Nirvanix Watch
Keeping any eye on the scammers at Nirvanix, Streamload, Linkup, Mediamax, or whatever they call themselves this week….
Steve Iverson: Nirvanix are liars, blame-shifters, and have threatened to SUE me!
READ THIS STORY!! I’ll repost Steve Iverson’s comment here for more exposure, but the story broke on the Unofficial Nirvanix Users Forum and any comments should be posted over there. All emphasis MINE.
This is groundbreaking stuff here. Unfortunately it looks like Nirvanix is gonna get away with it because Iverson and MM/TLU are going bankrupt, and Nirvanix is figuratively swimming in venture capital which they can use to sue anyone who offends them. For those unaware, Steve Iverson is the founder and president of Streamload, Mediamax, and The Linkup. Nirvanix is a spin-off company of Mediamax.
STEVE IVERSON’S COMMENTS:
MediaMax has tried to avoid adding more fuel to our bad-PR fire because we do not have any new, useful information to add beyond what has been posted on our official blog, but I do feel it is now necessary to correct some new misinformation.
I’ll start now with a short clarification now, and will try and follow up in a couple days with more details.
First, I’m sorry if there has been false hope given that additional access will be made to customer files. This is simply not the case. Only the files that are currently in your account are the files that will be available for download through this Friday. I think Nirvanix is in panic-mode and is, not surprisingly, trying to divert all responsibility to MediaMax. There is nothing we can do. If any of this were possible we would not be closing our business.
Many of Nirvanix’s claims are not true. Given that we now have zero employees, no money, and are shutting down in 5 days, MediaMax is an easy target. Nirvanix also has millions of dollars to continue their PR campaign and has indirectly threatened John and I with personal lawsuits. If continuing this fight would bring back customer files or fix problems of the past, I would do so. But, at this point, there is nothing to gain and the major problems cannot be fixed. Answering questions or “telling our side of the story” is not going to provide any true benefit to anyone (get customer files back), and exposes me to significant personal liability. Right or wrong, this is America and they can sue anyone for anything, and John and I and trying to move on with life and find new jobs. Further, I think Nirvanix has learned that I may be going to work for one of their competitors, and they are doing their best to discredit me and the value that I bring to a competitor.
Regardless, to clarify Nirvanix’s most recent campaign of misinformation:
- As I stated above, the “MediaMax front-end” or database is not a solution to the problem. We do not have access to the files. Nirvanix knows this is our position. I could go on for hours about the technical problems involved and solutions attempted and place blame elsewhere, but at this point, it really doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Fundamentally, MediaMax is responsible because you are our customer, and the biggest mistake we made was to trust Nirvanix to manage our customer data - yes, it was on the “old Streamload system”, and not their new Nirvanix SDN, but I believe the care and attention that was required was not there and was beyond unprofessional.
- I am in communication with Nirvanix, and to state otherwise is patently wrong. In fact, I sent their CEO emails (and cc’d 3 other Nirvanix employees, including a direct report to Jonathan Buckley) on 7/21, 7/25, and 7/30 (Wed), and received a reply on 7/31 (Thursday) and another email from their CFO on 8/1 (Friday). After reading your blog post last night (Sunday), I emailed Jonathan Buckley and have now heard from him and their CFO again this morning (Monday). Jonathan has my contact info and he probably works with 15 people daily who also have my contact info if he had misplaced it.
- And irrelevant of solving customer problems, I will note that Nirvanix is actually not a creditor of MediaMax as Jonathan claimed as they have been paid in full for their services.
The popular thing for me to do would be to say “yes, all will be fine if Nirvanix can just get their act together” and divert attention back to them, but that’s not the case. It’s game over, and there is no new information since our last “official” TLU blog post. It’s not the popular statement, but it’s reality and it’s unfortunate for everyone involved.
Help Us Write the Book on MediaMax/Streamload/The Linkup/Nirvanix!!!
