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Layne Thr-sher's Danni.com Failure

Lacie writes Nov. 3, 2006:

Luke! You're slipping, cutie! I can't believe you're going to let the Danni.com sale to Penthouse slide with out the obvious digs on what a failure it is for your arch nemesis Layne Thr-sher! Penthouse made out like an absolute bandit on that sale and the "management" at Danni.com should be hanging their heads in utter shame for the financial butt reaming delivered to them by Penthouse. Look at the math. Danni.com was a $7 million+ per year company under Danni Ashe's rule. Under the rule of John M-risano from Sunshine Companies and Layne Thr-sher, the company fell to barely $3 million per year. And rumor is its still on a windfall downturn. Which means Danni.com brokered a deal and sold all its assets and future value to Penthouse for its yearly gross (maybe less!). Danni's technical infrastructure is worth at least that, not to mention its brand value and subscriber base. They got absolutely f'ing hosed! Marc Bell should start wearing a patch over his eye and a parrot on his shoulder for that sheer act of piracy. Good for him, I guess. It doesn't take a Harvard MBA to realize that's the slash and burn sale of the century on Danni.com's part. Layne Thr-sher is the laughing stock of the porno business world. The Enron of porno! Curtain is pulled back to reveal you were right Luke – Danni.com is a failure run by a corrupt clueless jerk. Because that sale price don't lie. Nice reporting, but don't' let it slip!

"So come on down to Layne Thr-sher's Used Porno Site Lot! I'm ruining porno companies left and right and passing the savings onto you! If I can't ruin a porno company and sell it to you for a fifth of its actual future value then your next porno site is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Danni.com CEO Layne Thr-sher Responds

On May 10, 2006, I emailed Layne's publicist about Layne: "I'm about to do a negative story on him and I wanted to see if I could talk/email with him first."

Layne did not contact me.

I published various things on Layne and his company Danni.com and DHD (Danni's Hard Drive).

He did not respond.

Folks, it is in your self-interest to call or email me if I give you a heads up that I have a negative story on you coming out.

Once my story comes out, the horse has bolted. Suing me for libel is a long, painful and expensive project. Also, I have no money or property that you can recover from me.

Jack writes:

So now I know why you live in a garage hovel, in search of the truth of human nature. Within an environment of loose litigation you choose poverty as a defense which allows you to continue? To move out of that situation would possibly compromise your ability to get at truths? It must be difficult making decisions on any lucrative options put to you.

I've been sued four times. I have pro bono attorneys. I'm not afraid to fight.

If you call me in a civil tone, I will go over with you point by point what I am planning to publish and I will give you time to rebutt negative stories before I publish them. Or, if I have already published them, I will go over them with you and consider and include your responses. There's nobody I hate so much that I will not take their call for these matters. There's almost nobody I will deny a say on my writing.

Once you start speaking to me through attorneys without attempting to talk to me yourself, you seem like a wimp. I'm from Australia and this is not how we do things. America is a great country where people with a room temperature IQ have no hesitation threatening strangers with lawsuits, or at least lecturing them on the finer points of torts.

I believe there are more attorneys in Los Angeles County than in the rest of the world (outside the U.S.).

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent suing me.

Layne Thr-sher's Danni.com attorney Gene Williams of Browne, Wood & George LLP (these guys do a ton of porn work, they must've billed thousands of dollars on my account alone) writes me May 23, 2006 (I pick up the letter Sunday May 28):

Re: Demand for Retraction and Corrections of False and Defamatory Statements Posted on www.lukeisback.com:

Dear Mr. Ford:

This firm has been retained by Video Bliss, Inc. dba Danni.com and Layne Thr-sher in connection with an article posted on your Internet website (www.lukeisback.com) on May 11, 2006 entitled "Layne Thr-sher - The Rock Star CEO & Sensitive Guitar-Strumming Poet." The article contains numerous false, libelous, and defamatory statements concerning Video Bliss and Mr. Thr-sher that are totally baseless and are extremely damaging to their reputations and business. In addition, the posting improperly posts Video Bliss's confidential business information and also improperly violates the copyrights in the pictures of Mr. Thr-sher.

On behalf of Video Bliss and Layne Thr-sher, we hereby demand that you do the following: (1) immediately remove the article from your website and fro any other website on which it might be posted (including removing it from the archives of any such website); (2) immediately publish a retraction and correction of the false and defamatory statements made in the article concerning Video Bliss and Mr. Thr-sher on your website, and on any other website on which you published the above-entitled article, and leave the retraction posted for the same amount of time as the false and defamatory article has been published on such websites; and (3) cease and desist from publishing any other false and defamatory statements (or disclosing confidential information) concerning Video Bliss and/or Mr. Thr-sher.

Examples of the following false and defamatory statements made in the article, as well as the violations of copyright laws and Mr. Thr-sher's and Video Bliss's right to confidentiality, include the following:

* The statement that Video Bliss has "had to skip 2 week payment cycles and only pay bills when they can" is factually untrue.

* The statement that "[H]e [Layne Thr-sher] was working on starting competitive company against Danni.com called "Bleeding Heart" he had planned to get financed, and then hire away the affiliate marketing manager, the lead designer and their top tech guy right out from underneath John's nose with out any notice - as a f-uck you they'd planned to just not show up for work one day" is factually untrue.

