The following was sent to me by a friend of mine who received it from Joanne at the Free Speech Coalition. It is important to me to address these allegations for reasons I am sure you will understand. Am I going to sue anyone? Of course not. Joanne and anyone else are entitled to their opinions, even when they are wrong.
I am answering them in line, at the end is my friends response to Joanne, judge for yourself…..
Joanne Writes:
I won’t go very far in my comments about Mike South. IMHO he was a small producer years ago, and now he lives far away, writes a blog and likes to imagine that he is a big player in the business. Good for him. Frankly, he bad mouths FSC all the time, and he used to do the same to AIM – but he doesn’t understand what either org does for the adult industry, and his vendetta is personal not based in fact. He can be a very abusive person to deal with, and I no longer communicate with him because if he doesn’t get what he wants, he threatens to say shitty things about FSC on his blog, which – unfortunately – lots of people read. This is a tough business, where people often have a hard time getting along.
I do live far away, I am unsure, exactly how that has any bearing on my ability to communicate, correspond and with and comment on people in the industry. I have no vendetta with AIM, the FSC or anyone else, I simply ask questions they don’t want to answer. I point out problems that they don’t want to address. I dealt with Joanne ONE TIME, when the FSC refused to allow Monica Foster to attend a talent meeting on the basis that she had “threatened” the owner of pornwikileaks. I told her not allowing Monica to attend would bring hell to the FSC’s doorstep, in the name of ME. They changed their minds. It wasn’t a threat to say shitty things, it was a promise to tell the TRUTH. This is only tough if you are practicing deceit.
However, PWL did single out South and attack him visciously – I wonder if he would brag so much or be so mad if he hadn’t been singled out?
This is the part that really irritated me, prior to my involvement, I didn’t have a wiki page there, I was off their radar, I had never tested at AIM. When I got involved they attacked me viciously, I maintained and still do that I never cared, because I don’t. My family and friends all know what I do, I don’t have kids nothing they could write about me that was true or even that wasn’t had any bearing on me at all.
When the site came down I was contacted by someone who told me they could get all my references removed from google and google cache, I told them to leave mine up and remove three others. Those three are gone, mine is still up. On that one I say fuck you Joanne. That is NOT even remotely true.
Nor do I brag, the people who shut down pwl are many and without them it would never have happened, I didn’t do it alone, a lot of good people stepped up to do the right thing. What exactly did the FSC do? Oh ya you sent that girl to me when she called you, suicidal, I am glad you did because I was able to calm her down and avoid a potentially very bad situation.
He shouldn’t be surprised that I sent you to TRPWL because I don’t have anything personal against anybody, really. I know MANY of the people that were affected and am close to several that were involved in getting the site down. Just because I think Mike South is a jerk doesn’t mean that I would prevent anyone from getting help.
Ok Joanne thinks I am a jerk, she is entitled to that opinion, personally I prefer asshole, because if you run afoul of ethics and common sense I will call you out on it, that’s just the kind of asshole I am.
I also don’t voice my opinion of South in public because, in a way, he is JUST like the PWL people in his hatred of FSC and AIM. He keeps criticizing us to make us look bad, but he will never admit anything good that we do. A lot of what he says about FSC is misinformation, just like what the PWL people did.
That is HIGHLY offensive to me but then again I have no right NOT to be offended. I have no hatred of AIM or The FSC I simply point out that we CAN do a LOT better. I have never outed the personal addresses, family members, children of FSC members or anything of that nature, nor will I. Joanne if you are a decent human being you will apologize profusely for that remark.
FSC is not in a position to contract with hackers, but we do care, and we are trying to pursue things through official channels. We realize that official channels take a long time to work, and we can only hope that eventually there will be charges brought against anyone that committed a crime. Like you, I wish they would move faster, especially for the sake of the children that were exposed.
The implication here that we did ANYTHING illegal is not only inflammatory, it is insulting. That simply is not the case. Joanne your own boyfriend helped us in this situation and I know for a fact he would never involve himself in anything illegal.
Please tell your son to not let it affect him too much, though I know it’s very hard. Eventually it will die down. I will say that anyone affected has the right to be very, very angry. I was referred to on PWL, as was my boyfriend and many of my personal friends.
