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." |