Strategy thread for winning the battle that is the AP Scandal

[Chino Brown]

**THIS THREAD IS TO BE USED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE DISCUSSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS/STRATEGIES TO ENSURE THAT WE WIN OUR CASE IN THIS SCANDAL**

*ATTN: DAN DRUFF*
I have copied this from the the Cliff Notes thread because I feel it is important that Dan and anyone else who has direct contact with AP understands the full scope of their responsibilities in this situation:
[ QUOTE ]
Dan Druff, this is a very special opportunity that you have to talk directly with AP. It is a difficult position to be in to speak for an entire community, but it is something you have to do since you are the only one with direct contact.

Your propositions for resolution in your phone convo were severely lacking, to say the least. The message you sent to them was that if they paid everyone their money back, this would all go away. Nevermind, that the poker community was bold-faced lied to or that they are blatantly covering up the fact that cheating occured on their software! Money can solve everything right? Well, not in this instance!! This is a very delciate situation that we are involved with right now. I mean think about it, this is the first time that there has ever been proof that cheating has occured on an online poker site!!! So if we send them the message now that throwing money at us solves the problem, what do you think will happen in the future if this situation occurs again? In fact, sending them the message that money heals all wounds is exactly what will make cheating MORE likely in the future!!! If they get caught, so what? Just refund the money and we'll act like it's all ok. That is most certainly not the case and is absolutely not the message we should be sending them. The way we react to this situation now will set the precedent for how we will be treated in the future should this situation be repeated. It must be absolutely clear to them that cheating and their attitude toward the incident so far, is absolutely unnaceptable! That the only way for them to get out of this situation is to admit full responsibility!

The funds need to be returned ASAP, they need to give us a full and satisfactory explanation of what happened, they need to go after all the guilty parties involved in this scandal and take whatever action that they can to prosecute them, they need to admit to there being some sort of superuser account and disclose the reason for its existence (since it has already pretty much been confirmed that all poker sites have the capabilities to view everyone's hole cards, presumably for security reasons), they need to reassure us that they are taking to necessary steps to make sure this situation never happens again, and last, but certainly not least, they must NEVER viloate our trust again!!!!

Only after they do all of that will we even consider forgiving them for they way they have handled the situation so far!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the last paragraph of my qoute pretty much sums up what we should expect of AP to get past this scnadal. If you have anything else to add to that list feel free to do so.

This qoute is also from the Cliff Notes thread (sorry I don't know who posted it, it was qouted by Sponger):
[ QUOTE ]
Absolute Poker can never be trusted again, no matter what they do. They are through. They have to be. Because we've always said that an online poker room would never rig games or cheat players in any way, since it would ruin them if it was ever found out. Well, it happened, we've found out, and if Absolute doesn't go out of business over this, then the whole theory of why poker rooms wouldn't rig their games goes out the window.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't necessarily agree entirely with the last quote, I am not convinced that AP has to go out of business, but it MUST be made completely clear to the online poker rooms that this situation is UNACCEPTABLE and WILL NOT BE TOLERATED by the poker community. We MUST make sure that AP is hurt badly by the situation that has transpired!!!

It is of the utmost importance that we convey the correct message to all poker sites right now because our reactions to this incident will set the precedent for how seriously the poker sites will take cheating/lying to customers in the future. We must make sure that this incident is not swept under the rug by AP. If we allow this, we will send the message that cheating is ok at online poker. That cheaters will be protected by the online poker sites themselves out of self interesest/preservation and that even if cheaters are caught, they will go unpunished. This will create a situation that is FAR WORSE than the short-term hit that online poker MAY take by the bad publicity of the AP scandal.

So, you see why I have created this thread. It is to discuss and formulate strategies to protect our interests in online poker in the long-term as well as to deal with and spin short-term negatives that result from this scandal into future positives.

I think we have made very good progress to this end so far, but make no mistake that we have only made a drop in the pond. We need to expose the situation on a much larger scale than it is on right now. AP must be held responsible for this scandal and any actions it has taken so far. I like the ideas of uploading the stories onto news sites like digg.com, shoutwire... whatever sites that you can think of that allow you to post stories. Here are the links to the 2 stories on digg.com:

http://www.digg.com/offbeat_news/Abs...lown_Wide_Open

http://www.digg.com/security/Major_O...ght_Cheating_2

If you haven't already dugg these stories yet, please do so that they get more attention. Any other news sites that rely on "popularity hits" to rank stories please post the links so that we can get the stories onto the front pages pf websites.

The 1st step we need to take to win this battle is make the general public aware. We need to get this story and all the evidence we have so far into the mainstream media if possible. I think E-mailing this story or links to this story and to 2+2 to your local media outlet is a good start. I also propose posting links to the story/2+2 on your social networking page; Facebook, MySpace, whatever social networking site you belong to. This will make your friends, other random people who view your page aware of the situation. I think someone mentioned in another thread that a Facebook group was created(?). Whoever did that, please post a link to or the group name.

Reports from other threads indicate that the traffic on AP has been pretty much unaffected so far, most likely because of ignorance of the situation. This is definitely bad. If AP thinks that they can continue to get away with denying the situation with no consequence to their business, they most certainly will. I propose that we make players at AP aware of the situation by posting links to the story in the chat functions of real money tables. Note that I am not advocating spamming the chat! That is merely annoying and only hurts our cause. I mean actually attempting to create conversations with the players on the tables. If you have a real money account at AP, sit at the tables and make sure the other players are aware of the situation. The low-limit tables should be the focus at first, as that is where the majority of the traffic is at and thus where the poker sites make the majority of their money. We have to hit them where it hurts, so to speak, to make sure that they feel the consequences of this scandal and to put them into a position where their only option is to admit full responsibility or risk losing their business entirely.

If you have any other ideas please post them! Thank you!

[Chino Brown]

Ok, bumping up to top because after another wasted opporutnity, this time by P5's it is apparent that not everyone understands the full implications of this situation. I urge everyone to read the post above, I know it is lengthy but it explains the full scope of the situation at hand!! Bottom line is if we let AP get away with covering up cheating and lying to us, expect a lot of that in the future!!

To those questioning why mainstream media coverage is sought, please think farther than a foot from your face!! If AP is allowed to sweep this situation under the rug with NO consequences, think about the future implications!!!! It will be clear that if you cheat and are caught, you will be PROTECTED by the company b/c they are interested in self-preservation. In effect online poker sites will CONDONE cheating!! This is the only motivation for getting this story into the mainstream. It is to PROTECT OURSELVES in the future!!! If you think losing a few of the fish that play at your site is worse than the situation that will result if AP goes unpunished, then there is nothing that can help you but a bullet.

Since, it is absolutely clear from the 2 convos Dan Druff had had with AP AND the meeting P5's had with AP that they have no intentions of admitting cheating occurred, they will continue to cover-up the evidence and lie to us!! So we must take action NOW to get this story into mainstream media and put AP under the public spotlight. If we can get enouch coverage on this issue, AP will be forced into a position of telling the truth or risk losing their business. So, in the interests of integrity and safety for online poker games in the future, PLEASE, take action now!!

If you have any ideas how we can stand up for ourselves and bring AP to its knees please post them, thank you!

[Chino Brown]

Also, given the way the convos with AP have gone so far, I would STRONGLY advise anyone with direct contact with AP, to not give them any more info pertaining to how much we know!!!!

[ikestoys]

lock this thread, this guy is an idiot

[basementproject]

It's not a bad idea to be discussing this, only it probably shouldn't be done in public, on BBV.

[Gildwulf]

no more ap threads