Pete has this to say about Brian's Announcement (Below)

brian.zaadz.com/blog/2006/..._and_beyond

Brian has taken my intial advice to him and made Zaadz invite-only, and taken it one step further, "deactivating" any acount he could identify as having come from Tribe! Including, most likely, a bunch of people who completely agreed with his vision.

Quote of the day: Although I (obviously) believe in free speech, our site simply isn’t “about” radical free expression.

Obviously? Hahaha!

Looking forward to hearing about the mass suicide on the evening news.

Stalin makes an announcement from his post on high...

Did I say Stalin? What I really meant to say is Brian. This was sent to me today from my good friend and correspondent Icky Bob. It's actually a missive from Brian to HIS community, where he goes into detail on the ins and out of his benevolent oops i meant to say malevolent dictatorship. I'm full of all sorts of slip ups today so let's go to the word straight from Bri:

Then some stuff went on at and we went from ~1,000 members to ~2,000+ in a couple of weeks. Now, the actual # of members and the increase in traffic wasn’t that big of a deal (KUDOS REMOVED - The little censorist bastards don't deserve Kudos.). We did, however, experience some challenges with the expectations of some of those new members. Whereas our first 100/1,000 members “got” that we were building a social networking site with a purpose, the bulk of the “tribe refugees” didn’t really care about our mission and simply wanted a new social networking site where they could hang out and do whatever they wanted to do.

Now, I have no problem with that per se, but the fact of the matter is that we’re trying to create something unique. Whereas most social networking sites seem to devolve into a Jerry Springer show, we want to create something that has integrity to its stated purpose. I’m not going to go into the details other than to say that, unfortunately, in the process of trying to communicate our intention to some of these new members, some animosity brewed on their end. Although I (obviously) believe in free speech, our site simply isn’t “about” radical free expression. It’s about striving to live at your highest potential, serving the world and creating positive change in the process.

So, long story short: We realized that we’re not quite ready to handle the range of issues inherent to serving the complex needs of an open community while maintaining integrity to our mission and honoring the diversity of our members. So, we’re going to slow things down a bit and take the time to ensure we succeed in creating an online sanctuary for our fellow members by retro-actively going into a private beta mode.

Unfortunately, this is resulting in the temporary de-activation of many of the individuals who recently joined from Tribe along with several hundred members who had signed up but didn’t enter any content. I know that this is going to incense many of those already frustrated with us but I trust that those aligned with our intention will respect the decision.

Brian Brian Brian!?!?! We understand your need for total control over your financial future. We also understand your need to control anything and everything around you in your online community to insure that future. We want nothing more than to be your Stepford Hippies. Sure we'll give up our free speech and free thoughts. But the problem you're seeing is specifically that you are expelling users. Those jokers you have in there currently aren't users, they're your facade. We are the users, and unfortunately since you can't learn to play nice, you are just going to have to understand that you're going to private beta test yourself out of a market. And by market I mean current and potential investors AND current and potential users.

I and the rest of the Lost Tribesters would like to thank Brian for his honesty and candidness in picking up his toys and going home. Just remember Brian, nobody likes a controlling brat, and the next time you come on our block to play, you're going to get beat up.

Marc Says this about zaadz...

I'm really not anti human potential or whatever. It's the phoney spiritualism and complete lack of humor that bugs me. What I hear again and again from these folks is "give me your money and I'll make you rich" only they use euphemisms for rich cloaking it in " metaphysical" terms or just a bunch of new age gobbly gook like transformational personal growth, Radical Honesty, Radical knowing, intersubjectivity, blah blah blah. Like I said in my blog it's nothing new or revolutionary it's just ordinary everyday wisdom that you can get for free at the public library. Pick up a copy of Poor Richards Almanac or Marcus Aurelius' Meditations or listen to your grandmother... whatever. Here, I'll tell you the secret to being successfull... put down the remote control get yr ass off the couch and do something, anything. Is that revolutionary? did I blow yr mind? if so PM me and I'll give you a P.O box # where you can send me some money. My impression of zaadz is it's a vehicle to make Brian rich. There is alot of money to be made from unhappy easily frightened people.These "new age" marketers see all the money Scientology has made and they want in on the action . I don't see Brian as new version of L Ron Hubbard, he's not that talented or audacious, he just wants to package a bunch of hippy eyes for advertisers and maybe sell them spa vacations. In the meantime he definitely does not want anyone with a critical mind to spook the flock of sheep away with icky pictures or disturbing questions. I thank Icky Bob for revealng the true nature of Brian and his zaadster acolytes before I wasted any significant amount of time on his lame ass network.
Back in the bad old days there was a leper colony on Molokai and the lepers had a test they gave to all newcomers, nurses doctors... whomever. What they did was they would have the most hideous deformed pus oozing one eyed fingerless leper walk up and extend his hand stump in greeting. If the new person shook the lepers hand they knew he/she was good people and would welcome him/her cheerfully. If the person refused to shake hands or put on a glove they knew this person was fucked up and they would make that person's life hell untill they left the colony. So to a sorta lesser extent Icky Bob is our leper representitive tester. Brian and zaadz failed teh Icky Bob test and so we now know Zaadz sucks and deserves our contempt.
Oh BTW leprosy is now called Hansen's disease, it's not very contagious and is easily cured.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy

