A lot of things about this hobby have been really, really bothering me, and I think it's high time to address them ...
 
Over at VPU, Dazz has kindly replied to a post I made, shared over there ...
 

It looks like VPD and VPF are teaming up to try and take down VPU... Not really, but gotta love being picked on to make others look righteous.



Since I've been banned from VPF for many years now and haven't used the site for just as long.. I have no way to respond directly.  For a while now; I thought Paul and I were on a way to understanding that both communities are important to the overall health and well being of the hobby.  I thought that we had a common interest at hand and Paul even sent me a PM asking if I needed help getting additional info about VPD. Today it seems that he has decided to spew a bunch of bullshit.  

If he wants to attack me and my character... I'll just lump Paul/Noah Fentz aka offended by everying, (haha get it... No ahFentz) in the same category as VPD if he want's to play this game.

VPU has NEVER had anything to do with money. First and foremost; VPU has always been about community.  Yes, VPU was initally created as a "spite site" (quote from Paul/Noah)... It was created out of spite due the fact that myself along with several others were treated like shit by Paul/Noah.  His constant promising of fixes & concerns by the community that fell on deaf ears. Issues that could have been easily fixed, never were, and eventually drove several of us long timers away.  We teamed up to create a place where it wasn't ruled by a dictatorship and away from the rules of Noah.  VPU had several content creators that all felt the same way toward the owner of VPF.  Those content creators released content specifically for VPU and we created a following.  I never intended for VPU to be where we are today, but here we are.

1. Basic SAM emulation was secretly added by Destruk (PinMAME Team) and VPF to a private DLL. The DLL's containing SAM emulation were found on commercially available GlobalVR/UltraPin machines, in which contained tables created by... you guessed it Destruk and a couple others from VPF. This SAM emulation was made specifically for and reportedly *sold* to GlobalVR.  It was being held back by VPF and the PinMAME team mebers at the time. It was to be only shared privately, along with horribly built tables, amongst only the elite members on VPForums. I personally had nothing to do with the initial code leak being made public, but the posted did release it on Christmas Eve on VPU.  VPU did take the broken / unfinished code, added LE rom support, fixed the bugs in the code and released the DLLs for it to the public. Yes, this may have been a tunring point for VPU at the time, but the site wasn't created specifically for that. Yes, we went against VPF's rules.  We changed the rules and released tables using SAM emulation... rules that, to this day, no single person has ever seen in writing or have any proof of. It's just been passed around as a rule of thumb.  Has anything ever come out of releasing that code? No; if anything it furthered and engineered a new era of Virtual Pinball.

 
This is exactly why I have had ZERO respect for Dazz and VPU. To the point where I filtered the URL. Now maybe everyone can understand. Here's a guy with little to no involvement (long standing, my ass!) taking something that's not his and posting it against the wishes of those who didn't want that it out there. The VPM Team, no less! You know, the guys that have made this hobby possible as it is today?

This makes VPU and Dazz no better, in my eyes, and likely worse, than the dreaded 'VPD guy'. Anyone supporting this crap is right there with him.
 

2. Backglasses from Flying Dutchaman... Wildman has always been in charge of the backglasses on VPU.  To this day, @Wildman, runs a pretty clean ship and produces some of the best looking backglasses around. I honestly don't know if any of FD's images were ever used or not in the creation of any B2S's. I personally never used any for my creations, but can't speak for anyone else. There has never been any proof if they were or were not, just acquisations and butthurt. For the most part; backglass images were found the same way that Flying Dutchaman found them and how a lot of our backglasses and table artwork is found today.  It's called GOOGLE, Ebay, online stores, image dumps, etc.  Noah has always been very jealous that the majority of backglasses and backglass creators started to specifically release on VPU.

Flying Dutchman himself reported it. I reported it, and I proved it with our download logs. One for one, the backglass files went up in exact, and I mean exact, correlation with his downloads here. It's even been confirmed by several 'little birdies'. Ken isn't a very good 'Keeper of Secrets'. I get it! You desperately needed content. Your site is full of unauthorized MODs, by the way.
 

3. VPU subscriptions were modeled off of VPForums subscriptions that have been in place for 15+ years, timers, limits and all. They have been prooven to work against bots & site scrapers. Practice what you preach... For 8 years I ran the site purely on donations.  Many months the donations didn't even come close to covering any costs. I paid all operating costs directly from my own personal pocket.  When VPinball.com fell; I stepped up and offered to take over VPinball as it was and continue the site so content wasn't lost.  I knew damn well that VPF wasn't going to step-up their game; and to this day still hasn't.  I tossed a bunch of my own money into getting VPU stable enough to handle increased traffic.  The community stepped up and showed their support...  The subscription model has worked, but it hasn't even been a year. VPU brings in about $1400 per month. Renewal rates have yet to be seen...  As I mentioned above... less than 0.8% of 46,000 registered members are those that either have a subscription or donated to VPU.  I'd assume that come renewal time; that percentage will decrease.  If it weren't for the subscriptions saving this site; this site would be gone ala VPinball 2.0.

