Time to Right the Wrong

It's been two weeks now. Two weeks since I went public with part of the saga that was UberDork Cafe and Rock the LAN. You know, it’s not even right to say that. There are some people who I am proud to call my friends that are affiliated with Rock the LAN. None of that, of any of this, was ever their fault. No, it’s just one person. One man, responsible for it all.

I didn’t want to do it. I begged for him to come forward with very simple requests. I told him he was backing me into a corner I hated being in. That didn’t matter to him.

So, I came forward. People involved with and people that ordered the calendar had every right to know. Since he refused to give me the means to contact anyone privately, I had to do so publicly. I did so politely. I kept everything strictly to the calendar and didn’t name any specific name.

When I did, his reaction was to accuse me of “dividing a community with malice and drama.” Because of who I am, that got to me. He knows me well enough to know that it would. There’s not a malicious cell in my being. I stand up for what I believe in, I stand up for people I care about, I stand up for the amazing community I am proud to be a part of, I am not quiet when I see things that are wrong. There is a HUGE difference between being feisty (in the spirited, plucky, spunky kind of way) and being spiteful. And as far as drama goes, I am certainly not one to start or perpetuate it.

And so I have sat here for the last week wondering what to do about this whole mess. ALL of it. The calendar is just one facet of it. His statement of accusation was followed by telling me if I “persist” he would “retaliate.” That he had “been nice to this point, but no longer.” I allowed him to paralyze me with this.

I’m just a dorky gal with a dream of opening up a cafe. A physical destination where my community can hang out and be themselves. Come in, grab a bite, game with your friends, your family, new people, by yourself. Check out the webcomic kiosk and find some new favorites. Check out the geeky goods kiosk and find some wonderful new things for yourself or others. Take classes, learn new things, have parties, meetings. A place our community can call home. A place our community deserves. Yes, it was me wanting a place for my girls and I to hang out that started this crazy dream. But, it is OUR dream. Our revolution. We are here and we are proud.

It is that fact that I’ve had made very clear to me recently. This is not just about what has been done to me, but to the community. To all the people that have believed in this enough to donate items for auction, buy T shirts, buy calendars. To all the people that helped spread the word so others would do that. To all the people that said “I want one of these here!” To all the people that are following the growth of this dream in hope.

Regardless of what he chooses to do, he will not stop this dream from happening. Period.

But, it’s time the whole truth comes out. While some people have received refunds for things, there are still many I suspect that haven’t. That don’t even know what has happened. They all just wanted to support the dream. I have had people say “I ordered an UberDork Cafe T Shirt months ago and when it didn’t come, I just thought of it as a donation toward the cafe.” Which is so amazing to me that their belief in this was so strong they also went silent. The thing is, the cafe has never seen any of the money.

Nope. Not one cent. Justin Hurst is in sole possession of EVERYTHING. Everything that has been donated for auction. Any money that was paid for T shirts or calendars that hasn’t been refunded, all in his possession. Repeated requests have been made for months for financial statements, for spreadsheets on all the auction items, for spreadsheets on names and contact information for all those that have ordered anything UberDork Cafe-related. Nothing. No way for me to make sure that things get made right.

The statement he issued on the Rock The LAN site claimed “we will however not be refunding the customers that have already started receiving the first group of shirts that have been shipped that will have to be taken up with the crew from the Café (you will be able to reach them at the UberDorkCafe.com.)” Yet, the “crew from the Cafe” have absolutely no information on how many shirts that includes, who ordered them so we can contact them and make sure they actually received them and we sure don’t have any money from any of them. Considering in an email from Justin dated January 7th he stated “we now have confirmation of over 500 shirts purchased from RTL being delivered and the rest are in route”, well that’s quite A LOT.

That statement on Rock the LAN was quite interesting for me to read in general. Even more interesting that any comments made on it were deleted. If “we” (and, again, it’s pretty much just Justin as he made sure contact regarding the dealings with the Cafe and Rock the LAN occurred only with him) supported the cafe SO much as the statement said, than why have the requests continued to be ignored? I know people get busy, I know that he has some things going on in his life that is his own business. I also know that he will pull it out to use to defend his actions. Which, would be believable if he hasn’t been spending hours on conference calls and such trying to recruit new writers for the site. Yes, he has a site, a business to maintain. But, if there is time for that, there is time to forward the financials and spreadsheets he claims to already have. There is time to call UPS and ship off all the auction items. There is time to make things right.

Come to think of it, that statement on Rock the LAN was all “we” and “our.” That’s a lot to place on the staff of Rock the LAN whom were only privy to whatever it is he chose to tell them. I stepped up and claimed my responsibility in this. I made a huge mistake in trusting someone I thought was a friend and cared for this community. I believed that everything he told me was true. That he would follow through on all the promises that he made. I repeatedly gave him the benefit of the doubt when he failed to follow through on things. That is all on me. And it breaks my heart. But, I’ll be damned if I sit back and allow it to continue. I refuse to not do everything within my power and right to try to correct the wrongs that have been done.

What has been done is not even remotely close to “nice to this point.” I am certain that I will get a threat of coming after me for defamation of character. But, defamation of character is defined as “ false and unprivileged spoken words or written publication.” False is the key term here. I have stuck completely to the truth. Truth that can easily be backed up by texts, emails, notes from our weekly meetings that occurred every Tuesday night at 9pm central time via Skype and action item documents that were generated as a result of all those meetings.

Besides having truth on my side, I have faith. Faith in my community. Faith in that you all know me. Know that I am far from malicious, not trying to invoke drama but to make things right and to keep them from happening again.

So, my dear friends, I need your help. I need you to help me get word to EVERYONE that donated auction items, bought T Shirts, calendars, had ANY transaction with Justin Hurst and/or Rock the LAN for ANYTHING related to UberDork Cafe. If you are one of those people, PLEASE contact me directly at Natali@UberDorkCafe.com.

It is my intent to get this whole mess sorted, the wrongs righted, as quickly as possible so it’s back to onward and upward with UberDork Cafe. Thank you all so very much for the support, the love. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate it. I’m just gonna have to huggle you all one day. :)

Now let’s go REALLY build a better dream!! :)