Straight from Icky Bob's Mouth

I got a few facts wrong and Icky wanted to clarify further, so here are Icky Bob's words.

The blog is really funny!

The thread:

"give_up_this_new_age_shit_and_just_build_a_decent_networking_site"

Was created by someone else. I just signed it & posted a few messages.

My picture is not a mummy; it's a plastinated body, just like the ones in the science exhibit "Body worlds", a traveling science/anatomy exhibit.

www.bodyworlds.com/en/pages/home.asp

Geez, they have something against science?

Icky bob was an icky plastic doll I created around 1990-91 to be used as a mascot for the SF Cacophony society. Icky has been on many events & got his (and my) picture in the San Francisco Chronicle.

SFCS is a group of Dadaist pranksters that attempt to challenge group/societal and individual perceptions via absurd/silly theatrical public stunts as well as uncanny field trips know as "Zone trips". In 1990, one of those "Zone trips" was out in the black rock desert. It was called "Bad Day at Black Rock". Larry and his Burning man tagged along...

(By the way, I & John Law were the guys that invited Larry to come on our zone trip)

History of it here:

www.burningman.com/whatisbu...ears.html

And here:

www.amazon.com/gp/product...561-4013747

I normally refrain from name dropping or tooting my horn, I find it disgusting. However, I do feel some history needs to be "righted"

I mention the burning man crap because I find it sort of ironic that I get intimidated, censored and booted by a bunch of Burning Moonies Offa their networking website for no good reason.

And lastly, I was prodded by both Aaron & Brian to explain myself. So I sent 'em this:


----------------------------------------------------------------------


Memento mori, Dadaism, Metaphor and a few other things. Quite simple really. Icky was my little bit of Cacophony society. Icky was a sort of embrace of all those scary things in the world, dealing with it in humor. Laughing at monsters…

Nerdwagon & Minty pretty much explained the concept of Icky Bob.

Minty’s words: “Despite the potty mouth, Icky is an inspiration to all who know him. Look at how many people have risen to defend his honor. He already is what you as a website aspire to be. He inspires people to think outside the box of mediocrity and improve themselves. Is that not the type of person you want here? If you really want to change the world, you must gather people who aren't like you too and grow from their life stories, especially if you don't indentify or appreciate them.

Burning Man? Of all the things to bring up--he was there at the very beginning defining it years before they stopped living up to those 10 Principles they still claim to espouse. You've already been inspired by things he did more than 15 years ago. And speaking of those principles, here are some you should take special notice of:"Radical Inclusion
Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community."Radical Self-reliance
Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources."Radical Self-expression

Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient."Participation
Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart."

Nerdwagon’s words: “I would just like to add that although your TOU people claim a buddhist/new age bent the truth is you really don't. Because Icky Bob's pictures have more to do with Buddhism than you think. If you would bother reading further and studying rather than taking the dilletante path and saying "namaste" at the end of every post you would know that acceptance of death and putrification is very much a part of Buddhist observance. The attached article is on the Noble Eightfold Path:

buddhism.about.com/od/fourn...lness.htm

In it it states "practices include focusing on the 32 parts of the body (and their foulness) and on corpses in various stages of decay and corruption. These last two practices are less morbid than they might appear. Again, the aim is to see the body objectively, as something prone to change and to decay and ultimately lacking a permanent self."

I have always viewed Icky Bob's pictures while distasteful on the surface to be emtionally provocative, challenging to the mind and not just the immediate senses.

Part of Buddhism that I have learned from my studies is restraint. Restraint allows us to bear witness to acts, to think about them from 360 degrees as well as delving internally beneath the surface. In short letting things run their course and watching the corpse rot. In beginning of an online community, there is an internal desire on behalf of the progenitor to mold and shape it into what you desire it to be. The fact of the matter is that it will grow up to be what it wants to be regardless of your intentions. What I am trying to say is what zaadz is and will be is already in the process. By alienating Icky Bob and friends you have already affected its future and prospects for its success.

