Real Estate Forums

SEOWolf · 10-31-2007, 01:39 PM

Yesterday one of our Moderators, Mert, contacted me and asked why I deleted one of his threads. I assured him I had not and started checking into it.

To my horror I discovered that Mert’s password was used to delete several threads over the past few months.

The deleted threads have two things in common.

1) They all are less than flattering about Morgan Carey and or RealEstateWebmasters(dot)com.
2) They were all deleted from IPs used by Morgan and employees of RealEstateWebmasters(dot)com.

As it turns out Mert was using the same password in this forum as he used in REW. Mert has assured me that he never gave Morgan his password so we can only assume that he has found a way to harvest passwords from the vBulletin Forum software.

We urge any of our Members that belong to REW to change your password in our forum immediately so this does not spread.

We have contacted Rackspace and have blocked Morgan and his employees IP access. Rackspace has preserved a copy of the forum’s logs for investigation by law enforcement.

Many notices will be going out over the next few days to interested parties with proof of this act that leaves no doubt as to the unethical depths Morgan and company will sink to.

I can only apologize to our Members for not being more protective of your posts and backlinks. I am fully aware of how losing aged links adversely affect rankings. I pledge to be more diligent in the future.

Regards,

~VegasMack

sarahk · 10-31-2007, 02:46 PM

I'm shocked. We all get negative feedback from time to time, and the bigger your profile, the more frequently it's going to happen.

I've always had a ton of respect for Morgan and the only issues I've ever had have been when a) he changed the link to the forum to point to his business thereby gaining a huge number of inbound links and endorsements; b) he employed a clown called Dave to link build and I complained to his manager to "restrain him". The first you can't do much about, the second seemed to get resolved.

neodemes · 10-31-2007, 02:53 PM

Some people suck more than others.

Tony Sena · 10-31-2007, 02:55 PM

Well lets just hope that this is just all a big misunderstanding! I just would hate to see something like this to be true, especially because MERT is a MOD on my site

NealRM · 10-31-2007, 02:57 PM

I would be interested in seeing those notices. I would also be interested to know how the password was harvested.

Jared · 10-31-2007, 03:00 PM

This really doesn't surprise me. Mack knows what I'm referring to as I've seen similar events.

Truly tragic if this turns out to be true. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.

~ Jared

Side Note: Its really not possible to compromise the password in vBulletin easily. I'm wondering if the password used in REW was somehow assumed to have been used herein. Even that would be difficult but still MD5 hacks are possible.

LVH · 10-31-2007, 03:15 PM

If it walks like a duck...sounds like a duck..guess what its a duck

I can chime in cause frankly I dont give a flying &^%$ but I told people more than 3 years ago about Morgans character. I know for a fact that he has done the samething to me many years ago cause I used the same password in REW that I did in Digitalpoint.

Morgan/Seo Guy is out to accomplish what he has to anyway he has too. Its hard to dislike a guy who makes you believe he has your best interest at heart and then when you turn your back or you disagree with him in any way sticks a knife deep inside you. Its happen to his first 2 real estate clients so why should anyone else believe they are safe.

Most of you know or if you dont that I have a son. When Morgan and I disagreed about me owning him money and he was lucky he is in Canada...he told me that my son would be better off if his dad was dead...Now you tell me what kind of business owner tells a client something like that.

Well now the shoe is on the other foot. Morgan has a son now and I dont wish anyones father dead but if his son learns life lessons from Morgan by the time the kid is 14 or 15 he will be in prison or worse.

Morgan is hiding behind his countries borders. Most of his us cleints cant sue him or take legal action because of the difficulties in collecting on a judgement.

One day some of you might see his TRUE COLORS until then just bend over grease up and get ready to take it like a man or woman LOL.

QUACK QUACK says Morgan!!!

SEOWolf · 10-31-2007, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahk

I'm shocked. We all get negative feedback from time to time, and the bigger your profile, the more frequently it's going to happen.

I've always had a ton of respect for Morgan and the only issues I've ever had have been when a) he changed the link to the forum to point to his business thereby gaining a huge number of inbound links and endorsements; b) he employed a clown called Dave to link build and I complained to his manager to "restrain him". The first you can't do much about, the second seemed to get resolved.

I was surprised but not really shocked.

Al and I started this forum because of Morgan’s practice of banning Members and then deleting their links in their posts. Links they earned and worked for. As a result of starting this forum Morgan banned both of us.

The real irony is that he claimed that we copied his forum and called us unethical which was total BS. You can only say “Google” so many ways and he was by no means the first to have those topics. What he has done is far more than unethical it is illegal.

I have seen where he embedded code to captured copies of client’s emails with my own eyes, I have heard of him reading PMs, but to delete threads in someone else’s forum is unforgivable. While these threads may have been less than flattering, he had no right to delete the posts and links of those participating in the threads. I realize from reading his forum that he has a real issue with freedom of speech but to impose restrictions of speech in other forums by any means necessary is appalling.

~VegasMack

Tony Sena · 10-31-2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

The real irony is that he claimed that we copied his forum and called us unethical which was total BS.

He accused me as well? I guess he is the only one allowed to have a real estate forum with the topics he has?

The sad thing is, he is good at what he does, he just needs to work on his people skills. We have had discussions in the past and he treated me like I was beneath him and that I couldn't be successful unless I had REW handle my stuff. Funny thing is, my site now has more members than his does and my site has only been up for 18 months and his, over 3 years? Whats funny is, if he hadn't treated me like he did, I would have probably employed his services.

SEOWolf · 10-31-2007, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NealRM

I would be interested in seeing those notices. I would also be interested to know how the password was harvested.

I hope to load screen shots of the PREN logs tonight Neal as proof (need to get ready for our more ethical Demons and Goblins first.)

As for how he harvested the passwords from vBulletin I haven’t a clue. I will allow them to review my logs as well as law enforcement agencies and other interested entities.

Be back after I make a candy run to Wal-Mart.

~VegasMack