"Billy needs the money to buy new pinball machines"  This part has me rolling... Yes, I do own 2 pins. I have a 1969 Gottlieb Road Race that I got when I was 2 years old and my HyperPin 2125 Pincab that I built in 2010, still running on an i5 with a 970 GPU at 1080p. One machine is located in my bedroom and the other in the dining room of my small 1 bedroom apartment in a suburb of Dallas. I drive a beatup 2013 Kia Soul with over 100,000 miles on it and I'm living the American Dream of living paycheck to paycheck from a job that I work 50-60 hours per week for. SHOW ME THE MONEY, PLEASE!!? I wish I could afford a pin, but I'd have no room to put it anyway. Thankfully, I am privlidged in the fact that I do have many close friends that have large and amazing gamerooms/pinball collections.

 
Billy, Billy, Billy. Your cover was blown years ago when I was informed of your plans. This is just more rationalization and weak justification of what you're up to.
 
 

My turn...
 
1. VPF has been in operation since the early 90s.  It was originally created by AJ along with a couple other founding members, some of which can be found on Pinball Nirvana. Noah acquired VPF via a hostile takeover and forced removal of its admins.  The site has been a dictatorship ever since.

LOL. That's all I really have ... LOL. You do realize I didn't 'take down' AJ's VPForums, right? I hope you're not that stupid. We, and I say WE, started this site, because AJ's sucked. Bad. It was time. Good thing, too! AJ's went offline right around the time we opened, in an unrelated incident.
 

2. VPF claims ownership to anything and everything related to Visual Pinball/PinMAME.  VPF might as well join VPD in trying to copywrite the terms "Virtual Pinball".  Uploading to VPF states that anything uploaded becomes property of VPF. Authors DO NOT have control over their files or the ability to have their content removed from the site if they desire.

Still trying to figure out where you came up with this. I always say none of us own any of this. Just another baseless attack. I can think of several takedown requests recently honored. We just don't take down content when we know the request is someone being petty. Don't care who it is.
 

3. VPForums created a business (VirtuaPin) that is and still should be considered a direct conflict of interest. Directly using community created content to supplement the business.

Conflict of interest? Perfect synergy, you mean. As we approach our 10,000th customer, I look back and see nothing but helping and supporting this community. I'm very proud of all the work we've done, and I look forward to many more years of serving our community members and providing the very best products at the very best possible price. That's why I started it in the first place, and you've done nothing but try to destroy it. Is it any wonder why I find you loathsome?

By the way, I have never, EVER, shipped with tables and ROMs installed. I'm also the ONLY one to legally LICENSE Visual Pinball. I do things right, and I have conducted my business with nothing but the utmost integrity. There are hundreds of members here who can tell you exactly that. Enough with the lies.
 

4. VPF deters builders from coming up with innovations because he wants to sell his parts and only his parts. VPF does not allow any competing products to be mentioned or sold by community members in the VPF community.  This includes the most popular DIY DMD, [[[[[[Pin2DMD uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ;) ] uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ] uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ] uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ] uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ] uses stolen and/or infringes IP. PinDMD is the genuine product ].

Not even a little bit true. Numerous product ads have been posted, but none that have been stolen from me. I know you know this, Dazz, because you snapped that shit up like a deep-fried Twinkie. Lucky1 asked us to use Russ' DMD code for his project, and we both said NO! That should have been it, but that somehow motivated him to just do it anyway. It's theft. No different than taking someone's table and uploading it without permission. You bet your ass it won't be advertised here! Lucky1 was also pirating PinDMD v2's, as well. More theft. You keep on supporting that garbage, man! I wouldn't have it here, even if it was YOU they stole it from. It's called ETHICS.
 

 
That image got your attention, eh? 
 
Did you know that VirtuaPin, owned by the VPForums owner, was directly implicated in the fraud case with Skit-B regarding the Predator machine that was never made?  If you aren't familiar with this case; let's put this in perspective... Remember Deeproot Pinball? Skit-B puts Deeproot to shame.  Rumors have it that the CNC machine menioned in the legal case below is still owned and in use by Virtuapin. 

The Skit-B Predator discussion is still a very lively discussion on Pinside. Check it out.
https://pinside.com/...ator-discussion

So many lies, but this one is a lie of omission. Why not tell the complete story, Billy? That wouldn't be conducive to your attempts to slander me (again and again), right? The case has been closed for 5 years? We were 100% EXONERATED from any wrongdoing. Dismissed, with Prejudice. Not something you can try to use against me, sorry.

I thought you didn't like people dragging your work into this? VirtuaPin is PROUDLY my livelihood, and, again, you're no different than the 'VPD guy' when he contacted your work, trying to damage your very livelihood. I had your back, because it was the RIGHT thing to do. That's how I roll.

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I am happy to answer any questions, address any concerns, and generally take any crap anyone is willing to give me. I can take it simply because I know VPU is the unethical, lying sack of human excrement Dazz is (based on his behavior. I'm sure in a different life, we would get along just fine). It's his hovel, after all.

