Boycott PS2Ownz and Get the Viper/Cobra Team news to a better site.

Boycott PS2Ownz and Get the Viper/Cobra Team news to a better site.

PS2Ownz have a monopoly over the online Gamecube Viper community and many dont feel they should have ever had it in the first place. Its clear their administrators objectives for running their site are keeping the amount of clueless users to a minimum and blocking anyone who is a threat to them. There have been several threads on popular console websites for the past few months and each have had many angry members posting how they have been banned from PS2Ownz for doing nothing wrong. Not only do PS2Ownz ban members for going to rival websites but they also IP ban entire ISPs for the mistakes of single users which ban new users from the very beginning. This then leads to valuable new members not even being able to register for the site and therefore not have the opportunity to provide their input to the scene.

They have claimed that they do not issue Blanket Bans (which locks a whole ISP out of their system) but we have evidence to the contrary (http://www.digital-forums.com/showpost.php?p=1596521&postcount=12). This thread also explains how PS2Ownz will ban any member who has been seen on websites such as www.maxconsole.com. This is making many GC and Viper GC owners very disappointed. Due to the nature of the Viper mod chip users feedback is all we have to work with. The GC community is a strong one but its also divided, as more bans come itll get worse, unless we do something about it.

I believe there are enough quality console and Gamecube websites out there that offer a better source of information than PS2Ownz.com. The only thing PS2Ownz has on the GC community is that it gets the Cobra Bios before anyone else. Unfortunately the Viper/Cobra team do not wish to have a web presence apart from on PS2Ownz. They will not openly disclose who they are nor have they been seen on any other site apart from their home Team PS2Ownzs Webpage.

From looking around Id say there is a good chance that the staff has an affiliation with a lot of companies. These companies include ps2 cases, mod chips and release groups. It would seem obvious that such affiliations bring money to the site as well as branding. Its becoming more apparent that ps2ownz is doing nothing but cashing in on its members. Personally this is not the sort of thing I would want to be associated with and it makes me disgusted that members will get taken as fools. In another bid to raise their profits once youve been banned you get presented with a screen that asks for a donation ($10-$20+) to be regain access. Any protest e-mail will go unanswered and paying the money is the only way most people will ever get to see the site again.

Although this may never see the eyes of the Viper/Cobra team I hope it can be viewed by the GC users that have experienced troubles with this site. My proposal is to stop using PS2Ownz.com and to move into more open forums/websites that offer freedom of speech and allow users to visit rival sites with no fear of returning to a Your IP Address has been Banned screen. Below is a small list of websites that make the GC community stronger rather than hold it back.

http://forums.maxconsole.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=15
http://www.gcdev.com/
http://www.digital-forums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=136
http://www.gcdemos.com/
http://www.dextrose.com/_forum/forumdisplay.php?&forumid=38
http://www.afterdawn.com
http://www.consolecovers.com/


please comment or add more alternitive sites in the comment section.

You dont need ps2ownz, they need you, do the right thing, leave them, go to a better site and dont look back, there's nothing there worth looking for.