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Technology Stocks : Activeworlds.com (AWLD) #1 internet chat site to go public -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/5/1999 5:00:00 PM
From: Gennaro	Respond to of 228

does anyone have any financial info on this company..thanks

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/7/1999 12:44:00 PM
From: Cy	Respond to of 228

Something is fishy with this company. I've been watching this stock since the initial offering a couple weeks ago and decided to go in and take a look at this new 3D Mall. I downloaded the software from activeworlds.com's site, and went to take a look. I had just placed an order with Amazon.com, and thought it might be interesting to check my order status in the Amazon.com store. I started the software and landed in this mall. There is a chat window that scrolls all the text being spoken. I noticed that some of the speakers were using bold text. They announced that they were there to help and would give instructions to people that had just landed on how to move. I myself asked some questions (how to turn, is there a map of the place?, etc.). Everything seemed fine until I started to ask about the company. I asked these individuals with bold letters if they worked for the merchants or for activeworlds.com, the answer I received was, "we are here to help." I asked again who they worked for and was ignored. I then asked what the relationship was between Amazon.com and activeworlds.com. I was told in no uncertain terms that that was not an appropriate topic for discussion at that location. I asked if there were any usage guidelines posted anywhere and within a couple seconds I had a message on my screen saying something to the effect of "You have been ejected from this world." I was apparently sent to another 3D area. I noticed there were several listings in one of the windows on the software and one of them said !@mart, I clicked on this listing, heard a whooshing sound and was momentarily back in the mall but then immediately I was taken back to the other area. My screen again showing the ejection message. I found this reaction to my queries quite perplexing, so I decided to do a little more investigating. I will describe what I found in subsequent posts to keep them to a reasonable length. Oh, I took the nickname Lucrezia Borgia from one of the bold text people who seemed the most antagonistic toward me while I was at @mart.

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/7/1999 1:17:00 PM
From: Cy	Respond to of 228

I have been doing some research on this company. After being ejected from @mart, and being unable to return, I decided to do some exploring. I looked down the list of sites on my activeworlds.com software and saw that one site called AW had the number 124 after it (it turns out that is the number of people there at the time) so I clicked on it and was taken to another area. Here there were several people speaking with each other and with someone called Peacekeeper 18 (again using bold print). I piped in and asked if anyone there had a problem going into @mart. I got several LOLs (Laughing Out Louds) and someone said my ISP had probably been blocked. I had no idea what they were talking about and explained the circumstances and the ejection message I got on my screen. Various people explained that the company was quite worried about people finding any actual information about it, and had therefore taken to shutting down access to the ISPs of anyone that was considered a troublemaker. I explained that I had merely been asking some questions about investing in the company and was by no means a troublemaker. I then asked, whether shutting down access from a complete ISP didn't also block other people at the same ISP from entering @mart. Yes they said, it did, but the company was desperate to keep people quiet. I asked for examples, and they said that several ISPs in France had been shut out completely as-well-as several in the U.S. I then asked where I might be able to get some additional information about the company and I was pointed to the company's newsgroups news://news.activeworlds.com/awcommunity and a supposedly independent bulletin board pe.net I have visited both and lurked for a few days, and I have seen information about activeworlds.com that gives me pause. Specifically when it comes to the facts being propounded about the company by articles such as the E-Commerce Times article brought to our attention by Wayne. Next I will explain some of the concerns I have.

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/7/1999 2:00:00 PM
From: Cy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 228

