yeah that seems obvious :rolleyes:
even though we have a carla on oprano, lets make a dude named harry carla instead :rolleyes:

:biglaugh:


My totally honest assessment of what 'being family' means?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I'd love to be proved wrong :D

yeah that seems obvious :rolleyes:
even though we have a carla on oprano, lets make a dude named harry carla instead :rolleyes:

:biglaugh:


My totally honest assessment of what 'being family' means?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I'd love to be proved wrong :D [/b][/quote]
you ARE wrong...

Dean is family and it separates him from non family...


do you see non family members put wine talk on their sites
and exit console on
http://recipe.com


Dean can watch my children, not just business.

by your definition serge, 2 people in this world are your 'family'.
Dean & Scott.

there's plenty of other people who have linked to every one of your sites you've ever launched, contributed to this community and done things for YOU and this board, who have been shat on.

family should be there for each other in the LOW points, not just the high ones. family doesn't use each others low points to create controversy for page views. family doesn't hide behind fake usernames to slag each other.

we each create our own family.
mine is made up of people who support each other equally.

If you had seen what I wrote about what what family means...

If you have something you would like to ask me about - I am more then happy to discuss it. [/b][/quote]


Part of my success is I have learned from other people's mistakes - especially when dealing with scammers.

what can I say? I have a small family....
I have "parents" - they "spank" me
I have brothers and sisters, we "spank" each other
and I have "children" - I spank them.
;)

I like Ant's answer, as well as kath's.

Family is those that know all about you, and like you anyway :)

what can I say? I have a small family....
I have "parents" - they "spank" me
I have brothers and sisters, we "spank" each other
and I have "children" - I spank them.
;) [/b][/quote]
well that's nice, but i'm not bending over (again), no matter how nicely you ask :P

in my family, I'm BOTH the wierd brother and the perverted uncle... just wish
I saw you folks more often than them... :rolleyes:

Allegedly is the key word here - I did not steal anything from Azure - in fact I have criminial charges against them for Insurance fraud, and assualt - this was their method of gurrilla tactics to try and get back at me because they lost the chocolate deal for trying to get it created by another source (this product is patented and they were shopping the methods they learned from them to create themselves) I did not go to work for the manufactuers. I do not work for the manufactuers I simply rep for them. Did I know they were possibly going to pull the chocolate from Azure - I'm cute not stupid - was I making plans - again - cute not stupid.


That being said - the reasons I've shared with oprano in the past haven't changed in previous post I included the case numbers and details - the reasons why I don't work for azure -

1. Insurance Fraud
2. Missing Paychecks
3. Missing commission checks
4. Assualt by Michael Fierce on company property in front of company owners
5. Recruitment of underage talent by Michael Fierce
6. Unpaid vendors calling my personal number
7. 8 months of work on the chocolate flushed down the drain due to unethical acts on the part of Bobby DiMarco
8. Discovery that Bobby Dimarco aka Bobby Knight is currenly on federal parole for millions in fraud.

All these things I'm more then willing to share my copies and proof.


I don't believe in airing this kind of crap in public but at this point its a good enough time and place to clarify. Anything else you want to ask me I'll happily discuss with anyone one on one. My icq is there and I'll give you my number.

Note: Azure didn't attend AVN under Azure they attended under Black Knight Publications - their webmaster "invasions" company because they screwed so many people over that they were looking for them. And they were escorted by head of security from the show for their behavior.

I think an important part of my definition of family is people who have the same ethics as me. [/b][/quote]
Melissa, with your past experience you should have known better than to start working for a company like that in the first place. Quit carrying on about how you were screwed and start taking responsibility for your own actions.

You made the choice to work with them. We all suffer from bad judgement at least a million times in our life, but you seem to never learn from your mistakes.
If you didn't research the type of people they were then who do you have to blame but yourself?

The severity of those accusations says more about you for staying there for 8 months than it does about them. Unless they were perfectly professional and legal up until they day they fired you and you all of a sudden found all this out?! yeah right.

Perhaps if you hadn't have bullshitted the family you had and not dragged me and the rest of the people who were stupid enough to support you through FAKING CANCER you might not have ended up in such a desperate position.

TAKE FUCKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND STOP BULLSHITTING PEOPLE & FUCKING PEOPLE OVER.

You are a big girl, you can do whatever you like in your life and I really don't give a shit, but for some reason I'll never understand, you were blessed with a child who has the most beautiful spirit I've ever known. Everytime you fuck up your own life you fuck up hers as well, and she doesn't deserve it.


sorry everyone for this outburst, but this is a touchy issue for me.

... jesus christ, that scaming melissa davis bitch is still around, I though someone shot the cunt in the back of the head a couple of years ago.

well that's nice, but i'm not bending over (again), no matter how nicely you ask :P [/b][/quote]
children.....I hate when they grow up, become teenagers and show lots of undeserved attitude
;)

Family, in respect to Oprano, is based on the pursuit of mutually beneficial business.

