So I just got back from a wonderful vacation where on the whole I was offline — especially most recently in Kuna Yala territory, where communication seemed limited to walkie talkies and we didn’t have telephone, let alone internet. A nice change, really. I was a little surprised to see this little gem from BME’s new owner (and also my ex as I’m sure the drama-minded know) when I got back:
It’s easy for people to say I “stole” the business I have been running since 2001 but you can’t steal things when you pay for them. I just wish other people in this situation were man enough to admit how much they were paid to settle our problems and that if I could publish the exact number it would require A LOT of zeros.
As far as comments people have made in the previous posts about BME 2.0, the current software that runs the site will no longer function after 2010 due to programming errors and inadequacies. It has to be rebuilt. This is a rebuild I’ve been working on now for two years coming in December. Hopefully it will be completed by then.
WTF?
I won’t even get into the fact that I barely even knew Rachel in most of 2001 (heck, I was still dating Caitlin when Brian and I founded the Bmezine.com LLC), so I don’t see how she could have been running BME, and that she didn’t step into a management role in dealing with banking issues and hosting — which may be running a business, but are quite distinct from running BME as a sociological entity, which she didn’t do until 2008 — until 2004. These sorts of date-based deceptions have been tossed around endlessly in court, and it’s so tiresome to hear the same old lie raised over and over and over.
I also won’t get into debating “steal”, but when you take something by force from someone, and then bankrupt them by throwing lawsuit after lawsuit at them paid for by an ultra-wealthy boyfriend, and leave them with a choice of “winning” but going bankrupt from the legal bills, or “selling” the site, then while the word “bought” may be legally true, it’s a little more sticky than that.
Anyway as to the main point, the separation/BME deal was made secret not by me, but by Rachel, and I don’t really appreciate posts by her saying I am not “man enough” (whatever that means) to reveal the details of the deal. Significant steps were taken by her to hide the details of the deal and the highly unpleasant steps that were taken to make it happen, presumably because if the public knew what happened, they would be very soured on the whole thing. I would be perfectly happy to see the whole thing be made public, and it’s completely unfair and untrue to slag me publicly saying that I’m somehow hiding it when I’m not the one taking legal steps to keep everything secret. If she wants to insult me in blog posts, fine, but let me be real clear on this: release the non-disclosure type clauses and I’m happy to see everything go public. Doesn’t bother me one bit, especially considering that’s something I wanted from day one, because I wanted the public to see what was happening.
Second of all, as far as “programming errors and inadequacies”, yes, it’s true that the BME maintenance software will have problems in 2010 if — and only if — it’s not updated with a few dozen lines of code. They weren’t written yet because a half decade before it was required, I didn’t feel the need. It’s not an “error”, as it’s completely anticipated and planned for, and I certainly didn’t write the software thinking that I would suddenly not be able to maintain it any more or it would have to be handled by people unfamiliar with my code! Give me a break. It’s especially disingenuous given that I’ve gone out of my way to help the new programmers — who have taken two years and have yet to produce a stable product — with tons of tools and documentation and software to convert the databases. I spent weeks before my vacation doing free work for BME in order to be helpful (well, that’s not entirely true — I also did it as a trade to ensure that I didn’t have to have a legal fight to take Nefarious on the vacation). To now turn around and attack me is pretty low.
I’m sorry Rachel if people are giving you a hard time because you’re having trouble running the site, and I’m sorry some of them are being mean, but FFS, I was on vacation and these unpleasant reactions have nothing to do with me and a whole lot more to do with you and your decisions, and I have done everything I can to help the site out in spite of all the terrible things that have been done to me, and I really wish you’d drop having to attack me publicly just because someone makes a “BME was better in the Shannon era” comment. Launch your “BME 2.0″, make it your own site and stop whining about the one I envisioned and did my best to build, and do something that you can be proud of. Constant bickering and never ending anger aren’t what you should be wasting your time on. You have enough on your plate with a failing business that needs saving, to say nothing of your health issues. I have a ton of respect for your intelligence and potential that I saw ages ago and sadly see so rarely in recent years, but you’re squandering it with this negative obsession with me, and obsession with lashing out at bigger and bigger swaths of the community that made BME great. Take a hard look at yourself and your life and think about the things that I respected in you, and try and bring those things out again. They’re the things that make you special and the things that can help you turn all this around. What you’re doing now is beneath you.
