and sometimes overly vocal<\/em> – member of the domain community, processing dozens of pages about Adam was a very difficult task for me.<\/p>\nKnowing Adam for a decade through DNForum, and finally meeting him in person at TRAFFIC 2012, was a culmination of successful interaction with dozens of other domain investors.<\/p>\n
Adam stood out for his gregarious nature, and my personal experience has always been 100% positive; whether interpersonal, or professional. I was never ‘stiffed’ on any project, and in fact Adam was always generous to me regardless of the quoted price.<\/p>\n
Disclosure: my total compensation through the years for work commissioned by Adam was less than $1,000. At some point, I did some work for free.<\/p>\n
After reading the news, I was promptly overwhelmed with denial and anger.<\/p>\n
I assumed it was some stunt to emphasize the years-long antagonism between DNForum and NamePros. I reached out to the NamePros admins with my concerns, all while I continued both reading the updates and contacting some of the people that were directly affected.<\/p>\n
I had several conversations with some on the phone, seeking their part of the story and ultimately, the truth.<\/p>\n
The general consensus seems to be that Adam’s sizable mismanagement of his own companies led to promises and projects that were not delivered. Unfortunately, when someone screws up at such a broad scale, everything becomes the target of extreme scrutiny.<\/p>\n
I feel very sorry for Adam, and for his apparent inability to deliver not just what was promised, but to mend the loss of trust by grabbing the bull by the horns.<\/p>\n
I don’t really know Adam, after all, and that was another realization that I came to accept. There was never – to me<\/em> – a single dark cloud hinting of what was happening behind the scenes. I am not a newcomer to the domain industry, and wasn’t ever involved in Adam’s educational projects, or any of his services.<\/p>\nI’ve been extremely sympathetic to those that lost not just a good chunk of money through promises made by Adam or his companies, but also wasted their time. Time is irreplaceable and there is no true monetary value that can be assigned to it.<\/p>\n
The same goes for trust, it cannot be exchanged for money. My loss is that of an assumed friendship, and that of blind trust towards a person who was always nice to me; now, I have to deal with the flip side of things and to read embarrassing things about him.<\/p>\n
As a long time member of both DNForum and NamePros, I sympathize with the varying levels of anger that some of the victims display. There is nothing worse than being told that you’ve been ripped off along with others, thinking all that time that you were an unfortunate exception. Frustration turns to anger and then to rage, leading to an inhumane craving for lynching the source of your pain.<\/p>\n
I don’t plan to continue being active on DNForum, unless Adam sells it. There is no motivation to be part of an environment that isn’t pure anymore. After 723 all-positive transactions and thousands of posts, I’m closing that door for now.<\/p>\n
I truly believe Adam needs help coping with his various inabilities to be responsible and honest. I can’t offer free psychoanalysis, as I’m no longer a friend. Adam needs professional help, and I state this for his own sake and that of his family.<\/p>\n
Purely from a human standpoint, I feel sadness about his current situation. At the same time, I can’t pretend that I can carry on under these terms. I hope that he rebounds from this by compensating those that were affected financially. There’s no compensation for the loss of trust, unfortunately; a cracked mirror can’t become whole again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After processing the shocking allegations about Adam Dicker for two full weeks, it’s time to come up with a series of hard decisions. As an active – and sometimes overly vocal – member of the domain community, processing dozens of pages about Adam was a very difficult task for me. Knowing Adam for a decade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domains","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
Addressing the elephant in the room - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acro.net\/blog\/addressing-the-elephant-in-the-room\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Addressing the elephant in the room - Acro.net - A Domain Investing Blog by Theo Develegas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After processing the shocking allegations about Adam Dicker for two full weeks, it’s time to come up with a series of hard decisions. As an active – and sometimes overly vocal – member of the domain community, processing dozens of pages about Adam was a very difficult task for me. 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