# ChannelPro Tosses Elric Phares Out of Motherboards.org



## btarunr (Nov 9, 2012)

Elric Phares, founder of the 20-year old tech publication Motherboards.org learned the hard way not to cut deals with the devil big corporate media houses that promise accelerated growth of your publication in exchange for a share of profits/copyrights. According to a rant posted by Phares on YouTube, Motherboards.org joined the ChannelPro Network three years ago, a deal which typically sees Motherboards.org hand over its revenue-stream management and copyrights to ChannelPro in exchange for site (cosmetic/technical) and business (diversification/partherships) development, leading up to increased revenues for all involved, which according to him, never happened. To add to that, Phares had been noting financial irregularities. When confronted with evidence of these, ChannelPro fired him. In his video, Phares announced what will shape up to be a long-drawn legal battle with his former employer, and appealed to his followers to unsubscribe from Motherboards.org (as run by ChannelPro). Phares set his base of operations in his 2010-registered consumer electronics website, TechofTomorrow. 





Elric Phares's video announcing his departure from Motherboards.org follows.












*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## natr0n (Nov 9, 2012)

wow he got fcked over bigtime. Hopefully it will be corrected soon.


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## btarunr (Nov 9, 2012)

Regardless of what happened, trying to run a site without its founder, who's been thrown out like this, and not left in pursuit of better things, is just wrong. It's like trying to run TPU without W1zzard, or Anandtech without Anand Lal. 

I hope company representatives see the logic of the situation, and deal with Elric (and not ChannelPro).


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## Ghost (Nov 9, 2012)

Everything's fine. It's supposed to be this way. If you don't want this to happen, stay independent. TPU is independent, right?


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## micropage7 (Nov 9, 2012)

yeah, ive seen the video and it must be painful
you run from zero then after it hits 100 you get kicked 
how could they do that for him? they must be mad


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## btarunr (Nov 9, 2012)

Ghost said:


> TPU is independent, right?



We are backed by you.


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## dj-electric (Nov 9, 2012)

Man, what a bunch of dicks...
Hope Elric will return with more of his awesome videos. The benchmarks and perffesionality of MB.org is very low but the presentation is nice.


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## Katanai (Nov 9, 2012)

This sucks!!!  I know motherboards.org since waaaaay back. It was not a really popular site back then, I didn't know people who visited it regularly. I didn't know for a long time why I visited it, it didn't look good at all and it was not regularly updated. I actually asked myself why I liked it so much at one point and the answer I found was: this guy! He really knows his stuff and was always thorough in his reviews of motherboards. I always looked at motherboards.org as the place to go if I needed a definitive answer to the question if a motherboard is good or not. :shadedshu Too bad that stuff like this happens. This should be a lesson that I hope techpowerup will learn if it ever finds itself in front of a similar situation. Basically, the way I see it is like this: if you sell something it's not yours anymore no matter how the contract reads or any other understanding between you and the buyer. If the owner of techpowerup ever does something like this or has done that my advice would be to prepare a contingency plan from the start, another site, if he wants to continue in this field. I hope this will never be the case and I hope Elric will find the strength and financial resources to either get the site back or start another one. We need him!


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## Rowsol (Nov 9, 2012)

Man, that's fucked.  Elric is a groovy dude and I wish him the best.


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## NHKS (Nov 9, 2012)

Besides Linus Tech Tips, the other channel I watch frequently is mb.org... because of Elric.. sometimes he is over the top but mostly his videos are great to watch!.. he is a good video reviewer and an entertainer too...

and to fire him for trying to enquire into an irregularity is just being unfair.. well, it is a loss for Channel Pro.. 

so from now it will be ToT to watch Elric then..  so be it




btarunr said:


> Regardless of what happened, trying to run a site without its founder, who's been thrown out like this, and not left in pursuit of better things, is just wrong. It's like trying to run TPU without W1zzard, or Anandtech without Anand Lal.
> I hope company representatives see the logic of the situation, and deal with Elric (and not ChannelPro).


+1 to this!

sometimes, those corporate bean-counters only care about their numbers attached with a $.. nothing else


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## micropage7 (Nov 9, 2012)

yeah i often watch Linus and Elric beside documentary vids
too bad it ends like that.

they got money then they could do anything? YES but they just ruin theirself


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## Ghost (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> We are backed by you.