45 Comments
Woah, wait up a second, I missed that news. Who is the new owner of BME?
I’ve tried hard to find out what happened in court between you and Rachel. I’m sure some certain ppl. on IAMbmezine.com, who are close to her that I know, know what went on, but they are very tight lipped and absoloutly refuse to talk, no matter how good a friend I thought they were. I agree with you, it should be made public, and yeh, I think Rachel don’t want everyone to know the truth for fear it would damage BME or her in whatever way.
I dunno, BME and IAM is just not the same in a lot of ways since you not being around the site, its just not. She’s NOT a pleasant person to deal with, and as far as I’m concerned, the site isn’t run and updated or maintained to the standard that you ran it. I could see the differences very shortly after you were not around, and it sucks.
You should be the owner of that site, not her. Its bullshit that your not a part of it anymore.
What’s a BME?
I just thought id say thank you Shannon for creating BME. It changed my life in the best way ever and i thank you for that.
Sally i think Shannon MUST be referrring to the British Methodist Episcopal [BME] Church, a Protestant church in Canada. I can’t think of any other possibilities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bme
Troll is trolled ;)
Seriously though, I’ve lost all interest in what the IAM community has become since your departure Shannon. I’m still grateful for being part of the amazing place that IAM was back then even if it’s over now. And I still treausre the T-Shirts!
Dear Shannon,
It deeply saddens me to read this post from you. I’m the kind of person who don’t judge based on one person’s claims and have thus tried to hear you both out in your public statements. As you probably understand I feel terribly sorry both for your loss of BME and for all of us who miss you so much on the site. The magic is fading and BMEzine have come to fall more and more into one of those grey communities like Facebook. The site used to be so vibrant you could almost feel its breath but unfortunately the only reason to stay there now is to keep in touch with your friends.
I honestly would rather like to not go there anymore but in the same time it feels really bad to leave something great behind, and also almost like letting you down and to dishonour the Shannon-days, in a way.
Regardless of who’s legally owning BME it will always be your child in my and many others eyes. I just really wish there could be another way for us all over the world to experience BME or something alike with you back on the thrown. I understand that due to legal issues you are not even allowed to post body modification-related content, if I’m correct. To even be able to deprive you of that right is ridiculous! Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Perhaps I never got all facts straight but nevertheless there’s no questioning how unfairly you have been treated and how unjust the system is.
To tell you the truth I’m not sure why I decided to write this. I guess I just wanted to let you know that people care and miss you. Of course, people certainly tell you this all the time, but a reminder can’t hurt.
Best of wishes with great love and respect,
Robin, Sweden
I, for one, have still not found anything to fill the real void that the (self mandated, perhaps) loss of BME/IAM in my life has made.
I remember when you three were living with me. Rachel did support and billing related things, not run the site. That was up to the end of 2003.
No amount of “0′s” can adequately replace something so valuable, especially when the “option” to sell is not available. BME has become significantly less scholarly and interesting. I stay on IAM because of the wonderful communication opportunity it provides, not to create a sweet myspace page for my friends to see my poorly done lip piercing. There is still a lot of things I love about BME, mainly the phenomenal design that creates an excellent database of knowledge, but I miss the hell out the incredibly educational and personal feel of the BME community while you were running it. There is a reason I follow your blog and pretend like BME has not changed. I got the pleasure of becoming active on BME while you were still running it. Hopefully dumbass bullshit ends.
For some reason this reminded me of a post hecho en Mexico describing Rachel’s amazing abilities with hostile takeovers.
For clarity it would be good if people who are displeased with no longer having a net home on iam.bmezine.com (because it doesnt feel like “home” with Shannon gone) would not refer to it having been stolen but rather as a hostile takeover. To say that it wasnt stolen because there was a settlement is splitting hairs.
Side note or post script: I never had any problems with Rachel personally. She was always very polite and quick to address any issues. I left only because the center didnt hold. Not being a “scene kid” there was no impelling reason to stay.
That quote of Rachel’s at the beginning is taken from Modblog, and was made in response to criticisms to the effect that Modblog hadn’t been updated for a number of days – claims being made that quantity as well as quality was now deteriorating under Rachel’s ownership of the site.
