Statement from Warren Jolly

[Webzcas]

Back to Business - Statement from Warren

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Please note that the below statements do not represent anything other than the facts, and/or the opinions of Warren Jolly. They do not represent the opinions of Affiliate Media, CAP, or any of its other shareholders or employees.

Dear Clients, Business Partners, Colleagues, and Friends,

Following the recent events and what they are doing to the industry, I felt issuing this statement was necessary, and frankly, a long time coming.

First, and most importantly, I owe all of you a huge apology.

I screwed up. There is no excuse for trying to cover up my affiliation with CardSpike, other than I knew there would be a conflict of interest. I realize that I have betrayed your trust, and all that I can ask at this point, is that you give me a chance to rebuild it. Here is the truth, once and for all.

Last year, Lou and I formed Effective Media Group, or EMG, as a completely separate company from CAP and PAP.

We did this for two reasons. First, Lou wanted to manage a company from his home base in Florida. A new company would provide the revenue stream necessary to enable that. Lou would have a separate company to grow and develop, while remaining at CAP as community administrator, while I handled the day-to-day business of CAP, PAP, and Affiliate Medias other properties from our main headquarters in California.

Second, Lou and I were approached by a group of investors seeking our help in launching two new online properties: Absolute Slots, an online casino, and Cardspike, an online poker website. We set up EMG as a separate company though which we could offer managed consultancy operations to these clients as well as utilize EMG as a vehicle to launch our own affiliate portals CasinoFan.com being the first since that was our start in this business pre-2000. We did this together, as business partners.

Late in 2008, Cardspike experienced errors with affiliate tracking. I dont want to minimize the severity of this error; its an unacceptable oversight that I take very seriously. However, ultimately it was a regrettable but simple technical error involving inaccurate reporting and in no way a deliberate failure on my behalf.

As someone who began my career as an affiliate, I sincerely hope you trust me when I say that I would never knowingly deny payment to any affiliates.

I was just notified this morning that affiliate accounts were credited yesterday for commissions up to January 31st, so everything should be up to date. February commissions will be paid next week. There are approximately 6 affiliates who have not yet been paid because they have not responded to emails requesting their Cardspike Player account information. If you are one of those affiliates, please respond to those emails as soon as possible so you can get paid.

If there are any other affiliates that still have not received payment from Cardspike, please contact [email protected].

Although I had no ownership interest in Cardspike or Absolute Slots, I did have a beneficial interest due to my involvement with EMG. Again, I sincerely apologize for not coming clean sooner about this. I failed to do so because of the perceived conflict of interest with the CAP and PAP operations, and because Lou and I could not come to an agreement on how to go public with this information.

Effective immediately, I am resigning from EMG and surrendering my shares in this company. I will have no further connection with EMG, Absolute Slots, Cardspike, or any of the owners or shareholders of these entities.

Id also like to address the larger issue of Lous banning from CAP, and the reasons behind that.

Over the past weeks, because of certain irrational and potentially dangerous decisions on his part, a rift has developed between my former business partner and me. Several days ago, Lou chose to take these private disagreements into the public arena, by posting harmful allegations and sensitive company information here at CAP and on other public message boards (as well as emailing this information to hundreds of other people).

I felt that Lous decision to make our business disagreements public was not only unprofessional, but also potentially damaging to CAP and the entire iGaming affiliate community.

While Lou originally founded CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com, he has since made the decision to share the ownership and business direction of CAP with other parties via a corporate vehicle.

Lou has recently accused CAP employees of failing to post his CAP TV videos, in which case the accusations were simply incorrect. The truth is, he failed to meet the deadline for content submission, which is the same every week. He has displayed unwarranted hostility towards community members and has even posted forum threads under other users names even under my own name.

He has chosen to circulate throughout the iGaming world a letter in which I am accused of illegally channeling Affiliate Media funds into my own personal accounts. This is absolutely untrue. The transactions in question were simply the transferring of company funds from one corporate account to another. This was done in order to limit access to these funds and protect the company and its shareholders from rash and potentially damaging actions (such as posting sensitive financial information on public message boards).

The following is a statement from Larry Ernst, Affiliate Medias Vice President of Finance:

The WAMU Business Analysis Checking account is used for general business purposes for all divisions of Affiliate Media, Inc.

Regarding the transactions circled on the WAMU Business Analysis Checking Account Transaction History document, funds were transferred to the WAMU Money Market account ending in 2410 to maximize return on funds since the Business Analysis Checking Account was non-interest bearing.

The funds withdrawn by the PC Initiated Outgoing Wire on February 20, 2009 were transferred to the Wells Fargo Business Cash Management Account for Affiliate Media, Inc. and subsequently transferred to the Affiliate Media, Inc. Comerica Business Checking account for safekeeping.

