Ok, here is the gist of it all. Since many like to speculate and post their believed facts.
History lesson, we had the opportunity before Hdzeta release #1 to help bankroll and partner with the new label at the time. I politely turned it down because the risk was high. It was with a member who brought it to us, whether or not he relayed that back to hdzeta owner idk. But we were asked by this person. Instead I offered that I would help fully support and promote their releases on HDN ...
On the backs of HDN many labels have been built. Now I'm not suggesting that if a label opened up today in 2020 that its success is solely built on HDN. By no means... Different times. However there was a time where the success of a title had a lot to do with HDN. We have a large part in that today, but not as much as before. We are still the most viewed Steelbook forum on the net and our stats prove it. (not overall site, steelbook board forum...)
So what went wrong according to you all?
And why according to stygian were some HDN staff "rude" as he puts it ...
Well for starters there are only 2 staff members here, the rest are mods of different decrees. Staff members have the staff badge and those are the owners. Myself and Andy.
I would take a guess that the rude posts in questions are that of perhaps Andy as he responded more times then I did in public threads on HD GBs then I did ... But I wont exclude myself im sure I must have posted a few times.
Group Buys can only be opened by a Staff , or super mod. Forum based permission of the software.
All group buys host contact us and let us know when they want to open group buys ... so we make time to do so if by a certain time. If we cant do it, we try to include mods who have the permission in the system.
All group buys hosts contact us and let us know .... all ........... EXCEPT Xin and Newkid who managed the Hdzeta ones. Instead they would post in the threads, telling you all it will open at certain time ... never contacting us. Millions of posts here, thousands of threads, we dont read them all. And guess what neither staff member is a complete collector of hdzeta. We both own hdzeta editons, we both like them, but I like them by title, not all. So if EVERYONE knows to contact us to open a group buy , yet you are the only ones who REPEATEDLY post in the thread the open time ... never contacting staff, then members get pissed when GB never opens on time, it shouoldnt be a shock as to why. We have told them, not 1 , not 2, not 3 , not 5 ... maybe 10+? times to contact us to schedule a time for your group buy ... dont bury your time in a thread and make members anticipate that only for it not to happen.
So that is why their was angst in posts, because everyone else followed the rules but they didnt. And hey, I hold no ill will ... but it IS what it IS ... there were times Andy would discover the post like the day of ... and he would email me , like oh sh!t they didnt tell us again, and he has a work meeting and thus he would set it live earlier then the time otherwise he cant do it at all .... all could have been avoided had they followed the rules like everyone else and shoot us an email, a PM, a DM, ANYTHING telling us in advance the time they want to go live.
I am the majority owner at HDN, and HDN is not even my day job. In fact my job has one of the weirdest schedules you'd ever imagine. I work a mix of days and nights, so its not like when the email Andy would send is read by me immediately and I could say "dont worry I'll set it live" because there were times where I saw the email when i woke up having been on night shifts. This is why and how I can conversate with many of you all in real time no matter your timezone cause mine is always flip flopping.
And also not simply hdzeta but MANY other labels have complained about how SOME (def not all) of you are negative to their releases. I've always defended that if you want open criticism then it is what it is ... are you a retailer, or not? All retailers have fans, and also get criticism and heck even have some that are NOT FANS. However some label heads are too caught up i guess in their feelings that they cant separate that as part of the job I suppose. I've made releases, and I've dealt with it all, and I know first hand the work that is involved to pull it off, so I get that you pour a lot into it ... and then to have people not satisfied can suck, but I also knew that you will NEVER please everyone. This post wont please everyone. In fact you also have people who have ulterior motives, and they'll hate on you no matter if they know you are right. Smear campaigns and all the like. I've seen them all.
As for the threads, and that directive ....
My vision was skewed, it was taken somewhat out of context, but I didnt feel like it mattered enough to create a stink with my team, etc.
1) We do not know the owner of HDzeta.
2) We know/knew Xin and Alex. Alex to my best information was simply a go between with the money to Xin due to Chinese restrictions with paypal. Alex quit collecting long ago. Seems like HDzeta stuff hasnt been worth his time.
3) all our Pms, emails, etc. have gone pretty much unanswered , but what leverage do I have? Pretty much none, oh well, group buys are not the bread and butter here, im not freaking out to get something solved fast. So what did I do? I simply said UNTIL I GET A REPLY, I will lock all new threads. Create them, lock them, and when they REPLY they can all be opened. They could reply "sorry we dont like you" or WHATEVER ... I dont care, with a reply I would open them. But no asnswer at all is just weird, and disrespectful. So why should I continue to help promote their releases? This is a private site, while we serve the members, doesnt mean I should keep getting sh!t on. Just want a reply.
4) Out of context, it was posted , "until group buys return no hdzeta threads. " My vision, when I get a REPLY ... that was what I wrote in mod section. (didnt matter if gbs came or not) ... so my text was skewed by another. Oh well, life goes on, I didnt feel the need to correct at that moment and create more disarray. Not that I think that was a bad direction either, but it was never my original intention.
5) We heard rumors , many times, that another source pays them off to keep this stranglehold. Maybe thats true. We are cut from a different cloth. Now granted not to say that we couldnt counter and beat that offer.
(and that pissing match would be added costs to members, and I guess secretly is over there one way or anotehr) but the point is we arent that cut throat to the whole SB community overall. Which overall imo has become more of a chore to try and be a leader at the forefront for the SB Community overall, but thats a diff topic altogether. What can I say ... you all are tiring me out.
6) must be the HDN gb fees right? Really? Cause we cut those 50% and offered even lower the last time to the hosts who did host ... super cheap. So no.
And for the record, it was also stated to lock only new threads, unless members decided to bump old ones to simply derail those with new posts. I dont have to promote a Company who want simply reply to us, esp if their $uccess over the years had a BIG TO DO with HDN. Its hard navigating that water while also trying to please you all.
And how come you havent made this public post sooner ? Because not everything should me made public. While many of you will read this, understand this, perhaps feel better of my actions, there are haters with agendas who will use this to spread fodder and create more waves for us. Waves I dont need. I have a mother dying of cancer right now and the last thing I need is group buy drama. I have enough stress in my life already.
What else do you need to know?
I can’t post in here and definitely can’t post in the BoP HDZ thread. 
I totally missed the memo about HDZ here! This is all news to me.