* The statement that "I know for a fact he conceived, wrote, and almost implemented this plan all on his danni.com time - he worked on this in his own office" is factually untrue.

* Mr. Thr-sher's business plan is confidential and proprietary, and posting a copy of the that business plan violates Thr-sher's right to confidentiality. In addition, the business plan is also copyrighted, and publication of it on your website is in violation of that copyright.

* The pictures of Mr. Thr-sher are copyrighted, and you have no authorization to post those photos on your website.

* The statement that "the site was down for the entire month of March and they couldn't update a thing. All Layn's fault although he tried to blame DHD Media (billing/hosting provider) as he does with everything. All he does is blame DHD for everything and talk poorly about the[m]. He and the lead tech guy are dying to pull away all their business from DHD, but each time they do it, they fumble the ball, f--k up the site, and piss off more customers" is factually untrue.

* The statement that "he's [Thr-sher] destroyed numerous vendor relationships, model relationships, and I'm sure the list could go on and on" is factually untrue.

* The summary of the meeting with XBiz inaccurately reflects the language and tone of the meeting, as well as containing inaccurate quotations attributed to Mr. Thr-sher.

* The discussions regarding Danni.com message boards contain confidential proprietary information.

* The statement that "[a]n executive once asked for a raise when he was given more to manage and Layne said something to the effect of, 'Leaders don't ask for raises'" is factually untrue.

Your publishing of these false and totally baseless accusations against Video Bliss and Layne Thr-sher is outrageous and irresponsible, even if most of it is credited to an "anonymous" source. Unless you immediately take all necessary actions to remove the article from the internet and issue a retraction and correction, we will have no choice but to pursue all available legal remedies...

I'm not a lawyer but isn't it absurd of Thr-sher and Video Bliss to expect that they can demand confidentiality from me? You can only demand confidentiality from someone with whom you have a contract. It's also absurd to think that in the context of a news report, Thr-sher can forbid publication of photos of himself. Are there other absurd portions of this letter? Email Luke

A friend writes: "Has a copyright been filed on that business plan? If so, you can find it by going to the government database. BTW: If it was filed after you wrote the letter, they can only go after you for actual damages - not legal fees. In other words, he is full of s---!"

YouKnowWho writes: "You go dude, I met this wanna be executive a few months ago and we talked about a deal, I felt like I was being sold as a hooker when we finished our very unintelligent conversation! I walked away wondering why in the hell was I even here! I can not see this company surviving under this type of incompetent management! I have had many others say the same thing... The truth will set you free!"

Chris writes: "The photograph is prima facie proof that Thr-sher has sought publicity in the past. This means that he meets the legal definition of a public figure. Therefore what you write about him does not have to be true, just not "with malice"."

PistolJoe writes:

Of course the whole thing is absurd. I had to sue over copyright infringement once, and I had to prove loss of business over the copyright, which is downright impossible to show. You have my express written permission to use anything I wrote on the message boards on your site. Since the message board is no longer active, then how can they reckon proof of copyright? I have also attached my parting speech, which I posted on Danni.com somewhere around May 1st, if you care to use any in the future.

Well, time for me to say farewell to my friends, and not so friends, hereabouts. It's been a wild and fun and mild ride through the ups and downs of the Red Room, and before it was the Red Room. I salute those here, and those that have gone before me.

As my ultimate gesture to the powers that be of DHD/DHDMedia/Video Bliss/Danni Ashe, Inc, I am showing my distain for the decisons, and lack thereof, made by those people, but not renewing my membership. For the first time since Clinton was president, you will not receive my monthly $9.95, or $9.96 or whatever the exact amount is.

You have succeeded in building the once best website in the world into the place where mediocre features mingle with the promises of better future attempts, a family atmosphere of fun and nekkidness was replaced by distrust and contempt, and generally allowing the rest of the cyber world to pass you by while you concern yourselves more with drawing new customers for a single monthly membership, than taking care of members that used to click on the nipple to get into the blue hotbox.

I do not blame the people of DHD who slave under stressfull conditions to get new content made, edited, and published, or those that post dilgently, and make great efforts to mix with the customers. I also see so many talented people leaving the confines, friendly or not, of DHD that as an executive myself, can only lead me to think there are serious problems in middle management or higher.

I considered leaving about a year ago, if anyone recalls, and my post then was actually why I was going to stay and see how things worked out. However, I have seen NO improvements in your overall product, and if anything, a general downward slide in your efforts. Perhaps there is not enough capital allocated towards the tech or the working employees, or maybe the suits are taking a bigger slice of the pie than they deserve. I do not know. I imagine you will not care, maybe even be glad to see me go, not to have to grandfather in my measly membership when you can create new and bigger and HD sites with new and bigger and HD fees.

Danni Ashe became a brand name when controlling shares of DHDMedia was sold, I believe, and certain people are looking for the return on their investment. I am sorry the bread and butter site has taken such a hit. I certainly understand Danni's reasons for doing such, because if you've never been under a monster than controls your life, you just wouldn't get it. I wonder if she crys at night, under the clear and crisp Montana stars, seeing what has become of her baby. I know it pains me, and I am just a customer, so much so that is difficult for me to say goodbye. So, everyone else, take care of yourselves.