Some former/current users are collaborating on a book on this topic. Nothing fancy, we’re gonna publish through CreateSpace. You’re not gonna be a millionaire if you help out with this book, sorry.
But we’re gonna put it up on Google Books, so it will show up in Google searches, and it’s gonna be available to purchase (a REAL book!) on Amazon.
If you have any horror stories about your experiences with these scammers, I have made a handy online form you can use to submit your experiences. If you want to collaborate on this book (you WILL get co-author credit!) please remember to leave your email on this form!
Tell us your Mediamax aka Streamload aka Nirvanix aka The Linkup HORROR STORIES!
We’re writing a book and we need to know your stories. If they have wronged you in any way, please fill out our short online survey. Thank you!
Click here for the survey. Add your email if you want to take part in writing the book!
MediaMax President: We didn’t censor you, it must have been Nirvanix
As any reader of this blog or the MediaMax Users Blog will know, internet news site Newsvine recently censored my articles about MediaMax/Nirvanix/Streamload at the behest of what they referred to as “the subject of the article”.
Of course, I backed them up on this site. You can read them here:
Anyway, there has been lots of discussion about this censorship over at the MediaMax users blog, and the president of MediaMax (Iverson) felt compelled to chime in. In his comment he denied anyone at MediaMax gave Newsvine the order to delete my article and said it must have been someone from Nirvanix. His quote:
MediaMax did not request that article or comments to be taken down - that is patently wrong. I can only assume someone from Nirvanix requested that but I have not confirmed with them yet.
I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt - although I don’t know why. So, now the blame falls squarely upon Nirvanix and Patrick Harr.
Mr. Harr - why do you feel the need to censor comments and articles critical of your service? And will this censorship carry on to the files you host? I mean, does Nirvanix reserve the right to delete any files that users are hosting with you, if anyone merely disagrees with them? What is your stand on freedom of speech?
It has been said that many employees from Streamload/MediaMax went over to Nirvanix. So now, the team that screwed the users over for a year, messing with their files, erasing or making them disappear, etc - is now in charge over at Nirvanix. And no longer content to simply screw over the users, they won’t be happy until they can censor all those critical of their enterprise.
To Mr. Iverson: It is disingenuous to say that none of those people ever worked for MediaMax, because MediaMax has only existed since July. Most users have known Streamload AS the MediaMax name because you changed the URL. This is why I use the title Streamload/MediaMax when discussing it, so people will know they are one and the same.
On the MediaMax users blog, Mr. Iverson invited any users interested to participate in a conference call with him. I say everyone should accept this offer en masse so that we might finally be allowed to question the people who have treated the users so poorly over this past year. Now if only Mr. Harr and Nirvanix would follow suit - they were also in charge during this past year at MediaMax and they share some of the blame - merely splitting off into their own company that is “affiliated” with MediaMax doesn’t absolve them.
Don’t Be Fooled: Nirvanix IS Mediamax!
Lately, there has been some debate as to how closely related Nirvanix, the new competitor to S3, is to MediaMax, the failed online storage company. As it turns out, it is quite hard to tell them apart. Here are some facts:
Patrick Harr is CEO of Nirvanix. He was formerly CEO of MediaMax.
Greg Bohdan is the CFO of Nirvanix. He was formerly CFO of MediaMax. He was also formerly CFO and is currently on the Board of Directors of the “San Diego Venture Group”, which FUNDED MediaMax.
Geoff Tudor was Senior Vice President of Products and Engineering at Streamload. He is now COO & VP of Engineering at Nirvanix.
Adrian Herrera was the Director of Business Development at Streamload. He is now the Director of Business Development at Nirvanix.
Steve Iverson is the current president of MediaMax, founder, and former CTO. He has admitted that Nirvanix is a spin-off company from MediaMax, and that the behind the scenes creation of Nirvanix BY MediaMax is part of the reason for the massive failures experienced by them in the past few months.