*Group hug*



NHKS said:


> sometimes, those corporate bean-counters only care about their numbers attached with a $.. nothing else


According to this article, Motherboards.org and Elric cared about money in the first place too. They sold out. When someone/something solds out, things like these happen.


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## Katanai (Nov 9, 2012)

This is for those who still don't know why I appreciate his opinion and value it highly: 

Tablet Wars! iPad Mini vs Nexus 7 - Which Should Y...

Just watch that. Now maybe you could say that he's not thorough in his reviews and didn't run enough benchmarks and maybe he is a bit unprofessional. How about some god damn truth?!? I am sure he has run enough benchmarks on those two tablets and more importantly spend enough time with them to get a honest evaluation of both of them like he did in the old days with motherboards, he is not the man to put up 10000 meaningless charts on a website or in a video but in the conclusion you can always expect the truth from him. Now go and read the reviews for that mini POS on engadget, gizmodo or any other of the many sites owned by apple and you will find that they are indeed much longer and maybe look more thorough but if you look at them from a distance you'll see it's just a long excuse of why you should buy it over the Nexus 7. Being a publicist and posing as a journalist now that's what I call unprofessional! That's why I say we need guys like him!


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## TheGuruStud (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Regardless of what happened, trying to run a site without its founder, who's been thrown out like this, and not left in pursuit of better things, is just wrong. It's like trying to run TPU without W1zzard, or Anandtech without Anand Lal.
> 
> I hope company representatives see the logic of the situation, and deal with Elric (and not ChannelPro).



How is the latter a bad thing?   I could take the site more seriously if he was gone.


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## DannibusX (Nov 9, 2012)

I read most of the comments on Motherboard.org's youtube channel.  Epic.

Sounds like this guy really got shafted, I hope the video doesn't effect his court case.


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## timmyisme22 (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> We are backed by you.



Damn. We're fucked.


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## the54thvoid (Nov 9, 2012)

Ghost said:


> According to this article, Motherboards.org and Elric cared about money in the first place too. They sold out. When someone/something solds out, things like these happen.



There's selling out and there's seeking financial support.  My mate used to run an alternative music/club/culture website and it was very popular.  Expanded into advertising 'alternative' clubs etc but it was costing him money to hire people to do work etc.  Eventually he let it slip after many years because it personally cost him money to run it.  I don't think he ever broke even.

Guys running sites from home and giving up proper jobs to do it need financial backing.  Don't be too quick to judge others.


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## 63jax (Nov 9, 2012)

fuck him, he was rude as a barbarian


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## the54thvoid (Nov 9, 2012)

63jax said:


> fuck him, he was rude as a barbarian



Pot kettle black (as they say in my country).


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## 63jax (Nov 9, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Pot kettle black (as they say in my country).



applies to you too


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## Lionheart (Nov 9, 2012)

FUCK! I love this guys video's Ima support him as much as I can


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## 63jax (Nov 9, 2012)

''How about you go fuck yourself poser its my stuff to do what I want so go cry to your Mommy baby BOY!!!''    this is one of his comments, this is how he talk with his audience, yes back him up guys!!!!


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## dj-electric (Nov 9, 2012)

I don't really care about these things. I don't know the guy and barely sent him any messeges during the years.

All i care is that now and then i can chillax infront of my YouTubez and watch some videos.
I kinda enjoyed some of Elric's stuff, he is different alright. If for some reason some asshole decides to cut it, of course i would not be happy about it.

I'm not enjoying the hardware becuase when you're in the bussiness you are getting used to extreme hardware and it doesn't exite you as much, but I really watch it for Elric's reactions and presentation of things.


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## HossHuge (Nov 9, 2012)

I've always found him to be classless and not funny at all.

So, he sold out to ChannelPro three years ago,  then they fire him and now he's saying that ChannelPro broke the contract for not doing what they said they would do?

Why wouldn't he have complained after the first 6 months?


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## acerace (Nov 9, 2012)

Haters gonna hate.


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## BumbleBee (Nov 9, 2012)

Lionheart said:


> FUCK! I love this guys video's Ima support him as much as I can



yeah Elric is awesome. i'm sure he will land on his feet.


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## mtosev (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> We are backed by you.


and with the ad revenue that is generated by the users,no?