Danni.com Party Just Too Full For Me

5/8/06: I RSVP'd a minute after I got the press release from April Storm Monday about their party for Erica Campbell and company Saturday night, May 13, at the Rokbar 1710 N. Las Palmas Ave, 90028. Then I received this note Tuesday from Bill Rix (bill@danni.com): "Sorry to inform you that our guest list is full."

If your guest list is full, why are you spamming press releases for it? Or is your party just too full for me?

A porner responds: "I did a little pokin around, and yeah, the guest list is just full to you."

Ahh, it is all coming back to me. I published some negative comments about DHD (Danni's Hard Drive) last December and this March.

I'll go to the party anyway and stand outside and take pictures and interview people as they walk in and out.

Jimmy D writes: "Now *that's* the old Luke everyone loved to hate!"

You can pour your heart out to me.

"Of course I can. Right after I drink a bottle Manischewitz and cram a corkscrew into my eyeball."

Tell me where it hurts.

"I'll show you on the doll."

Turmoil At Danni.com, DHDMedia.com

5/9/06

Many people have quit and many people have been fired because they don't like the guy in charge -- Layne Thr-sher.

If anyone's got a picture of this guy, please send it in.

He's got long hair, plays guitar, and carries himself like a rock star. "He thinks he's rad but he's a total asshole," says a source who would know.

Numerous people who love Danni Ashe complain that Layne is difficult.

A lot of Layne's employees hate him.

According to one story, he told XBiz to "f--- off" when they asked him if Danni Ashe was still involved in the company.

I assume that Layne is the one who decided to ban me from the Danni.com party Saturday night. From the point of view of his self-interest and that of his company, that was a stupid thing to do.

I'm not going to whip him on my blog because he banned me from the party. It's just that that decision inevitably brings him into my focus. When I mention the party story to people, they often chime in with their own stories about Layne. Things snowball. I can't think of any upside for Layne in this.

"Asshole," "prick" and other words I don't use are common descriptions tossed around about Layne.

It's a shame because Danni Ashe and her company were known as the nicest people around.

Masterp writes on JBM: "If he's the boss, you have to go by his rules or leave."

Snowball emails May 10:

Saw your post on that jerk Layne Thr-sher. Thought you and your surfers would like a take a look at this loser. Pic pic pic

And for a bigger laugh - check out his self-published poetry. Sorry - "sonnets". Same guy.

I'm a danni.com insider and have loads of info on him and the company in general if you'd like it.

Thanks for exposing this jerk!

Big Red posts: "So throw a party and don't invite him."

More about Layne.

Danni.com, Erica Campbell Donate to Equine Rescue

From AVN.com:

“All of us at Danni.com are committed to stopping the senseless slaughter found in unsanctioned horse ‘kill pens,’” says Layne Thr-sher, head of operations for Danni.com. “The AC4H is an excellent organization, and we’re happy to help in any way we can. We are thrilled to once again work with one of our most popular models to raise funds for such an important cause.”

Layne Thr-sher - The Rock Star CEO & Sensitive Guitar-Strumming Poet

I ask Danni.com employees for the truth (good and bad) about Layne Thr-sher, Danni.com and DHD. I'll give you anonymity.

Snow replies:

Well, the truth is, Luke. I really don't have anything good to report on Layne Thr-sher. He's a really nasty, petty, and backstabbing person - like he's playing some sort of Machiavellian business game, but nobody else cares and is just laughing that he thinks he's big s--- because he counts beans for Danni.com - let's be honest here. Danni Ashe is sweet, but she and her company are dinosaurs in this business. And from the information I have financially on the company, they won't last too long. For example, I know that we've had to skip with 2 week payment cycles and only pay bills when they can. This has never happened, well not until Layne "took over" the company.

The comedy of it all is the real CEO is a guy named John M-risano from New York City and has placed his complete trust in Layne to watch shop as CEO NYC is only in the office a few times a month. But the kicker is that back in October 05 or so, before Layne ousted the old VP and got himself promoted to head of whatever he is at Danni.com, he was working on starting a competitive company against Danni.com called "Bleeding Heart" he had planned to get it financed, and then hire away the affiliate marketing manager, the lead designer, and their top tech guy right out from underneath John's nose with out any notice - as a f--k you they'd planned to just not show up for work one day.

I know for a fact he conceived, wrote and almost implemented this plan all on his danni.com time - he worked on this in his own office. Then after he got promoted he changed his tune, dropped the plan and became the biggest kiss-ass lackey you've ever seen to John.

To further assert my credibility as a source, I'm attaching a copy of the business plan of Layne's Bleeding Heart company, and just in case there are any doubters, I would suggest you to look at the cover of his crappy poetry book and look at the cover of his business plan - notice it too is a Bleeding Heart - in fact, that same graphic was to be the logo of Layne's new company. And from the looks of it, apparently Layne was "Born to Porn."

I think for one you should repost those funny photos I sent you so that your readers can get another look at that guy thinking he's a rock star. Playing guitar with your shirt off is right up there with wearing a unitard to the gym, no?

