A few notes before I start...
I know Phraust helps lots of people, and I applaud him for doing so. I don't need a flood of unrelated posts here saying, "Phraust helped me with such and such, so I like him."
Next, I make this post for one reason, and one reason only... To clear my name. Unfortunately, a lot of issues are going to have to be brought up to do so.
Third, I didn't want to make this post, and tried to sidestep all conflict. That didn't work.
Finally, I know that most of the community supports Phraust, and likes him, and I have no problem with that. Phraust can be a very good guy. I honestly believe that he has actually talked himself into believing some of the the BS he's spouted about me.
--
Now for the meat and potatoes of this post. I first heard of Phraust while reading his posts about Argus on Allakhazam. His advice there was very helpful, and a few days after I started trying my hand at Argus myself, I was shocked to see 'The' Phraust show up, and proceed to beat me to every single bat.
I ask him about how Argus's spawntimes work, and he kindly gives me some advice instead of telling me to get lost (Although half of it was false, which is totally understandable 
). I revise my methods, run spy/adware checks, and clean up my comp as much as possible to make it run at top speed, and I begin to be a match for P, which leads to us talking some more, and eventually me joining his LS, NMDC, and chatting with him almost every day on mIRC.
Now, setting the Argus hunt aside for a moment, one of the first requests I make of NMDC is help with Rank 5-2, since I'd been looking for an LS that does missions, and will be doing HNM's, which Phraust says NMDC does/will do. So I just let everyone know (About 4 of us on the LS often at this point), that I'm looking to do 5-2, anytime within the next month or so. Awhile later, Phraust decides he wants to get his mule to rank 5 for an airship pass. The LS (including me) pitches in to help him out with that, and a couple of days later, his level 12(?) mule is rank 5, before even having the subjob quest completed. When I mention 5-2 again, Phraust has the brilliant idea of doing 5-1 with his mule first, and then me and his mule can do 5-2 at the same time! One problem... Phraust on his main character is one of only two people on the linkshell that would be able to actually help with the 5-2 fight. So, knowing that 5-2 isn't going to be happening with the LS's help, I find a pickup alliance to do it, and promise P that I'll help him with 5-1 and 5-2 when he needs me to in the future. (And although I wasn't around when he did 5-1, I did end up helping him with 5-2)
A similar thing happens when I need help with AF, after helping another LS mate with theirs myself, where in the end I just got outside help. A short time later, Phraust has the nerve to complain to me that no one in the LS (Which by this point in time has now grown a bit) helps him with anything. (Keep in mind that this is awhile after I joined, so it's not like I'm still new to the LS, and asking for help left, right and center.)
Meanwhile, starting around the time I first got comfortable with the LS, and felt accepted, Phraust, Ezikiel, and I talked on mIRC about plans for the LS, and while me and Ezi gave input, Phraust brushed it all aside, and worked on his own ideas, one being a rank system for the LS, which is quite a good idea I think, and the other being Monday's, "Help Everyone but Eachother Night". Don't get me wrong, a help night is a nice idea, but I think members of the LS should be given the priority.
After instituting the rank system, Phraust, for some reason unknown to me, puts a brand new member to the LS that he had just met a couple days before at a higher rank than me and Ezikiel, who had stuck with him from the moment the LS started to grow, and helped him out with it wherever possible. I can't help but feel that that was somehow a jab at us for some reason I cannot fathom. Fortunately the tension there didn't last long, because me and the new recruit became good friends. I might add that Phraust started taking jabs at the new recruit/high rank officer whenever possible, and wondered why she didn't like doing things with us. She recently left the LS.
Now that a little bit of the background history about the tension growing between me and Phraust is out of the way, back to the Argus hunt, which was still going on while all this was happening. At that point in time, Phraust had bought all the gear he needed for a couple jobs to 75, and was left with 3mil. We decided to team up, and work out a deal that our first PCC he'd get to wear, and pay me the 3mil for it, and then we would get another, sell it, and him get 3mil from it. (The following PCC sale was 10mil, and climbing). I was slowly starting to feel iffy about this deal, because doing my schooling from home through correspondance, and having two computers, I'm able to keep an eye on Argus and camp him on and off all day, while Phraust is at work. Phraust was also going to bed earlier than me at this point in time. Ontop of that, I was mostly able to outvoke him back then, although later either his voke sped up or mine slowed down, and we were about 50/50. I felt that I was putting forth about 75% of the effort or more, and arrange a deal with him that if I get the PCC while he's not camping, or vice versa, whoever gets it keeps it. I believe this created more hostility towards me, but I also believe it was very fair. Friends of mine were telling me I was stupid for accepting any deal in the first place. We finally got a drop 3 or 4 claims later and I held to the deal, and gave him a PCC for 3mil. He tells me that he'll hold to his end of the deal, and help me get another, and let me have it for 3mil.