There was, unfortunately, no indication given at the time as to WHY no updates were being posted and I strongly suspect that her worsening ill-health is creating a situation where she simply does not have the time to spend that the site needs if it’s to remain vibrant and flourishing – and it’s fast degenerating into a just another clone of MySpace or Facebook.
It’s all very well to herald the forthcoming IAM 2.0, which was supposed to have been launched at the beginning of the year, and to have blamed the late Jason when it wasn’t. But it’s now become almost like ‘Waiting for Godot’.
In another Modblog post, I see that Rachel’s put “As far as having volunteers, BME2.0 is going to be entirely community run (including modblog) so we’ll be able to have tons of volunteers and here is to hoping the beta launches soon.” That’s excellent news. But if she alienates many more people, I fear the “tons” of volunteers are going to be few and far between when the beta eventually does launch.
It’s insane, because I don’t even like you and find you to be quite unstable, but totally miss you as BME. I was there from the early days and it has never been the same with out you. I let my IAM expire because I saw no point in it anymore. BME was always and will always be yours. This new creation of Rachels is just good for laughing at.
I’d agree with Don to a degree but also doubt that the ‘new’ BME is able to become ‘entirely community run’ – there’s simply nothing there anymore to make ppl get really involved.
I’ve never experienced anything negative from Rachel and I can honestly say that she seemed to be efficient and quick with replies to any inquiries but she lacks charisma Shannon has and that’s a serious drawback.
Fingers can continue to point back and forth, but the proof for me is in the content. If she was completely running the site sense 2001, why didn’t the site completely suck until around 2008? Clearly you (Shannon) were adding something important to the site all that time that is no longer being added. Even if I had no idea that the ownership had changed over, I still wouldn’t be able to visit BME, because the content is no longer fresh, interesting, or intellectually challenging. I honestly never suspected that I would find myself becoming emotional about a website but seeing BME go downhill or change from what I am accustomed to it being has really made me sad. Oh well…..
I’m so sick and tired of Rachel blaming everyone, everyones family, god, the country, the planet and the universe in general for her problems. When will she stop whining and take responsibility for her own actions?
She is ill and cannot work much, but – she has proven before that she is not a good writer anyway. And she ain’t trustworthy. Who in the hardcore scene wants to be associated with her? That may be chauvinism to some degree, but when you witnessed, how she literally sold Nefarious for the ownership of BME using Shannons love for that kid against him and read how she twisted that int her being the victim, you don’t feel much sympathy towards her, not even as a woman.
I joined IAM in 2001. I was 17 and a senior in highschool. BME and IAM were both incredibly inspirational and I loved being part of such a vast community of pretty exceptional individuals.
I left IAM sometime around 2005, I believe. My reason for doing so was because I could feel the dynamics and vibe amongst the members changing even then. I continued following your blog and modblog religiously though. I was both shocked and sickened at the turn of events in 2008. I had toyed with rejoining IAM up until that point but now one couldn’t PAY me to join.
I liken my departure from IAM much like leaving a party early. The only memories I have are great ones. I left, in retrospect, on a wonderful note. You manned the helm of a beautiful community and I’ll always respect and love you for that. I met my now best friend on your site when we were both youngins and now at 26 years old, she and I still discuss the site and how much of a profound effect it had on our lives (she’s marrying a wonderful man she met on IAM in just a few months!).
I apologize for being so long winded. Long story short…thank you, Shannon.
I just had a random funny thought, but y’know all of those rappers who say they’ve got troops on the street behind them? Or Hed PE who said, “We’ve got internet troops, dude!”?
Well, as far as internet troops and troops on the street, I’d say Shannon has a bigger claim on that than any of the above people.
Your base of support is inexhaustive, Shannon. If anything else, that should indicate what kind of effect you’ve had on the world at large. :)
Well her one claim is sort of true… what you were “paid” would require a LOT of zeros… but how exactly do you put a value on a child?
Nothing can ever take away the history of bme, it’s in all of our changed hearts/souls/bodies. Your hard work reflects off of us. We became mod.
