The clique are banished, so who’s left?

Our story this morning about the now former member of Koptalk, “cricket69”, was accompanied by a lot of emails and also some blog comments from Aussie Reds, no doubt finding our blog after reading Cricket’s email to them.

Bad news travels fast, and so does bad publicity. Dunk claims to love bad publicity – but he then makes sure his mods are trained to hide it as soon as it arrives back to his site. “jackchanges” probably hasn’t read the blog in any detail, but he knows about it. He’s found us on Google by doing a search for www koptalk.

jackchanges
Gold Member
Reged: Jan 30 2006
Posts: 57
Loc: kilkeel n ireland
fao dunk
#1593560 – Tue Aug 08 2006 11:35 AM

hey dunk just thought id let u know there is some boy cricket 69 slagging u an the site off he has a web page called koptalk scam an its just below the link to this site when u type in www koptalk in google his site is below yours. so just thought u should know

richt71   Moderator
Reged: Jul 09 2003
Posts: 11630
Loc: York
Re: fao dunk  [Re: jackchanges]
#1593568 – Tue Aug 08 2006 11:39 AM
Quote:
hey dunk just thought id let u know there is some boy cricket 69 slagging u an the site off he has a web page called koptalk scam an its just below the link to this site when u type in www koptalk in google his site is below yours. so just thought u should know

Dunks fully aware of this mate. Thanks!

Good old Rich Tea – still sticking up for Dunk despite the evidence. I bet Dunk wasn’t fully aware of our placing in the search engines though! Come on Rich Tea, open your eyes to this. Is it worth the hassle?

A blog reader left a comment earlier today including a link to a database of email addresses he’d got hold of a while back from Koptalk Insider.  All of these were freely available from Koptalk at the time, you didn’t need to be logged in to get them, you didn’t need to be a member. Now Dunk’s taken the option away, but all of the available email addresses were already captured.

It looks like someone’s already started to make use of it. And it’s got back to Dunk’s favourite biscuit too -

richt71   Moderator
Reged: 09/07/03
Posts: 11645
Loc: York
re: anti-koptalk emails
#1594522 – 08/08/06 08:47 PM

There’s a number of sites spamming people for anti-koptalk sites. Dunk is fully aware of these. If you have a problem with koptalk or Dunk I’m sure Dunk will be happy to try to resolve it via email (editor@koptalk.com) or as he’s said before you can arrange to visit koptalk HQ. It’s not really a secret underground bunker!

ST3
KopTalk Editor
Reged: 12/09/03
Posts: 5487
Re: re: anti-koptalk emails  [Re: richt71]
#1594525 – 08/08/06 08:49 PM

Anyone that pays attention to our rejects will be slapped with a wet fish.

redtackle
Gold Member
Reged: 13/09/03
Loc: Virtual Anfield
Re: re: anti-koptalk emails  [Re: richt71]
#1594533 – 08/08/06 08:52 PM
Quote:
There’s a number of sites spamming people for anti-koptalk sites. Dunk is fully aware of these. If you have a problem with koptalk or Dunk I’m sure Dunk will be happy to try to resolve it via email (editor@koptalk.com) or as he’s said before you can arrange to visit koptalk HQ. It’s not really a secret underground bunker!

makes a change from spam offering to enlarge your bits, most people take it with a pinch of salt, the site seems to be getting more succesful, bound to attract more hostility from some….

Dunk   Executive Editor
Reged: 20/08/04
Loc: KOPTALK
Re: re: anti-koptalk emails  [Re: redtackle]
#1594548 – 08/08/06 08:59 PM
Thanks for that. It’s funny because we’ve had our best summer ever and we’re really taking things a bit more seriously these days. We’ve spent a fortune on the office and kitting it out etc to try and make things a bit better for you guys. Plus we’ve really tried to improve the support side of things. It wasn’t neglected before but we were struggling and we had to accept we needed more help.

We try our best and we’ll continue to do so. We can’t please everyone. The only people that ever tend to complain are those who we have to have a word with about their attitude towards other members. Only our rivals and rejects sulk about us.

If people are unsatisfied, they should drop us a line or make a call (we can call them back) and we can either try and improve on what they say or we can offer them the opportunity not to return.

