http://mahaloreview.blogspot.com/2010/09/class-action-lawsuit-against-mahalo.html

Nicole Reynolds
GREEN WELLING, P.C.
Tel: (415) 477-6700
Fax: (415) 477-6710
http://www.classcounsel.com

There is a blog about this here:
http://blog.accentuateservices.com/2010/09/16/mahalo-com-potential-class-action-law-firm-retained/

There is power in numbers. I am contacting the attorney to see if I qualify to take part in this action.

Just for your information people, I think what he did with your articles is illegal. Articles that were created under the old TOS should be sort of grandfathered. You made the agreement to produce content under THOSE terms. They were created then and not under the new TOS. I would consult with an attorney. That doesn’t give him a a creative commons license to do what he pleases with your content and it appears to be theft. He can change the TOS anytime that he feels like it; however, any new terms would affect content that was added after the change unless you sign an agreement or check mark a box agreeing that your old articles should fall under the new TOS. Maybe you should file a DMCA letter and then send it to Google. It might be worth a shot to have the page deindexed that you produced. You can also report him to the Better Business Bureau and FTC. Thank goodness that I wasn’t part of this. If you feel that you were truly wronged then do something about it.

Amazingly enough, all of a sudden our content is licensed under Creative Common Attribution HOWEVER, according to what I read, if all of our work is under said license, ALL CURRENT LICENSES REQUIRE ATTRIBUTION TO THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR. This includes CITING THE AUTHOR’S NAME, SCREEN NAME OR USER ID PROFILE. IF THE WORK IS BEING PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET.

I WROTE MY ARTICLES. NOT MAHALO. NOT JASON.

So, if anyone is going to rework, republish, etc. MY ARTICLE and include a “big, fat juicy link” back to Mahalo, my name better be on that article. Thank you.

I do not see my name or user ID on ANY of the articles I’ve written.

http://scurvytoon.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-os-does-it-use-windows-vista-were.html

The article in question .

Time there was a way to unsure mor of us writers were paid ofr our work. As long as people think they can get anything at all for free cos it’s on the net, we will be abused in this fashion.

RE: you cost analysis of how much Jason will have to pay the new Guides … could be quite a bit less. In the thread where the new team was announced, some who were selected mentioned that they are only part time Guides.

I can’t quite figure out which exact brand of narcissistic personality disorder Jason has exactly, but I wish he would.

What I will say right now is that I know for a fact and have proof that Jason lied multiple times. Part of me doesn’t want to tip my hand on what I do know, but for now, this is what I will say:

1. He claimed that only a handful of writers ever cashed out over 150 per month and that only those you could ‘count on one hand’ cashed out over 500. I have screen captures that prove that several were making well over $2500 per month, at least two handfuls were making over $1000 per month and literally dozens were making over $500 – AND ALL OF THAT REVENUE WOULD HAVE BEEN INCREASING EACH MONTH THEREAFTER, as new pages were added and revenue continued to build upon itself.

I have screen captured the payment requests/payments made (which is open on each individual profile for anyone who chooses to see)…. of over 80 people, and have figured the totals paid to them. I still have a few folks searching profiles to find additional payments made. So his numbers are wrong — it’s not what can be counted on one hand.

2. He lied when he said that he will be paying out MORE with the new guide system. We figured it based on the original 60 he said he was going to ‘hire’, but he actually only announced 27 guides and 12 senior guides. When that’s figured, it comes to $42,600 bucks paid every month until new guides are picked – assuming they are. Last month, JUST on the 80 people we found so far (we’re still looking for more) we see he paid out just to those who cashed out (not what was accrued, but just what was cashed out) a total of $77,603. And that’s not counting smaller amounts that didn’t cash out or ones we haven’t found yet. That’s an immediate savings for Jason to keep of $35,000 just for the month of July. The revenue for the writers would have continued growing, but now it won’t – they get flat rate, so while the site grows and earns more money, Jason both saves and earns more money at the same time, while the writers who make that happen for him get paid less than the federal minimum wage for their work and those who got the site to this point are totally hung out to dry.

