Open apology to Merwan Marker and the Second Life community

I don't have to, Billy, you said it all in this very thread.

Mercurious Monde? Good gawd, Merc has a mind of her own and speaks it without reservation or hesitation. She and Merwan are that one-in-a-thousand couple who maintain their own identities, aren't afraid to disagree, and yet are locked together by bonds that are near-unbreakable. I admire the both of them for their relationship and their shared individuality.

Mercurious Monde an alt? Allow me to laugh harshly.

This evening I received an eMail message from Apotheus which I find encouraging!

Since the morning of 1/12/2004 when I was locked out of administration of SLExchange.com, it has been my goal to understand and resolve this very difficult situation. To that end, I made numerous private, but unsuccessful efforts.

I am encouraged because you reference our business agreement of 9/25/2004, where our 60/40 ownership stake of SL Exchange is detailed. Apotheus, I am asking you again, please restore my full access to SLExchange.com. Once that is done, we can move forward.

This good faith gesture on your part will restore my confidence - and hopefully that of many of our merchants, customers, LL, and the SL community - that in fact you are acting from a place of integrity.

I want to thank everyone for your support and encouragement - it is greatly appreciated and has done much to brighten my spirits.

Apotheus, I await your reply.





Edit later - [Please note - This message is not a copy or edit of an eMail sent to anyone else.]

---

That looks like an email you sent him... (since he locked you out and whatnot)... What was his response?

If you weren't so busy having your forum avatar sticking its tongue out maybe you'd be able to re-read Merwan's post, which appears to be either a public cut+paste of Merwan's response to Apotheus' email of this eve, or Merwan's singular response itself.

I'm sure we'll hear something when the response comes back. I mean, Merwan only posted like 3 minutes before you did. The message probably barely got to Apotheus. Doesn't even account for time zones... Apotheus could be asleep already.

Merwan's post is a little confusing on first read - he speaks of Apotheus in the third person, then says you in reference to him, so I can see how Aaron was confused. Regardless, it is encouraging to see Merwan remaining so gracious in the face of all of this. Merwan is handling Apotheus' childish, inexplicable behavior far better than I would have faced with a similar situation. Good luck to you Merwan, I hope this is resolved quickly to your satisfaction. You are SLExchange.

Lord Palmerstone,



What does my forum avatar have anything to do with ANYTHING? How does my avatar show any indication of how busy I am or my ability to read?! I set it to that two months ago and haven't given it another thought since.

Merwan doesn't differentiate in his post if its an email, who its too or what. In one sentence he's talking in the first person to the forum, in the next it appears to be in the third person, talking to Apotheus. I was merely asking for more info because his post is a little confusing.

The message I posted here was not sent to anyone via eMail - it was posted here for all to read.

Didn't mean to confuse anyone.

Your avatar sticking its tongue out only serves to reinforce the "I need attention" feeling that I sense every time you post... perhaps because the avatar is there, every time you post.

Despite that, I would figure that people could take Merwan's change in perspective as him simply (re)iterating his response to Apotheus email, only publicly. After all, Merwan has not exactly been through the easiest of times, so I think he can have some slack in the English department without having someone wanting clarification not 3 minutes after he posts.

I suppose I will return to the thread in the morning to see what has progressed. If I remember right, the parties to the issue at hand in this thread are on opposite coasts, and odds are at least one of those parties is probably fast asleep and currently unable to respond

Well, Mr. Palmerstone. Your statement is shallow, rude and condescending. You don't know ANYTHING about me. I have interest in what SLExchange does and I can express it here if I want. I don't need pompass asshats like you shitting in their pants about my avatar.

Dallas, about how you put that, I just wanna say... wow... that sounds so lovely.

"Shared individuality"... hmmmmmm!

Thank you Merwan. The "you" in the post was directed at your supporters, who mentioned the partnership agreement you had with Apotheus. It's clear when you know the whole history of SLExchange, which I did not until researching it this evening. I do hope things work out for you and Apotheus, but Apotheus needs to realize that he has a huge public image hump to get over now, even more so if he doesn't address your calls for civilized discussion.