The important lesson here is to learn a lesson. To perhaps learn restraint and focus on the important values where you have control. The correct action probably would have been to ignore Bob and the rest of us because we are irreverant. We're the clowns who love to look at the world and ourselves and laugh. By doing what he did, essentially Bob was probing your commitment to your announced ethics. In doing so you took the bait and were found wanting (in this instance). Now please follow through on your own ethical practices of inclusion and maybe you'll win him back. Otherwise, it's perfectly alright to admit that you are what you are, which is a carnivore in vegetarian's hemp clothing.

Another Happy Customer...

Zaadz can bite my naadz

Mon, February 6, 2006 - 10:27 AM

Brian from Zaadz must have woke up real cranky this morning. Possibly a Seahawks fan. Or maybe his coffee tasted funny...who knows, but it was a real CENSORIN' mood he woke up in...

First, me and several of my friends got kicked off of Zaadz. Just summarily executed. I would maybe try to defend myself, but I can't since I have absolutely no clue what led to my deletion. They didn't bother with an explanation. (Since I only posted maybe three things there, ever, I can only imagine it was my defense of Icky Bob that caused it...although Brian claims Icky left voluntarily. Hur hur hur.)

Next up, Brian cleaned house on his own tribe here, the one he created to hype his stupid hippie roach motel.

tribes.tribe.net/8a319e7e-...f1cbc96673

There was a bunch of stuff in there by Mateo and others questioning what has by now became the de facto Zaadz M.O., Banishing People and Ideas that Scare You to the Cornfield. Interesting reading, too. All gone. Poof.

It wasn't that much fun to start with, and I only signed up to check it out as an alternative to, well, here, so I'm not that bust up over things. But would it kill Brian Johnson (loved his work as lead singer of AC/DC, btw) to at least _try_ for an explanation? Even something like: "Sorry, we only want hypocritical granola people on here, and you people carried too many bad vibes. Now leave us alone so we can go back to listening to our bootleg Phil Lesh & Friends concerts."

Enh?

This just in from Ralphaliscious ....

O, Sweet Jesus! What else can get fucked up?

So, I'm leaving Zaadz now. No pretty interface can change the fact that the thought inspectors over there are removing people who have shown dissent to that social network. Brian has cleaned out his tribe of any dissent - see this link: people.tribe.net/frankenspock/blog (read the comments, too...)

And then, when I logged in this morning, I see this?

"Hi Ralphaliscious,

In order to preserve the sanctity of the Zaadz community, we are asking all users to agree to the terms of use. If you don't agree, you can choose to have your account de-activated.

You will only have to do this once. Thanks!
I recognize that Zaadz is creating an online sanctuary for personal development and I commit to co-creating this sacred space by honoring the Terms of Use.

- or -

Please de-activate my account."

Sacred space? FUCK YOU, HIPPY!!!! I want a space where nothing is sacred and all are welcome. Hell, Tribe is even feeling more appealing than that crap. In the mean time, I'm (slowly) migrating to www.free-association.net At least they have groups...

XO y'all,
ken

Exhibit A

Meet Icky Bob.
Bob is an Alt. That's not his real name. But Bob was threatened via email regarding his photograph, which happens to be the dissection of a mummy. But what he was really threatened for was for having ideas that the Zaadz crew felt threatened by. In Zaadz there is a section where ideas are submitted and Zaadsters can submit support for those ideas by attaching their profile to them. An imperfect voting system if you will but one none the less. In a tongue in cheek jab at the Holistic Hippielike ideals put forth by Zaadz, Bob put forth the following idea.

give_up_this_new_age_shit_and_just_build_a_decent_networking_site

This was enough to start the machine rolling against Icky Bob. In less than 48 hours Bob was no longer a member of the Zaadz community. In fact, Bob was later quoted in his blog as saying:

"zaadz.com killed Icky Bob! I come in this morning & find an apology from zaadz.com and Icky Bob deleted. bye!"

Of course the PR machine in the discussion thread stated that Bob Self terminated his profile.

Someone is lying here and I have a sneaking suspicion it's not Icky Bob.

In censoring Icky Bob, and arbitrarily kicking anyone associated with Bob out of the Zaadz.com community, Brian shows that the heart and soul of his creation is basically corrupt. Where is the turn the other cheek? Where's the change the world to make it a better place? Not at Zaadz.

Today's propagandhi from Brian

INSPIRATIONAL

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832)

THESE INCLUDE FREEDOM OF SPEECH THOUGHTS AND IDEAS! It's a practice Brian, not some mantra you chant.