THat’s JUST June’s numbers- We went back three months on our numbers. When we compare June to May and May to April, we see how much it’s increased – I think he stopped doing it, because revenue share was increasing too quickly. He wanted a larger piece of that pie – but if revenues we shared were increasing, then income for the site as a whole should have been increasing too – but I’ll explain how he ‘spread it around’ to avoid payout and how I have a witness willing to tell me that some of the VMs he used were made up people who didn’t exist, just so they could shave some of the revenue from the page manager’s revenue share. I have screen capture of some VMs who were below the required belt level, brand new to the site, with no history whatsoever managing pages as VMs in direct violation of Mahalo’s own policy that seems to support this ‘witness’s’ statement that VMs were faked. There were just enough of the real VMs to make it seem legit.

3. Jason has claimed that literally hundreds of people have applied for the 60 positions. We were told the 60 guides and sr. guides would be announced, but fewer than that were announced. If it’s so that hundreds applied to work for slave wages and piece work (which is illegal in the US, so if they finish 99 pages in a month, short of the 100 and Jason doesn’t pay them, I hope they sue his ass because that’s against the law)…. anyway, if it’s so that literally hundreds signed up right away for the guide positions, so, why were only 27 people picked? I’m tempted to believe he lied about how many applied too. Not only that, but some of the people chosen have very little experience and weren’t even on any of the how-to teams or QC teams prior to being chosen, so the criteria for being chosen is suspect too – who you know? who knows you? whether or not you’re welling to be a henchman? I can’t prove anything on this one, but my gut just tells me something ain’t right here.

One of the people who works on the site–I won’t say a name, but this person’s pretty easy to figure out–used to work for Mahalo, got terminated, was given a bunch of pages in severance to manage and as of last month, shows on the profile to have cashed out over 8000 bucks that month. Do you mean to tell me, in all honesty, that someone who is used to making 8000 (almost 9000) bucks in a month is going to now be happy doing more work for only 1300 as a sr. guide?

I think side deals are being made and they aren’t being displayed publicly. That guide is not the only one that is taking a huge pay cut if there aren’t side deals. Something about this and the fact those people who are losing literally thousands of dollars per month aren’t saying a word about the new system — I’m telling you, something is fishy with that. Would you stay at a company when your income is cut from 9k to 1k in less than a month’s time and not say a word about it? I wouldn’t.

There is just something very, very fishy about this whole thing, and I hope it turns up to the surface and Jason and Mahalo are exposed for the criminals I am beginning to believe they are. However, it should be noted that I don’t think there is criminal intent here. I just honestly don’t think he’s that bright and that he just doesn’t know any better.

I do hope someone teaches him a lesson soon. This is no way to do business and it’s no way to treat people.

What is legally in question is whether Mahalo’s claim to ownership of content is valid. Most of the material currently on Mahalo was submitted under the Terms of Service in force prior to June 25th. According to those TOS, all writers/contributors owned their content (screen shots provided on request) and either party could remove the material at will. Mahalo changed the TOS immediately after revenue sharing was revoked and made a de facto claim of ownership over all submitted materials without first allowing writers/contributors to opt in/out and without allowing them to decide what would become of their submitted materials. In fact, no notification of the change in TOS was made by Mahalo, at all. It was only diligent and observant writers/contributors who brought the change in TOS to the attention of others.

I contend that Mahalo knowingly and with premeditation is attempting to steal material which Mahalo, itself, acknowledged belonged to the writers / contributors in a move which is possibly the biggest bluff in internet history. I contend that Mahalo, Jason Calacanis, and all stake holders are “all in” on this bet… and I would love nothing more that to see an internet law version of Doyle Brunson come along with a Royal Flush Straight legal hand. The cards have been dealt, after all, and Mahalo is holding squat but bluffing like the devil.