Shannon, I never got as involved with the BME/IAM community as I would have liked to, but I want to thank you for creating the site and for all the content you posted while you were there. It really changed my life and helped shape the way I now perceive the world. You always were (and still are) great at posting meaningful, thought-provoking material, and I really can’t express how much of an influence BME was for my life while it was under your jurisdiction.
i’m glad you posted this. nothing much else to say because the site speaks for itself.
* sigh * … I still visit IAM fairly often.
It’s sort of like visiting Lenin’s preserved body in Red Square, eh. He’s just not the same Vladimir he was in 1924.
When Shannnon left BME, I followed. When Shannon ran BME, it had a HEART. Without him there- I can only imagine that it is a cold, heartless place (which was hinted at, when it came to an IAMer’s death, and her comments reguarding it)
If she is very sick (as mentioned) – then wouldn’t it be logical for her to assign someone to be a caretaker of the site while she is trying to recoup/feel better?
I really miss Shannon’s bme.
I still check modblog every time I open up firefox out of habit, but it just isn’t worth it anymore.
I have nothing against pretty or interesting pictures of pretty modified people, but that shouldn’t be the main point of modblog. When I first came across bme, I was interested in tattoos and piercings, but lacked any above-average knowledge about them. Bme and especially modblog gave me information, opened up my eyes to all the possibilities, challenged my views on many levels and most of all gave me support to embark on my own bodymodification journey (even though I was never an IAM member nor an active commenter, the feel of a worldwide community of likeminded individuals was enough).
I will not even get into the whole bme-fiasco in detail, but I think that it is enough to say that based on the information I have, I think you were treated horribly and unfairly. The thing that stands out in my memory is the strict censorship that bme went through. It is one thing to read about censorship and oppression in history books and newspapers, than to experience it yourself.
But when you left bme, the site was of course is dissarray and updating nad posts on modblog were severely disrupted. I followed the other bodmod blog you put up, and also returned to reading modblog later on. What could be sensed from the beginning and came apparent in a while, was how much the whole site had changed. The contents were lacking quality and it just didn’t possess the same respect, joy and dedication to body modification, that shone through in your posts.
You are an interesting person, Shannon, and reading your posts on modblog and this blog have let me discover that even though I disagree with some of your views on varying subjects, I also have found that we have a lot in common, and have found you to be a person worthy of great respect.
So even though bme lost you, I still have the joy of reading your personal blog, especially learning more about Ari. She seems like such a lively, intelligent and all over lovely child, and your parenting seems to nurture all those positive traits. Feels like such a weird thing to say, but I love having the chance to see Ari grow up (even though it is only through a blog).
best regards,
Katariina (from Finland)
I cant even use my name for the fear of “she who shall be obeyed”. It’s a sad state of a affairs in so many ways. BME will never be the same without you. Best that can happen is that the current BME goes under and you can start again -it’s only a matter of time. And yes I see between the lines of this successful businesswoman (cough). One only has to remember back to 2002 when the manipulative claws were extended out and follow through the failures along the way. The failed Mexico “investments” through to the current BME rolling on it’s death bed. What we now see is desperation. Like I said all very sad
I had wondered why Rachel’s IAM blog had suddenly gone to members only. I guess now we know why….
Hahaha, I probably do not want to know what’s being said there :)
That said, she has every right to not blog her life to the general public and keep herself in a walled community if she is feeling stress from being more open with everyone than she wants to.
She’s a dick. Pure and simple. I still remember her kicking me off of iam. for supposedly running a spy-page for Caitlin.
The fact that she stole your site by threatening to take your daughter away from you proves that she is ruthless. She neds a wake up call, and the sad thing is I don’t even think BME crumbling will be enough of one for her. I’ve pondered whether her illness is in fact her unpleasant qualities in a physical manifestation.
I miss the times I enjoyed with you on BME. I enjoyed sending my photos in, getting a response, seeing them filed away in their photo category and getting a few months free for my Iam page sometimes. I enjoyed the life you gave the site, which to some degree is there in the people still but I find that when I question where my photos submitted went now, or report a dead link, I not get a snappy answer from Rachel or Jen pushing me to become a member to get an answer now – something I won’t do anymore on a paying basis. I know enough of what happened to know what ‘side’ I want to be on and you haven’t let me down, it was pulled out from you, like things have been pulled out from me – and now we move on to, hopefully, better things.