And, you know, don’t be so hard on yourself. You made the best decision you could at that time, right or wrong. Everyone does things they regret and sometimes those things become very public. You were trying to support your family, just like any good mom would do. It’s very unfair that this society judges people so harshly. They don’t think about what they would do, if they were caught in a tough situation. They have no compassion. But you shouldn’t punish yourself – you and your son are innocent victims of terrible people.
God bless and please contact me if I can help.
Cheers,
Joanne
On that statement we agree, and she did contact you and you did help….you sent her to me.
Here is my friends response to Joanne, I cleaned up a few typos otherwise it is intact.
Hi Joanne,
xxxxx
I do want to point out that I am no God LOL not even a minor diety but I accept her thanks and my reward is the satisfaction that her and many others are sleeping better because a bunch of people stood together and said enough is enough.
23 Responses
I want to note here for those in the know that I have some issues with Joanne on this but I have No issues with her boyfriend, who was one of the ones instrumental in bringing down PWL with us. I like this guy and IMO nothing could tarnish my image of him, we may agree to disagree but I know that he has character, ethics and a good heart.
I see you are still up, Mike. That makes two of us tonight. I am sorry that Joanne had to make you look bad. Frankly, I don’t care if what was done was against the law (I know you personally did not break any laws but unfortunately I am unsure of whether the person obtaining the e-mails that were posted violated any laws or not as those vary from state to state and country to country), sometimes you have to take matters in your own hands when something as dastardly as PWL and risk your life and livelihood to do so. It is against the law to permanently disable someone with fists or objects as well but if I see a man beating (non-consentually) or raping a helpless woman I would probably get involved and attempt with my fists, a baseball bat, a two by four or anything I can get my hands on to show that person that he isn’t so tough when it is man to man instead of man to 100 pound weakling woman! I would also make sure to kick him in the balls several times after I had him down on the ground. That is how I think of you guys bringing down PWL — even if laws were broken, it was worth the end result and whatever was done to PWL, Donny, Tara, Coke, Michael Tierney, etc. was not morally wrong in the slightest. I also think if Sean Tompkins ever meets Donny Long, he should cut Donny’s balls off for releasing his social security number publicly without reasonable provocation. That could still cause him to have a big fight on his hands as people can still possibly borrow in his name and leave him to fight the creditors (even with Life Lock, although that does make it harder). Monica Foster, Mercedez, Mark Spiegler, etc. should also cut Donny’s dick and balls off of him the first chance one of them get! As for Tara Akinlose, she deserves a special place in Hell for what she is doing! I read the lawsuit screen caps on Sean’s site, why bother for $300 total????? This suit is just to harass them and make them drive/fly up to Riverside County (not very near Chatsworth by any means) and ruin their day, the $300 even if she wins isn’t worth the bother otherwise — Monica’s plane tickets to get there and respond will cost more than that for Christ’s sakes! I would probably get an attorney, force the case to general civil and file a counterclaim for about $500K in pain and suffering but I doubt Tara would pay it if she was ordered to. If you and Sean could send a packet with copies of every piece of evidence you guys have to Monica, Michael and Mercedez, it would assist them greatly in this assinine lawsuit charade courtesy of Tara Akinlose!
I have an idea, maybe Monica (the worst affected of Tara’s crap) could have three of her strongest friends waiting outside the courthouse doors to beat Tara into the ICU when she shows up for trial. Yeah, they would go to jail, but it would be worth it! If Tara ends up in the ICU from my suggestion and we all send Monica $10 a month (all 20 or so of us posting here) during any jail term, she could purchase all the soap, shampoo, snacks and other things from the jail commissary to keep her at least somewhat comfortable during her stay. By the time Monica and her friends get out, Tara might just be coming out of her coma. Just make sure they smash Tara’s head into the concrete about fifty times after they take her down!
Well, you argue pretty vociferously, but I’m not sure you did your reputation any favors by publizing what was clearly a private email…
Frog, I considered that but, the recipient of the email owns that email and when the recipient sent it to me It was obvious that if Joanne says these things to her, she is also saying them to other people.