It means being able to trust the people I do business with, and for those who do business with me; to be honorable, respectful and upstanding in all matters.

Ok, so of the choice there I can be either ...

Carla, a sarcastic bitch with snazzy one liners
Woody, a moron
Sam, a guy who chases people like Diane
Diane, a snoot
Rebecca, someone deeply needing psychotherapy
Norm, ok, he's cool
Or Cliffie, a know it all who knows nothing

Cool, I'll take Carla then. :)

Ok, so of the choice there I can be either ...

Carla, a sarcastic bitch with snazzy one liners
Woody, a moron
Sam, a guy who chases people like Diane
Diane, a snoot
Rebecca, someone deeply needing psychotherapy
Norm, ok, he's cool
Or Cliffie, a know it all who knows nothing

Cool, I'll take Carla then. :) [/b][/quote]
I pick cliffie :D

Family are the people you can fart in front of....

Sometimes Shart in front of!

How about a cone of silence?

http://www.harpersferry.org/wireless.../csilence1.jpg

... and who won't give you up when you blame the dog for it. :biglaugh:

... and who won't give you up when you blame the dog for it. :biglaugh: [/b][/quote]
What family are you from?!?

We always "out" the liar - the poor dog doesn't deserve to get blamed for it! lol

:nyanya:

My mom on the other hand has never taken responsibility for a fart - at least not in my lifetime.... she always makes this innocent face and says "what?" when everyone giggles... my dad takes her side and either takes the blame himself or says it was a squeak in a chair or something - lol

:rolleyes:

OK.... I admit my family is odd... my therapist agrees!

Isn't that the point, Kath?
Our idiosyncracies make us who we are....family understands and embraces.....at the very least, tolerates with bemused smiles.

Family is who I'll set down to dinner with

Who I can trust and give trust back to

Who I can count on and will come through for when they are counting on me

Who I can share new ideas with and get honest feedback from and will give honest feedback and support to their new ideas and products

Family is who I can feel comfortable around

Family is whom is worthy to share parts of our lives and parts of ourselves

There's more but it's not coming to mind yet


And while this is Nick and Gonzo's board
Melissa, you'll never be Oprano family- we've been around and have long memories



edited to add - family is who says I love you - without saying a word

Vick ,

I agree .

When many people whose opinion I value . tell me someone is a scammer. I think scammer.

Melissa , you are in the opinion of Oprano a scammer.

You have a history of being a scammer.

Your explaination sounds a scam.

You must have a nice family. I have Jesse as a brother to give me shit about everything.

Yup, .... and the answear was good enough for me to know, STAY THE FUCK AWAY AND HAVE NO FURTHER CONTACT !

as far as I am concerned CJ hit it right on the head, and anyone that would involve themselves with Melissa is a fool.

but like I said, I know now from the answear she provided, and will not concern myself with her being at all! she dissapeared from my radar screen.

That being said there are many of you in the Oprano family, that I have come to admire, and respect ( thanks Serge for unbanning me when I was a dickhead) ( and thanks Mike and Gonzo for giving me a chance to talk with you in person, and find out what a difference between boards there really is !

This whole threads stinks of family and friendship.

There is EVEN the ongoing fighting between family members that others stay clear of LOL.

But at the end of the day , you have shared time and experiences.Good and Bad.

You know each others strengths and weakness and are by neither overwhelmed.

You have earned trust , and loyalty.

Brad Shaw will always be a poor man.

He will never understand that trust and loyalty are earnt not bought.


Then there are the "superfriendships"....

A very smart guy , IMHO , once told me if at the time of your death you have at least 5 friends that you can rely on totally , absolutely , you are a wealthy man.

I have those.

Literally I mean friends that may rip into you , that you may piss with now and again, but when all was said and done , would LITERALLY help you hide the bodies.

2 read this board.

1 has read this board.

In fact , I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams :)

None of them , of course , would lend me any money though ;-)))

:wnw:

well said post Nick :okthumb:

there are always varying degrees of family

I have cousins that are family, but I wouldn't trust them to watch my kids...
I have an uncle who I would trust with my kids, but not my money
I have one of those cousins that aren't discussed in every day company
I am one of those in the family I'm related to by blood who gets left out of certain family functions due to the business I'm in (it's hell being related to hardcore Mormons who think Starbucks is the anti-christ because they serve "cups of sin")

there are some I like better than others, trust more than others and there are those who don't/won't trust me.....ah, but that's fun of dysfunctional families...and let's face it, all families are dysfunctional...

I won't even get into the family I married into ;-)

A variation of another old saying....

A friend will bail you out of jail....

Family will be sitting beside you in the cell going "dude that was awesome!"....