Billy,
You need to grow up seriously, and stop making false accusations towards people that you know nothing about, or to people that see you are nothing but the scum you appear to be.

Mercurious is Merwan's partner, and if you pulled your head out of your ass every now and then you would know that, or you would find facts before opening your filthy mouth all the damn time.

Merwan, please take some advice. Don't go back over trodden ground. Seriously.

Excellent advice.

I always thought that was a cigar

woah! What a messed up situtation this is (to say the least). I do hope this is resolved soon. Loyalty does go a long way, as does word of mouth. A situation like this can very much crumble a business.

And Merwan, *HUGS* ... No matter what happens, you should forever be proud at all the hard work you did for slex and for all the consumers and retailers you brought in. It very much was *you* that people associated with slex. So again be proud of yourself, you deserve it!

I agree, good advice.
"Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me."

(Look, I quote better than the President.)

And, from the thread start:

Actually, quite a bit has transpired in this thread and as Apotheus has has made precious few clarifications I thought I'd put together a small synopsis for those who don't wish to parse through the mess.

1. Apotheus makes a thread containing an ostensible apology
   
2. The apology is pretty quickly noted by the community as looking like a confession of malfeasance and subsequent public relations recovery attempt
   
3. Some people who actually know parts of the puzzle begin to piece it together
   
4. Apotheus becomes conspicuously silent
   
5. Cubey demonstrates that he wasn't aware of what preceeded his brief tenure with SLX and displays his characteristic decorum and politely ducks out
   
6. Like any thread of any length some people snipe at each other for its own sake
   
7. Merwan posts a note of optimism that perhaps Apotheus may be reconsidering his actions
   
8. Much support for the popular perception that Merwan is SLExchange is expressed by some of the longest and most respected members of the community
   
9. The thread languishes with many questions still unaddressed despite Apotheus' starting comment that he'd be addressing them
   

Do I have an agenda here? Yup. I had given a small but appreciable amount of time to Merwan and Apotheus in the form of counsel regarding SLX and don't like to see a business partner take advantage of another and then act as if no fault was committed or that there wasn't a partnership at all.

Unlike the partners, I had trifling material interest in the future of SLX but loved the concept and admired the bravery of execution. For the wildly curious, I'd spent more than twice the revenues I made on SLX to purchase banner advertisements on SLX - this isn't a complaint, just a statement that any gains I had made from SLX were put back into SLX. (It's also an admission that the appeal of my wares was... umm... selective).

For what it is worth, I now personally attribute the lockout to a combination of zeal and forgetfulness and not initially one of malice or greed. However, I will pass judgement and say that when a person realizes their egregious error and fails to make amends it does demonstrate a decided lack of character.

I expect that time will bring this to some conclusion, likely not the optimal one for either of the partners nor the community at large. I applaud Merwan for his gentlemanly restraint and Apotheus for not taking advantage of those merchants and customers who had put their trust in the SLX service. I do fervently hope that Apotheus has learned the value of one's word, reputation, and committments in this frontier of cyberspace.

I have to wonder if the continued silence from either party on this is in the best interests of SLExchange. As this is now so very public, prolonging any sort of reconciliation or definitive split announcement does give a disconcerting impression.

I notice that Merwan's profile has the following on it in the Occupation slot:



Does this mean that it has been resolved? If so, an announcement would seem to be in order so that damage already caused by this whole sorry episode can begin to be repaired. The continued silence just makes me wonder whether SLExchange is in some sort of managerial limbo, which is probably not the impression you want to give as it's not a great one to instill confidence.

Moopf that's has been on my profile from the beginning.

Nope nothing has been resolved - there is some movement.

8 days and counting.

Ah OK, I saw it on your profile and wondered why it was there. I'm sorry to hear that nothing has been resolved. Sorry for you, Apotheus and the merchants of SLExchange who must increasingly be wondering what on earth is going on. Silence is not always golden when it comes to rumour and trust in business.

I appreciate your efforts Malachi, and other people's efforts in other threads.

Your statement is but speculation.