end of an era

Will

http://modblog.bmezine.com/2008/05/14/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish/

If you are too lazy to check the link heres the copied text... im in shock but heard rumblings of it a while ago, thought nothing of it, until i got home and saw this on modblog;

"After a personally difficult legal dispute over BME, I’ve had to face the potentially insurmountable reality of being massively in debt, and I have chosen to transfer the business to Rachel (the details of this deal are sealed, so please don’t ask). Within the month my role at BME will come to an end, and new staff (made up largely of people who’ve been working on BME for some time as well) will be taking over. I will no longer be writing online about body modification, although I will be maintaining my regular blog and other projects of course, as well as working on several body modification book projects which I am eager to complete.

It’s definitely a very strange and mixed set of feelings, having run this site from the very beginning, over nearly a decade and a half. On one hand I’m very much looking forward to having the opportunity and time to paint and tackle new adventures, and on the other hand I will very much miss both the people and the subject in general that I came to know through BME. That said, when I grew up and fell in love with body modification — and later built BME — this was a very different and much more “outsider” culture, so maybe now, as not just tattooing but body modification as a whole enjoys unprecedented levels of popularity and acceptability, it is a good time to pass the torch on to a new generation. It’s my hope that they maintain the site in the spirit that it was begun, while taking on the challenges of a new environment.

I have very much enjoyed being a part of BME and I leave it with good memories. Thank you to everyone who’s been a friend of the site, and everyone who’s helped bring it to this point. I hope you’ve enjoyed my contributions — I know I’ve enjoyed yours — and I hope that you continue to enjoy what BME brings in the future.

See you in hell! :P

Shannon
snowrail@gmail.com
zentastic.com"

rannerap

i just read:(

amazingemmet

Tis a shame really, now will bme go down the tubes?

el rabitos

how the hell do you create a business/community from the ground up on your own, get divorved and end up having to sign the whole thing over to the woman.

he needs a new liar.

pissed off to say the least.

Thephantomsmask

I logged into IAM recently after nearly a year away due to commitments and sporadic net access from my computer, I'd been keeping track of the whole legal dealings online. The amount of people that have left is scary, I don't think the place will ever be the same, even QOD and newsfeed are gone from the main site and updates sre sporadic. It's a pity thet Shannon has decided to leave, I can see why but something great that he started is gone down the pan.

Will

The details that I know are quite shady and don't whether there is any truth in them, so I don't wanna go spreading them around.

I know a lot of the pro's on the site were bricking themselves at the beginning of the sh!t storm because of the pics of them performing surgical things i.e implants
I would say they have begun to quake again. People are v loyal to Shannon, I can foresee lots more leaving the site.

Gauge

Am I the only person here who can't stand Shannon and his followers? The guy has a major god complex and can't handle anyone disagreeing with him. I've seen a lot of people I liked get TOS'd over recent months for the stupidest reasons. If he leaves and all his obsessive fans leave too, I think this can only lead to a better BME. Shannon hasn't contributed anything worthwhile to BME in a long time, and acted like an idiot when the Ask BME site was implemented. He also alienated MANY of the staff members over recent months- he didn't thank any of the QOD staff at the start of the year.

I was thinking of leaving IAM for a long time because as someone who is not a Shannon fan I really didn't feel safe there, seeing people get booted regularly for the most idiotic reasons. Now I'm going to stay.

As for the people complaining about having to hand everything over to 'the woman'- Rachel has been a partner for YEARS. He most certainly did not create the site from the ground up by himself. The reason Shannon got banned from the site last year was due to his refusal to keep quiet about legal matters he was not supposed to be talking about.

Good riddance. I think this will lead to a far better site/community in the long run.

Will

Reply from Rachel;

"Hi all,

As I’m sure you’ve heard, there are some changes going on here at BME, and because the rumor mill goes into overdrive in times like this, it’s very important to me to keep everyone in the loop as much as possible.