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## Animalpak (Nov 9, 2012)

motherboards channel have still alot of subscribers


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## GSquadron (Nov 9, 2012)

That website doens't seem to be right, i dont like it at all.
For what i know, i came to tpu everyday since 2009 and it was partially for the forums and partially for the design and news the website had. 
There is one thing to mention: "it just got more clicks because of techpowerup news"


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## DaMobsta (Nov 9, 2012)

Well 20 years of service and getting screwed as a reward blows. Hope Channel Pro get what they deserve.


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## shhnedo (Nov 9, 2012)

mtosev said:


> and with the ad revenue that is generated by the users,no?



It's practically the same thing you know... Adds are useless without users so he prety much said it all.


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## brian111 (Nov 9, 2012)

Beyond whatever services ChannelPro may not have performed, the serious allegation is embezzlement.  That will make anyone angry.


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## xBruce88x (Nov 9, 2012)

Especially in this economy... which is why I think he made an agreement with them in the first place.

I've already subscribed to his ToT channel and unsubscribed from the ... other. Also, I sent him a nice little email letting him know there's ppl out there that support him.

Yea... still a ton of subs on the old site... I guess everyone hasn't woke up yet to read the news.


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## yogurt_21 (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Regardless of what happened, trying to run a site without its founder, who's been thrown out like this, and not left in pursuit of better things, is just wrong. It's like trying to run TPU without W1zzard, or Anandtech without Anand Lal.
> 
> I hope company representatives see the logic of the situation, and deal with Elric (and not ChannelPro).



yeah not seeing their logic here. They got a domain/brand name, whoop ti doo. He's the reason people visit/watch. So if he buys a different domain and starts anew what's to stop everyone from switching over? It's not like he suddenly lost all his brand contacts. (even if he did his name has recognition amongst the brands would still get him review samples and what's stopping them from sending him AND motherboards.org samples to review?)

its almost as if they said "we feel like we don't have enough competition so you're fired to go make some for us"

I mean a quick look at the site and nearly every single article and review featured on the homesite is authored by Elric Phares...


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 9, 2012)

Elric Phares was a dumbass. He should have had a lawyer over look the contract. I don't wish this on anyone but sometimes you gotta let natural selection take its course. Good experience comes from bad judgment.

Mr. Phares will make another site that people will flock to I'm sure. I just hope he plays his cards a little smarter next time. I wish him luck.


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## tacosRcool (Nov 9, 2012)

I have never heard of this site. 20 years?!?


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## KainXS (Nov 9, 2012)

maybe your too young?

I first heard of motherboards about 10 years ago and its sad that this happened to it, I did notice though that the site was not changing for a long time and I do like his reviews so hopefully he makes a comeback but really . . . . . . he should have seen this coming.


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## fullinfusion (Nov 9, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Elric Phares was a dumbass. He should have had a lawyer over look the contract. I don't wish this on anyone but sometimes you gotta let natural selection take its course. Good experience comes from bad judgment.
> 
> Mr. Phares will make another site that people will flock to I'm sure. I just hope he plays his cards a little smarter next time. I wish him luck.


And your perfect?


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 9, 2012)

fullinfusion said:


> And your perfect?



I'm smart enough to know not to sign over 20 years of my life work for 10% of the profits from that work and to later be fired from that work? I mean I dunno WTF he was thinking not having a lawyer look at the contract. I have my lawyer look at what socks I wear in the morning before going outside. Its crazy this happen to him......at the same time I EXPECT people to try and screw me with that kinda money on the line. Its human nature.


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## cadaveca (Nov 9, 2012)

Mailman, you are overly cautious in most things. In this instance, yes, I do believe that you might have ended up in the better position, but at the same time, not everyone can be as neurotic as you are. 


As to Elric...I have a feeling he will be back in short order.


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 9, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Mailman, you are overly cautious in most things. In this instance, yes, I do believe that you might have ended up in the better position, but at the same time, not everyone can be as neurotic as you are.
> 
> 
> As to Elric...I have a feeling he will be back in short order.



This is true. I'm like Howard Hughes........only less smart and broke. 

I think Elric will be fine. Hell Ill go as far to say this will do him good in the long run. Things like this end up being a blessing in my experience.


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## 3870x2 (Nov 9, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Elric Phares was a dumbass ... I wish him luck.



Outstanding.


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (Nov 9, 2012)

Loved the guys videos.  

FU channelpro !


