This is here in case the original letter is taken down from Northern Ruins.
Before delving into the details, keep several things in mind.
This all happened because two staff members, Min and Yolk, quit after not being allowed to discuss the idea of compensation for hundreds of hours of work in just the past few months. We just quit after leaving behind a notice of resignation with grievances in only the mod server. The goal was never to hurt Northern Ruins because despite all this, we still dearly loved it and, above all, its community. Northern Ruins contained so many friends that we would not want to hurt just because we were quitting. The only one who had the power to delete the servers was Aug despite what he has been relaying to people. And keep in mind, he has yet to release a comprehensive statement just explaining things to the people caught in the crossfire of his decisions.
Also note, Aug has not made any attempt to directly contact Min nor Yolk after quitting. Min has not been available for contact since the stress of the situation has landed them in the ER so lack of contact with Min might be excusable. However, Yolk has always been open to civil conversation and has told such to each and every messenger Aug has sent his way. Almost every messenger seemed to also think that Min and Yolk were at some fault for the servers being taken down or for the supposed destruction of Northern Ruins. As said previously, we merely quit because of lack of compensation. The only thing that was directly changed was that Min repossessed unpaid decorative code that they wrote and are the rightful owner of. Min left a lot of the code they themselves paid for along with other things on the site despite everything to make sure the site stayed perfectly functional with the database intact.
All destructive actions are by Aug’s hand only.
Plus, it was by his suggestion Yolk quit initially and Min followed soon after.
While Aug will repeatedly say he would have given compensation if he had known, he was the one who did not even want to discuss it in the first place. That is an undeniable fact. The issue is not a matter of money but rather a matter of fairness, transparency, and attitude. Aug does not entertain the idea of compensation in a transparent manner but instead opts to try to push it off till later. Compensation desired wasn’t even necessarily monetary but since he did not even want to discuss it, he would not have known. Min, who spent hundreds of dollars out of pocket, deserves monetary compensation especially considering their personal situation that Aug is completely aware of. Yolk did not want monetary compensation but rather wanted pets, items, and/or slots that were higher than common. But, again, Aug did not want to discuss compensation and therefore would not have known by his own choice. Note, previous staff-wide compensation was a single common slot. The only scaled compensation was a single Aspirith slot for Min. Compensation was not repeated nor otherwise scaled per work time. ONLY slots for compensation is a slap in the face since it requires work to truly get the benefit. Those bogged down by work by Northern Ruins or otherwise or even personal life would not really get any benefit from the slots at all. He also claims that the privilege to do adopts when he chooses to do them is compensation ignoring the fact that creating the adopts in itself is work. The price of an adopt pays for the adopt’s creation. It does not pay for the cost of the assets done. It does not pay for the cost of the site. It does not pay for the time spent on work for Northern Ruins outside of the adopt.
But, these words are nothing without the evidence to back them up. Aug, we know you keep telling people your version of the truth. So, we will tell our truth with the evidence to back it up.
If you wish to know the truth behind the issue at hand, this link will take you there.
If any questions come up, feel free to comment on the linked sheet. Since some of the images may be small, it is recommended to view it in presentation format. Imgur links will be added later to ease reading. For the sake of not overwhelming people, please do not DM any party involved! Additionally, please do not harass Aug. Even if we have issues with him, we do not want to cause him unneeded trouble in that regard. To be transparent, this letter and the attached compilation of evidence have been created and curated by Yolk. In order to ease the reading process, I have been referring to myself in third person. Min has had a limited amount of input regarding this because they have been hospitalized and are still ongoing treatment. Further details regarding their personal health will not be given at this time to respect their privacy.
Thank you for your time in reading this.
〔Edit 9-May-2021〕
Steve from Gumroad finally learns to read.
"If you haven't gotten your refund yet, you purchased through Gumroad, and you are being ghosted or dismissed by Komugitsune, please email [email protected] directly to get your refunds. They will process the refunds for you."
‣ Gumroad is now giving out refunds!