I have every right to face my accuser and defend myself and that is what I chose to do.
I am not going to elevate this to all out war, I simply want to be on the record.
mharris…I know you man and i understand your feelings and of course I have fantasized about some pretty deserving scenarios for Donny, Tara and others but I do not advocate any form of violence against any of them short of defending myself if I felt my life were in danger.
Still the old honey and ant scenario brings a certain satisfaction LOL
Understood, Mike. I needed to get my frustrations about this matter out (although I wish it were legal to physically punish aggressors like Donny and Tara). I know that Monica won’t do what I suggested but I bet she would like to. Tara’s stunt of suing three people for $100 each is assinine and does nothing to help her other than force Monica to purchase a very expensive round-trip plane ticket to defend herself (I doubt from what I have read about her that she would default and just pay the judgement). At least if you are going to sue, make it worth your while. At the credit union we had a policy in collections of not bothering with a lawsuit if the amount in question was less than around $500 (now it probably would be $750 or so). I knew one manager that sued small claims for less than $100 once, I thought “what the fuck are you doing, it cost the CU more in your wages to argue that lawsuit than it was worth” (credit union managers make between $30 and $70 an hour on average and it was the manager in court in that case). At least I would have sent the collection agent ($15 an hour or so) than waste a manager’s time on it. In Michigan wages are not reimbursed in a judgement, only the filing fee and service costs (about $30 to $100 depending on the size of the suit).
BTW Mike, did Donny ever turn PWL and the Mark Spiegler site over to you or Sean? If not, I think it is time to make one mass post on both blogs outing all of the scumbags that made porn valley’s life a living hell for all of these months. As Mark Spiegler’s Donny site says, Donny is porn valley’s (least) favorite douche. Tara Akinlose is a close second, right behind her would be Dr. Michael Fattorosi and Coke Stevenson. I would probably put the Facial Abuse crew in fifth place for the damage they did to Clayra Beau. Jules Jordan would only be in tenth place or so right now, so he is probably ecstatic that there are finally multiple douche bags that are worse than him in the industry even though his info was probably released with the 15K others. I wonder if ol’ Jules had anything to do with PWL, I wouldn’t put it past him since he deals with Brazzers the worst pirates in porn. I understand a performer doing a scene with them but for Jules publicly supporting them and distributing their DVD product made him douche of the year from 2005-2010. If PWL wouldn’t have supplanted him, Jules would have had a six-peat this year. I think Donny will win douche of the year for 2011 by far, though.
I’d like to hear more about the “official channels” she mentioned.
Kudos on COPPA, but what else have they done?
This is one of the hardest posts I’ve ever read. I adore you both and I know for a fact that the only reason Joanne would say anything is because she’s been constantly referred to when it comes to the FSC. She is one person in an organization and cannot act alone on anything. She received a tip from someone that Monica Foster was threatening to attack someone at the meeting. Threats require followup, which she saw to, and then she let Monica in. Monica didn’t, in fact, threaten to attack and kill people at the meeting. She threatened a PWL person and the person who tipped Joanne off knew that a PWL person was going to be at the meeting. Joanne was also the person who refused that one PWL person admission. This information has come from several sources.
I’m surprised, after the obvious care Joanne demonstrated through what I’m guessing she safely assumed was a private email, that this person shared it with you beyond reiterating details. Joanne is one of the kindest and most motivated people I’ve met within the industry. In fact, you are both people I hold in very high esteem, and I believe most of the feelings from both of you come from misinformation. The FSC is doing what they can, but they can’t publicize everything and some things do take a long time. Knowing her, I did not read the things in it that you did. She is unapologetic about her assertions, but she lives on time constraints and throws it out there pretty quickly. She said you are like PWL “in ways” and then pinpointed a few things, none of it being you outing people’s personal information. She states her opinions as such and I didn’t read an accusation in this email. If her thoughts and feelings from wounds, I understand why. IMHO, Joanne is one of the only trustworthy people in the industry.
Two awesome people but definitely not on the same page. My feelings are deeply hurt for her.
