Social media site bullies users, demands cash, deletes users who don't pay

By: Joe Newby
 

 

Running a successful social media site requires a unique set of skills and a whole lot of cash. Many sites use traditional advertising or funds donated by users. But Scott Rohter of WePluribUS.net has apparently settled for a somewhat different technique. According to documents and emails obtained by Examiner on Friday, Rohter is now demanding users contribute financially or face possible banishment from the site. Some, including this writer, have already had their accounts deleted.

In May, for example, Florida blogger Diane Sori said she was deleted after a demand for money.

According to Sori, Rohter demanded she pay $100 to use the site and became extremely agitated and belligerent when she refused.

Initially, Rohter sent a message asking Sori to "pledge to contribute as much as you can afford to keep the site live."

"People who do not want to pay anything at all will not be allowed to free ride anymore," he added.

"I am not going to foot the bill for everyone any longer on my own."

"As one of the people who get the most benefit from this site I expect you to pay something," he declared.

When Sori refused, his tone changed for the worse.

"YOU ARE ALL ABOUT YOURSELF DIANE SORI AND IF YOU DONT WANT TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE THAN YOU CAN GO BACK TO FBOOK AND THE TPC WHICH IS ALL ABOUIT TIM SELATY MAKING MONEY FOR TIM SELATY. CHOSE AND LET ME KNOW (sic)," he declared in an angry message to Sori, referring to an administrator of Tea Party Community, a rival site.

Sori told Examiner she felt Rohter was trying to extort money from her to fund his site, but Rohter denied her allegations.

On Friday, Examiner.com's Dean Chambers said Rohter told him that, "if you're going to be just a user I can delete your account." Chambers has since been banned from the site.

In January, Rohter told Examiner the site would remain free, although he said that at some point -- maybe in five years -- he would give users the option of "buying into the network for the small fee of setting up their own page."

"Those who do not opt to buy in, he said, may have to deal with some ads to help defray the cost of the site. Rohter said that unlike some, he is not motivated by money,” we reported.

But demands for money are not the only complaints leveled at the Oregon appliance repairman who, according to some reports, has a history of belligerence and unprofessionalism.

According to one account sent to Examiner, Rohter allegedly berated a woman for using a photo of her deceased husband as her profile picture.

"If your name is (redacted) then you obviously can use your name but you cant use a womans name with a mans pic PERIOD, (sic)" he reportedly wrote. "If you want to be part of a real place than please be real and understand the problems of a man using womens pics or a women masquerading as a man..even if you meant nothing by it. I am not going to get sued because of some stalker. I am the referee here and I think the reasons why I have this rule are perfectly obvious. (sic)"

Her account was deleted from the site a short time later. We attempted to reach the woman for comment, but did not receive a response.

One Facebook user told Examiner that Rohter wanted her to undo her current group and recreate it so he could post articles in it, claiming the number "666" showed up when he tried to perform a search.

The user said she "eventually unfriended him as he was messaging me and creeping me out."

"To this day," she said, "I have no clue where he got that number from!"

WePluribUS was initially set up to provide a conservative alternative to Facebook, but has never been able to match the Tea Party Community in membership.

At its peak, WePluribUS had just over 2,000 members, but Rohter deleted nearly half of those profiles earlier this year for various reasons. The site now has just over 1,300 users, far less than Tea Party Community, with over 125,000.
 
http://www.examiner.com/article/social-media-site-bullies-users-demands-cash-deletes-users-who-don-t-pay