In no event have company funds been comingled with personal funds by any officer of Affiliate Media, Inc.

I am personally appalled to find the corporate records being posted in account number and transaction level detail and compromising the privacy and integrity of the accounts.

This kind of irrational and damaging behavior is why Lou has been banned from the CAP Forum. I cannot allow such unprofessional behavior to further jeopardize this company or the interests of its owners, employees, and community members.

In light of his recent behavior, I strongly feel that Lous exit will only improve the CAP community. Those of you who have been around CAP for a while know that I truly do care about this community, and have been an integral part of its growth. Yes, as a businessman and entrepreneur, I want to see it generate revenue. However, I am not willing to jeopardize my relationships with clients, affiliates, or colleagues to make that happen.

You will be seeing a lot of positive changes at CAP in the future, including, but not limited to:
- Changes to CAP Certification
- Free speech approach allowing members to speak their minds without unjust banning (several were already unbanned at the time of this posting)
- Termination of hostile CAP efforts, such as the T&C alert monitoring and CAP audits. Instead, we will partner with folks who already do this well, such as AGD and APCW.
- Evaluating the establishment of an independent Advisory Board consisting of influential members that will help ensure CAP makes the right decisions in the best interest of all.

I apologize for the fact that a lot of this has been made public, and in the interests of avoiding such a trend into the future, this will likely be the last public post that I make about this issue. I would like to encourage everyone to get back to business so we can move forward with positive change ahead.

I welcome your comments, feel free to contact me directly via PM.

I believe it is too late to make up. The horse has already bolted. How can anyone actually trust CAP moving forward with Warren or Lou still effectively owning it.

Both you and Lou should be thoroughly ashamed.

 

[wangpoker]

All good-will decisions are made in a hurry.
Obviously it's damage control after this stunt.
They just have no credibility.

 

[PokerNations]

I wonder if people hadn't been complaining publically about this for months, and then finally Lou hadn't gone and let the cat out of the bag officially, if Warren would have initiated these changes for the good of the community?

Would Warren have just kept the money and continued the coverups, bannings, lies and so forth had things not gone down like this? Is this just a last-ditch effort at damage control and saving their multi-million dollar business?

You'd think Warren would have done something like this MONTHS AGO, rather than waiting for things to progress to this level of outrageousness.

 

[casinoranking]

I know its popular to bash CAP but could we at least give them credit for when they make the right decision.

 

[casinojack]

I know its popular to bash CAP but could we at least give them credit for when they make the right decision.

Sure...when ?

 

[PokerNations]

I know its popular to bash CAP but could we at least give them credit for when they make the right decision.

To me, all three partners at CAP were aware, complacent or involved in the various bannings, thread lockings & deletions, accusations & demonizing of anyone who questioned what was going on, lies, etc.

Now that Warren wants to try and paint Lou as the perpetrator and claim that no one else at CAP wanted to go down this particular path seems rather convenient given the timing.

So the only "credit" I can give CAP right now is their attempt to use the hot-headedness of Lou to throw him under the bus and claim they want to continue on with "business"

 

[pokeraddict]

I like how it is played off like it is no big deal that they knowingly deceived their customers about CardSpike simply because they didn't know how to sugar coat the fact that they were in a competing business as those they were taking money from to promote. "We didn't know how to tell you we were cheating you so we decided just to lie to you until we were caught so red handed this was our only hope of saving even a tiny shred of our business."

It doesn't matter who points the finger at whom, this all stinks and there are other portals out there that deserve this lost market share.

 

[luckydabberbingo]

I didnt post over at Cap because I swear I will cut my own fingers off if i ever think to post there again LOL. I believe this is damage control and I think Warren is no beter than Lou in this mess just smart enough that he got the majority control of CAP. CAP is just a domain now , hijacked by some holigans . I cannot in good conscious support it again and I do hope the programs remember the legal mess over there and the fact they may find their receipts as evidence in a US Court Room.
It had a nice run but For the officials there to try something like they did is unforgivable and was obviously motivated by greed.Warren had no problems NOT paying affiliates until Lou blew this out of the water.For that I do thank Lou for FINALLY coming clean.

 

[GGW Laurie]

It seems to me as an outsider looking in that there is alot of blame that could be spread around, this reminds me of a group of kids that got caught with their hands in the cookie jar and then snitching on each other to save themselves from punishment.