We have had to break a clique up over the summer who were spoiling things for the majority, especially newcomers etc. We will continue culling people that are offensive to other members.

Quality not quantity is paramount.

We have simple rules and we just ask that everyone shows respect to others. If you want to fight and be stupid, there are plenty of other forums out there that will cater for you.

The only people we’re bothered about are our genuine members

It’s great when Dunk has one of his rants isn’t it? Now he’s claiming that the biggest part of his “community” were a “clique”. Usually a “clique” in a forum consists of at most half-a-dozen members. That’s my usual take on these things. This summer Dunk has lost a massive amount of visitors, in different stages, but as a result of how “blog-down” broke the spirit of the site. How many users left? How many well-liked users left? Were they all a “clique”?

Instead of lying to his remaining members and to himself, Dunk needs to consider why so many left. This is, from all accounts, a bigger exodus than he’s had before. It won’t stop by trying to hide it from the remaining members. The season starts properly tomorrow, and people start meeting old faces they’ve not seen for a while. Transfer rumours will inevitably be brought up, and there’s a few people who’ll mention how it turned out that Insider site was actually a load of crap after all.

And Dunk, we all know you read this, remember when you used to try and do “riddles” as transfer rumours? Then you’d retrofit them to the facts later? Well we’ve got a small riddle for you.

Address this question – why was the Swan feeling so Cross?

Australian Reds – a message for you all

Most members of the “Insider” site will remember a poster by the name of “cricket69″. A lot of members even thought he was John “Digger” Barnes. To be fair, neither Dunk nor “cricket” ever confirmed or denied this, but it certainly gave “cricket” a bit of fun, and Dunk a way of using his “former players are members here” line.

He has no former or current players reading his site.

Dunk is paranoid these days as you know and so bans as many members each day as he gets new ones coming in. The banned members are not deleted though, they are kept on the database to keep the numbers looking good. He banned Tom recently, and thought he’d got away with it. He hadn’t, he lost a lot of members through that silly move. As for banning “cricket”, well that might upset a few of his Australian readers, the country where “cricket” now lives.

I’ll let “cricket” give his side of the story, in this email he sent to me and all of his Australian Reds contacts.

Hi

I am writing to you separately from my e-football business as I don’t really want to mix Forums on the web with any commercial activities I am involved in, I am sure you understand.

If you are a fan of Koptalk and have no issues with the way they work (and know about their exploitation of the good name of LFC), then you have no need to read any further.

I was a member of Koptalk for approx 8 years, maybe a bit longer. During that time I became a respected member of the ‘community’, my alias as I am sure you know was cricket69. I enjoyed it for many years, however it became apparent to me that the site didn’t have many (if any) real insiders, some posters including myself have contacts within Anfield but Dunk and his site is full of lies and inaccuracies, that was the reason I tried for a long time to be all authoritarian, I didn’t want people to start believing all the rubbish that was on there, most people joined the Insider in good faith I didn’t want them to read and believe rubbish that was being sprouted – in fact I still don’t.

I remember exactly when I turned against Dunk, it was in 2001 when we played Leeds in the FA Cup away, I got him tickets, but he didn’t pay up for months – I was out of pocket for a long time, I have got tickets for many people over the years and he was by far the worst for being a debtor.

I have since moved to Australia and am, as you know, starting a new business and website, at the moment it is aimed at Liverpool fans, but that will change, I am even in talks with man UTD fans in Adelaide, I may help out their supporters club, just looking after email mail-outs etc (yes I hate Man UTD) but in turn they will advertise my site, take part in my tipping comp and probably buy more items if I can get Man UTD ones. I am in no way like Dunk who hosts (I think he still does) and promotes other club fan sites. My involvement is purely commercial, my love is and always will be LFC I can assure you. I hope you see where I am coming from on this!!!

Anyhow I stumbled, by chance, across this blog (www-koptalk-insider.com) and my eyes were opened, I strongly advise you to read it and then decide if you wish to renew your membership on KT, I was an Honorary member until yesterday – I am now banned.

Yesterday I posted a new topic, nothing controversial, and not for the first time it was deleted by Dunk and the mods, I emailed him asking for it to be reinstated or I leave. I was also very disappointed he let a thread about The Haifa game stay on the site even when I asked it to go, he (Dunk) is a racist (he admits it)…do you want to give money to him?