I'm even happy to remove your deserved and well-earned ban, Dazz. Come play with me, so everyone can see just what you are. I'm sick of your bullshit, sick of your lies, and sick of the gullible members you've duped.

Hi everyone!

I know it's been a long time coming! Here are the Upload and hosting guidelines for our community*. Some lists are what's allowed, some what's not allowed, so please note the difference ...

As of this writing, just about everything prior to April 2019 is fair game, with the following exceptions. The list will also evolve to include other manufacturers ...

WMS/Bally (Disallowed)

• Bride of Pinbot 2.0
• Funhouse 2.0
• Colorized ROMs - As per Rick Bartlet, licensor of WMS/Bally properties. He's not one to ignore, as he is pretty aggressive in protecting his interests.

Spooky Pinball (Allowed)

• America's Most Haunted
• Total Nuclear Annihilation
• Dominoes

Charlie asked me to first ask him if we were to recreate their tables. Some of these companies have licensing agreements we do not want to jeopardize! If you would like me to ask on your behalf, feel free to reach out, and I'll give him a call.

Gottlieb (Disallowed)

• All Gottlieb ROMs

Jersey Jack Pinball (Allowed)

• NONE - When asked if we could, he replied, "Absolutely not!" in no uncertain terms ... enough said, Jack.

Stern Pinball (Allowed)

• Any title up to, and including, Black Knight, Sword of Rage

This will change as time goes on. The rule is 3 years out of production. To simplify, it would be easier for everyone to go by the release date on IPDB ...

*Uploads of disallowed content will be rejected. Sites, sellers, drive services, etc hosting or selling disallowed content will be dealt with by the respective IP representative(s).

Thank you!

Hi Everyone!

It's time for a new installment of rules to clarify what the MOD rules are!

MODS Defined - A MOD is the making of any table that relies heavily on the work done by another, be it art, layout, script, or combination of the three. Pretty simple. This includes:  Lighting and physics MODs, revisions for new platforms, e.g., VP9 to VPX conversions, or simply new and improved versions. It doesn't matter how much you have done yourself. If it's heavily reliant on the work of another, it's a MOD.

For the moment, many authors have authorized MODs of their work, without requiring permission. I want to list and thank these members personally, as this is how it should be. If you'd like to be added to the list, or I just missed you, please let me know!

Free to MOD Authors

• JPSalas - requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*
• destruk - requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*
• unclewilly
• StevOz
• PinballPerson (aka, Leon Spalding/Leo Wanker)
• freneticamnesic
• Practicedummy
• faralos
• gtxjoe
• PacDude
• Sindbad
• LoadedWeapon
• javier1515
• rascal
• rob046
• bmiki75
• Sheltemke
• teppotee
• Les73gTx
• anthias
• dark (3D models)
• Inkochnito
• Shoopity
• Lord Hiyru
• ghostmachine (mostly FP on Pin Sim DB)
• mfuegemann
• TAB
• IcePagoda
• melon
• hmueck
• BorgDog
• unclereamus - requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*
• Noah Fentz - requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*
• xenonph- requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*
• EpeC
• wiesshund - requests MODs of his work are uploaded here.*

Any MODs of their work MUST credit the previous authors. ALL of them. Any tables used that are originally free to MOD are to remain free to MOD, regardless of how many authors and/or versions have been subsequently involved. It is unacceptable to 'lock' down a table that's been modded from something freely given.

If you'd like to MOD another author's work, please contact them. It's the right thing to do. If, after 30 days, you receive no response, you are free to MOD it.

Any MODs based on free to MOD work in which the 'new' author claims required permission ARE free to MOD. See previous statement.

* Not exclusively here. Share them everywhere!

The above applies to any table uploaded prior to April 1st, 2022.

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TABLES UPLOADED ON AND AFTER April 1st, 2022, we're implementing a new policy ... Call them the 'JPSalas rules'. All tables, regardless of where they are uploaded, shared, or hidden behind unscrupulous paywalls, are free to MOD. Originals still require explicit permission! As of APR 1, tables are to be treated as open source freeware, just like the core software, VPX. Same license, same terms. Free to MOD. NOT INTENDED FOR COMMERCIAL USE. It's FREE! ALL of it! None of us own this stuff, and our goal is to preserve pinball history, not get all dramatic and pissy about who used what from where. We're all in this together.

Please be kind and still contact the author(s)! It's polite and the right thing to do. Please do not MOD any table that has not been published for at least 60 days. Give the authors some time to get feedback, fix bugs, enjoy the accolades, and be proud of their work!

Please Note: If you feel so strongly that you own your recreation, built on the backs of hundreds of folks that came before you, simply don't share it anywhere. We don't want it. Our aim here is to change the current, toxic environment to one of sharing, as it's always been intended.

We also don't need 50 versions of the same table! To be approved, there must be MAJOR changes made from the original. This can only be determined if the original author has shared their work here. If the original isn't shared here, there's no way for me to know what's been changed, and it will be approved. I'm not going on a hunt to find the original, and I'm certainly not visiting unethical sites just for that purpose. Credit to all previous authors is always required.

Thank you!