" So who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Who me? Yes you, Not me, Couldnt be, Then who?"......laurie

 

[rikkerbuddy]

wow that is so shitty

so let me get this right - CAP took money from programs to promote their affiliate programs - So Cap decided to start their own brand with a data base full of affiliates????? The other programs didn't know cardspike was CAP and he is calling that a bad judgment call ......YOU THINK!!!!!! I hope programs hit them in the wallet.

The saddest part of all this - affiliates lost money to cardspike and they did everything wrong, was cap not suppose to be an affiliate watchdog???? they broke all there own rules. What kind of credibility can any affiliate or program ever give someone like that?

Nothing like burning the bridge from both sides.

 

[unicorn40]

I was just notified this morning that affiliate accounts were credited yesterday for commissions up to January 31st, so everything should be up to date. February commissions will be paid next week. There are approximately 6 affiliates who have not yet been paid because they have not responded to emails requesting their Cardspike Player account information. If you are one of those affiliates, please respond to those emails as soon as possible so you can get paid.

If there are any other affiliates that still have not received payment from Cardspike, please contact [email protected].

I'm wondering if the affiliates would still have been paid now, like this, if the amount of money removed from the account wasn't posted? It's good though the payments are finally going out....

 

[PokerNations]

I like how it is played off like it is no big deal that they knowingly deceived their customers about CardSpike simply because they didn't know how to sugar coat the fact that they were in a competing business as those they were taking money from to promote. "We didn't know how to tell you we were cheating you so we decided just to lie to you until we were caught so red handed this was our only hope of saving even a tiny shred of our business."

It doesn't matter who points the finger at whom, this all stinks and there are other portals out there that deserve this lost market share.

Well said PokerAddict! Both sides at CAP have tried to pin the tail on the other donkey. Both have been involved in massive coverups, bannings, thread locking & deletions, demonizing of anyone who sought the truth, etc.

And both sides show little to no remorse, except for the impact this will have on their wallets. These people don't care about affiliates or the industry, or operating ethically.

Let them die off and organizations like GPWA, APCW, CasinoMeister, PAL/CAL and so forth thrive.

 

[RobWin]

You'd think Warren would have done something like this MONTHS AGO, rather than waiting for things to progress to this level of outrageousness.

I think Both Lou and Warren have always operated under the auspices of: "We will only tell the truth when we see that a lie doesn't work better, right Warren...yes, correct Lou"...

I know its popular to bash CAP but could we at least give them credit for when they make the right decision.

This IS sarcasm right, I mean you are kidding here...correct?

It doesn't matter who points the finger at whom, this all stinks and there are other portals out there that deserve this lost market share.

Thank you!, I believe this is exactly what I have been trying to get Dom to see now for the past month and the latest was HERE

These people don't care about affiliates or the industry, or operating ethically.

Let them die off and organizations like GPWA, APCW, CasinoMeister, PAL/CAL and so forth thrive.

Totally agree PokerNations, I think if anyone still wants to align their self with CAP, AMI, EMG or anything else to do with this bunch after all that has gone on over the past several years and all of the events of late may really need to have their head examined IMO.

 

[dominique]

I didnt post over at Cap because I swear I will cut my own fingers off if i ever think to post there again LOL.

Haha, do you still have fingers?

As community member, I have a lot of questions about this comment:

My goal is to be active when appropriate and needed, and to assist in keeping things productive and relevant. I will rely on an elected, independent group of industry experts to set the overall tone and direction of the community, with the assistance of the rest of the CAP staff.

This could be good or bad. It's a bit vague. For me personally, a lot will depend on how exactly this is applied. I am not enamoured with Affiliate Media staff "assisting in setting the overall tone and direction of the community".

I do like the "elected, independent group of industry experts". I think, lol. I have a lot of thinking to do. I would like to see a distinct separation between who runs the community and who runs the business. I don't want the business arm to set the overall tone and direction of the community in any way. I think, from a community member's point of view, that's where things ran afoul.

 

[Webzcas]

I have a better idea. Move and support someplace elsewhere on the internet that does not have the greedy fingers of Warren, Lou or any other shareholder of Affiliate Media in the mix. Without affiliates, CAP fails to exist. However the CAP Community can continue, just somewhere, where Warren, Lou and co have no input or financial interest.

They have lied and lied and lied. Now they have been caught out in their lies they are saying sorry and asking for forgiveness.

Do not forget these are the same individuals that only recently ( Christmas ) issued very real legal threats in the form of attorney letters to several high profile industry figures - To protect their all encompassing CAP Monopoly.

Now they have been revealed for what they are, they are now asking us to support them whilst their cash cow collapses around them.

Any decent affiliate program from what I am hearing will not be renewing their certification. The majority of affiliates have also left CAP as a result.

You earn trust in this industry. Warren and Lou are no longer in a position to have my trust period.