Now, he continues to help me camp for a couple weeks longer, and then after months and months of camping Argus, suddenly disappears from the Argus scene, not to be seen at the camp again until months later. I continue on camping Argus myself, and don't say anything to Phraust about this, which I probably should have. A little while later, I get another Argus claim, and a Peacock Charm... while another friend that was hardup for cash was camping with me. Earlier I had promised said friend that I would get him a SH when we got the PCC, which at the point in time of the promise had been at its lowest price ever due to the Venemous Claw BCNM. In the excitement of getting the PCC, when Phraust asks for some of the gil (Immediately after hearing I got the PCC) since he had been camping with me for a couple of weeks, I tell him I might be able to spare a mil for him, before thinking back to how he had abandoned me earlier.
To my dismay, the price had gone up on the SH, and the price had gone down on the PCC by the time I was able to sell it, and I ended up using 4mil of the 7mil PCC sale to buy my friend the SH. I talk to Phraust on mIRC, and ask him if it's ok if I just hold onto the cash from this PCC, since I was getting a lot less out of it than I was expecting. He says he understands. I don't mention the other half of the reason for me not splitting any, because as I said at the outset of this post, I wanted to avoid conflict.
Anyway, I blow through the 3mil between gear and smithing in no time flat, and am left with 200k when Phraust asks if he can borrow 30k for a little while... I say ok, and let him. I started camping VE at this point to start getting my bank account back up. A couple weeks later, knowing I've been buying stacks of DS ingots for smithing, P asks if I want to buy a stack from him, and he'll give me a deal: 170k (The stacks of ingots had been 190k-200k for awhile back then), and we'd call it even, since he'd be paying me back the 30k. I pass, since that's not really a deal, and I didn't want to pay in effect 200k for a stack of DS Ingots at that particular point in time, because I still had a few. A couple of days later, I look again, and the most recent stack of DS Ingots had been sold for 210k, so I guess in the end it would have been a deal, but then again, the seller was Phraust, and I hadn't expect him to jack the price up on me, which any crafter that's bought a lot of stacks of one ingrediant knows means it will continue to rise for a bit. When I ask P why he jacked it up on me, his only reply was "lol". Later the same day, in frustration, I finally ask when he's going to help me get a PCC and let me buy him out for 3mil. He tells me when I give him the 1mil I "promised" I would. Again, I decide to just let it go, and avoid conflict.
Now, over a month later, Phraust, knowing I'm buying adaman ores, jacks the price up on one, in a very similar way to how he did before, which causes them to continue rising. It just takes ones price being jacked up to make them all rise, which, being a high skill level in every craft, Phraust knows. An RL friend of mine new in the LS says something along the lines of "Uh oh Phraust, Tiya's pissed off at you... Jacking up adaman ores" in LS chat, while I was sitting next to her, but wasn't logged in myself. Phraust's reply is, "Your welcome lol" as if he was doing someone a favor by trying to screw me over, and then something like: "I'll get that 1mil Tiya promised me a little bit at a time if I have to." Again, I'm tempted to log on and tell him off, but, no, I avoid conflict, and start wearing the LS less and less while looking for a new one.
Interestingly enough, a few days later P gives me my 30k back... Not sure why, if he feels I truely owe him 1mil, but whatever.
Now, not really talking to him much besides a single tell here or there that I tried to be friendly in, I slowly broke away from the LS completely. A few days back, seeing me with another LS equipped he sent me a tell along the lines of "So you've given up on us?" while I was afk... when I got back I was tempted to say, "No, just you." but again, I just let it go. That was my last contact with him... but now the whole situation has been gnawing at me, and with how quickly he said in LS (when quite a few people were on) that I owe him 1mil, I'm sure he hasn't hesitated to tell anyone else. So I finally feel the need to break my silence and try to clear my name to anyone he's told that to, and anyone he tells that to in the future.
So now I've told my story of Phraust, the way only those on the inside have seen him, in the hope of clearing my name.
Phraust. I don't want you to give me a PCC for 3mil. I don't want any further contact with you at all, to tell you the truth. I just want you to stop telling people Bullshit about me owing you gil. I don't cheat people out of gil.