On a lighter note, I have been riveted by your work these past few months and cannot thank you and your known and unknown team or friends; cohorts–whatever the word is–enough for the fire on your side of the world. It’s been amazing to see street justice at work. And I’m not implying anything illegal by saying that. 😀
I’ve been reading Mike’s blog for many years and I have to say something finally because this is pissing me off.
Julie fuck that. IMO The FSC doesn’t give a shit about anyone unless they are getting a check from them. Mike on the other hand actually cares about the talent. I would bet dollars to donuts the FSC has done nothing with the PWL thing except protect AIM(when you consider Jeffrey was attached to both isn’t that a conflict of interest? Shouldn’t he have removed himself from anything dealing with this crisis? )
Mike was right about AIM. They were incompetent. Explain why a 5 yr fucking old test is still up on their server? As long as they were collecting their monthly fees they didn’t give a shit IMO and neither did the FSC. It’s talent who cares no one worth anything? To this day the FSC shows they don’t give a shit, the fucking tests that have all expired are still fucking live on the AIM server. There is nothing from the fsc, that we have heard about this and are going to deal with this asap. Its attacking Mike, he says mean things about us, who cares if they are true but he is mean to us. Julie just because someone is nice to you doesn’t mean they give a shit about the talent of this industry .They forget without that talent there would be no porn. Most of them would be working at Starbucks, selling used cars or working as a public defenders or chasing ambulances.
I’m not arguing for compassion towards The FSC, I’m defending my friend who does care about people. I didn’t say I give a shit about The FSC, I care about Joanne. I didn’t say one thing, either, about AIM. I don’t argue positions for organizations when I am not privy to information. If I don’t know then I don’t comment on it. I know Joanne. Period. That Joanne sent this anonymous woman to Mike, that to me is actions speaking louder than words. That this anonymous woman sent Joanne’s thoughts to Mike, that to me is actions speaking louder than words. I’m happy for her and her son that they have relief in their life after the mess. Please understand, I’m not putting anyone down here, I just think that posting Joanne’s thoughts to a person in a private email is bad form. Does it really mean anything? I don’t know, but I read Mike’s blog, too, and appreciate his honesty and candor. Mike’s a great source of information, but when Joanne compared his info to the kinds of stuff PWL put out, what she meant is illustrated by this post. Everyone knows Mike cares about the talent. I didn’t think that was even in question here.
Joanne speaks her mind when asked. She doesn’t offer people information they don’t request. She is very obviously answering a question from this anonymous person–someone, again, she sent to Mike. Joanne not only doesn’t talk shit about people, she speaks her mind carefully in conversation. She would never walk up to industry people and just bad mouth someone because she knows that sort of thing just makes the person spewing filth look like a jerk.
All I’m saying is that Joanne is not The FSC and I think whatever she and Mike hold against each other is misinformation, because if anyone is doing anything at all over there, in my opinion, it’s Joanne. I’m defending her and expressing my care for both of them because they are awesome sauce. 😀 I think they’re both pretty great but just don’t know each other at all. I wish I could tell you everything I know about her, but she’s a private person and doesn’t need applause. I’m guessing she doesn’t want it. Hell, she’ll probably be perturbed that I said anything, let alone wrote a book about it. lol
I was going to stay our of this, because I respect Mike and his absolute right to his opinions, and to express them on his site, but I have to address something. I must point out the fucking stupidity of the last post — and how it illustrates the dangers of living in a bubble.
Every group, or clique, or forum, or organization within a larger industry exists in its own bubble; it’s an echo chamber where everyone shares a myopic POV. That’s human nature, but one needs to be conscious of this phenomenon if one is to be relevant, or truly helpful, or something other than a demagogue.
To some extent we are all guilty of it — Mike has his echo chamber, FSC has its own, so do AVN and XBIZ, as does XPT, and, although I don’t have a news/opinion site, I do too.
We can all be assholes sometimes. But there are two kinds of assholes (well, THREE if you count literal assholes, but I digress): “straight-up assholes” and “assholes with portfolio.” The difference between them: sometimes people talk out their asses and sometimes people have real credibility because of their understanding of AND proximity to the people and events in question. Bredachicago, you have NO portfolio.
brendachicago writes: “I’ve been reading Mike’s blog for many years and I have to say something finally because this is pissing me off. . . IMO The FSC doesn’t give a shit about anyone unless they are getting a check from them. Mike on the other hand actually cares about the talent.”