Despite my hanging around at Oprano since it first opened the doors of it's original flat board, I don't know if I really feel like Oprano "family".

More like the annoying neighbour who won't stop bothering you. B)

Family just is.

You know family when you find it.

Family can call a member to task, but does not air the dirty laundry in public.

Family is the only ones allowed to call you an asshole, and mean it.

Family is the ones who can tell you you're full of shit and have it taken as constructive criticism.

Family is like a puppy dog, even when they hate you, they love you unconditionally, skinny legs and all.....

Ok, enough is enough already!

This thread is starting to sound like one of those putrid Hallmark cards that start out ... "What is a Mother? .... M is for ... "

:barfon:

If this place gets any more Osmond-like (shudders!) I'm going to have to bail and find some board where they serve coffee and bring out the danish cart as they wish fond good mornings and huggles to each other -- just to rub some of this shit off of me!! :ph34r:

Oh...does Harry need a huggle ?

C'mon Oprano, group hug time... :inlove:












touch me and you die

Oh...does Harry need a huggle ?

C'mon Oprano, group hug time... :inlove:












touch me and you die [/b][/quote]
I better not catch any of you homos looking at my as!!!!!

Ditto on that one.....


"Family" for me is a very select few....learned the hard way that there are just very few people that you can trust and even fewer that will support and back you up publicly, right or wrong.

Ivy

Ditto on that one.....


"Family" for me is a very select few....learned the hard way that there are just very few people that you can trust and even fewer that will support and back you up publicly, right or wrong.

Ivy [/b][/quote]
Will you be my seestor? hahaha

Ditto on that one.....


"Family" for me is a very select few....learned the hard way that there are just very few people that you can trust and even fewer that will support and back you up publicly, right or wrong.

Ivy [/b][/quote]
Gangs support each other right or wrong, not family....

Family will support you when your right and let you fight it out yourself when you're in the wrong... Although they might privately let you know how wrong you are...... (just imho of course)

Ive meant to come back to restimulate this thread but there really wasnt any reason to do so. So I will distill some comments..

One of the founding principals for Mike and Serge was simply

"The Family that does business together"

Its something that I think of each time I go to purchase hosting, content, etc etc.

As Anth said..."family ... my peers who can be trusted with my business as well as my friendship."

I know that services/goods I have purchased over the past year has been bought pretty much from only people from this resource.
Likewise with my traffic. I can tell you that the bulk of my traffic has gone to sponsors that have supported Oprano. AEBN is a good example of that. I dont have to worry about the rules changing or the latest way they do some creative accounting to reduce what they pay out. My check from them has consistantly grown. And in some cases with less traffic.

By in large our long term sponsors are ones that I can trust with my traffic as well as my friendship.

I would encourage each of you to seek out those that provide services and are active on Oprano. Weve started a seperate forum for up and coming people in our industry such as Nick Pappageorgio to let you know what it is they do.

When I was actively building free sites I always looked at sponsors to see what they had that I could leverage by including them in the design or the concept before it was built. Its resulted in some nice dividends as well.

One of our long time family members is about to put a major push on their new marketing effort. We are awaiting the artwork and then we will be putting on a major push for this company. I urge you to look closely at how they have revised what they are doing to rebrand to make you more cash. If you have a paysite this should be a MUST in adding to your members area.

As witnessed by the shrinking show size in Las Vegas and the lengthy thread on whats wrong with AVN... this business is consolidating. If you dont want to be squeezed out then maybe you should not only know what family is as well as practice from day to day in your business.

That being said... in the following months of this year we plan to expand the Oprano Family network to have our fingers in every aspect of this business. Nick and I are making good on our Dec 1st promise of Family, Honor, and the reawakening of Old School profits. While others are running around sucking on glass bottles and trying to copy yet another business model , we move forward.


The last ride has begun.... are you going to be left behind this time?

You must have a nice family. I have Jesse as a brother to give me shit about everything. [/b][/quote]
I have a wonderful 'adopted' family.

The bio folks were anomolies. Amazing I turned out so wonderfully.

Sometimes, being able to choose a family, rather than have to work with the one you're born with...is quite the advantage....

Having that circle can mean all the difference.

You meant, "Evil Chris posted", right?

That is very interesting Gonzo. But I have to say, this business in its present form is very, very young. I am not quite sure why such a young business would have a last ride. I kind of smile when I hear expressions like "in the day" and "old school" for something that happened less than a decade ago. A lot of that stuff only worked because of the time and the naivety of both the consumer and the suppliers. I have no problem with the progression of business, but solid "old school" real world business practices, I feel, are going to become more prevalent and relevant in the next couple of years. I think the key is honesty for long term success. A fairly easy concept to understand, and a fairly easy concept to practice. "Old School Internet" went well over the top and has eroded consumer confidence and alerted folks like the ftc. How do you see addressing ftc and consumer confidence in the near future?