On Dunks podcast last night he goes off on one against me, I wont lose any sleep over it, time to move in is my thought. Please though do not give him any of my email addresses. I was locked out of KT a few weeks ago (a mistake they say), but I only got back in after giving some personal details, I gave mainly false ones as it is known the KT see these details on. The next day for the first time in my life I start getting spam…If only I had known I would have given an email address I don’t use too often not my main one…my fault but I hope you don’t suffer the way I am.

Another thing never, ever enter any competitions or pay money to any of his charities, it has been proved prizes don’t exist and he pockets the charity money!!!

Yes I will possibly lose a bit of business through advertising on KopTalk but I think the risk is worth taking.

There are other sites around that are fee and in my opinion more informative and amusing two of which are www.est1892.co.uk and www.ynwa.tv. There are others that are good and it is easy to find links to them.

I hope you don’t mind this email, I just thought I would point out to you that Dunk is exploiting LFC fans and that is not fair on anyone. I am under the impression that LFC are aware of his lies and are in the process of taking action against him, I am not sure though.

Please fell free to distribute this to anyone who you think may be interested.

I am happy to reply to any questions you may have, but please can we keep this separate from any e-football business we may do, I consider Internet forums fun (and informative) and, for me, e-football is my work.

Thanks for reading.

Matthew

If you didn’t get a note from Matthew / cricket and you’d like to get in touch with him, drop me a line and I’ll forward your email onto him.

As for Dunk’s side of the story, well thanks to “univofchicago” we have a transcript of his podblast ranting session.

Dunk: You know about that email today, don’t you? Cricket69, what a wanker you were today my friend…Absolutely f*cking ridiculous. Apparently though one of the moderators inside the section of the website…He put something on the site…like a pose…I think its to promote his website or something…I don’t think its was big deal or not…I’m not sure…I didn’t know anything about it…Just minding my own business…you know me…and he sends me this email: “Why the hell did you delete my [thread] about Australians, if you don’t tell me I will email my 73 members I have email addresses from Koptalk” and he’s talking about all the bad sites that talk about us Steve. And he says “I am disgusted the way you treat members at times. I supported you until now! I gave up my email address to promote my selling website, nothing sinister, I replied by you explain your actions an apology by 3 PM your time or I turn Australian Liverpool fans against you. You’re call mate..Matthew”…That was the email

Steve: Can I say Dunk, we have more than 73 members from Australia anyways.

Dunk: I know. But apparently he is speaking for the all of Australia. I do know one of the main places we get feedbacks for Podcast is from Australia. They love it!

Steve: It will be interesting to hear what they have to say about this then

Dunk: Is he speaking on behalf of all the Australian Listeners? That’s what I want to know. Let us know. Podcast at Koptalk dot Com. Because he is going to turn Australia Liverpool fans against us!

Dunk: This is the sort of pricks we are dealing with on a daily basis. And then when we get rid of them, and they go through websites that slagging us off and that. Can you now work out why? Because we done something to these fucking idiots.

Dunk: So yeah so that was one of our members today telling us he is going to turn all Australian listeners against us. Let me, Big Dunk, send an explanation and apology by 3 PM our time as to why one of the moderators delete his thread. It is now 20 past 8 in the evening and we have not sent any explanation or apology. I did email note to f*ck himself and take his 73 f*cking friends with him.

So if you are one of cricket’s / Matthew’s 73 “f*cking friends” and you arrived here wondering what the fuss was about, why not spend an hour or so looking into it. Start with the “Read Me” at the top and feel free to email me or leave a comment below with any questions at all.

If you doubt the transcript, here’s Dunk’s reply to Matthew from earlier in the day.

