
Dear Members of the APW Forum,
First and foremost, President Jeff - I hope you are ok with me posting this.
I just sent out an email to all those who were signed up on the EWC forums. I don't know if many still visit APW, but it appears like some come often enough, especially to see how President Jeff is doing in his wrestling career. I've watched some videos.. looking good bud! If you ever do a show in Winnipeg, I will be first in line to support you!
Here is the email I sent out to my members. I wanted to post it here, as I feel you are also owed an explanation.
I wanted to personally take some time and send out a message to everyone who has ever been a Member of the EWC family. Be it someone who wrestled, managed, wrote matches, judged matches, designed, consulted or just watched... this message is for you.
I want to firstly address the supposed "return of the EWC" and creation of twitter accounts, facebook accounts and a new forum on a "board.com" website. None of these were EWC. None of these were me. Someone actually took the time to pretend to be me, for a long period of time it seems like. The only forum the EWC has used.. since roughly 2006-ish, is proboards. We are ewcprez.proboards.com/ and ewcprez.proboards.com/ only. The OFFICIAL twitter handles that I myself have the user name and password for are: @stranglemania and @ewcefed.
Approximately 2 years ago or more, I had come back to re-open the EWC.
I was excited and motivated. I got in touch with former members, met some new members and created a really solid staff. We re-opened the doors, and a fantastic amount of support and the EWC was back. In 1996 I created the EWC. I had started e-fedding about a year earlier on a site called "HCW". A number of my friends from school were on this site and "wrestling" each other. They talked me into joining.. so I signed up.. started as "Big Mac" and quickly got swept away in how fun this game was.
The HCW then got too full of itself. They began to award staff with titles, people were mad.. but there was no other options. Some other sites existed but nothing all that great. Now at that time, I was learning HTML, Java and was also big into graphic design. So I created my own system or "forum" where you could post roleplays in "real time" and reply to them in "real time". I designed a website, I created two shows.. and within 11 days of opening the doors, we had 37 members. It was incredible. The EWC was born. The HCW could not continue, so I offered to absorb the roster, absorb the titles, and take control of the HCW. The owners agreed and the rest was history.
Over a period of 14-15 years, the EWC was always known to be "The e-Fed". We were the first eFed to have multiple shows. The first to offer multiple divisions. The first to have over 100 on the roster. The first to have voting as opposed to the Owner assuming responsibility for picking winners. We were the first to go all out on the design front. We had our time in the sun, but we also had many dark periods. I had many dark periods.
I am not proud of some of the things I have done or said. I am not proud of some of the choices that I made, or excuses I came up with. Sitting here at 33 and looking back at those moments in my life.. I'm a little embarrassed, but at the same time I'm proud. I'm proud the EWC lasted more then 16 years. I'm proud at what we accomplished as a team. At what we created. No one on this earth is perfect and I will be the first to say just how far from perfect I am and was.. but the one thing we had.. was each other. The EWC has always been a family. The monkier created in 1997 "EWC 4 LIFE".. its a matter of fact now.
So lets get back to the reason of this email now.
About 2 years ago, in the middle of a very successful return and in the middle of planning for a big global tournament, and in the middle of deciding to continue for one final season of the EWC.. we got hacked.
Someone, somehow got into my "admin" account and started deleting sections of our forums. I got pro boards to lock my account and reset my password and I put the EWC into maintenance mode. I found the IP address of the person who logged in as "me" and I posted it everywhere I could to try and find them.
Then I walked away.
I was mad. I was really really mad.
It took a whole lot for me to come back into the game. It took a whole lot for me to admit my mistakes. It took a whole lot for me to make up with people who out right hated my guts. I had to go to many people, and beg them to forgive me. I was feeling good, the EWC was going strong, I had this pot for the King of the Cage.. things were great and then all of a sudden it got ripped from under me and.. I had nothing left. I gave up. I walked away.
You have to understand, since 1996, the EWC has been a mainstay in my life. 6 months ago I hired the former handler of "Steve the Predator Bennet" to come work at the company I am Management in. It was great to see him again and recently we have been talking about the EWC and the "good old days" of 1999-2006 of eWrestling.
Then while walking to our cars last week he said to me: "You should bring the EWC back".
I laughed. Drove home. Tried to log into twitter. Couldn't.
