Netwinner Response to Recent Accusations
Just wanted to update everyone on Netwinner's official response to Becky regarding recent allegations. I believe it was sent as a comment to her blog and is being sent out to those of us who have been questioning Netwinner about it.
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Becky:
In response to your recent posts regarding NetWinner, which have been inaccurate and misleading, I urge both you and your readers to read this entire response.
In our previous exchange, I found you to be diligent in trying to present the "truth" and both sides of a discussion to your audience. More recently though, your "reporting" has become biased and unsubstantiated and is a disservice to your readers.
With more than 25 years experience as an investigative reporter/writer, and now under contract to NetWinner, I do my fact checking with great diligence. If you had done your research properly, you would have let your readers know that the annual Dragon*Con in Atlanta with more than 30,000 attendees does not have anything to do with "porn" but is actually, according to their site, "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the U.S." It's a family friendly event with fans dressing as Klingons, Superman, Harry Potter, and other characters. More information can be found at dragoncon.org.
If you were presenting the whole truth, you would also have made the distinction by reading the industry newsletter that you excerpted that there were in fact "two separate discussion panels sponsored by xpeeps.com and NetWinner.com" and determined that the discussion panel hosted by NetWinner at Dragon*Con had nothing to do with the other one.
Your unfounded insinuation is both insulting and damaging to both Dragon*Con and NetWinner. There was nothing odd about the "business decision". Why wouldn't the company want to see if NetWinner's casual games could find an audience with a sci-fi, game-oriented gathering?
NetWinner is a game that gives people a chance to win. There are no "earnings" here; playing a free online game is not a job. It's a privilege. If you don't enjoy it, don't play. If you do, please continue.
As a venture-backed start-up company, NetWinner is unbiased in its pursuit of potential investors, as any company should be. Mr. Coffman has invested in NetWinner, as well as many other companies and industries, not unlike many other successful businesspeople. If your readers have issues with loose connections to “adult” content, they may also consider boycotting HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime, reading any magazines from Time Warner or Hearst Corporation, buying any products from General Electric, and staying in any hotels with pay-per-view movies. They might also boycott Hannah Montana and other Disney content, perhaps even Disney’s advertisers, since their companies produce controversial “adult” content including movies such as Pulp Fiction, Cold Mountain, and many others.
You are indeed correct I wrote an article about Mr. Coffman. I was assigned the article six years ago by a business magazine and was very impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit and success of the man I interviewed. I also wrote for that magazine about a professional bass fisherman, an auto racing safety expert, a billionaire auto dealership owner, and an Olympic track coach. I have written for hundreds of major magazines and newspapers including Time, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and Playboy among others. I'm proud of all my work. When presented the opportunity to work for NetWinner several years later, I gladly accepted.
As for the backlog in prize fulfillment, it is a primary concern here and we are working fervently to not only bring it up to date but improve it going forward. The reality remains that NetWinner has paid over 20,000 individuals in instant win and redeemed cash and prizes since its inception less than two years ago. The delays in fulfillment are an ongoing concern and are primarily due to the company's growth and continued diligence towards fraud prevention.
Your information regarding the company's status with Ecount, a MasterCard solutions provider owned by Citi Group was also false and misleading. Any person at Ecount who would divulge company information would violate legal confidentiality agreements, which would constitute an egregious breach of contract.
What is NetWinner? It's a business based on giving lots and lots of people a place to have fun while playing engaging casual games with the chance to win some cash and prizes. It is and will always be free to play because of its advertising-supported model. For the player, it's meant to be an enjoyable diversion, not a career. It's an opportunity to win cash and prizes, not an obligation.
Lastly, reviews of posts made by you on your site and others such as gather.com, by legal counsel has caused them to inform senior NetWinner management that these false representations, as disseminated, may constitute malice aforethought, libel, and wire fraud. While it will not repair the damage you have already done, we expect a retraction and ask that you please consider carefully before making any further misrepresentations about NetWinner. We reserve the right to take further action as necessary.
Steve Goldberg
Director of Communications
NetWinner, LLC