>From: Duncan Oldham [mailto:editor@koptalk.com]
>Sent: Mon 8/7/2006 10:11 PM
>To:
>Cc: ————-; steve@koptalk.com
>Subject: RE: Why
>
>We have decided to remove your HM status because we don’t take kindly to
>threats. I have informed people of your ‘I will turn Australia against you’
>statement.
>
>A polite email from you and I could have asked which mod moved it and why.
>
>It seems like you’ll have to email your 73 Australian members telling them
>how bad we are, but please remember to include your original email. It is
>this kind of immature attitude that we are stamping out in our forums and
>by
>breaking it up, it’s already proving to be a nicer place.
>
>We’re not concerned about rival sites, we’re not concerned about blogs.
>We’re only concerned in looking after the people that are genuine Liverpool
>supporters and who don’t talk to others – including ourselves – like
>they’re
>a piece of sh*t.
>
>Sticks and stones mate, sticks and stones.

This had been sent in response to Matthew’s earlier note. Matthew was still upset that Dunk had locked him out recently, demanding that personal information be supplied before he let him back in. So when Dunk deleted his thread without explanation (blaming it on a mod) Matthew was extremely unhappy -

From: Matthew ——– [mailto:-----------]
Sent: 07 August 2006 13:10
To: editor@koptalk.com
Subject: Why

the hell did you delete my thread about Australians. If you dont tell me I will email my 73 members I have email addresses from KT in Aus and tell them about the blog. I am disgusted the way you treat members at times. I supported you until now.

I gave out my email address to promote my selling website…nothing sinister. A reply by you explaining your actions and an apology by 3:00pm your time or I turn Australian LFC fans gainst you.

Your call mate

Matthew

If you are new to the blog, Dunk will not let any of his members communicate with each other unless they go through him first. He even wants to vet contact between members. Private messaging is disabled, he’s changed his forum’s scripts so that email addresses aren’t shown by members who wanted to show them. He is frightened about the truth getting out to more of his members.

UPDATE: Matthew / Cricket has asked me to put this email address on here for anyone who wants to get in touch. cricket69@gmail.com will be monitored for at least the next couple of weeks. 

A needless lie about websites.

Question time at Koptalk.

“iainskinner” has the question today for Mr Oldham, and it’s a fairly simple one too.

iainskinner
Silver Member
Reged: Apr 07 2005
Posts: 536
Loc: Anfieldofthemind
How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?
#1591531 – Mon Aug 07 2006 09:27 AM
What I mean to say is, how many other websites has Dunk got on the go?

If you could provide links I’ll give you 5
- – - – - – - – - – - – - -
Avenger   Gold Member
Reged: Aug 18 2005
Posts: 379
Loc: South of Heaven
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: iainskinner]
#1591552 – Mon Aug 07 2006 09:46 AM
www.mindyourownbusiness.com

www.whatsittoyou.com

www.iquestionyourmotiveforasking.com
————————
iainskinner   Silver Member
Reged: Apr 07 2005
Posts: 536
Loc: Anfieldofthemind
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: Avenger]
#1591563 – Mon Aug 07 2006 09:57 AM
Randy, I wanted to know how many webites have sprung up around Koptalk. I know there’s www.koptalk.org, i wanted to know what else he has on the go.

Avenger, you should try: www.paraniodasfvck.com
- – - – - – - – - – - – -
WEwonINinstanbul     Gold Member
Reged: Sep 29 2005
Posts: 334
Loc: Liverpool
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: iainskinner]
#1591570 – Mon Aug 07 2006 10:03 AM
you mean like other fan sites which have come about by members leaving or do you mean what other sites Dunk runs?

If you mean others he runs then i dont think he does because this one must eat most of his time. Then again who am i to comment.

If you mean other fansites then i dont know either.

So in summary i have not a clue pal.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
WEwonINinstanbul   Gold Member
Reged: Sep 29 2005
Posts: 334
Loc: Liverpool
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: WEwonINinstanbul]
#1591571 – Mon Aug 07 2006 10:05 AM          Reply
BTW i can see this thread getting locked when Dunk wakes up, so i hope for your own sake you get your answer soon.
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
iainskinner
Silver Member
Reged: Apr 07 2005
Posts: 536
Loc: Anfieldofthemind
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: WEwonINinstanbul]
#1591579 – Mon Aug 07 2006 10:09 AM          Reply

If he locks it i’ll live. I meant ‘Runs.’

