The High Road (THR) Situation

Whilst on my daily meander, I found the item below, via Tamara:

In December 2002, I founded The High Road forum dedicated to the advancement of responsible gun ownership. Recently, it was discovered that in 2006, the volunteer forum systems administrator, Derek Zeanah of Statesboro, Georgia, changed domain registration to himself. After he was confronted, Derek locked out all other staff from accessing the Web server administration and would not share even backup copies of its content. After failed attempts to peacefully resolve the dispute, it has become necessary for me to initiate a lawsuit against Derek Zeanah for the return of thehighroad.org domain name and the forum database.

I am seeking and would greatly appreciate donations to help with the cost of litigation. You can use Paypal (olegvolk@gmail.com) or send a check to:
Oleg Volk 3112 Chambley Ct Hermitage, TN 37076

All donations shall be returned if the lawsuit is ultimately avoided. You can also aid me by re-posting this appeal on your blog, forum or web site. My legal position is already endorsed by almost all of The High Road staff as well as Rich Lucibella, the founder of The Firing Line forum.

Having not yet mastered the art of the SuperCool background block for quotes, the above is my humble best. I'm not a THR regular, but recognize it as a good place to visit...and am saddened to hear that things are flying apart over there.

Interest piqued (i.e., "oh shit, not this stuff AGAIN"), I followed the links from VFTP and not only found a worthwhile discussion of the matter over at AR15.com, but insightful commentary from Xavier and Don Gwinn. I'm looking forward to the response to this kerfluffle of LawDog and MattG - I kind of suspect they will be pungent, to the point, and insightful. Good discussion over at Armed Polite Society, too.

I even found THR pseudo-alive with this disclaimer from the, to be kind, misguided webmaster/ hosting provider (Derek Zeneah); unfortunately it begins to appear that JRShirley has come down on the Anti-Oleg side of things - I hope he is able to come up with some kind of explanation in his blog that would allow me to continue to consider him an honorable individual.

It appears there's a new rule there that one cannot link or point to efforts to return THR to Oleg; dissenters are being purged, and known allies of Oleg banned. Poor form.

I hope Oleg gets the Domain and the Forum back. I'd suggest right now, as a tech step, to go in and grab a complete copy of the THR posts and begin building a neutral server; and at the same time move forward with legal proceedings at both criminal and civil levels.

IANAL, but it looks to me like not only are the web/server dude's actions causing harm (civil court), but that that individual has engaged in the illicit conversion of property to his own use (theft/fraud) and done so across state lines (which brings out the Federal can of whoopass).

Borrowing someone's domain isn't nice. Don't do it.