I know Phraust helps lots of people, and I applaud him for doing so. I don't need a flood of unrelated posts here saying, "Phraust helped me with such and such, so I like him."
Next, I make this post for one reason, and one reason only... To clear my name. Unfortunately, a lot of issues are going to have to be brought up to do so.
Third, I didn't want to make this post, and tried to sidestep all conflict. That didn't work.
Finally, I know that most of the community supports Phraust, and likes him, and I have no problem with that. Phraust can be a very good guy. I honestly believe that he has actually talked himself into believing some of the the BS he's spouted about me.
--
Now for the meat and potatoes of this post. I first heard of Phraust while reading his posts about Argus on Allakhazam. His advice there was very helpful, and a few days after I started trying my hand at Argus myself, I was shocked to see 'The' Phraust show up, and proceed to beat me to every single bat.
I ask him about how Argus's spawntimes work, and he kindly gives me some advice instead of telling me to get lost (Although half of it was false, which is totally understandable ). I revise my methods, run spy/adware checks, and clean up my comp as much as possible to make it run at top speed, and I begin to be a match for P, which leads to us talking some more, and eventually me joining his LS, NMDC, and chatting with him almost every day on mIRC. Now, setting the Argus hunt aside for a moment, one of the first requests I make of NMDC is help with Rank 5-2, since I'd been looking for an LS that does missions, and will be doing HNM's, which Phraust says NMDC does/will do. So I just let everyone know (About 4 of us on the LS often at this point), that I'm looking to do 5-2, anytime within the next month or so. Awhile later, Phraust decides he wants to get his mule to rank 5 for an airship pass. The LS (including me) pitches in to help him out with that, and a couple of days later, his level 12(?) mule is rank 5, before even having the subjob quest completed. When I mention 5-2 again, Phraust has the brilliant idea of doing 5-1 with his mule first, and then me and his mule can do 5-2 at the same time! One problem... Phraust on his main character is one of only two people on the linkshell that would be able to actually help with the 5-2 fight. So, knowing that 5-2 isn't going to be happening with the LS's help, I find a pickup alliance to do it, and promise P that I'll help him with 5-1 and 5-2 when he needs me to in the future. (And although I wasn't around when he did 5-1, I did end up helping him with 5-2)
A similar thing happens when I need help with AF, after helping another LS mate with theirs myself, where in the end I just got outside help. A short time later, Phraust has the nerve to complain to me that no one in the LS (Which by this point in time has now grown a bit) helps him with anything. (Keep in mind that this is awhile after I joined, so it's not like I'm still new to the LS, and asking for help left, right and center.)
Meanwhile, starting around the time I first got comfortable with the LS, and felt accepted, Phraust, Ezikiel, and I talked on mIRC about plans for the LS, and while me and Ezi gave input, Phraust brushed it all aside, and worked on his own ideas, one being a rank system for the LS, which is quite a good idea I think, and the other being Monday's, "Help Everyone but Eachother Night". Don't get me wrong, a help night is a nice idea, but I think members of the LS should be given the priority.
After instituting the rank system, Phraust, for some reason unknown to me, puts a brand new member to the LS that he had just met a couple days before at a higher rank than me and Ezikiel, who had stuck with him from the moment the LS started to grow, and helped him out with it wherever possible. I can't help but feel that that was somehow a jab at us for some reason I cannot fathom. Fortunately the tension there didn't last long, because me and the new recruit became good friends. I might add that Phraust started taking jabs at the new recruit/high rank officer whenever possible, and wondered why she didn't like doing things with us. She recently left the LS.
Now that a little bit of the background history about the tension growing between me and Phraust is out of the way, back to the Argus hunt, which was still going on while all this was happening. At that point in time, Phraust had bought all the gear he needed for a couple jobs to 75, and was left with 3mil. We decided to team up, and work out a deal that our first PCC he'd get to wear, and pay me the 3mil for it, and then we would get another, sell it, and him get 3mil from it. (The following PCC sale was 10mil, and climbing). I was slowly starting to feel iffy about this deal, because doing my schooling from home through correspondance, and having two computers, I'm able to keep an eye on Argus and camp him on and off all day, while Phraust is at work. Phraust was also going to bed earlier than me at this point in time. Ontop of that, I was mostly able to outvoke him back then, although later either his voke sped up or mine slowed down, and we were about 50/50. I felt that I was putting forth about 75% of the effort or more, and arrange a deal with him that if I get the PCC while he's not camping, or vice versa, whoever gets it keeps it. I believe this created more hostility towards me, but I also believe it was very fair. Friends of mine were telling me I was stupid for accepting any deal in the first place. We finally got a drop 3 or 4 claims later and I held to the deal, and gave him a PCC for 3mil. He tells me that he'll hold to his end of the deal, and help me get another, and let me have it for 3mil.
