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| AgentDrake |
 Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 4:54 pm |
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Joined: 01 Apr 2007
Posts: 667
Location: Halfway between eccentric and insane...
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Well, if they’re willing to bet 450 grand on it, surely they have some reason to actually believe Decipher....
...I hope.... |
| Never kid about politicians. The more bizarre the joke, the more likely it is to come true. |
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| Merrick_Hale |
| Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:45 pm |
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Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 445
Location: Austin, Texas
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AgentDrake wrote: Well, if they’re willing to bet 450 grand on it, surely they have some reason to actually believe Decipher....
...I hope....
Take the case of Mubadala, the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government taking an 8.1% share of AMD. Note the stock price at the end of this article, shortly after the sale was announced and AMD’s current ticker. |
Aaron Rhinehart
Rider of Rohan (retired)
DAgent #417 (retired)
This Incognito is a smooth operator - Lem0nhead |
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| Hobbit_Pizza |
| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:19 pm |
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Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 101
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| I’m mostly intrigued with what the internal embezzelment was all about. All of the security certificates have expired on Decipher’s website w/ no support team responding to questions (although they left it seemingly functional to pretend that nothing has gone awry) and why all of their telephone extensions are dead. I’m glad someone’s decided to pickup the company and invest new money in it, but I’d like to know what the hell raised the company to the ground leaving them with 10 employees (none of who can be reached by telephone). |
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| AgentDrake |
| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:26 pm |
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Joined: 01 Apr 2007
Posts: 667
Location: Halfway between eccentric and insane...
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Actually, a friend of mine who used to be on the D boards a long time ago (willturner2, if anyone remembers him) was reading something that might have explained alot of that.
It was some article about how cyber-hackers will take companies’ websites hostage and demand money, etc. It would explain why D’s website was almost always down back when all heck was breaking loose in the company. There was also some sort of deal with someone inside the company stealing large amounts of their cards and selling them, the embezzlement(s?), the constant "website updates" with no noticeable changes, seemingly random layoffs/firings, etc.
My guess is that some disgruntled employee inside Decipher hacked the site, began nabbing cards, and started screwing with the money, and used the site to blackmail D.
Then again, that’s just speculation, but it seems to make sense. |
| Never kid about politicians. The more bizarre the joke, the more likely it is to come true. |
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| Hobbit_Pizza |
| Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:32 pm |
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Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 101
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It’s funny you suggest that. What spawned my initial concern was that a few months ago there were still a few products available through their website, but because of the expired certificates I didn’t feel safe placing my order. I tried to contact Decipher, but all the phones were disconnected and nobody answered my emails.
The employee who I found selling LARGE amounts of Decipher stuff on ebay, is Kevin Reitzel (whom I’ve previously met) and although I sent him payment in Long Beach CA (which is a long ways from Norfolk VA where he worked/lived when he was with Decipher) the cards were drop shipped from someplace in the central U.S.
Makes you wonder huh.
Here’s his profile if anyone’s interested in seeing all the crap he’s been selling:
http://myworld.ebay.com/spartan_phoenix/ |
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| hawkeyespf |
| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:27 am |
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Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 198
Location: Round Lake IL
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Kevin was let go in one of the first rounds of layoffs. I’m sure he just had a bunch of stuff stockpiled at his place and has been selling if off since. The embezzlement was actually by Warren’s brother-in-law, and was in the 2-3 million dollar range. To my knowledge, that case is over now, but I do not know what the conclusion was.
Decipher’s website was always down because they decided it would be wiser to have an in-house IT Support team rather than outsourcing it as most other companies do. At the very least they could have had a team that worked 7 days a week.
Their phones are down because they’ve probably changed the numbers and kept them unlisted. Kendrick is probably the best point of contact, but I’m going to keep his contact info under wraps for now, I’m sure he’s got plenty on his plate as it is at the moment.
Not really sure anymore what the starting point was for the downfall, but they certainly let the wrong people go and cut the departments that shouldn’t have been while keeping the wrong ones. It alienated not only the players, but the remaining employees and designers as well, and their end results and bottom line suffered.
I’m sure that they’ll be back on their feet, communicative, and we’ll see some great things from them in the near future, and they’ll once again live up to their slogan - The Art of Great Games.
Just hope that they still have customers by then... |
When we do it in Iraq, it's called progress. When we do it here in the US, it's called socialism.
http://trade.mahasamatman.com/Rings/list_show.pl?user=florents |
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| Hobbit_Pizza |
| Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:43 pm |
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Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 101
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| Okay that makes sense. Thanks for the info. What upset me is that the customers can visit the site, but can’t contact anyone about it. I was afraid to purchase anything and have my $$ go to outerspace and never receive a product. They would have better rapport with their customers if they didn’t keep them in the dark. I saw that Bojo’s workin on the WoW TCG, but I haven’t seen anything about Kyle Heuer or the rest or what became of them all. |
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| menace64 |
| Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:55 pm |
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Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 836
Location: Wichita, Kansas
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| So, everyone should head to decipher’s website. Um. Provoking! |
Riddle 9
When I came to Abraham I let him live just a moment longer. When I came to Moses I saved his life more than once. But the salmon... I regret to say I had a hand in its death.
Who am I? |
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| Hobbit_Pizza |
| Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:26 pm |
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Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 101
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LOL. Speak of the devil, decipher coincidentally changes their website, campaigning for their customers to return in 2008.  |
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| Elessar's Socks |
| Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 9:51 pm |
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Joined: 29 Jul 2007
Posts: 349
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The page wanting to know your name and email address before they’ll let you know more? I typed in a junk address so I don’t know if they sent anything, but the page redirects you to their forums.
Sorry, but asking for someone’s private information without saying how it’ll be used, that alone raises my hackles. Given their circumstances, asking for a blind leap of faith is the one thing they should NOT be doing. *sigh* I haven’t even seen their products yet and I’m already feeling my old irritation at the company.
It was cool, though, seeing Warren logged in on the forums. |
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