Because Joe has disappeared. According to Carl, Joe has given them full control of the site. Carl hires. Carl fires. Carl decides if a new feature gets created and Carl decides if things just completely stop.
Carl is essentially the head of the site. According to them they were going to buy Ver from Joe because Joe wants nothing to do with it. Nobody has seen Joe for years. They came back briefly to appoint two new admin who came with a lot of promises and then left.
I know it sounds like a bunch of whinging users who dont understand that coding and art takes time and money, but I promise you that isnt the case. Every user on Ver wants things to go back to how it was. Users have offered their services as writers and artists for free. Staff were underpaid even when they were being paid. I've been on the site for a decade and most if not all active users and users who return often to check in have been around for just as long. We've been through highs and lows. Half of us have had beef with one another and moved on like a weird family with weird family drama because we share a space that we love. That includes Carl. People have been incredibly supportive of Carl's efforts and offered ideas and support at his request up until the last month.
The recent allegations against him soliciting users in return for favors has everyone on edge... because pet sites are typically seen as a place for younger people and because it comes against the person with arguably the most power on site, a person we all trusted. It also explains a lot of weirdness that you would only know about if you were there. Its that sort of thing that at the time you can make yourself ignore it even if your brain calls attention to the weirdness of the situation, but in hindsight really makes a lot of sense.
Even the recent shadowban kind of points to wanting to sweep something under the rug. Like... why would you not just suspend someone or send them a warning? Why go into the code of the site to make it so that user cant access anything but their account appears totally normal for everyone without even talking to other staff and admin?
And sure, maybe it's entirely just a bad call. But that makes this post by Blondie all the more important. Would you not want to be warned about someone who doesnt pay their employees? Or pays them in virtual currency? Or pays some artists for alternate items but tells others that the site doesnt pay for alternates? How about someone who fires without ever contacting the employee? Or keeps their art on site in limbo without paying or telling them they can take it elsewhere? How about still accepting purchase for an item costing special currency but not wanting to upkeep the purpose of that item allowing it to become useless while not refunding users or taking the item out of the shop?
Because forget Joe, Joe is gone according to Carl (we only have his word and Joe's absense to back this up. We have no proof that the things Carl says Joe says is what is true). Carl is in charge of all of this. Carl is head admin and they're the one who is making all of these absolutely horrendous decisions that potential staff members need to look out for because it's predatory business that relies on staff NOT sharing experiences with one another.
We all love this site. We want it to have a ressurgance. Once or twice a year old users flock back en masse to see whats going on and see old friends. If Ver magically gained new life I'm sure it's loyal fanbase would give it what is probably it's fourth or fifth chance to keep their attention... but at this point it's languishing in death. Until recently Carl would get on, ask in the shoutbox for ideas and then maybe dangle potential new features in front of our faces while half the site is broken. Our games still run on flash. The halloween point counter has been up in the corner for the entire year and the halloween unlockable enemy has been in the coli this whole time and it was a month or two last year AFTER Halloween that we were even allowed to spend those points. Even events which could be automated just dont happen. So Carl is willing to ask for ideas and talk about things thag are "definitely" going to happen, but... not do anything about these easy fixes? We didnt complain about any of this. We were patient and understanding. We have always been patient and understanding with the nonsense for some reason. Heck, even after all of this users are still willing to be patient and understanding. We would love to talk to Joe. Some of us even talked about pooling money together to buy Ver because Joe has been trying to sell it for years but Carl wont give us a pricetag.
We have to trust Carl to forward our concerns... so what do we do when our concerns are ABOUT Carl? It's like having complaints about your Boss and no HR or higher up to go to.
Even now, half of the users are terrified of saying anything even on here to support Blondie because maybe it could lead to a shadowban and that makes total sense because even in the past I wrote a negative review calling out the weirdness in staff and broken features and allegedly certain admin told staff members and users to try and bully me off of the site. I was explicitly told by someone that I had been put on a list and staff were looking for a reason to ban me.
The only reason I'm here speaking up right know is because I think this sort of thing needs to be brought to the attention of people within this tight knit, small circle of creators... and because I spent hours backing up all my stuff. I have ten years and hundreds of dollars in this site. I've made best friends for life and experiences that have helped shape me into the person I am today. Ver came into my life when I really needed it. I dont say any of this lightly. I dont want to lose it all, but the longer I sit here and hear everyone talk along with what I've experienced on site, the more I wish someone would either buy it and do something ANYTHING or that the site would just stop existing.
Joe is a huge reason this has gone so wtong and so many people have left with terrible experiences. He was greedy about the price when people were interested and has left us in the hands of someone who should never have been given a public position of unchecked power. But Joe isnt here and Carl has been the one making decisions for years. Trust me, we blame Joe for quite a lot too but cant complain to someone who wont say anything or show their face.