 

[RobWin]

Haha, do you still have fingers?

As community member, I have a lot of questions about this comment:



This could be good or bad. It's a bit vague. For me personally, a lot will depend on how exactly this is applied. I am not enamoured with Affiliate Media staff "assisting in setting the overall tone and direction of the community".

I do like the "elected, independent group of industry experts". I think, lol. I have a lot of thinking to do. I would like to see a distinct separation between who runs the community and who runs the business. I don't want the business arm to set the overall tone and direction of the community in any way. I think, from a community member's point of view, that's where things ran afoul.

I don't see how the two could be separated Dom, because CAP is first and foremost a business as it is the "CAP" brand and name that has in fact made all of the money over the years. The CAP community is the business just like Casinomeister is a business, that is how Bryan and Max make their living, I just can't see how the community at Casinomeister can be distinguished from it being a business first or vice versa with the CAP community.

 

[RobWin]

I have a better idea. Move and support someplace elsewhere on the internet that does not have the greedy fingers of Warren, Lou or any other shareholder of Affiliate Media in the mix. Without affiliates, CAP fails to exist. However the CAP Community can continue, just somewhere, where Warren, Lou and co have no input or financial interest.

They have lied and lied and lied. Now they have been caught out in their lies they are saying sorry and asking for forgiveness.

Do not forget these are the same individuals that only recently ( Christmas ) issued very real legal threats in the form of attorney letters to several high profile industry figures - To protect their all encompassing CAP Monopoly.

Now they have been revealed for what they are, they are now asking us to support them whilst their cash cow collapses around them.

Any decent affiliate program from what I am hearing will not be renewing their certification. The majority of affiliates have also left CAP as a result.

You earn trust in this industry. Warren and Lou are no longer in a position to have my trust period.

I've also noticed too, just this morning that a lot of casino websites and also affiliate members that were previously displaying the "CAP" Logo are no longer displaying it.

 

[rikkerbuddy]

to little to late

"You will be seeing a lot of positive changes at CAP in the future, including, but not limited to:
- Changes to CAP Certification
- Free speech approach allowing members to speak their minds without unjust banning (several were already unbanned at the time of this posting)
- Termination of hostile CAP efforts, such as the T&C alert monitoring and CAP audits. Instead, we will partner with folks who already do this well, such as AGD and APCW.
- Evaluating the establishment of an independent Advisory Board consisting of influential members that will help ensure CAP makes the right decisions in the best interest of all."

-- This has to be making the affiliate programs laugh
This is what I see happening - Affiliate programs start to cancel their advertising - then suddenly they don't meet the certification at CAP and get black listed on CAP. But I am sure Warren has a plan for that
For xxx amount of $ you can come back and be white listed at CAP. That sounds like the best way to save CAP - watch this happen.

I am fairly new to this side of the biz (2 years) but I have read a ton of information. I have to say for pure helpful information CAP is last on my list.
This forum#1 and site #1
the New PAL has a ton of great info (still to new to judge)
the old PAP was great but I am not sure what happened but things stopped getting updated.
GPWA is getting better.

 

[BingoT]

Today's lesson On Trust
The Trust here has been gone for some time now.
It's Sad.
You learn from your mistakes


What is trust? How do you earn it? How do you know if you really trust someone or if you are just trying to conveince yourself that you trust them? If you have had someone's trust and then you no longer have it how do you re-earn it? Who decides if it's been enough "time"? How do you help someone trust you again? What if you've done everything right, made all the changes, and been on the straight and narrow and are still not trusted by those you wish to have their trust? How do you assure them you are trust worthy?
You can emotionally love someone, but not trust them. You can trust them, but not emotionally love them. When you trust a person, you believe that they have your best interest at heart. They wouldn't do something to hurt you for the fun of it, or for selfish gain. You rely on them.
You earn a person's trust by consistently proving yourself to them. You show them that you will not use them or take advantage of them. You will not abuse their love or their generosity.You will think of them before acting.
Re-earning a person's trust is done in the same way, except it take a much longer period of time. People are very different as to how easily they'll trust others -- some have been seriously hurt in the past and hesitate to trust again. Others are very "trusting," even of those who don't deserve their trust. No matter the individual, you earn and re-earn people's trusts through reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing confidence consistency of character -- you prove that you are trustworthy by your deeds.
There is no way to assure a person that you are trustworthy outside of your actions. Broken trust can take years, even decades to repair.It's a very sensitive, and even awkward, time for the two people involved.
If you are the person who has broken another's trust, you have no right to expect anything from them, especially trust. You can only prove by your actions, words, and kept-promises that you are now on the "straight and narrow" and have no intention of straying again. You cannot hold it against them if they search your life for flaws and wrongs -- you earned their distrust. Hard work, patience, perseverence, and consistent proof is the only way to regain the trust you don't deserve.

