EPTI talked to Xavi for about 30 minutes.
While I'm still not completely convinced, he pointed out, very correctly, that there is virtually no risk to the community here.
There is fraud and theft protection built into PayPal, and into the credit card companies that would protect us as individuals should something shady happen.
But I don't believe he has bad intentions. He's a real dude - not some Russian hacker ripping off people's social security numbers.
The launch of the site might have been a bit hasty, and the lack of polish on smaller details like casters and streaming is a bit unfortunate, but I feel like he's actually a pretty legit guy, trying to provide something to the community.
I gave him some contacts to hopefully help him along, and I will continue to keep in touch with him, and, so long as everything is proven to be legit, will help him out where I can.
Again, I'm still not 100% convinced, but it's starting to look like I might owe Xavi an apology or three.
https://provpro.org/
wtf is this supposed to be?
The guy says he hasn't contacted players (but he's tried email and twitter) and yet he's accepting community donations.
This reeks of scam and it pisses me off.
If I'm speaking out of turn, then please, someone put me in my place, but I'm not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs if I feel like our community is getting ripped off.
My rant on why this feels fishy:
+ Show Spoiler +
Here's where I stand on this:
For a site to just go up asking for donations, and then be plastered on reddit for thousands of people to upvote (people who are probably too young or uninformed to have ever been scammed before), thus creating hype and garnering more views is very suspicious.
There are countless avenues through which to do this legitimately.
I am personally ALWAYS looking for new ways to promote e-sports and create SC2 related content.
Guys like JP are ALWAYS willing to hear out good ideas (and this is a good idea) and help get them going if legit.
This just feels too shady.
If it's not, and if I'm smearing somebody's good name, then I am seriously fucking sorry, and I will make it right.
But in the mean time, people need to be made aware of the possibility of a major scam....
For a site to just go up asking for donations, and then be plastered on reddit for thousands of people to upvote (people who are probably too young or uninformed to have ever been scammed before), thus creating hype and garnering more views is very suspicious.
There are countless avenues through which to do this legitimately.
I am personally ALWAYS looking for new ways to promote e-sports and create SC2 related content.
Guys like JP are ALWAYS willing to hear out good ideas (and this is a good idea) and help get them going if legit.
This just feels too shady.
If it's not, and if I'm smearing somebody's good name, then I am seriously fucking sorry, and I will make it right.
But in the mean time, people need to be made aware of the possibility of a major scam....
Response from site's creator:
+ Show Spoiler +
Hello,
Creator of ProVPro here. I'm sorry you feel this reeks of a scam. If there's anyway I can ease your concerns, please let me know. As other people on this thread have mentioned, money is not taken from donor's accounts until the show match happens. I also don't recorded people's credit card or paypal credentials. In the backend, I interface with paypal's credit card processing service to ensure everything is done securely and without the need to store CC info.
Up until this point, I have not been very aggressive about trying to contact many players. Before today/last night, most matches only had a $10 bid with the highest pot at $80 (Day9 vs Tasteless of course =P). At that point, I didn't think it was worth the reputation of the site (or my personal self-respect) to spam these players. They my e-heros and I love what they do. The last thing I want to do is annoy them or piss them off.
That said, I do need help contacting the players, namely Day9 and Tastless. As mentioned earlier I've tried e-mail and twitter with no success. If anyone could help or give some advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I live in California and it's currently 6:55am.
Creator of ProVPro here. I'm sorry you feel this reeks of a scam. If there's anyway I can ease your concerns, please let me know. As other people on this thread have mentioned, money is not taken from donor's accounts until the show match happens. I also don't recorded people's credit card or paypal credentials. In the backend, I interface with paypal's credit card processing service to ensure everything is done securely and without the need to store CC info.
Up until this point, I have not been very aggressive about trying to contact many players. Before today/last night, most matches only had a $10 bid with the highest pot at $80 (Day9 vs Tasteless of course =P). At that point, I didn't think it was worth the reputation of the site (or my personal self-respect) to spam these players. They my e-heros and I love what they do. The last thing I want to do is annoy them or piss them off.
That said, I do need help contacting the players, namely Day9 and Tastless. As mentioned earlier I've tried e-mail and twitter with no success. If anyone could help or give some advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I live in California and it's currently 6:55am.
Creator response 2:
+ Show Spoiler +
Hello
Before I launch the site, I did try contact a number of casters and players. I even got to exchanged a handful of emails with Destiny, djWheat, and Artosis -- mostly about advice on how I should brand the site. When I say, I haven't been in contact with the players, I mostly mean I haven't been able to contact Day9, Tasteless, Idra, or iNControl.
Also, you are not trusting me with money. The site does not charge you until the show match occurs. Also, keep in mind that I'm using paypal for these transactions. Paypal (and credit card companies in general) have excellent anti-scam measures. If this does turn out to be a scam, paypal and/or your credit card company will cancel the hold your account (remember there is no money to be returned).
I understand that people would have concerns. That is why I'm making my contact info well known. My personal email is xavi.rmz@gmail.com (though adjunct@provpro.org also works) and my skype is xavi-ramirez. Please message me if you have concerns.
I assure this isn't some this isn't just some site I through up over the weekend. I've worked nights and weekends for the past month and half to make sure everything is as polished as possible. I've asked dozens of people for advice both in and out of the starcraft community. This is very much a labor of love.
Before I launch the site, I did try contact a number of casters and players. I even got to exchanged a handful of emails with Destiny, djWheat, and Artosis -- mostly about advice on how I should brand the site. When I say, I haven't been in contact with the players, I mostly mean I haven't been able to contact Day9, Tasteless, Idra, or iNControl.
Also, you are not trusting me with money. The site does not charge you until the show match occurs. Also, keep in mind that I'm using paypal for these transactions. Paypal (and credit card companies in general) have excellent anti-scam measures. If this does turn out to be a scam, paypal and/or your credit card company will cancel the hold your account (remember there is no money to be returned).
I understand that people would have concerns. That is why I'm making my contact info well known. My personal email is xavi.rmz@gmail.com (though adjunct@provpro.org also works) and my skype is xavi-ramirez. Please message me if you have concerns.
I assure this isn't some this isn't just some site I through up over the weekend. I've worked nights and weekends for the past month and half to make sure everything is as polished as possible. I've asked dozens of people for advice both in and out of the starcraft community. This is very much a labor of love.
I'm still very wary of anyone that asks for money.
Community ultimately has to be the judge.