Now, he continues to help me camp for a couple weeks longer, and then after months and months of camping Argus, suddenly disappears from the Argus scene, not to be seen at the camp again until months later. I continue on camping Argus myself, and don't say anything to Phraust about this, which I probably should have. A little while later, I get another Argus claim, and a Peacock Charm... while another friend that was hardup for cash was camping with me. Earlier I had promised said friend that I would get him a SH when we got the PCC, which at the point in time of the promise had been at its lowest price ever due to the Venemous Claw BCNM. In the excitement of getting the PCC, when Phraust asks for some of the gil (Immediately after hearing I got the PCC) since he had been camping with me for a couple of weeks, I tell him I might be able to spare a mil for him, before thinking back to how he had abandoned me earlier.
To my dismay, the price had gone up on the SH, and the price had gone down on the PCC by the time I was able to sell it, and I ended up using 4mil of the 7mil PCC sale to buy my friend the SH. I talk to Phraust on mIRC, and ask him if it's ok if I just hold onto the cash from this PCC, since I was getting a lot less out of it than I was expecting. He says he understands. I don't mention the other half of the reason for me not splitting any, because as I said at the outset of this post, I wanted to avoid conflict.
Anyway, I blow through the 3mil between gear and smithing in no time flat, and am left with 200k when Phraust asks if he can borrow 30k for a little while... I say ok, and let him. I started camping VE at this point to start getting my bank account back up. A couple weeks later, knowing I've been buying stacks of DS ingots for smithing, P asks if I want to buy a stack from him, and he'll give me a deal: 170k (The stacks of ingots had been 190k-200k for awhile back then), and we'd call it even, since he'd be paying me back the 30k. I pass, since that's not really a deal, and I didn't want to pay in effect 200k for a stack of DS Ingots at that particular point in time, because I still had a few. A couple of days later, I look again, and the most recent stack of DS Ingots had been sold for 210k, so I guess in the end it would have been a deal, but then again, the seller was Phraust, and I hadn't expect him to jack the price up on me, which any crafter that's bought a lot of stacks of one ingrediant knows means it will continue to rise for a bit. When I ask P why he jacked it up on me, his only reply was "lol". Later the same day, in frustration, I finally ask when he's going to help me get a PCC and let me buy him out for 3mil. He tells me when I give him the 1mil I "promised" I would. Again, I decide to just let it go, and avoid conflict.
Now, over a month later, Phraust, knowing I'm buying adaman ores, jacks the price up on one, in a very similar way to how he did before, which causes them to continue rising. It just takes ones price being jacked up to make them all rise, which, being a high skill level in every craft, Phraust knows. An RL friend of mine new in the LS says something along the lines of "Uh oh Phraust, Tiya's pissed off at you... Jacking up adaman ores" in LS chat, while I was sitting next to her, but wasn't logged in myself. Phraust's reply is, "Your welcome lol" as if he was doing someone a favor by trying to screw me over, and then something like: "I'll get that 1mil Tiya promised me a little bit at a time if I have to." Again, I'm tempted to log on and tell him off, but, no, I avoid conflict, and start wearing the LS less and less while looking for a new one.
Interestingly enough, a few days later P gives me my 30k back... Not sure why, if he feels I truely owe him 1mil, but whatever.
Now, not really talking to him much besides a single tell here or there that I tried to be friendly in, I slowly broke away from the LS completely. A few days back, seeing me with another LS equipped he sent me a tell along the lines of "So you've given up on us?" while I was afk... when I got back I was tempted to say, "No, just you." but again, I just let it go. That was my last contact with him... but now the whole situation has been gnawing at me, and with how quickly he said in LS (when quite a few people were on) that I owe him 1mil, I'm sure he hasn't hesitated to tell anyone else. So I finally feel the need to break my silence and try to clear my name to anyone he's told that to, and anyone he tells that to in the future.
So now I've told my story of Phraust, the way only those on the inside have seen him, in the hope of clearing my name.
Phraust. I don't want you to give me a PCC for 3mil. I don't want any further contact with you at all, to tell you the truth. I just want you to stop telling people Bullshit about me owing you gil. I don't cheat people out of gil.