Concerning the E Commerce Times article brought to our attention by Wayne. There are some statements made in this article which I have been unable to corroborate. Perhaps Wayne can shed some light on this since he seems to be an expert in this company. The article states that, according to Rick Noll, President and CEO of Activeworlds.com, the company has a registered user base of over 300,000 "onboard." In reading the company's newsgroup over the past couple of weeks I have seen several mentions that there are actually only 14,000 registered citizens (this according to the company's "only" programmer !). In going back last night to verify this, I noticed that several of the messages containing these mentions were no longer available (deleted?) which seemed peculiar because all the messages around the ones I had marked were still there. Only the messages which contained this figure were gone. As it happens, last night someone posted a message again giving this figure and I thought I'd better copy it before it too disappeared (I checked this morning again, and indeed the title was still there but the contents were not, maybe a problem with my browser but I doubt it). Here is what the message said: > I tire of reading blatantly wrong information in AW's press > releases: > >> From biz.yahoo.com >> >> "Active Worlds(TM) currently has a user base of over 300,000 >> users worldwide on the one Universe server (Uniserver) COFS >> operates. This Active Worlds 3D universe receives over 1 million >> impressions per day." > > According to Roland Vilette, AW's "lead" (only) programmer (after > COF dumped the original programmer, Ron Britvich, who is, I believe, > still in the process of suing COF for stealing AW): > >> Telegram from Roland (Thu Nov 12, 1998 6:49 PM): >> "oh, you asked earlier...AW has about 14,000 paid citizens now." > > Note that is PAID citizens...people who have shelled out a measly > $20 for one (1) year of citizenship. The "over 300,000 users" is > misleading, too, since most of those "users" aren't users at all, > but tourists, and because most tourists don't ever come back! > > More from Roland: > >> Telegram from Roland (Thu Nov 12, 1998 6:52 PM): >> "usage frequency? Like how often does a given person log in? I >> don't know that, it isn't being tracked...I know we get about 700 >> new users a day, and average around 300 people in the system 24 >> hours a day" > > and: > >> Telegram from Roland (Thu Nov 12, 1998 6:52 PM): >> "the ratio of citizens to tourists in the system at any one time is >> usually around 3 to 1." > > And a bit of information on Vanguard Enterprises, Inc. (the > "company" who supposedly "bought" COF): > >> Telegram from Roland (Sat Jan 23, 1999 7:20 PM): >> "I have no idea who Vanguard was...I only just found out about all >> this myself...my understanding is that Vanguard was just some empty >> shell of a company sitting dormant on the stock market that was >> merged with COF for the purpose of making COF public." > > To all the investors and potential investors, learn more about AW > before you blow your money on a scam. > I have not been able to corroborate the 14,000 figure, but if it is correct, then it seems that activeworlds.com is exaggerating their user base by 286,000. In other conversations I had with users at the activeworlds site, it seems that the 300,000 figure is composed mainly of people who registered prior to October of 1997, when the software was still free. Apparently, if the 14,000 figure is to be taken at face value, 286,000 people chose not to continue to participate after memberships were offered for sale. I have also inquired into the message's assertion that there is only one programmer at activeworlds.com, and that seems to be the consensus. If this is the case, it would seem a very iffy proposition to be putting money into a company that relies on a single person for its main product. Next I will discuss what I found out about Amazon.com.

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/7/1999 2:57:00 PM
From: Cy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 228

Continuing with the E-Commerce Times article. It states that some of the most dominant E-Commerce companies like Amazon.com and many others have adopted this technology, have opened stores at @mart, and that all this bodes well for activeworlds.com. It seems that it might, if the companies had actually done what the article says. After the rude treatment I received at @mart, I decided to call Amazon.com to complain. After explaining the situation to the customer service department, I was transferred to the associates line. I again explained my situation and asked the person I spoke with what their policies were regarding this particular online store. The gentleman reported that they had nothing to do with the store. He added that they had received several complaints already regarding this particular associate, and that they had already contacted activeworlds.com and asked that they change the sign at the front of the "store" to indicate that it was not an Amazon.com store but that activeworlds.com was merely an affiliate of Amazon.com, no different from their 200,000 other affiliates. This person apologized profusely and stressed that this was not the way they liked to see customers treated and urged me to visit the Amazon.com web site directly. I have not contacted any of the other companies mentioned in the E-Commerce Times article, but it would not surprise me if an associate relationship is all they have with activeworlds.com, just like Amazon.com. This is a far cry from and "adoption of the technology" as presented in the E-Commerce article, at least in the case of Amazon.com. In fact, any of us who want to hawk a couple books or sell some CD's through our personal web-site can become an associate of Amazon.com just like activeworlds.com. Which leads me back to my starting point. I had originally entered the activeworlds.com site to see if I could track an order I had placed with Amazon.com. When I went into the store all I saw were 3 books featured (below a Oprah Book Club sign) and 3 CD's. To order any of these books you would click on the one you wanted and be taken to the amazon.com web site to place the order. I realize it is a technology in its infancy, and it certainly seemed clever enough, but it was hardly the mall experience I was expecting. I also did not notice any of the other people there at the same time (I believe there were about 25) doing any shopping, most were chatting or confused with the operation of the software. While at the store I saw no way of browsing or searching through the 100s of thousands of titles at Amazon.com, there was no way to check on my order, there was no way to offer feedback to Amazon.com. In short, to get anything done I had to go the Amazon.com site. In my last message I will give a summary of what information I have gleaned so far.

To: Reverseman who wrote (120)	2/7/1999 3:17:00 PM
From: Cy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 228

My summary of AWLD so far: 1. Rude treatment. 2. What seems to be an exaggerated user base. 14,000 according to a programmer in the company vs. 300,000 represented. 3. A desire by the company to keep the figures in No. 2 above under wraps by deleting information from their newsgroups. 4. Company newsgroups at: news://news.activeworlds.com/awcommunity 5. Independent (?) bbs at: pe.net 6. Company that seems to have only one programmer. 7. There is no adoption of this technology by Amazon.com and this may be the case with other E-Commerce sites. In addition, I have been unable to locate the following: 1. Any financial statements regarding this company. 2. Any figures related to outstanding shares. 3. Any information regarding its management team or their experience. I remain interested in it due to the impressive run up I saw last week, but fear that the run up may have been prompted more my the announcement of the opening of a new 3D mall on February 2, and the resulting rush, than due to any fundamental strengths. I would appreciate it if someone could lead me to information regarding the latter 3 items, and for any new information anyone might have which might disprove some of the negatives I found in my search for information on this company.