Hi Shannon,
I started reading BME when I was a teenager and it showed me a world I didn’t know existed as well as teaching me new things and learning abut interesting people. It’s a bit different there now and I’m not such a fan anymore, but I do thank you for the help it gave me. I’m so sorry to hear about all the stress and anger there now and I just hope that it will pass. I’m sending some positive energy your way :)
Haha, she banned me from the IAM 2.0 Beta because I said I didn’t like it. She’s not one who takes criticism well. At least Shannon has a sense of humor. And a palpable enthusiasm for the subject matter, its history and its future which I just don’t get from the current regime.
I’ve gotta think Shannon’s the person on this planet most interested in the subject and the one with the best ability to present it to the public, with his knowledge of computer science, his unending curiosity and his writing abilities. It’s a crime against humanity (should you agree that humanity needs access to information and knowledge to reach its potentials) that he are not allowed to write about it. I wish that humans would think about posterity more often and forget about their own petty grudges.
Lotn I think most realise she is only in it for the power, prestige and money…
agreed with lotn. long gone are diary entries with snippets of information, thought and debate-provoking ideas and history lessons about body modification.
all we get now is shameless self-promoting and complaining and stupid, lame jokes.
body modification does not revolve around one clothing store in la.
I miss the old days, when being a member ment something. The feeling like we could go out and change the world. Gone are the thoughts of we should fight for our rights to modify ourselves as we please. Now all we have is moronic scene kids post of ” Hey look at my lip piercing I did it with a rusty safty pin! Aren’t I cool!?” It seems like modblog has turned into look at the beautiful people first, and never mind about true thought provocing content. The real reason why I believe shannon can no longer write about Body Modification is because rachel knows that is Shannon ever did another BME. She would lose everyone of her members. BME would be a fucking ghost town. So in fact he’s not the only one being screw, we the users of IAM.BME are as well.
A friend showed me BME a long time ago, when I was a young teen-ager… It opened up a whole new world to me, and in a way, changed me as a person. I haven’t bothered to look in some time though. My account expired shortly after you left. And I haven’t read modblog in god knows how long. The sites heart and soul is gone.
If the new “owner” can’t see this, and do something about it, she needs to just let it die.
Thankfully, you’re still here at least. Maybe one day you will be able to write about modification again, and maybe not. But either way, I see you are writing about what you love. And thats what makes your writing so enjoyable.
is rachel larratt
a brand or a name
what is the surname of
current husband
maiden name
can anyone google an ans..
does google know
PEOPLE OF THE LIE
PEOPLE OF THE LIE
starbadger – trading on somebody else’s name hey?
as you know none of these own “bme.com”
i think if you do a google on “rachel” you miss as likdewise no luck with maiden name or husband name
Bme has never been the same since you’ve left.. i have completely stoped submitting photos and havent been on at all in the past year.
YOUR site bmezine.com is a landmark in the mod community. and you will always be remembered for the community your and Brian created.
Peace My Brother
what a shame, I remember when the site started. Me and my girlfriend used to check out piercings. I had a bridge piercing which I nearly got kicked out of school for. A couple industrials. I got my lip pierced, had three in total. Got septicemia, nearly died. Would have died if I never made it back to my folks house. Years later the piercer is now in jail for attacking a competitors studio with a hammer. The girlfriend is a long time ex and only wanted a baby anyways, now the baby’s father doesn’t have custody.
Good times!
always loved your artwork, btw.
yo shannon. where did you buy your contacts?
i came across BME when i was 17 and just getting into body modification. it was a huge part of my life. i am from a small town and to know that there were other people put there as interested in bod mod as me was comforting. after shannon left bme changed, modblog is no longer about ground breaking mods eye tattooing for example). it seems to me it is just pretty pictures of mods, which is great, but NOT what modblog was and should be. i think it is horrible that a little girl got drug into the whole mess. as for bme being caught up in a legal battle, karma is a biotch.
BME was always a haven for me on the web, from nearly the site’s birth…it was an inspiration to me. I have always looked at Shannon as one of the most influential pioneers on the subject of modern body modification, and his enthusiasm and perspectives made BME what it was…to me, no Shannon, no BME.
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