- Nirvanix is located at 525 B St, San Diego, CA.
- MediaMax is located at 600 B St, San Diego, CA.
According to Google Maps, those locations are only 203 feet away from each other. However, if you search California corporate records, they’re both listed as 525 B St.
So the next time someone tells you that these are two different companies with two different teams, remember this article. And ask yourself if you really want to trust any of your data to MediaMax.com.
For more information on how MediaMax treats it’s customers (and a preview of how Nirvanix might do so) check out these links.
Nirvanix: Amazon S3 Killer, or Crap in Sheep’s Clothing?
Streamload Upgrade Goes Very Wrong; Some Users Revolt
Nirvanix: Amazon S3 Killer, or Crap in Sheep’s Clothing?
NOTE: This article originally posted on Newsvine.com, who censored and deleted it at Nirvanix’s command. Everything below this disclaimer is from the original article.
UPDATE: Apparently, the subject of this article thinks it
contains inaccuracies, so guess what? Nirvanix/Streamload/MediaMax
bullied Newsvine into making me allow their comments on this article,
so prepare your BS detectors for whatever crap they spew in the
comments section.
And for those who say they that Streamload/MediaMax/Nirvanix are different companies, this article proves otherwise.
There’s been a lot of talk on the so-called “blogosphere” about Nirvanix, the new upstart company rising to challenge the mighty Amazon S3. Unfortunately, the true story isn’t as glorious or inspiring.
Let me tell you a tale.
The year was 2005, and a new site debuted to rave reviews. The site was Streamload.com, and it had a great deal. Get 10 free GB of storage (soon raised to 25) for FREE. Upload and download times seemed good, they had an innovative
technique which was too technical for me to understand, but the point is - it worked, and it was good. But you know what they say about all good things.
Back in those days, Steve Iverson was the President/CEO. And in September of 2005, they issued a press release announcing a product called “Streamload MediaMax”. MediaMax, they said, would be “the world’s largest online media center, helps consumers centrally store, organize, access, and share their entire media collection.” That’s only
the beginning of their grandiose promises - Click here for the whole release. I think they promised a free car for every American in there somewhere.
Then, somewhere in 2006, things started to fall apart. “Streamload Mediamax” failed to live up to the promised awesomeness. Despite this, the site took the plunge changed from Streamload.com to MediaMax.com. Then, the event that started what some MediaMax users have deemed “The
Year of Hell”. MediaMax decided to change or upgrade their servers.
All hell broke loose. What does this have to do with Nirvanix? Hold your horses, you’ll know soon enough. You youngsters are too impatient today, with your MTV and your internet porn.
So, back to MediaMax. After the “upgrade”, things began to suck mightily. Uploading was spotty. Downloading was near impossible. Files would go missing. Eventually users weren’t able to access their pictures and files - those sections were thereafter removed from the site. Comments were shut off of the blog when too many asked questions (yet they force third parties to accept their OWN comments in the interest of fairness, see below). Emails for help went unreturned, or
with auto-replies that had nothing to do with the questions being asked. And those things were just for the lucky users - the unlucky ones woke up to find MediaMax had given them herpes.
Okay, that herpes thing is just an internet rumor, but the rest is verifiably accurate and is still going on to this day, a year later.
But in 2007, a new sheriff rolled into town. Mr. Patrick Harr was appointed President/CEO of the company, a position he would only hold for a few months. Why so short a tenure? Was he fired because MediaMax continued the colossal downhill slide to the grave? That’s what you’d think, but no - he was actually given a NEW job, some might say a better one.
Behind the scenes, MediaMax/Streamload was developing yet ANOTHER new company - Nirvanix. Harr would lead this company, which would compete directly with Amazon.com’s S3 service in “partnership” with MediaMax. To make it even clearer: Nirvanix is an offshoot of MediaMax, and the president of Nirvanix is the old president of MediaMax. The new president of MediaMax? Why, it is the OLD president, Steve Iverson. Meet the new boss, indeed.