---
! ! ! ONGOING BREAKING OF TOS AND POTENTIAL SCAMMING ! ! !
Aug is currently upselling several designs despite not adding to their value via commissioned work or through any other valid means.
‣ NotDamien's Statement on Sell Value of Designs
‣ SnorkMaiden's Statement on Sell Value of Designs
‣ Heelies's Statement on Sell Value of Designs
If you wish to keep track of what he is attempting to sell and to see if anything might have inflated sell values, the link to his trade/sell thread is below. If you find something that may have inflated value, please report it and make a comment on his thread about it so more people can know. If you wish to, you can also comment here and I will add it to the list here.
〈Komugitsune's Trade/Sale Thread〉
EDIT: Image Transcription of Slides
PDF Version of Slide (Note: this will not be updated as fast but will be updated alongside the original.)
〔Edit 3-May-2021〕:
I'm adding this edit here since Aug decided, in a relatively confusing move, to lie blatantly on his site about the situation. Considering that, the following links will be added for ease of access to emphasize what he has had a direct hand in. This has gone beyond an issue concerning former staff since it has deeply affected many people unrelated to the original grievances I wrote. I sincerely hope this will help open more eyes to the issue.
I will preface with two important links.
This form is to collect formal evidence against komugitsune (Aug). As of right now, we are prioritizing gathering evidence of financial malpractice in order to strengthen cases against him in PayPal and Gumroad. However, if you have evidence of him doing any unsavory acts, we welcome that as well.
〈Please share this twitter link on the issue.〉
I have been informed that the issue is not well known outside of TH so it would be wonderful if you can spread the word outside.
Please note for posterity that this was done in a midst of a spike in anti-Asian crime. Both Min and I are Asian. Threats of police, in itself, is not a joke. But threatening it in this climate is horrendous especially considering he knows both of our addresses as well as the addresses of many others.
‣ Min's statements against Aug's allegations
‣ Persistent lack of communication
I would like to note that Aug has still never attempted to directly contact me and has blocked me everywhere instead.
‣ Cutting off communication avenues
It has been documented that Rook has been aiding with refunds as well as trying to be an avenue of communication between Aug and everyone else since he refuses to communicate directly. Since they have been cut off, Aug has effectively decided he would rather not face the allegations against him. Aug seems to have been using them as a scapegoat for failed refunds.
‣ Proof of selling traced Picrew design
He sold this to me when we were still friends and he had the picrew image hidden.
‣ Chargeback issues as well as Aug's indecision regarding NR
I don't know why Aug doesn't seem to be settled on what will happen to NR. But I will note his waffling on it seems to correlate with his waffling on refunds.
‣ Proof Aug said despeciesing applies to Official designs
‣ Aug lying about refund issues
I, and others, have experienced this. Aug has repeatedly been trying to lie on paypal about "nobody" trying to communicate with him. He's blocked most people seeking refunds so the only avenue of communication is PayPal where he, again, seems adamant on lying.
‣ Aug blocking those requesting refunds
It should be noted this wasn't a chargeback but a formal request for a refund. Basically, chargebacks seem to be the only valid avenue at this point.
just an update about my art piece for Francis!
someone pmed me saying they recognized the art and that it may have been traced or heavily referenced from a card of shu itsuki from ensemble stars (i can't view this image though) and showed me this overlay:
while not exactly alike on every single detail, i might have to agree with them.
staria heres another link that should work ! cant believe my enstars knowledge is coming in handy
even if its not traced, it was definitely way too heavily referenced . the eyes are in the same style, pupils/shading/highlight in the same exact place. no way it could be a coincidence
staria scoresilver
did an overlay of my own if it helps (only resized and rotated to match)
idk about photo editing stuff. thank you for the edit, shrio!! wow that is exactly alike!! dang, so not only did he get $120 out of the diab, but he put basically zero effort into my artwork?