So for the last few days, I had my twitter account returned to me. Changed all my EWC related passwords. Then started reading. For 8 days I've been reading. Found out someone pretending to be me for months, claimed to reopen the EWC, saw my name bring dragged through the mud again, saw people complain about how bad the EWC's return this year was.. yadda yadda.. I figured.. no, I need to say something.
eWrestling, eFedding, the EWC.. this wasn't just a game to me. This was my life for a long time. I had a rough life, I did. This was my place to vent. To talk to "strangers" about my problems. To say things I was too scared to say to the people who should have been the ones hearing it. It was my creative release. It was my OTHER me. It WAS me.
Now here I am. Staring 2015 in the face. Staring 34 in the face. Looking at my wife and going, "I miss the EWC. I miss my other family".
I owe everyone something. I had a pot that reached $100, and it was supposed to go to the winner of the KOTC tournament. I never touched that money. It's still sitting in the same pay-pal account and I owe that money to YOU. Some of you contributed to that pot. We talked about it. I called in to pod casts and talked about it, we hyped it up and that money belongs to you.
I don't know how, but I am going to get that money to you. I don't know how much of eWrestling still exists out there. I don't know who even cares anymore or if anyone even remembers me. But I will find a way, to hold a tournament, and give that money away like it was meant to happen. I give you my word on that.
So give me a little time, allow me to gather myself together. Find some things out. I will hold a tournament, I will give that money away to the winner and if you will have me and if there is enough support to do it, I would like to have one full final season of the EWC. One full 12 month term, one full season. A season to say, properly, good-bye to the last 19 years of my life. I would like to do the EWC justice.
To all those who wrote for the EWC, fought for the EWC, bled for the EWC.. YOU all deserve a proper ending to this story. I want to do this for you and honestly, I want to do this for me.
So I conclude with this..
NUMBER ONE: King of the Cage WILL happen. Some way, some how. $100 CDN to the winner, $50 CDN to the runner up, $25 CDN to the second runner up. I OWE you all this. I shouldn't have walked away when I did. So I OWE you this.
NUMBER TWO: The EWC would like one final season. A full 10-12 month season. We can do it weekly, bi-weekly, whatever it takes. I want one final season. However I can't be the only one. So if you want in, if you want one more season, email me: ewc.president@gmail.com
Thank you all for reading. Thank you all for understanding. Thank you all.
All the best to you all of you.
President Mac
First and foremost, President Jeff - I hope you are ok with me posting this.
I just sent out an email to all those who were signed up on the EWC forums. I don't know if many still visit APW, but it appears like some come often enough, especially to see how President Jeff is doing in his wrestling career. I've watched some videos.. looking good bud! If you ever do a show in Winnipeg, I will be first in line to support you!
Here is the email I sent out to my members. I wanted to post it here, as I feel you are also owed an explanation.
I wanted to personally take some time and send out a message to everyone who has ever been a Member of the EWC family. Be it someone who wrestled, managed, wrote matches, judged matches, designed, consulted or just watched... this message is for you.
I want to firstly address the supposed "return of the EWC" and creation of twitter accounts, facebook accounts and a new forum on a "board.com" website. None of these were EWC. None of these were me. Someone actually took the time to pretend to be me, for a long period of time it seems like. The only forum the EWC has used.. since roughly 2006-ish, is proboards. We are ewcprez.proboards.com/ and ewcprez.proboards.com/ only. The OFFICIAL twitter handles that I myself have the user name and password for are: @stranglemania and @ewcefed.
Approximately 2 years ago or more, I had come back to re-open the EWC.
I was excited and motivated. I got in touch with former members, met some new members and created a really solid staff. We re-opened the doors, and a fantastic amount of support and the EWC was back. In 1996 I created the EWC. I had started e-fedding about a year earlier on a site called "HCW". A number of my friends from school were on this site and "wrestling" each other. They talked me into joining.. so I signed up.. started as "Big Mac" and quickly got swept away in how fun this game was.
The HCW then got too full of itself. They began to award staff with titles, people were mad.. but there was no other options. Some other sites existed but nothing all that great. Now at that time, I was learning HTML, Java and was also big into graphic design. So I created my own system or "forum" where you could post roleplays in "real time" and reply to them in "real time". I designed a website, I created two shows.. and within 11 days of opening the doors, we had 37 members. It was incredible. The EWC was born. The HCW could not continue, so I offered to absorb the roster, absorb the titles, and take control of the HCW. The owners agreed and the rest was history.