Nirvanix is being billed as an entirely new company, with new funding, new ideas, and new methods. But really, it is being organized and run by two guys (and their cronies) who have completely and utterly screwed THOUSANDS of users, who to this day still cannot access their files and pictures. Instead of working overtime to fix the problems which have festered for a YEAR, they scheme behind the scenes to create a new company which will be “affiliated” with the old company. That way, they can begin anew as Nirvanix, while staying slightly removed from the rotting stench that is MediaMax.com.
Neat trick, isn’t it? Your company begins to suck, and you just start a new one, and say it is “partnering” with the old one.
Now, I realize this article is a bit meandering, dramatic, and took a while to get to the point. Hey, I’m no Danielle Steele, or whatever famous writer the kids like nowadays. I’m just a guy who wants to warn you. Be careful when having anything to do with Nirvanix.com. And don’t let anyone confuse you - it is the same company with the same management - Streamload = MediaMax = Nirvanix. They are the same. And
sucky companies don’t just become unsucky by getting a snazzy new name and lots of internet hype. They remain sucky until things change drastically.
Please, do your own research on this. Don’t believe me, and for crying out loud, don’t believe THEM. Find the facts for yourself, talk to MediaMax users, hear their stories, and then decide if it is really worth it to trust the integrity and availability of your data to these people.
UPDATE:
I just got an email from Newsvine. They say that the subject of this article complained about alleged inaccuracies. Well, I guess they’d know about inaccuracies, having been the source of so many of them (it’s only temporary, your files will be ready soon, etc). You’d be hard pressed to find a statement they made in the past year that DID turn out accurate.
They also requested (nay, DEMANDED) that I turn comments on, so that they may reply to this article. Wow, what irony - amulti-million dollar company that disabled comments on their official blog when too many people complained, is asking me for the opportunity they denied thousands of their customers! Well, they’ve got balls, I must give them that.
Request denied.
You see, I wanted to get my views across, so I used my Newsvine column. If they’re so upset, let them start their own Newsvine column. Or, let them use their official blog site to reply where the world can see it. I’m not about to open up yet another forum where their shills can post glowing praise for the company, like they do in the blog comments of so
many other sites. But, at heart, I have a sense of fairness - so I will post links to those pages in the “more information” section below.
Update 2:
Well, I just got another email from Newsvine. They basically said “Let Nirvanix/Streamload/MediaMax deface your article with their comments, or we’ll just take it down.” Hey, Newsvine - maybe you can talk them into allowing public comments on their blog, or it just gonna be a one-way thing, big company bullies the little guy into so-called “equal time”, but still gets to censor their own site?
Whatever - it seems I have no choice. They said it goes against the spirit of Newsvine to put forth controversial opinions (they’re not controversial, ask any MediaMax user and you’ll find they are quite commonly held) without allowing the other side to reply (Which is exactly what MediaMax did on their own official, so I guess THEY go
against the so-called “Newsvine spirit”). But whatever - I don’t want to get banned, so I guess I better fall in line. Another victory of MediaMax vs their users. Congratulations, MediaMax/Streamload/Nirvanix!
For More Information:
TechCrunch: Streamload Upgrade Goes Very Wrong; Some Users Revolt
Mashable: Nirvanix To Launch B2B Online Storage: Amazon S3 Competitor?
MediaMax: We Need You Started by users after MediaMax shut off comments on the official blog
MediaMax: Official MediaMax/Streamload blog
Backups of Censored Newsvine Articles about Nirvanix and MediaMax
I started this blog primarily as a means to backup the articles which were censored by Newsvine.
Nirvanix: Amazon S3 Killer, or Crap in Sheep’s Clothing?
Don’t Be Fooled: Nirvanix IS Mediamax!