here are the sketches if anyone wants to see: idk if it'd help
maybe he had done the same with my second one. if anyone finds anything, please pm me (if you want to stay anonymous) or reply: https://toyhou.se/7751987.levi#26731464 the oc doesn't belong to me anymore.
thank you for all of the help, everyone ^v^
Dang that tracing is really shady, I'm sorry that happened to you
Also it seems like they apparently sold all characters already, I'm not sure at what prices tho since not much people commented
VanillaStarburst My experience with gumroad after the update from Steve is identical to yours, for what it's worth.
i wanted to give an update on my disputes - my experience with paypal has been inconsistent and confusing. despite the same evidence being used for all my disputes, one closed in my favor, one not, and one is still in limbo. after contacting them and speaking to an agent, i received credit for the amount i was seeking a refund for on the case closed not in favor, so while i managed to get my money back, it's not in the way i was hoping for. i'm still waiting on response for my final dispute from paypal, aug never responded to any of them. if you're seeking a refund through paypal, i'd recommend trying to speak to an agent directly. if you haven't gone through paypal yet, i think gumroad might be the better option given the updated response by them and with paypal being so wishy-washy.
edit: paypal has settled the final case in my favor, so i'm honestly just really confused lol but at least i have my money back
i also noticed after being banned from the nr site, you can no longer access some pages as it redirects you to a 'banned' page. underneath it a reason was given for the ban (under a spoiler again to not clog up the thread);
i would genuinely like to know what false information i've been spreading. i've posted in this thread twice (three times counting this post), once to show that he was active on the ruinslog account when rook had posted that aug was not responding to them, and then my own experiences with him and paypal. anything i mentioned was already posted, had screenshots, was backed up by others, or was my personal experience with him - messages of which i am more than happy to share to prove they happened, but did not for the sake of his privacy. the only speculation was reinforced by the evidence of tracing he did, but i tried to emphasize my own PERSONAL discomfort with it rather than an accusation. i witnessed multiple instances of him tracing picrews on his private acc that i was auth'd on at one point, but was only able to dig up one after being booted from auth (that was shared in the thread already). i was under the impression yolk knew that he was being sold a design from a picrew since i had seen the design, picrew included, on aug's private acc. if he was bold enough to sell someone a traced picrew design without telling them, that is what made me doubt the coincidences the most.
i had a friendly relationship with him the times we did talk, i had no bias against him or any reason to assume he was in the wrong, but this thread had such overwhelming evidence that he didn't even bother to try and address. i have no idea what conclusion he was expecting people to come to, especially now that he's blaming not only mods but members for the downfall of the species as a whole. i just genuinely am so baffled by this whole situation.
you know, considering aug's defense in all cases is "they can still use the items, therefore no refunds" but the first thing that he does is ban you on the website when you file a chargeback... how, exactly, is one supposed to use the item he's refusing refunds for? like. the point of a refused chargeback isn't "the claim was invalid so the claimant gets NOTHING, they get no money back and ALSO i take the product away for the audacity," the point of a refused chargeback is "the end user can and is using the product, it is undamaged and what they were told they'd get, therefore the money does not need to be returned as the user will still use the product." ...you don't get to drive to someone's house after they buy a pin from you and then smash the pin because they filed a chargeback, but it turns out the pin was functional and what they ordered so the chargeback was refused.
my paypal (not gumroad) case that was escalated by aug was settled in my favour, I hope the same goes for others as well!
https://www.mercari.com/u/363474528/
They are most likely active on Mercari.
The only reason I know they're most likely active is Mercari disables your listings if you don't do anything for awhile.
Just posting this here just in case anyone who goes looking for merch of specific characters comes across these listings and doesn't realize it's them now knows.
Dunno if they'd resort to scamming physical goods, but....I feel it's better safe than sorry? Shrugs.
If OP feels this isn't a necessary post, I'll delete it.
edit to add only way I found this was me looking for Astolfo merch. Thought the art looked familiar, so I went thru the listings posted by the person, and sure enough, it's all their art.