So, your opinion is based upon having read’s Mike’s opinion for years. And your opinion is that Mike cares but FSC does not. What a shock!
Now, I AGREE that Mike cares — but not because I read it on a fucking website. I know it because I was proud to work with him on fighting PWL and the scumbags that supported, promoted and financed it. I know it from experience. I also know from experience that you, brendachicago are FULL OF SHIT when it comes to FSC.
You write: “I would bet dollars to donuts the FSC has done nothing with the PWL thing except protect AIM (when you consider Jeffrey was attached to both isn’t that a conflict of interest? Shouldn’t he have removed himself from anything dealing with this crisis? ) . . . Julie just because someone is nice to you doesn’t mean they give a shit about the talent of this industry.”
Keep your dollars and your donuts, Brenda. You don’t know Joanne, you don’t know Julie, you don’t know FSC, and IMO you’re just a troll who regurgitates someone else’s second or thrid-hand views and observations so you can appear “in the know”. Try coming out here and actually OBSERVING these people work their asses off. FSC is an organization of THREE EMPLOYEES that is taking on a $200 million organization (AHF) as well as Cal-OSHA and LA County, AND ICM Registry (over .XXX), and lobbying for the industry’s best interests in Sacramento, AND IT IS THE ONLY ENTITY THAT STOOD UP TO TAKE ON THE MESS CAUSED BY THE DESTRUCTION OF AIM BY ITS ENEMIES. Were you there for any of this? How many meetings or fundraisers or hearings did you attend? I was at the last Cal-OSHA hearing where DOZENS of adult performers proudly wore FSC badges to express their unity of purpose. Ask yourself how the fuck YOU think you are helping this industry by promoting and spreading “your opinion”?
You also obviously think very little of ex-performer Julie Meadows. Julie is a woman of tremendous integrity and she is a friend of both mine and Mike’s — and I’m sure he will agree that you seriously insult her by characterizing her as either 1) a fool who, despite being IN and around the industry since 1998, doesn’t know the difference between someone who cares about the people in the industry and one who does not, or 2) some kind of suck-up. But I suppose you think you know better . . . .
And why would FSC have access to the AIM server? FSC is not AIM. Just because a member of FSC’s board was AIM’s attorney does not make them the same entity. FSC supported and defended the adult industry’s system and AIM, for better or worse, was THE SYSTEM. I also suspect that Mr. Douglas does not have the login info or whatever else is needed to take down the data. If you had a website, would you give that info to an attorney who is not involved in your day-to-day business? And if “protect[ing] AIM”was his or FSC’s primary goal, as you stupidly suggest, wouldn’t the AIM server (and the potential liability of AIM/Mitch) be one of their TOP priorities? Did you even TRY to think this through before you puked up your comment?
Before you start accusing Joanne or FSC of ANYTHING, why don’t you work on your credibility on this issue, because from where I’m standing, you don’t have dick.
Cordially,
MW
And by “the last post” I meant bredachicago’s comment, not Julie’s, and not Mike’s original post.
Thank you, Michael. Good people are hard to find in life, let alone the adult industry. I consider you, Mike and Joanne the best.
Michael, Considering his involvement, I would assume Mr. Douglas would know who to call to have AIMs datebase taken offline. Yet it is still there. That doesn’t strike you as a little odd or careless? I’d think any responsible person who either had access to the data base or knows someone who does, would have had it removed by now. What’s the hold up on making some phone calls?
Perhaps he’s using Joanne’s “official channels” and they are working on it, but it will take a long time.
Meanwhile, back in the real world… Please, someone just hack it and take it down. It’s no longer needed and those who can take it down are obviously no more competent to remove a website than they were to check someone for hepatitis.
Yes, it is odd, although it’s not all that surprising considering the chaos which reportedly engulfed AIM’s last days. And yes, I’m certain that Jeffrey Douglas knows who to call — the question is how available the person or persons he called made themselves, and how responsive they were.