This was a question sparked purely by curiosity…
- – - – - – - – - – - – - -
Kopdan
Honorary Member
Reged: Jun 21 2003
Posts: 20153
Loc: Chester by day
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: iainskinner]
#1591641 – Mon Aug 07 2006 10:35 AM          Reply

MSN Steve m8

- – - – - – - – - – -

All this help for Dunk from his readers – surely he’ll get it right. And “Kopdan” – it’s “phone a friend” on these types of quiz, not “MSN a M8″. So, Duncan, for the chance to prove you can be honest once in a while, please answer the question. How many websites do you have?

Dunk
Executive Editor
Reged: Aug 20 2004
Posts: 9028
Loc: KOPTALK
Re: How many pies has Dunk got his fingers in?  [Re: Red_Polo]
#1591706 – Mon Aug 07 2006 11:04 AM

I run 1 (one), KopTalk not that it’s anyone elses business.

I was approached in 2005 to help get some other club sites off the ground (12 in total) but I haven’t had much time to concentrate on them. I did announce this at the time all over KopTalk including here so it’s no secret.
- – - – - – - – - – - –

Oooh! Bad luck Duncan. It’s not 1 (one) at all is it? I’ll not be pedantic and list the many variations on Koptalk. We’ll pretend that it’s all one website, the Koptalk empire.

Caboodle though – that’s you. You started the “Caboodle Network” at caboodlenetwork.coN. Nobody else, you weren’t “approached”. In the world of Caboodle you’ve currently got two fan sites set up. Or at least you did. One of them (spursarmy.coN) was set up using FusionBB until it was pointed out to you that you may need to actually buy a licence for it. We all loved it until you got rid of it. The icons that were red for a few seconds until the page finished loading. The little site icon – a blue Liverbird was especially funny. And many of us still chuckle at the fact you forgot to change the keywords and description for the site, so search engines listed it as a Liverpool fan site.

You also had upthetoon.coN, and a year ago you were pretending you were called “Barry”. You used to talk to yourself between the Koptalk and UptheToon sites, pretending “Barry” had inside info over the Michael Owen move to Newcastle.

Oh – did Steve ever get round to his trip to London to interview your candidates for the Spurs website? Or was that bullshit too? Don’t worry, we already know.

You claim there would be 12 in total, added to Koptalk, so that would have been 13. Unlucky. They aren’t going to happen are they really? You’ve not got time to write your book, let alone launch all these extra sites. It’ll take you a week to think up all the aliases you’ll need.

Apart from the fan sites, what about footy4free.coN, or freesky4pc.coN? Two sites there you’ve forgotten to mention. And what was that transferwhispers.coN site all about? Generic bullshit?
One that made us laugh – your Michael Barrymore fan site. michaelbarrymore dot tv. Hence the picture of you with him at the top of this blog.

You’ve actually got hundreds of domains that really belong to other LFC websites. Technically some of them probably could be classed as yours, but the majority were clearly stolen. (Check the READ ME section at the top for some examples).

You even bought kraptalk.co.uk! Possibly my favourite of all that one.

Why of all names did you pick “Chav Games”? It points back to Koptalk now, but looking at this old version you were promising so much to come.

“Our website is updated around the clock, every day of the week by gamers. Not only do we offer you news about your favourite consoles but we also offers XBox and PS2 cheats, reviews and sales. We offer for sale various new and used video games and also link to the major outlets for specialist gaming hardware that you may be finding hard to obtain. We can help you with all aspects of your gaming and if we’re not around, just pop into our free community to talk to other gamers who will be more than happy to assist you.”

I suppose the plans for Chav Games Gold Insider are on hold for now.

I’ve no problem myself with all of these extra sites – it’s the bullshit that annoys me and many others. Why trust us with your nudge-nudge wink-wink tenner off for cash, and links to dodgy videos and the like? Why talk about a community where everyone should be nice to each other and you won’t stand for nonsense and then tell lies like this.

Good or bad, like it or not, this is the true answer to the question -

Duncan Oldham has a group of sites under the Koptalk banner. They have served him well and brought him cash. However he wanted to see whether there were other opportunities – fair play to him. None of the other sites worked, because it’s difficult to have a Spurs fan site run without a Spurs fan. He has many domain names belonging to other LFC Websites. He has some websites for branching out into selling video games. He has sites where he takes a subscription in return for football streaming information.

He has more than 1 (one) website.

Why lie? Something to hide?