Pic pic pic

Anyway, another funny thing is that he tried to play Silent Night for us at the Danni.com employee Xmas party which was at some s---ty surf shack btw, and they couldn't even afford to give us Xmas bonuses so they gave us crappy iPod shuffles - some of the upper employees were gifted with iPod video player. Which made us at the bottom feel even s---ter.

Anyway, I don't know if he's tone deaf or what, but it was the worst guitar playing any of us had heard. It sounded nothing like Silent Night - in fact I wasn't sure what song he was playing. Which is interesting for a guy who thinks he rocks the nation.

So here's my story (publish whatever you see fit, Layne and Danni.com have such a long list of enemies, I love the thought of them racking their brains to figure out who the mole is!)

In fact, I can probably give you their blow-by-blow reaction to this article once you publish it.

So like I said, I'm a danni.com insider and have been with the company for years. I've seen an endless revolving door on employees - the worst turn over of any company I've ever seen. But I've never seen turnover like with this Layne guy. It's pretty clear to all of us on staff that he has no idea what he's doing, and from the sharp dip in our members since he took over - the proof is really in the porno pudding that he can't manage s---.

For example the site was down for the entire month of March and they couldn't update a thing. All Layne's fault although he tried to blame DHD Media (billing/hosting provder) as he does with everything. All he does is blame DHD for everything and talk poorly about them. He and the lead tech guy are dying to pull away all their business from DHD, but each time they do it, they fumble the ball, f--k up the site, and piss off more customers.

To my knowledge DHD hosts a wide variety of successful sites, so looks like the blame lies in poor management at Danni.com.

Layne in my opinion is destroying an already floundering company - he's killed employee morale to the point where we all hope this s---hole goes under so we can get unemployment, and he's destroyed numerous vendor relationships, model relationships, and I'm sure the list could go on and on.

In fact - I bet after you publish this people will come out of the woodwork dying to tell you LT stories.

I mentioned the pay cycle thing, and those of us still left here are expecting the layoff hammer any day.

I wanted to also make sure you got the Xbiz story correct. See, XBiz used to publish an article called "Ask Danni" maybe they still do. But the funny thing is, Luke, Danni Ashe never wrote a single word of that article - ever. It was originally penned by the old VP and then was taken over by John M-risano in New York after he was ousted.

So XBiz got wind of this and wanted to know if it was true as they're not in the business of publishing lies. And take this from someone who was basically in the same room. Layne looks at the Xbiz folks and says, "You want to know the truth about Danni Ashe? The truth is none of your f--king business."

So his two top guys were in the meeting - they were clearly embarassed by his behavior, and Layne tried to save face in front of his employees who knew he completely f--ked up. So Layne looks to an old framed article of Danni Ashe from the USA Today and points to it then says, "We don't need XBiz. Xbiz didn't make Danni Ashe, USA Today made Danni Ashe."

He may have said, "f--k Xbiz" but I'm trying not to editorialize this, so i'm not putting it in there as I don't really 100% that was said. But when I overheard that I almost peeed my pants! Talk about delusional.

Danni.com couldn't get a story in USA Today now-a-days unless Danni hijacked an airliner or something. Old hat as they say.

More on the state of the company is that Danni Ashe from what I've heard is heartbroken about what these guys have done to her business and her name. They are ruining everything she worked for. She has nothing to do at all with the company and currently lives in Montana on a ranch.

For example it is us, the employees, posing as Danni on the messageboards - so believe me when I tell you that when you're "chatting" with Danni Ashe - you're chatting with a disgruntled individual - but you are not chatting with Danni - that is fact. The message board has turned into such a pool of venom from the members that Layne has his secretary sign up as different fake profiles to post positive comments. That is also fact.

The other fact that the old Webmistress Sandi was a man named Chris - fact - and there's another "female" customer service persona they use to contact customers and that is also a guy - been a few guys actually as they've all been fired or quit. Go earlier than that to the chat Mistress "Sammi" was indeed a Sammy, or rather a Sam - a buff, burly guy with an english accent. This guy. I think Danni fired him too, but he was a bit before my time.

In early 05, they've hired an old friend of Danni's to help out named Misha (Tammy) from mishaonline.com. The rumor on staff is that Misha is an ex-felon for a drug bust gone bad. So now they've got an asshole and a possible ex felon running the show!

The morale around here is terrible. They've taken away our IM and MySpace access, and threatened to fire Layne's assistant (who quit) for continuing to use it. They fired a bunch of people at the beginning of the year and the CEO from New York called us in for a big meeting. And you know what the jerk said to try and boost our morale? He said, "Be thankful we pay for your coffee - most companies don't do that." Like it was some kind of perk.

It really feels like a gang environment around here. We are underpaid, poorly treated, and under appreciated. Layne is the biggest bully to his underlings with a "my way/highway" attitude - and the funny thing is "my way" seems to spell financial disaster.

I could respect listening to him if he did a good job - but he's running the company into the ground. An executive once asked for a raise when he was given more to manage and Layne said something to the effect of, "Leaders don't ask for raises."

I so wish http://www.layneThr-sher.com was still up. We were passing that around the office for a few days before Layne found out and password protected it. Supposedly, our tech guy has the password, and I am going to see if I can get it for you because then you will finally understand the flying turd that is Layne Thr-sher.