 

[RobWin]

Good post T...

 

[BingoT]

You know if Trust is gone You have nothing.
It's just a shame this all came this way.
But it is a good Leason learned for many that have that Nasty word of Greed set in.
But I wish the very best for all.
B-T

 

[dominique]

I don't see how the two could be separated Dom, because CAP is first and foremost a business as it is the "CAP" brand and name that has in fact made all of the money over the years. The CAP community is the business just like Casinomeister is a business, that is how Bryan and Max make their living, I just can't see how the community at Casinomeister can be distinguished from it being a business first or vice versa with the CAP community.

Actually, there are a lot of fine lines.

And Meister is a very good example how there can be an ethical business with a forum that still has free speech. Just because Bryan accredits a casino does not mean that you can't say you hate their slots, color scheme, customer service rep or whatever. And if you don't get paid there, they look into it. The community remains free, there is free speech as long as there are no personal attacks etc. It's a good business model because it's win-win - everyone wins.

CAP has a history of free speech having been curtailed by the business arm. That is my main concern. I believe that if a community is allowed to freely express itself, if every individual can express his/her thoughts on any related subject, everyone in the community benefits and a good business management will benefit too because they now have their finger on the pulse of the industry. If community members had been listened to instead of shut up, none of this would have happened. Card spike would have long been settled and CAP would still be thriving.

Because of the history at CAP, if there is to be a fresh start, (and I am on the fence still) the community needs to be self governing. An affiliate manager at CAP brought up an interesting analogy:

CAP is like a newspaper. What is unusual, is that the readership and the writers are largely the same people. If these people were to leave, there would be no newspaper, I.e. no CAP.

There is nothing wrong with the paper having an ad department that sells advertising. A lot of the profits do come back to the writers/readers in various ways.

But should the ad department tell the writers what to write? I don't think so.

The reason that packing up and moving is not a good idea:

CAP is prominent in the search engines. It is easy to find for newbies. Newbies need all the info they can get, and CAP has existed in excess of 8 years and there is a wealth of information to be found if one uses the search function, just like here at Meister. It takes years and years to build up such a reference base. It is like a library, and the books cannot be replaced, they would have to be rewritten. So any new start would need 8 years to equal the resources CAP offers now.

That does not mean that there are no valuable new forum starts, there are several new forums who take a fresh approach and are of value and should also be visited. And Meister hosts affiliate managers also now - more accessibility.

IMO the purpose of the web is to provide information (ok, and entertainment ). Different sites provide different types of info. This industry isn't all that big, it is still quite possible to pull specific info from a manageable number of sites. But I sure don't see a point in destroying the biggest library on any topic.

So IMO this is the time for some constructive thinking. IMO there is something of value that would be lost to people, especially newbies.

I wish all this would have been handled better from the start, I wish Lou was still there because he was a great resource and a friend, and like I said many times over, 1 year of mistakes does not wipe out 7 years of good stuff. At least not in my book.

But what happened, happened, and I think if the community is to survive all this fighting it needs to be self governing and the advertising arm should not be involved in telling writers what to write.

 

[Webzcas]

CAP is prominent in the search engines. It is easy to find for newbies. Newbies need all the info they can get, and CAP has existed in excess of 8 years and there is a wealth of information to be found if one uses the search function, just like here at Meister. It takes years and years to build up such a reference base. It is like a library, and the books cannot be replaced, they would have to be rewritten. So any new start would need 8 years to equal the resources CAP offers now.

The GPWA is also prominent in the search engines and is a ready made alternative, with members there also being members of CAP.

Also If a new venture was to be started elsewhere the majority of CAP Members of which I still include myself would follow. The Programs would in turn follow us.

Now with regards getting good rankings. It would not be hard if those webmasters with older more established sites referenced the new Phoenix from the Ashes affiliate community. That way it would start ranking extremely well, in a very quick time.

I really cannot see how CAP can continue whilst Warren or Lou are financially connected to it. I also personally do not want a part of it whilst they are still involved

 

[dominique]

I cannot search the GPWA, all the interesting stuff about programs is in the private section. Newbies can't search it either. Anyone can search CAP.

 

[KasinoKing]

Also If a new venture was to be started elsewhere the majority of CAP Members of which I still include myself would follow. The Programs would in turn follow us

Look no further!
The new site started recently by the net's most trusted & honest Blue Muppet is ready & waiting:-

Link Removed ( Old/Invalid)

See you there everyone!

KK