First of all, Shannon Larratt will no longer be an employee of BME, and has willfully relinquished his interest in our site to me — we were co-owners of BME, and I am now the sole owner. We truly believe this was in the best interest of both parties, and this was a decision to which Shannon and I both agreed. There was no force, no coercion — nothing of the sort. This was mutually beneficial, and I wish Shannon all the best. I have no doubt that I’ll be promoting and encouraging his books which have been incredibly successful in the past.

Next, I want to assuage your fears: nothing is happening to BME, IAM or ModBlog. BME and ModBlog will continue to be updated as they always have by long-time BME staff members who have been absolutely integral in keeping BME running smoothly. As BME grows, it may be necessary to add new members to the team, but out of the gate, believe me when I say that you’ll be greeted by familiar faces. BME has been a team effort, and that will not change. The content that’s kept you coming back to BME will not stop, and will only get better from here on out.

What will change? Well, there will be new features. Sooner rather than later, we hope to roll out a thorough re-design that will give our amazing and unique community the presentation it deserves. Podcasts, new interviews, original content, new site features… we have a lot of plans, and I can’t wait to start putting them into action.

It’s a new day, and I couldn’t be happier that you’re all here with us. Stay tuned."

Sounds promising.

Nevyn

That was bound to happen after the lock out a few months ago.

porn_star

She shouldn't of got it, I don't buy any of that "we're both happy and think this is the best thing yadayadayada" crap. I don't care what happened in their marriage or in court or anything or any of the rumors surrounding it. I just don't think she should of got sole ownership, yeah she's been around the last few years doing stuff behind the scenes or whatever, but it's always been seen as Shannon's site cos it was him that brought it all together. He essentially brought together a community of people, Bme has always been in a league of its own with regard to other body mod sites. The whole body mod thing might be more accepted and mainstream these days, but when it wasn't so popular, he brought people together that share an interest and provided a lot of information that you would find hard to get anywhere else in such depth. Now I know other people helped too, but he was the person driving this to where it is now. I always thought it was pretty clear that he had an amazing amount of care for both bme and iam and what happened to it. Which is why I don't think someone like Rachel should get it, why should someone come along and take something that's nearly 15 years old and has mainly been successful because of someone else. I wouldn't be proud of something like that and I reckon she's more in it for the power and the money, cos honestly I think if it was a case of caring about the site and the iam community then she would of left him keep it. I don't see her owning it as being what's best for the site and I don't think a lot of other people do either.
I'm not a "follower" of Shannon or anything, I just have a lot of respect for him and I think props, where props are due.
And after everything, from kicking him off the site and taking the site and trying to establish herself as some independant woman after the divorce, I find it pretty funny that she's still keeping his surname. Just seems like a bit of a leech to me.

Will

Won't get bogged down with whats being going on... whats done is done, hopefully it will move onwards and upwards.

Reku

Shannon wrote:

"After a personally difficult legal dispute over BME, I’ve had to face the potentially insurmountable reality of being massively in debt, and I have chosen to transfer the business to Rachel (the details of this deal are sealed, so please don’t ask).

Sounds like Rachel just won through having more money to blow on lawyers and court dates.

Rachel wrote:

First of all, Shannon Larratt will no longer be an employee of BME, and has willfully relinquished his interest in our site to me — we were co-owners of BME, and I am now the sole owner. We truly believe this was in the best interest of both parties, and this was a decision to which Shannon and I both agreed. There was no force, no coercion — nothing of the sort.

Just potential bankruptcy...


I'd have to agree with Thaedydal's view in that as soon as I read it I thought back to the troubles a few months ago and felt it wasn't exactly a surprise that this would happen, a shame perhaps but not a surprise.

jenizzle

Its sad really. I really loved Modblog and it went down the drain when he got locked out. Hopefully his own blog will get updated regularly, tis usually interesting.

Kastro

yeah it is a real shame.. boycott i say..
is he still goign to write for bizarre?

Will

Haven't heard mention of that at all