The site had many more photos of him rocking the 6 string shirtless, horrible writings and a bio of his that was nothing short of delusional hilarity. His bio stated he came up hard on the streets of Miami doing lots of coke, and how he was almost killed all the time and s---.

So my question to you is, Luke, if that's true, how does one find their way to bean counting? I mean, when's the last time you heard someone say, "I used to come up on the hard streets, doin' coke, livin' hard, but then I discovered the accounting school of ITT Tech and it saved my life." What a turd. This guy has to go!

Please, Danni Ashe - if you have any power what-so-ever over your company anymore - fire this asshole and come back before he completely destroys any good will that is left in this business for you and your site.

You said, "A lot of Layne's employees hate him." Trust me on this - all of us do. Thank you, Luke! You're the f--king real Rock Star for having the balls to publish the truth about these assholes.

5/15/06

Fired From Danni.com

One to four people May 15 because of this article. I am not sure who yet. One was female.

I got this email:

Dear Luke,

Great to see someone is finally blowing the lid off of who is really behind Danni.com these days.

I worked there for several years and can tell that everything that "Snow" says is accurate.

Danni Ashe hasn't stepped foot in the company since early 2004; she sold it to that guy John M-risano in New York and he put this jackass Layne Thr-sher in charge. I was one of the dozens of people asked to leave or forced to leave DHD in the past year. The employee turnover at DHD is similar to a fastfood joint. The people in charge do not treat people like human beings, and everyone who has worked for them in recent months, from full-time employees to temporary workers to freelancers to talent will likely tell you the same. The place is so mismanaged, they spend lavish amounts of money on thing's like last week's party, but they pay overworked employees about $11 an hour regardless of your position. Ask any talent who has worked for them since late last year, I'm sure you will hear some good stories about them working longer hours for less pay. The good reputation that Danni Ashe once had of being an outstanding adult company to work for has now vanished forever because of who is now in charge. Even the danni.com subscribers feel what's going on with management, check out their message board for plenty more and see what the new "danniashe" says to some of her customers.

Poster Daedelus posts on Danni.com May 4, 2006: "Danni's Decidedly Deliscious and Diligent Devotion to this Domain...will never happen again...we need to acknowledge this and move on."

Pistoljoe writes April 25: "The attrition rate there is worse than a platoon of loud Americans in Iraq wearing only speedos and Muhammad T-shirts."

Rdr99 writes April 25:

I would hate to think that Danni's is not able to compete for its workers vis a vis salaries, health insurance, working conditions, or some other part of the package.

I cannot fault Firewolf's customer skills when she was here on the site, so I cannot say she was a bad employee. To my mind, a good manager is someone who gets their people the things they need to do a job and then gets out of the way. Anything else is bad management. I am sorry to hear that a "hideous" work enviornment could be tolerated at Danni's. I would be curious to know how many people who worked for this particular person have quit or transferred. Sometimes the stats tell the story that upper management may not want to hear. You can run a business without running off your employees.

Driftwood writes April 26: "I think the list would be a lot shorter if you asked how many people haven't quit or transferred."

A fake "DanniAshe" posts:

Firewolf was here for quite a while even though she only joined the boards recently. She was a young, administrative employee that got bored, pissed off and found another job. She's entitled and I wish her well. Again, if we didn't encourage everyone to interact with you guys you would never know about our internal workings. Please don't turn that against us.

"That executive is no longer with us either. And please, don't anyone use that as an opportunity to declare that there is huge turnover and a crisis in the executive ranks.

...I said that our employees interacting with you is something that no other sites, with any real substance, do. If that means that we have to get slaughtered everytime someone leaves, what is the point? You have to accept that employees (and people in general) are volatile at times if you want to interact with them.

...I quite frankly tire of all of the accusations. I cannot help it as it does hurt. I used to just ask a few people, long standing employees, to participate in the message boards. Then I thought - "hey, what the hell. Everyone should if they feel like it." Now I am finding that that might not be a great way to do things and maybe it should be about a few people interacting with you all. This is certainly one problem that I find gets blown out of proportion and takes up too much of my time. But to answer your question, sure it is natural for you to miss someone that you have developed a relationship with. Why though, does it have to develop into an attack?

...walkan, Danni@danni.com works and is not some sick and twisted tease on my part. If you are getting bounces, I'll check with D-Unit. I responded to one of your emails a few weeks ago.

Pistoljoe writes April 26: "I'd still have to say that something just don't smell right at DHD, even ignoring the forum all together, and looking just at the content and service. I wonder if the priorities of the people throughout the corp ladder are in the right place. Is someone making poor decisions? Or are no decisions being made? It's sad, really. No, my chest actually pains me to think about it. Maybe cause I feel like family? Or like someone who sits at the back table of the strip club for several years straight?"

Coquinet posts April 18:

In my opinion there is a very obvious need for a genuine, well-trained customer service team that has a presence on both the home page and in the Red Room. I believe the marketing team is damaging the site more than helping it and their value to the company should be re-evaluated. And, please replace whoever is responsible for all the poor management decisions that turned this server problem into an unnecessay nightmare for fans and employees alike. There should have been a mirror server (duh) and as many specialists as were required should have been hired asap to fix things immediately. No disrespect to your tech team, it was simply of a scale that was off the charts. Management clearly failed to assess the situation correctly and bring in as many specialists as were necessary to handle things in a professional manner. This ain't a mom & pop site anymore, but this not all that unusual event made it look like one.