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## overclocker! (Nov 9, 2012)

Elric you definitely need a hair transplant


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## fwix (Nov 9, 2012)

so sad ... those M.F need a ......
otherwise u fans did a good job check this link 

http://vidstatsx.com/top-100-24h-sub-losses


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## Disparia (Nov 9, 2012)

btarunr said:


> In his video, Phares announced what will shape up to be a long-drawn legal battle with his former employer, and appealed to his followers to unsubscribe from Motherboards.org (as run by ChannelPro).



No problem Eric, I did so about 3 years ago.

Hmmm... coincidence?


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## dieterd (Nov 9, 2012)

dont you think he got plenty of $$$ when sign a deal in order to give a way 80% of his company... if not than what and why was he planing?


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## KainXS (Nov 9, 2012)

video removed that fast man . . . . . . . damn


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## HossHuge (Nov 9, 2012)

KainXS said:


> video removed that fast man . . . . . . . damn



Probably because as TheMailMan78 put it "Elric Phares was a dumbass."  

I bet he spoke to a lawyer after he put the video up and the lawyer told him to take it down.


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## Completely Bonkers (Nov 9, 2012)

"After 3 years" is the typical take-over contract. It sounds like he was kept on contractually for the 3 years, and is now let go. He should have expected it. IT HAPPENS IN 99% OF ALL TAKEOVERS. Greedy much? Resentful much? Start over. You did it before. Do it again.

Telling peeps to deregister from Motherboard.org is just vengeful.  Attempting to damage the company is not going to earn him any credits.

Can you imagine people here on TPU getting an infraction then posting flaming videos telling people to deregister from TPU. It's laughable.


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 9, 2012)

Completely Bonkers said:


> "After 3 years" is the typical take-over contract. It sounds like he was kept on contractually for the 3 years, and is now let go. He should have expected it. IT HAPPENS IN 99% OF ALL TAKEOVERS. Greedy much? Resentful much? Start over. You did it before. Do it again.
> 
> Telling peeps to deregister from Motherboard.org is just vengeful.  Attempting to damage the company is not going to earn him any credits.
> 
> Can you imagine people here on TPU getting an infraction then posting flaming videos telling people to deregister from TPU. It's laughable.



hardly what you said as I believe certain mods and reviewers and wizzard get paid to keep this site going it is a .com afterall. other than that he should just move to the other site and just put a mobo section in.


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## manofthem (Nov 10, 2012)

I had nothing against this guy.  First time I ever saw him was on youtube when I saw some Crysis Eyefinity video, and I thought that he sucked at the game


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## xcaninox (Nov 10, 2012)

can somebody upload the same video again? i'm trying to find it elsewhere but failed.. 

pretty plix? i really want to see it.

thanks anyways


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## newtekie1 (Nov 10, 2012)

I'm not going to take sides, I think Elric made good videos, but he was also an asshole that badmouthed and insulted anyone that would question his opinions in his reviews.

However, look at some of the facts, he isn't 100% in the right here.  In his video he claims ChannelPro was supposed to develop a new website and never did.  However, going to the WayBack Machine shows that the site looks very different now compared to what it looked like 3 years ago.

Also, he accused his employer of embezzlement with next to no evidence and then was surprised when he was canned.  Duh!  Also, he openly admits he has an anger management issue, so I highly doubt he calmly asked about the money he felt he was being cheated out of.

And on top of that in 2010, a year after signing the contract with ChannelPro, he registers and opens a site that is obviously designed to directly compete with the site he just sold ChannelPro.  Yes, he didn't really do anything with the site until recently, but he was obviously planning to have a competing site at some point.  If I owned a hardware store and one of my employees bought a new building down the block and put a big sign on the building that says "Hardware Store", I'd fire their ass as soon as I could too.

So I'll wait until the courts work out what really happened before I take a side.  I'm not saying that what they did to him was right, but we've only heard one side of the story, so I'm going to wait to pass judgement until we've heard both sides.


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## eclipx (Nov 10, 2012)

Video mirror

It's TrueChannel Pro Stole Motherboardsorg You...


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## THE_EGG (Nov 10, 2012)

This sucks, although he wasn't the most thorough reviewers out there, he actually had a lot of the real world opinions on things. Also he was a bit silly at times (like the weekly round-up being that funny weird reporter) but this is what made Elric who he is. 