The apparent carelessness vis-a-vis the AIM site/server reflects poorly upon AIM, and, under your construction, Me. Douglas too. But Jeffrey Douglas is not FSC. He sits on FSC’s board, and he represents many clients besides FSC and the now-defunct AIM.
Wow, South! I can’t believe you know what’s going on all the way over in Cal-a-forn-I-A!!
Thing is everyone here is entitled to their opinion, and brendas, mine, Michaels, Julies or DWBs ar3e no more ignorant than anyones. I ask legitimate questions, the FSC doesn’t respond or help or change anything and people see that.
If you guys think Brenda has a bad impression of the FSC ask around the talent pool that the FSC is trying now to represent.
Whether the perception of the FSC is right or wrong is IS the Reality and the FSC has done nothing to change that
Case in point, had Jeffery Douglas contacted the hosting company of the AIM database server he’d have gotten the same response I did.
Essentially, they need a legal request to take it down and it’s done…Gee Imagine that a LEGAL request….say maybe from an attorney who represented AIM?
That’s the kind of thing I am talking about, there hasn’t been a valid test on that server for MONTHS, Jeffery was notified a week before I posted that it was still up and here it is almost another week and it is still up.
There is NO excuse for it, Jeffery could have made ONE phone call, sent ONE email and it would be down already.
Why hasn’t that happened?
And y’all think Brenda has the wrong idea about AIM and the FSC? Come on…I’m square with her on that.
Give me the authority to fire Jeffery Douglas and watch how fast he gets that database down….I dare you!
Mike, everyone is entitled to their opinion, that is true and you;ll get no argument from me there — however informed opinions are far more valuable than uninformed ones. The fact remains that someone who derives his/her views from reading your site is seeing the world through your prism. It’s the difference between watching Fox News or msnbc or CNN. ALL of them present news and commentary. Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.
I have no idea of what is required to take down the info from the server, or how quick they’d be to respond with action (you say they get a legal request and “its done”, but I see no way you can GUARANTEE immediate action by them), and you and I both have no idea of whether or not Jeffrey Douglas has actually contacted them yet. You are speculating. Does it look great? — no. Could there be a very reasonable explanation? — yes. Are you right to have pointed out that it should have been done by AIM or representatives of the now-defunct AIM months ago? — absolutely.
You say that FSC has done nothing to change the performers’ perception of it and I say you are mistaken. I invite you and your readers to watch the news these next two weeks — I think you’ll find that lots has been going on behind the scenes of which you, Brenda and the rest have not been aware. At that point, performers and everyone else can judge FSC on the merits and not on speculations and assumptions. I think that’s fair, and smart.
I would think it is property of the bankruptcy Trustee as of now. That person could fax the necessary papers to the internet provider and have it down in minutes. Anyone know the name of the Trustee and the case number (or even what federal court it is filed in, I would bet that LA is in more than one court district due to sheer size)? Bankruptcy information is public information but not living in LA I don’t even know what court to have someone contact. In business there isn’t a shred of exempt property in a liquidation bankruptcy (unlike a personal bankruptcy where most of a person’s property is exempt in practice).
I will attempt to get the website of the bankruptcy court districts in LA so Michael Whiteacre can get on it for you.
Here is the Court address for the San Fernando Valley (Chatsworth, etc.). This is just down the road from the former AIM headquarters, so I am sure it is the right district:
SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
United States Bankruptcy Court – Central District of California
21041 Burbank Boulevard
Woodland Hills, California 91367
Hours: M-F 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
General Information: (818) 587-2900
Job Hotline: (213) 894-3129
VCIS: (213) 894-4111
(866) 522-6053
Here is the access site, costs are eight cents per page. A whole case would cost less than $50 in my experience. Michael as an attorney can easily get access by signing up (I am not an attorney and no longer work in the credit union industry, so I doubt they will give me access without a fight as it said for official business only even though this is supposed to be public info).
https://ecf.cacb.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl
Here is the Trustee’s consolidated website:
http://www.justice.gov/ust/r16/woodland_hills/index.htm
This is enough info for either an attorney or credit union/bank collector to get what is needed to shut the AIM database down.
We all know that hosting isn’t free, so who is paying for the AIM site to remain online?
Did you ever hear of pre-payment, genius?