Martin posts April 19:

The above is becoming increasingly common, and should be a major cause of concern to DHD. When loyal customers (and I count myself in that number) are growing ever more frustrated at poor customer service and a perceived decline in the site quality etc I have made a decision to give the crew at DHD until the end of this month to see what improvements/feedback we get and if things are still the same to reluctantly cancel my subscription (I have been a member for 3 years).

MarsRover posts:

My frustration with the way things have been handled here over the past couple months, and my perception of future trends, could have been significantly tempered by the availability of rescanned photo sets and downloadable video formats of the entire archives, as promised and begun, back in Feb-03. Unfortunately, what started with a sincere effort to accomplish that goal began to fade after about a year, and fizzled completely shortly after (with the exception a handful of unexpected releases at the start of this year). To add to my disappointment, a good 20% of the archive content was purged during the same period. I'm not holding my breath (or my subscription renewal)in the hope that things will turn anytime soon in the direction I'd like to see.

Pondvision posts:

All of the above should be addressed immediately by the "management" at DHD. I like everyone else find it incredibly frustrating that the promised new and backdated content is not forthcoming. In fact the few titbits (pun intended) that we do get are way short of the "normal" quantity, let alone a "catch-up".

I remember "Danni" or whomever saying that we could look at the archives, but increasingly we are finding that items have been removed, licenses aren't working, or the bitrate is unavailable. I wonder how large the archives would look if DHD removed all the items that did not work. I suspect thet they are left there to make it look as if the site is overflowing with content that is easily available for all during the problems.

As I have repeatedly said - the lack of any coordinated response and effort on the part of the management of a multi million dollar company like DHD, strikes of total incompetence. Are they bothered? The answer is a resounding NO......DHD it would be a pleasure if you were to prove all of us wrong.

Iceking writes: "I understand that there are multiple issues hitting DHD now. The server disaster, the issues surrounding DRMS and the updating of older content into newer formats are all things that are consuming a lot of time here."

Zortag writes:

The greatest indicator, in my opinion, that Danni has little, if anything to do with this site, came almost a year ago. Last July, DHD turned 10 years old, a rather significant birthday. Someone in the Red Room asked if there was going to be anything special to mark the event, and "Danni" responded that there were indeed plans. As anyone who was around at the time knows, there was nothing, not even a mention of the of the occurance. If, at that time, Danni had any input in this site, she more than likely would have seen to it that something would have happened, even if only a front page announcement. She was not one to make promises lightly, nor one to pass up an opportunity for a celebration. It seems clear to me that the "Danni" that appears (so infrequently, I might add) in the Red Room, is merely an account that belongs to the corporation, just as Micky Mouse is an icon for Disney, "Danni" is the icon for DHD; and just as Mickey's creator has passed on to other realms, DHD's creator has long moved off to other endevors.

User X posts April 15:

I don't know if discovering that DHD tech or management is grossly incompetent is particularly complimentary. Or realizing that deceptive advertising has become an acceptable business practice is all that complimentary. Maybe I'm strange, but I wouldn't consider it a compliment if people pointed out that my word is worthless. Taking 6 weeks to normalize whatever problems came up is incompetence; either the technical folks blew it, or management blew it for them. Continuing to advertise for new subscribers knowing that problems exist which prevent fulfilling advertised obligations is at minimum deceptive advertising, at worst fraud. And to top it off Danni's Pledge makes a liar out of her, or whoever it is who currently speaks for her.

6/7/06

Danni.com Goes Hardcore

They've brought in new directors and new workers and they're going to release hardcore on DVD as well as their website. Layne Thr-sher's regime may prosper after all.

A Love Poem For Layne Thr-sher

Andrew Rolland Deutsch emails:

Luke, I have read on how you are having problems with an old employer of mine, Mr. Layne Thr-sher of Danni.com and decided that I would weigh in on the manner. In the archived article dated on 6/2/06 you posted a legal article from Layne Thr-sher that read:

* The statement that "[H]e [Layne Thr-sher] was working on starting competitive company against Danni.com called "Bleeding Heart" he had planned to get financed, and then hire away the affiliate marketing manager, the lead designer and their top tech guy right out from underneath John's nose with out any notice - as a f-uck you they'd planned to just not show up for work one day" is factually untrue.

* The statement that "I know for a fact he conceived, wrote, and almost implemented this plan all on his danni.com time - he worked on this in his own office" is factually untrue.

Well, the first statement is true in some regards. I can't comment on the "f-uck you..." part of it, but I can state that I was approached by Layne and had a couple meetings with him and other employees about starting a new company. If you look at the business plan, I am the Lead Designer they speak of, Andrew Rolland. I have several emails from Mr. Thr-sher that are specific to this matter. We didn't go through with the formation of the company due to Mr. Thr-sher being promoted within Danni.com. But this was indeed Mr. Thr-sher's project and was initiated by him. If you need anymore proof look at the tattoo on his arm and the image on his books, it is indeed a "bleeding heart".

