Hi, I am brand new here - my first post. I am also a refugee from The Paracast. I dared to confront Goggs MacKay (Paracast Moderator and co-host of the Paracast) in a private message, seeking to find out how he could in good conscience support Gene with all the obvious evidence of Gene having made a "life style" out of begging. Goggs responded to say that he is able to separate the"Private Begging Gene" from the "Official Paracast Gene", thereby allowing Goggs to continue to actively support the official Paracast Gene. To me this is like saying "I support my peer at work, even though he beats his wife because I separate the wife beater from the guy who sits next to me" or "I know our Great Leader has death camps out in the desert but he makes the trains run on time" or "As long as Fred does not rape the women in the office, I am not concerned about what he does on his own time". I sort of read Goggs the riot act (a charming old expression I like even though I've never researched its origins). For one thing, the "Private Begging Gene" and the "Official Paracast Gene" merge when he uses the membership lists of the Paracast to solicit for funds.
Result? I was banned. My conversation with Goggs was private but my account was deleted, even though I had paid in advance to be a Paracast Plus member through October 2018. So Gene is in breach of contract by not allowing me access to his Paracast Plus MP3 files. But I have better things to do than to launch a legal challenge against him. Also, in listening to recent shows, I really have lost much interest. Goggs always states the bloody obvious (certainly not a great mind like David Biedny), and the After the Paracast shows are predominantly Gene and a co-host or guest waxing nostalgic about the good old days, pop cultural references (Gene has to watch a hell of a lot of TV including cable or satellite dish stations), and just shooting the breeze for 30 minutes. I'd rather listen to my dog snore!
I do have a Gene story. I moved to Phoenix in 2004 from the San Francisco Bay area. I was a financial refugee and coul not afford to retire in the locale where I had spent most of my life. Phoenix has a nice quality of life at a low cost. Back around 2006 or 2007, I became enthusiastic about The Paracast (much more gullible back then, but David Biedny was great - Gene just announced the commercial breaks). Realizing that Gene also lived in the Phoenix area, I had the silly idea of giving him a gift of a DVD I had home made of clips from many serious and silly UFO films. So I contacted Gene in email to offer to bring it to him. Almost instantly, I received a response from Gene. Ignoring my gift suggestion, he told me that he was in the midst of a terrible EMERGENCY!! His wife has screwed up their bank account so they had no access to their funds. This was a Friday and he had no money for the weekend AND the house had no groceries. He was in a dire situation, so could I loan him a few hundred dollars to tide them over. Well, I was shocked and too cynical (I come from a large urban area, not Podunk where everyone leaves their doors unlocked). I refused to help him, did some research and was even told by a Moderator that this was SOP for Gene even back then.
Disillusionment. I kept listening because the Paracast still attracted great guests at times. I would post on the forum but never found it very friendly at all. If I expressed an unpopular notion, my post was ridiculed or totally ignored. So I pretty much stopped participating in the forum.
Now I do not exist over there even though I am paid up through October 2018. I think Gene is getting reckless since you should not be banishing people who have prepaid for your product just because they don't like you personally or vice versa. My life and time are too important to make a big deal out of this legally, but someone with wealth and an ax to grind could make Gene's life very uncomfortable legally over such a petulant act. Gene better be careful about banning people with Paracast Plus. To emphasize a point, I did not criticize Gene on the forums since that would immediately get you banned or a shaming email from Gene. So Goggs must have squealed on our private conversation, prompting the ban. I really have zero respect for Goggs MacKay at this point. Would you really sell your soul or sense of ethics just to be an occasional c0-host of a rinky dink podcast and the great glory of being a moderator on the forum? Methinks he sells himself out for very little.