Also from what I understand he had to get his foot amputated about a year and a bit ago or something like that???

Unsubbing from motherboardsorg for the meantime. I think he might have seen this coming for a little while now because of one of his other channels 'techoftomorrow' becoming more computer hardware based. Amazing that motherboardsorg has lost over 150000 subscribers now.

I hope he still continues his reviews and funny stuff independently or finds another site to latch onto.


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## xcaninox (Nov 10, 2012)

eclipx said:


> Video mirror
> 
> It's TrueChannel Pro Stole Motherboardsorg You...



thank you very much


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## Steven B (Nov 10, 2012)

I am sorry but the kind of contract he made is one of those which basically says sure you can stay for a few years until we figure out your business enough to kick your ass out. I am sure he got paid a lot of money upfront, and I bet he spent it all and why he is mad now. 

Also making videos about embezzlement, int he large scale operation of ad money that sites like his and this and others get, is serious business. I bet you he also has a gag clause in this contract, which is also why those video disappear. 

Tons of the big sites, when they get big enough, have to take on investors, or enjoy taking on investors. However some of these investors ask for a lot of stuff, such as total control. If a company asks for all copyrights, i mean, you got to be stupid not to know you just got kicked out of your own company. 

Anyways, yea business decisions are hard to make when you don't have any prior experience, a lot of these big sites have very big backers in terms of investors, they all make their money from advertising, which is provided from big vendors like cpu makers, motherboard makers, and retailers like newegg, and then if you click on the ads then the site makes money. 

It isn't hard to figure that out, TPU has no black market trading operation going on to keep paying for its servers and time of some of their reviewers. I don't think w1zzrd will sell out, so i wouldn't worry about TPU much.


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## overclocker! (Nov 11, 2012)

Elric go to my DOCTOR.COM they can give you a nice quote for hair transplant


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## W1zzard (Nov 11, 2012)

Steven B said:


> I don't think w1zzrd will sell out, so i wouldn't worry about TPU much.



depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is


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## newtekie1 (Nov 11, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



I've got a huge pile of Monopoly money, some cold coca-colas in the fridge, and a closet full of coat hangers?


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## AlienIsGOD (Nov 11, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



big pile of money and blow, yes.  but you don't want a big hooker, they charge by the pound


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## sneekypeet (Nov 11, 2012)

AlienIsGOD said:


> big pile of money and blow, yes.  but you don't want a big hooker, they charge by the pound



you misread...there are 3 piles, and I assume the hooker pile isn't just one girl!


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## cadaveca (Nov 11, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



Tom's sold for like $1 Million. I think you'd need 5-8 Mil.


Just sayin. 

I don't think Motherboards.org got one mil...


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## Morgoth (Nov 11, 2012)

if some one would buy tpu. what would they do with tpu? make it bether? worse? shut it down?


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## eidairaman1 (Nov 11, 2012)

Morgoth said:


> if some one would buy tpu. what would they do with tpu? make it bether? worse? shut it down?



total take overs tend to make sites worse or even non existent


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## SK-1 (Nov 12, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



Or if it happens to be around the first of April....


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## Kreij (Nov 12, 2012)

If W1zz sold TPU I would leave.
Not because the site would potential not be the same (or similar), but it would lay waste all the effort we moderators have been putting in to effect a hostile take-over from W1zz.


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## Katanai (Nov 12, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



Really? Good! 

*starts saving up on cash, stockpiling on coke and goes out and buys a green hat*


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## THE_EGG (Nov 12, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> I've got a huge pile of Monopoly money, some cold coca-colas in the fridge, and a closet full of coat hangers?



I think W1zzard may have meant a different kind of '_coke_' if you get my drift...


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## 3870x2 (Nov 13, 2012)

THE_EGG said:


> I think W1zzard may have meant a different kind of '_coke_' if you get my drift...



Coke used to have cocaine.


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 13, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> depends on how big the offered pile of money, coke and hookers is



When you coming to Miami? All this can be arranged faster then a McDonalds drive thru.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Nov 13, 2012)

Except, depending on the context, you gladly point out you don't live in Miami.


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## TheMailMan78 (Nov 13, 2012)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Except, depending on the context, you gladly point out you don't live in Miami.



I grew up down there and its a less then a 5 hour drive. I still have MANY connections down there (30yrs after all) and I can make it happen!


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