Newsvine: Our Purpose is Not News
Recently, I did some research and posted a few articles about the Mediamax/Nirvanix/Streamload ripoff of their customers, and proving that they’re basically the same company (though they claim otherwise.)
Nirvanix/Streamload/Mediamax complained to Newsvine about this, who promptly deleted the offending articles. I of course wrote to Newsvine to ask about this. They said:
We have reviewed the articles you reference as having been taken
down. In such cases, Newsvine only restores content deemed to be
clearly appropriate for our readers and within the terms set out by
our User Agreement.Thus far, we have been contacted by both you and the company that is
the subject of your writings. Since we have no way to determine
which party’s claims are legitimate, and Newsvine is not in the
business of arbitrating such disputes, we recommend that you (and the
company you wrote the articles about) take your dispute elsewhere.Of course, you are still welcome to use Newsvine for its intended
purposes.
First of all, this just proves that if you want Newsvine to remove any article, hey - just ask! But secondly, they say “you are still welcome to use Newsvine for its intended purposes”.
I thought the purpose of Newsvine was to report NEWS. I wrote some news about a serious problem that has been experienced by TENS OF THOUSANDS of MediaMax/Streamload/Nirvanix users. I also wrote an article containing original research proving that MediaMax and Nirvanix are the same company.
This is news - this is what news IS.
But - those aren’t, I guess, the “intended purposes”. So now we know that NEWS is not the intended purpose of Newvine. What is the other possible purpose? I would say DISCUSSING NEWS - but that’s not it, either. You see, some of the people who came to Newsvine to comment on my article signed up JUST for that purpose - and the article, including their comments (none of which were in disagreement with my article) were deleted.
So, now that we know that news, and the discussion of thereof, is NOT the purpose of Newsvine - what is? (Besides bending over whenever ordered to do so at the slightest suggestion of anyone who doesn’t like any of their articles…)
Wanna Get Newsvine to Remove an Article? Just Ask Them!
Recently, I posted some information critical of MediaMax and Nirvanix to Newsvine.com. I wanted to expose the truth about those websites, and what they’d put their users through in the past year.
I did not, however, enable comments, because I believe that they would send their minions to deface my article with spam.
I later got an email from Newsvine saying that MediaMax/Nirvanix/Streamload had complained, and demanded the right to comment on my article. Of course, I declined! I then got ANOTHER email from Newsvine saying that if I didn’t allow Nirvanix/Mediamax/Streamload to comment, they would delete my article. What makes this so ironic is that Mediamax had an official blog, and turned off the ability to leave comments on it after too many complained - so basically, they were saying “Comments for us, but not for you!”
So, I complied with their demands and allowed comments. Almost immediately, I got over a dozen comments from former and current MediaMax users, complaining about how they’d been treated.
Surprisingly however, Streamload/MediaMax/Nirvanix didn’t comment! I believe this is because they thought they’d be the only one commenting on the articles. Then they saw that some of the people they’d digitally defecated on would be there to pick apart whatever crap they’d spew, so they decided not to reply after all.
I wrote Newsvine back and told them “Hey, I turned on comments like you ordered, please write MediaMax/Streamload/Nirvanix and tell them to put their money where their mouth is!”
The next morning, my articles were deleted.
I emailed Newsvine to ask why. Here is what they said:
Thus far, we have been contacted by both you and the company that is
the subject of your writings. Since we have no way to determine
which party’s claims are legitimate, and Newsvine is not in the
business of arbitrating such disputes, we recommend that you (and the
company you wrote the articles about) take your dispute elsewhere.
In other words, Nirvanix/Streamload/Mediamax merely ASKED them to delete the article, and because they couldn’t decide which party was correct, they just deleted it!
So if anyone posts an article you don’t like on Newsvine, just tell them that you disagree with the facts. They will promptly delete that article the very next day! Expect thousands of articles critical about George W Bush to “disappear” when the White House finds out about this Newsvine policy.