It upsets me to make a post like this again on my blog, but I feel it is important that every South African who frequents www.mybroadband.co.za realises some things about this company.

Initially MyBroadBand started out as a consumer activist site against the high cost of telecoms in South Africa. Particularly ADSL costs. Back then it was a fun small community driven and then community owned forum which was the mastermind of Rudolph Muller. Over the years as the forum grew, largely due to some very active members who put MyBroadBand on the telecoms map, and as the full force of the community was being felt by the Telecoms industry so it almost became synonymous that MyBroadBand were the champions of Telecoms consumerism in South Africa.

What now? Well now just about every Telecom company in South Africa advertises on MyBroadband with Rudolph Muller grossing an estimate of R80 – R150K a month off advertising revenue from the industry who have now bought his favour. Rudolph Muller in a nutshell continues to proclaim he represents the Broadband community of South Africa? This after he banned the most prolific and valuable member of the community he represents from his forum only to further fabricate half truths mixed with lies as to why. This after he refused to step forward for an ICASA nomination?

Tonight I saw the most appalling actions by Rudolph Muller’s company.

MyBroadband had a thread for a while on their forum where Rudolph Muller excitedly announced he would give away branded gear (a golf shirt and a cap) for any mistakes that a member of his forum finds on his news side of his website. MyBroadband’s quality of news in itself is questionable with common mistakes found daily on his ‘professional’ Telecom News Portal website, where recently they couldn’t even get the name of the new communications director-general right. So now you get to understand why the mechanic of a: find-an-error-get-a-reward scheme that Rudolph introduced actually worked pretty well.

However over the past few days some members started questioning why they had not received any branded gear when they had found several mistakes that were corrected however no free branding was awarded . One member suggested that perhaps the ASASA is approached around this matter considering the promise of branded gear was not fulfilled by the owner of MyBroadBand, Rudolph Muller, who also failed to say anything publicly to his members questions and complaints.

Tonight the thread was edited by, I assume, Rudolph Muller, to remove any evidence that there was ever any offer to give away free branded gear to members of his forum in the first place. What the fuck is that about Rudolph Muller? I ask you on the front page of my website. What was that about?  That, in the worlds book, is called Bait & Switch. It is a form of fraud according to wiki. Any questions around this by members of the forum toward the company, afforded two members being banned tonight and as usual the stony silence Rudolph responds with when he knows he has done something morally objectionable. He did not make an announcement either. It was a pure George Orwellian 1984 move on Rudolph Muller’s part to simply erase history.

A devious cowardly act.

I will continue to register on Rudolph’s forum to be that measure of morality his membership and conscience requires and I will continue to express where I feel Rudolph Muller is simply behaving like a 2 bit fraudster as what he did tonight and what he did with a member NFBS several months ago are the actions of a person who has no moral fibre.

Rudolph Muller has made it clear via his actions he no longer holds any moral authority to represent anything relating to consumer rights in the Telecoms sector.

It is important that the Telecoms industry in South Africa wake up and realise MyBroadband is no longer a threat as all  it’s sharp teeth have been removed by Rudolph himself and all that is left of this once powerful community is a misguided, misinformed membership whom Rudolph makes money from.

There is nothing essentially illegal with what Rudolph Muller is doing. He is making money off consumers. I question the image he continues to portray of his company which in my mind is no longer true. Unfortunately the very man who started Telecom’s consumerism in South Africa and once hailed as a hero (even by me), chose to shut-down,sell out  and elope to the gaint’s he once opposed to dine in their glistening halls while even to this day holds a front with his very disillusioned and zelous membership.

However after tonight I believe a man like Rudolph Muller should be brought to task about what exactly are his plans for fighting consumer rights considering he proclaims to represent the broadband community of South Africa.

What I think we should all begin to realise is Rudolph Muller now represents the Telecom’s Industry of South Africa to the broadband community of South Africa.

Other sites, comments, articles and blogs all spurred by the questionable actions of Rudolph Muller.

My personal favourite

Look another one.

This is interesting and new.

I also urge you to read this and particularly the comments where even his own moderators question his actions.

Read this article and also pay close attention to the comments

Another one.

Another interesting read

And another one.

It is not just me.

[more to be added]

Some of you at the MyBroadband forums run and owned by Rudolph Muller may have fallen for his vague and highly ambiguous reasons as to why he chose to ban me. The reality of the situation is while Rudolph and his bias mods continued to allow sexist and alienating remarks to be made by the majority of ‘popular’ forum members at the expense of another valuable forumite I stepped in to protest the actions taking place.

My ‘disruption’ was a well planned jest (as many saw it) against the newer members of mybroadband forum who seemed to have little idea of where the forum originated and it’s founding goals. Some time after I had ended my ‘disruption’ and things had settled on the forum I wrote a post. This post is what ultimately got Halicon banned from Rudolph Muller’s forum, mybroadband.

Originally Posted by halicon
an open letter to administrators of Myadsl

Hello all,

I am sure you all noted my crazy and unbecoming behavior considering i have not behaved this way before on this forum, however this forum has fast become a playground for clowns.

Odd how when i myself become a clown i get threatened with a ban. (I have 0 infractions over 5 years of being here)

Weird how some members are banned twice in 3 months for far worse actions and yet they live on.

So considering I may get banned because I am protesting what I can only call favoritism to newer members who seemingly can do, say and behave however they please and then gloat in it is perhaps the biggest warning sign that MyAdsl, a once awesome forum, has got a cancer.

It would be ashame to see this post deleted, but perhaps reinforce my protest and it would be a greater shame to be banned because i am airing my view.

You are welcome to lock this thread as I do not think a discussion needs to occur around my opinion and further to this it upsets me that it is the old members like myself who created this forum into what it is today.

I understand advertising revenues are made and help maintain and run this site, but when you start disrespecting the very people who made this possible, who ARE the very foundation of MyAdsl in favour for the clowns who bring you your advertising revenue, then i question what MYBB has become.

Certainly not a place of protest against unfair practice (uncanny isn’t it), but rather a place where people are allowed to be clowns which is cool BUT it is no wonder this forum lacks company representatives – why should it be taking seriously anymore – something I am sure Telkom took note of when their first add rolled onto MyADSL… a public vote made by clowns who have explicitly stated – They do not care about the history of MYBB.

I care about the history and future of MyBB and i may get banned for expressing it but I would rather be banned for something like this.

[mods please lock thread]

I honestly do not care what members of the forum think. I helped RPM in a very small way build what he has today, the least he can do is acknowledge he has sold out and stop bullshitting his membership, the media and the telecoms industry.

Rudolph if you ever read this, know that you sold your members to the telecoms industry and Mybroadband is no longer an accurate and transparent reflection of the broadband community of South Africa. And I will continue to spread the word where it matters most.