The father of Microsoft's Bill Gates died on Monday. Normally I wouldn't wish ill on anyone, but for 2 reasons, I'm happy the man is no longer around:
He has done enough harm already, simply by raising his son and unleashing him upon the world.
He founded/owned the law firm Hasbro attacked me with in 2006.
How I came under fire
In the mid '00s, the internet was becoming more ubiquitous in daily life, and Wizards of the Coast (the makers of the Magic: the Gathering collectible card game) were expanding their online presence. Instead of having the unregulated online community discussing upcoming cards and sets, as had been going on for years, Wizards wanted control over the narrative.
I had become known as someone who could spot bullshit a mile away, and when someone had a rumour/leak about cards from an upcoming set, it would be me who was able to determine if it was legitimate or not. I rose to moderator and then administrator of a large and influential forum called MTGNews (and later, MTGSalvation).
Hasbro (the owner of Wizards) decided to sue me in order to discover the identity of someone who had leaked some cards through me on the forum. I can't talk about all the details of what happened, but the Wiki entry on it is somewhat accurate, if you're interested.
Lawsuit out of the blue
It was a document from "Preston Gates & Ellis" that started the whole thing off. They are known as a ruthless and effective team of lawyers, usually hired by rich corporations. I was blindsided, and had no idea I had been stepping on anyone's toes. General consensus was that discussing rumours of upcoming releases drove interest - and sales. If they had asked and explained themselves, I would have reconsidered my posting. Instead, they leveraged all their might against me, and it nearly destroyed me and my little family at-the-time, in order to get me to rat on the original source of the rumour.
Afterward, I made an official statement here. (Wow, was that already 14 years ago?!)
While Bill Gates Sr HIMSELF wasn't on my case, now you understand why I have one extra reason to say "good riddance" today.
DRutter
Everybody has at LEAST one reason to dislike the guy.
Holy shit, I have heard of that lawsuit, from a doco. You famous!
Oh? Hah, famous or infamous?
I did have a lot of public support at the time, as I recall. I was fairly well known in the Magic world, even prior to the lawsuit. I'd made my way as a player, appearing in the top 10 provincially from time to time, but my main accomplishment was being able to figure out if unreleased card info was legit or phony. We had a "Rumor Mill" forum where rumours (and sometimes leaks - both intentional and otherwise - from Wizards) would appear. It got quite popular. People loved glimpses of what was coming in the next set. It drove interest way up, and the game continued to do well for many years. But like I said, Wizards decided to take control of the rumours and release of new info, on their own blog and website. I hadn't really been doing anything illegal, but they were powerful and I was tiny, so they got what they wanted from me. It messed up my relationship with my now-ex-wife, and basically was the first really bad thing that ever happened to me in my life. I can't blame it for everything which has happened since (life has never quite been the same), but I don't think it helped, either. But like I said, I got a lot of support. I was on slashdot and other widely-read news sites. I got 1000 private messages. There were even protests in places like France. Many people boycotted the following prerelease (big event 3 times a year). There were petitions with many thousands of signatures. People didn't like that the messenger was being shot. The similarities with Assange (and others who publish rumours, leaks, whistleblowers, etc) are pretty glaring. I almost feel like a precedence was being set, with my case. And I have certainly always hated being censored, ever since. When YouTube started doing it to me back in 2011 or so, I noticed right away, even though they didn't come out and admit they were doing it until 2018. I can't stand being silenced. I have stories I could tell, too, but seeing what happens to people who speak up has dampened my enthusiasm for telling them.
You had and still have my support. Is good this platform exist because now there is no more silence for you.
Keep doing what you do being famous while being infamous.
Well, I am far less known nowadays than I ever was. This platform is tiny, and shrinking quickly. But even if it was a large platform, and I had a big audience, I still can't talk about what happened. I can only point to the statement I made 14 years ago. The real story has to die with me.
Thanks for your support :)
I wonder if he's being judged yet. And his son soon hopefully...Ah, Bill Gates, the little basement-dwelling gremlin whose mummy and daddy bought him the world. To all the people who think they shouldn't be vegan because Bill Gates has invested in Beyond Burgers: they want the world to go vegan because they know that's what's really jeopordizing the environment right now. If you think that gives you a free ticket to keep eating factory farmed animals, then you're not awake, you're sleep-walking.
If there is a true judgement, it is going to be SO ironic. Because so many people's deliberate harmful or irresponsible actions they chose to look good in the eyes of the system; for example, doctors who don't actually provide health care because they got the title doctor.
When our communities get too big, people will undermine the whole (in secret) to try to get a little more for themselves that they didn't earn, and that's karma...shitting in a closed system, encouraging others to do the same and then we're swimming in a sewer...all the while thinking "but I haven't done anything wrong." Before you know it, you're Bonny Henry, coming out and selling Canada to the beast...yes yes take my soul...I'll give you umm this nice country here, just please keep giving me my baby blood breakfast smoothies so nobody can see I'm decaying, soulless monster.
These fucks have bought the world while we've been trying to wake our family members up. They're trying to play god, but soon the universe is going to give them the smackdown.
Hopefully Gates junior will fall off the perch soon to.
HOORAY!