And on the second statement: While I didn't actually see Mr. Thr-sher work on the business plan for Bleeding Heart on the premises of Danni.com, I was handed a printed copy of the business plan in Mr. Thr-sher's office at Danni.com. I do not recall what date or time, but I do recall that specific incident. I was also sent electronic copies of the business plan during the work week during work hours.

Are you not afraid that because Layne is devoting himself to pornography, America is losing a great poet?

That's true.

I was the first laid off from the company this year and all I can say is that power corrupts. The posts to your site are not the result of one person hell bent on ruining Mr. Thr-sher, these are the result of many unhappy individuals. I would say that at the beginning of his promotion to VP of Operations he was doing the right things. He was listening and trying to improve things as much as he could. I think my lay off was a turning point for him. Something happened and as you can tell from others his managerial abilities faltered considerably.

He is not very good at guitar. Give me two weeks with PS2's "Guitar Hero" and a month of lessons and I can play better guitar than him.

He never wrote me a poem, of this I am truly saddened.

Layne Thr-sher's attorney Gene Williams of Browne Woods & George emails June 7:

Mr. Ford,

I am writing to follow-up on the letter that was sent to you well over a week ago (and re-sent by e-mail at your request on June 1, 2006). I have heard nothing back from you, and it does not appear that you have taken any of the actions set forth in my original letter. Please call me or e-mail me to discuss this issue as soon as possible. If I do not hear back from you by the close of business on Friday, June 9, 2006, I will assume that you do not intend to take any action in response to my original letter, and as set forth in that letter, we will have no choice but to pursue all available legal remedies relating to your misconduct.

I look forward to hearing from you promptly.

Where is Danni Ashe?

MrTee writes June 16, 2006: "Luke, I heard that you asked the question 'Where is Danni Ashe'? Well, here is the email we all got from Misha (danni.com creative director) earlier this year with the half-assed answer to this mysterious question."

From: Misha Online
To: Video Bliss Inc Staff
Subject: Where is Danni Ashe?

Hey, I just wanted to right a little note to everyone to let them know exactly what Danni Ashe’s involvement in the company is. Those of us that have been involved with Company for a long time, know Danni very well. Others, who have only been with us during the last year have not seen too much of her and may not be aware that she still consults on creative issues with me and Johno regularly.

As many of you know she is very active on the message boards…as well as meeting with me on a regular basis for updates about the company and upcoming projects. I seek Danni’s counsel a great deal when it comes to how maintain and improve upon the look and feel of Danni.com.

Many people in the industry are aware that Danni sold her company…but in actuality what Danni did was to bring in management and investment (Johno’s group from NY www.sunshinecompanies.com), someone who could run the company that she trusts, so she could step away to start a family and settle down in Montana while acting in a creative consulting capacity to me and the Company in general. Many of her opinions have impacted our decision making and the changes coming up this year…I’m looking forward to working with Danni even more come 2006.

That is Danni’s role and when anyone from the outside (models, vendors, freelancers, etc.) inquire, that should be what you tell them. As for subscribers, they need to feel that Danni’s involvement is 24/7.

I believe these allegations by Misha are nonsense. It seems clear to me that Danni.com employs people to impersonate Danni Ashe in their chatrooms and posting boards.

Layne Thr-sher Fan Art

Susie Bright writes June 16, 2006:

Hi, Luke! I had to giggle when I saw your photos that you posted of Layne Thr-sher in all his cheese ball shirt off glory. I got inspired and made you some fan art I hope you will post! Part Layne, part Danni Ashe!

6/26/06

More Turmoil At Danni.com

Expect more personnel changes in the next few weeks. A lot of people there are unhappy with Layne Thr-sher.

Susie Bright submits more Layne Thr-sher art.

8/6/06

Behind the Scenes At Danni.com

How did a company at the top of its game crash so dramatically?

Look no farther than its director of operations Layne Thr-sher.

Dannie Ashe left the company in early 2004.

Layne took over in the summer of 2005. He got the position by working hard and charming the owner John O. Morrisano, going to dinner with him, laughing at his jokes.

John's a nice guy. He's savvy in most things.

Layne became drunk on his power and became unbearable by the beginning of 2006. Morale at the company (about 35 employees in Culver City) plunged.

"You should hear how he talks when he goes out to dinner," people said about Layne. "He says, 'My company this...' 'My company that...'"

Because of cash-flow problems, Danni.com became slower at paying their bills. Relationships with models, vendors, and others crashed.

Danni.com and its affiliate websites and the DHD (Danni's Hard Drive) program became filled with glitches. Video wasn't working. The message boards erupted with complaints. "If I had been a customer, I would've been pissed," says a former employee. "If you were a porn addict, how could you not become a rageaholic?"

"The company went to s---," says a source. "Then the finances went to s---. The morale was bad. The atmosphere was so tense. You would walk into the building and it was hard to breathe. Everybody was walking on eggshells. Everybody was talking in whispers. And it was all about Layne."

Thr-sher can't handle his liquor and has made a spectacle of himself at parties.

Layne's friendly, even smarmy, with the models. As soon as Erica Campbell etc came into his office, he'd be smiling and talking about nothing.

"Layne's a desperate, lonely man," says a source. "He didn't date the models. He didn't have the balls to do that."