Over a period of 14-15 years, the EWC was always known to be "The e-Fed". We were the first eFed to have multiple shows. The first to offer multiple divisions. The first to have over 100 on the roster. The first to have voting as opposed to the Owner assuming responsibility for picking winners. We were the first to go all out on the design front. We had our time in the sun, but we also had many dark periods. I had many dark periods.
I am not proud of some of the things I have done or said. I am not proud of some of the choices that I made, or excuses I came up with. Sitting here at 33 and looking back at those moments in my life.. I'm a little embarrassed, but at the same time I'm proud. I'm proud the EWC lasted more then 16 years. I'm proud at what we accomplished as a team. At what we created. No one on this earth is perfect and I will be the first to say just how far from perfect I am and was.. but the one thing we had.. was each other. The EWC has always been a family. The monkier created in 1997 "EWC 4 LIFE".. its a matter of fact now.
So lets get back to the reason of this email now.
About 2 years ago, in the middle of a very successful return and in the middle of planning for a big global tournament, and in the middle of deciding to continue for one final season of the EWC.. we got hacked.
Someone, somehow got into my "admin" account and started deleting sections of our forums. I got pro boards to lock my account and reset my password and I put the EWC into maintenance mode. I found the IP address of the person who logged in as "me" and I posted it everywhere I could to try and find them.
Then I walked away.
I was mad. I was really really mad.
It took a whole lot for me to come back into the game. It took a whole lot for me to admit my mistakes. It took a whole lot for me to make up with people who out right hated my guts. I had to go to many people, and beg them to forgive me. I was feeling good, the EWC was going strong, I had this pot for the King of the Cage.. things were great and then all of a sudden it got ripped from under me and.. I had nothing left. I gave up. I walked away.
You have to understand, since 1996, the EWC has been a mainstay in my life. 6 months ago I hired the former handler of "Steve the Predator Bennet" to come work at the company I am Management in. It was great to see him again and recently we have been talking about the EWC and the "good old days" of 1999-2006 of eWrestling.
Then while walking to our cars last week he said to me: "You should bring the EWC back".
I laughed. Drove home. Tried to log into twitter. Couldn't.
So for the last few days, I had my twitter account returned to me. Changed all my EWC related passwords. Then started reading. For 8 days I've been reading. Found out someone pretending to be me for months, claimed to reopen the EWC, saw my name bring dragged through the mud again, saw people complain about how bad the EWC's return this year was.. yadda yadda.. I figured.. no, I need to say something.
eWrestling, eFedding, the EWC.. this wasn't just a game to me. This was my life for a long time. I had a rough life, I did. This was my place to vent. To talk to "strangers" about my problems. To say things I was too scared to say to the people who should have been the ones hearing it. It was my creative release. It was my OTHER me. It WAS me.
Now here I am. Staring 2015 in the face. Staring 34 in the face. Looking at my wife and going, "I miss the EWC. I miss my other family".
I owe everyone something. I had a pot that reached $100, and it was supposed to go to the winner of the KOTC tournament. I never touched that money. It's still sitting in the same pay-pal account and I owe that money to YOU. Some of you contributed to that pot. We talked about it. I called in to pod casts and talked about it, we hyped it up and that money belongs to you.
I don't know how, but I am going to get that money to you. I don't know how much of eWrestling still exists out there. I don't know who even cares anymore or if anyone even remembers me. But I will find a way, to hold a tournament, and give that money away like it was meant to happen. I give you my word on that.
So give me a little time, allow me to gather myself together. Find some things out. I will hold a tournament, I will give that money away to the winner and if you will have me and if there is enough support to do it, I would like to have one full final season of the EWC. One full 12 month term, one full season. A season to say, properly, good-bye to the last 19 years of my life. I would like to do the EWC justice.
To all those who wrote for the EWC, fought for the EWC, bled for the EWC.. YOU all deserve a proper ending to this story. I want to do this for you and honestly, I want to do this for me.
So I conclude with this..
NUMBER ONE: King of the Cage WILL happen. Some way, some how. $100 CDN to the winner, $50 CDN to the runner up, $25 CDN to the second runner up. I OWE you all this. I shouldn't have walked away when I did. So I OWE you this.
NUMBER TWO: The EWC would like one final season. A full 10-12 month season. We can do it weekly, bi-weekly, whatever it takes. I want one final season. However I can't be the only one. So if you want in, if you want one more season, email me: ewc.president@gmail.com
Thank you all for reading. Thank you all for understanding. Thank you all.
All the best to you all of you.
President Mac