MOTIVATIONAL

"The last suit that you wear, you don't need any pockets."
Wayne Dyer

GOOMBAH WISDOM FROM THE GODFATHER [Brian Johnson] HIMSELF. IS THIS A THREAT?

COURAGE

"I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can...And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same...I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict."

Socrates,
5th century bce Greek philosopher

OH I PLAN TO TAKE IT TO THE STREETS BRIAN!

While surfing Brian's other site.

His venture capital winning Eteamz dot com. I got this annoying pop-up that wouldn't go away. So I took the opportunity to use it for a little anti-corporate adblogging.

Even PUMA agrees,

ZAADZ SUX!

Today's Deus Ex Machina brought to you by...

You guessed it CEO and PHILOSOPHER, BRIAN JOHNSON!

I was informed by a friend that ZAADZ put out a pop-up that required ZAADSTERS to affirm their MISSION STATEMENT and their TOU or you would have your account deleted. The anonymous source also stated "I hate that place, but I can't stop watching. It's like a car wreck."

Aww after having my account deleted...

and rebuilding a new account, I got a letter from Brian! I read it through and it didn't quite fit his current business model as practiced, so I took the liberty of making some edits. My edits are in red and bracketed. If you want to read the letter, it's basically a re-hash of his welcome page and can be found here.

Welcome! Let's Change the World.

This is Brian, your friendly Philosopher & CEO here at Zaadz.

On behalf of our entire team, I’m thrilled to welcome you to our little oasis on the web.

Just want to send you a quick note... [BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH]...

Our Name. We'll start with the name. zaad. It's Dutch for "seed." Amazing how much [MONETARY] potential is in a tiny seed, eh? We think so, too... We thought the idea of creating a company that inspires and empowers you to bring your "seed" [MONEY TO US]. So, we created "Zaadz."

Our Mission. That's easy. We're gonna change the world. Our math goes like this: you [BE COMPLACENT AND LET US WALK ALL OVER YOUR FREE SPEECH LONG ENOUGH FOR US TO IMPRESS THE VENTURE CAPITAL AND MAKE A SHITLOAD OF MONEY BASED ON OUR ABILITY TO PROVIDE SPAMABLE EMAIL ADDRESSES AND POP-UP ADS = BRIAN JOHNSON RICHER THAN DOGSHIT].

The Plan. Ours involves Capitalism. [INSINCERE] Spirituality. Capitalism. [MOCK] Enthusiasm. Capitalism. [NARCISSISTIC] Love. Capitalism. [SELF] Service. Capitalism. [FALSE] Inspiration. Capitalism. [DESPOTIC] Leaders. Capitalism. People CRAZY enough to think they can change the world. And courageous enough to do something about it. And committed enough to stick to it when they feel like giving up. [OH SHIT I MAY HAVE PISSED SOME OF THOSE CRAZY PEOPLE OFF!] [DID I MENTION Capitalism?]

The quick version of what we're gonna do: [RIP OFF TRIBE AND MYSPACE AND MAKE A SHITLOAD OF MONEY IN THE PROCESS.]

The Team. You (& Your [BRAINLESS HIPPIE] Friends). Yes, you. The leader. The inspired soul. The one who cares. Who knows life is about more than just you. More than the 9-5. The house and the car. The conditioning. The blah. It's to be lived. Fully. In spirit. In love. In service. In celebration. (You've already swallowed the red pill, so let's go...)

Us. We're passionate about [BENDING AND CONTROLLING] people to [QUASH] their dreams... [AND ARE ONLY INTERESTED IN] getting paid to do what [WE] love, using [TECHNOLOGY] in the [LEAST] service to the world. We also love building powerful online communities [FOR US TO CONTROL AND DOMINATE LIKE TYRANTS OF OLD]...

[IN CTHULU'S NAME I PRAY],

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ... gee thanks Brian, I just want you to know how happy I am to be here on ZAADZ again. It's okay that you took away my free speech. I understand it's all about your business model and the whole Bodhisattvaic writings thing is bullshit. Sure! Hippies have a lot of disposible income. And you are just the man to harness it. We all forgive you for taking away OUR right to free speech. After all it is YOUR site.

But this is my site Brian, so I get to rant all I want to here. And on Tribe, and on Craigslist. Good luck on that IPO, I'll be interested in seeing your initial offerings.

Welcome to Gonaadz

Have you had a bad experience with Zaadz? We want to now what it is. Send it in and we'll publish it, so Brian can know just how messed up his concept really is.