Danni.com's most popular models turned on Layne and Danni.com after getting paid late and experiencing other frustrations.

Danni.com sought out new models but the company had a problem - by Layne's order, internet access at work had been blocked to Yahoo.com, AOL.com, MySpace.com, hotmail.com. That made it hard to search for models online.

"Models got paid first," says a source. "Utilities, photographers, model management, hair sylists, make-up, etc got paid later because Danni.com had cash-flow problems."

The company financially collapsed at the end of 2005 and the slide continued through 2006.

I believe Danni.com is up for sale.

Once I started publishing about Layne (in May, 2006), Thr-sher had his IT (Information Technology) guy Justin collect all the emails by the company's employees off the server and start files on every employee. About a dozen or so people were fired. Others quit.

"How did Layne react to my publishing on him?" I ask a Danni.com source.

"He went running to his lawyers," my source responds. "He was losing his hair. He's got this long black hair, a long rocker ponytail. He gets tense. He gets stone-faced. He says, 'Everything is under control.' He's a control freak."

Luke: "What about the owner John O. Morrisano?"

XXX: "John doesn't care. John bought the company as a toy. He lives in New York. He comes to the business about once a month. John told the Danni.com employees: 'If you don't like it here, just leave.'"

Danni Ashe is a lovely person. She's appalled by the direction her former company has taken.

XXX: "Layne was furious when XBiz stated that Danni Ashe no longer had anything to do with the company."

When things go wrong at Danni.com, Layne typical response to employees who bring him word of a problem is, "What did you do?"

Says one former employee: "We just wanted to hit him over the head with something large. He'd say it like it was a joke but it got annoying."

Most of the employees were upset when they learned Danni.com was going hardcore.

8/12/06

How Did Danni.com Go From A Great Place To Work To A Lousy Place?

Once Layne Thr-sher was promoted to Director of Operations, he let the employees know they weren't working hard enough. Morale plummeted. Layne would make threats and then laugh them off as they were a joke.

"He has no respect for the girls [models]," claims a former Danni.com employee. "He'd say, 'They need the money. They'll do it for whatever. Most of these girls are broke.' He didn't want to pay the girls the rates that everyone else was paying them."

Most of the stars that were the backbone of Danni.com will no longer shoot for the company because it pays low and it pays late. Danni never paid very much but it had a reputation for being a fun place to work. No longer.

"[Owner] John O. M-risano refuses to spend any time out here," says a Danni.com source. "He keeps throwing people in charge who don't know what they're doing. Oh, it's porn. As long as it makes money. John O. has no idea. I have no idea if he's even gotten laid, let alone watched porn, before he got to Danni.

"Layne would give analogies to war and sports to show how we should act, but he'd mix up different sports. Layne comes from a bean-counting background. His attitude is: 'We should be able to find girls who'll take it up the ass for $500.'

"Anybody Layne saw as a threat, they were gone.

"It was mostly Layne's decision to go hardcore. In his mind, Danni is up there with Vivid and Wicked. He'd always say, 'In one year, we're going to beat Vivid.'

"I think John O. has given up. I think he thought that buying a porn company would be lots of easy cash. I think his ego won't let him say, 'I f---ed up.'

"Danni.com employees are looking for jobs because they figure the place will close. They're not getting any girls in there that Danni members will like. They have Leslie (production manager) and a computer guy logging in pretending to be the girls talking to the guys. They played Aimee Sweet's chat as if it was live."

"Bitch, be cool" is a saying often attributed to Layne and his attitude towards the models.

I ask my source: How did Layne react to my first stories on him?

Source: "He said, 'I've got to explain to John O. who's telling all these lies.' That first Friday your article came out, he was on the phone to John O. twice for 45-minutes each. They'd already been checking our emails. Models and photographers were emailing, 'Did you read this?'

"John O. first made the speech and Layne has taken it over as his own about the PBS effect -- how at some point PBS's fan base died out. That's what they hope will happen to Danni. That her loyal fan base will die off. But that didn't happen. So he figured, we should start doing anal. Layne thinkse that by doing all this hard stuff, they're going to skyrocket beyond Vivid, Wicked and Playboy with the Web, video and magazines. Layne says that by 2007, Danni will be like a combo of Hustler, Playboy and Wicked. Layne thinks that girl-girl anal will get them there.

"Layne was never comfortable with the material. He would whisper, 'pussy' or 'lube.' He doesn't even like the anal but Leslie's convinced that that is as hard as two girls can get and it will sell millions of copies. His plan is to keep going harder so that the members there now will leave and he'll get 25 year old members who like to see lesbian anal.

"The models became hesitant, saying, 'Every time I come here, there's someone new working.'

"The turnover got worse. Everything started to go downhill when they decided they wanted to run like a proper production company. They started hiring production managers. Some didn't work out. The girls didn't feel comfortable because Danni wasn't on set any more. Girls are like, 'You're not paying me well and you're treating me like s---. Why would I want to come back?'

"Layne thinks that Danni should its own talent agency. He thinks that anything he touches in porn will turn to gold. He's the porn Midas.

"When Layne is asked questions, he'll get back to you later in an email after he's had time to think of a bulls--- answer."