It was brought to my attention, as a co-moderator of the ORIGINAL Pinoy Cosplay Mailing List, that some unscrupulous cosplayer-n00b by the name of MIKE ABUNDO was using the name of our group with the help of another person who I thought was a friend of mine.
And here's how they used it! And all WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION from the list owner (a friend of mine who no longer cosplays) and any of the moderators, including myself.
Now this would have been fine, except for the following evidences which shall present below.
** Identities have been emitted to protect the privacy of certain individuals involved. This post is just between Mike Abundo and myself, so even if they have played any roles in this these people will not be mentioned. Also, statements with highlights are mine. Anything with "sic" points any serious perceptual error on the part of any correspondent listed below. However, everything else will be posted verbatim
EXHIBIT A:
Hello guys,
I wrote mike a private latter via Filcosplay forums and it goes like this:
============
Just a notice and not Filcosplay related. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of Pinoy Cosplay but i cant help but wonder if the original owner of the name had any affiliation with your forum. You did mention that itis not in any way related to the Mailing List that has been in existence since 2001 (tomy knowledge). Would this cause confusion in both parties? It would be best that you change the name. You cant say that you have not heard of thisgroup since if you Google the name Pinoy cosplay, you would find it there. Incidently ifi google Pinoy Cosplay, your site comes out first, then {name removed} and Joy's ML comes rightafter until the second page.I would recommend that you change the name of your group as soon as possible, somethingthat would not induce any confusion to {name removed}and Joy's Mailing List. Even if it had minimal activity, it still has the right to its name.
Im PMing you so that we could quietly come to a solution like mature adults. But if thisthing continues, or if this letter is ignored, i have no choice but to vocally go againstit, in an open debate if you like, and in your forum if you must. Again, do not take these action as a means of sabotaging your forum just because i am a mod of Filcosplay. I'm doing this because i know {name removed}and joy (with {name removed} a barkada of ours from OAV) and i respect both of them. Once this is settled and the name changed youwont hear this topic from me again.
{name removed}
{email removed}
After an hour Mike has chose not to ignore this letter and replied:
Hi Robert,You have a point, but a new domain name would cost real money. I have a solution that will benefit the entire Philippine cosplay community.I've invested time, money, and expertise (in terms search engine optimization, trackinginfrastructure setup, CSS customization, web strategy, and online community management)to build an open, user-friendly web forum. {name removed} and Joy have invested time,connections, and community knowledge to build a respected mailing list.As such, I propose a merger between the two. That way, Philippine cosplay can besynergistically developed across two online media: a web forum, and a mailing list. Thesum will be greater than its parts.I would be happy to apply my seven years of web strategy experience to help {name removed} andJoy catapult their mailing list to new levels of usefulness and popularity.We have a golden opportunity here, Robert: an opportunity to bring Philippine cosplay out of closed-garden insularity, and into the global conversation. We can rid this country of cospolitics. Let's not waste that opportunity.
Regards, Mike
---> Now I know that the cosplay community is sadly rampant of politicking, but the reason many of us continue to engage in cosplay is because we have been there since the politicking, and believe that we all can rise above it.
Isn't it obvious though how much he keeps proclaiming himself as "the saviour of the Filipino costume play community"? (see highlights, again those are mine) And when did domain name ever become the issue? The issue of the matter is that MIKE ABUNDO IS USING OUR DOMAIN NAME FOR PERSONAL GAIN.
EXHIBIT B: http://mikeabundo.blogspot.com/2005/10/pinoycosplaycom.html#links
---> I replied to this as nicely as possible, but go read the comments section for the reply. See the same phrase, "closed-garden insularity"? Get used to it. You'll be seeing this and many variations of it later on. How rude and insensitive. He isn't even apologetic over taking the name arbitrarily, the cad.
EXHIBIT C: http://thealternativeme.blogspot.com/2005/10/all-for-show.html
---> Well, goes to show that halfway around the world, great minds think alike. (To the good lady who owns the aforementioned blog, I'm terribly sorry for dragging you into this mess!)
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