[Dredd]

Does Omni have a biography, if not would the big man himself be willing to share with us all where it all started? Omniscient

If anyone has any of the answers to the below questions please share I'm just curious as it's a big feat what Omniscient has achieved and I love to hear the background story on it all.



What were you doing before HF: unemployed/self-employed/freelance/employed etc?

If you were employed what industry did you work in?

At what point did you realize it was a viable business model and could give up his other responsibilities I.E. a job etc if he had one at the time?

What gave you the idea for HackForums?

Being a family man who has to provide for his family was there ever a period when you thought HackForums was not going to work as a business model/community?

Is there anything you would have changed or done differently if you were to start HF again?


I'm sure there are a million questions I could sit here all day picking Omni's brain if I had half the chance, I would love to hear the story of how it all come about.


Kind Regards,
Dredd

[Charlie Sheen]

I know he had a comic book/video game store. I know he owns a billion websites and Foul Magazine

[Omniscient]

Before HF I was self-employed since about 1995, HF was formed in 2007. I was in NYC from 1988-2005. In NY when I was young I worked at Burger King as a kitchen manager right next to the World Trade Center for a few years. Then near the age of 22 I started working in the Village at a place called Entertainment Warehouse which sold music and videos (like a shitty Tower Records). I worked both jobs for about a year until they offered me management at EW then I quit BK. I became the Store Manager a year later and helped them to open a 2nd store location in Manhattan (West Village). When management wasn't giving me the pay I know I deserved I planned to open my own store. I eventually did, called it "Multimedia 1.0" and I did computer repairs, custom builds, software, movies, and video games. Gaming got big (Playstation released) and that part of my store expanded. Eventually I opened multiple locations and did very well. My store was featured in many magazines (Spin, Rolling Stone), newspapers (New York Times did a whole page), and Television (news channels would interview me). Store started to bore me, I wanted more. I started a gaming magazine called Foul in 2001, literally months before 9/11 which basically ruined my business. Eventually went broke publishing the magazine and moved to Vegas to start over. Here in Vegas I simply focused on internet, did a fair amount of client work. I did domaining and website building, did fairly well. Eventually HF was one of the many sites I started that took off. And where we are today.

There is more of course but that's the brunt of my more recent history.

What gave you the idea for HackForums?

Back then I was doing forums forums forums. It was my specialty. This is before Social Media or Apps so forums were the thing. I had dozens of forums started, I sold many of them as they gained members. With HF I could see a bigger potential. HF was just a domain I bought for $75 that I installed one of my themes, gained members, and grew. It was not my first choice for a successful forum.

Being a family man who has to provide for his family was there ever a period when you thought HackForums was not going to work as a business model/community?

Making money is just something I do. If HF was seized today or shut down or stopped making money, I'd be fine and working on a recovery plan almost immediately.

Is there anything you would have changed or done differently if you were to start HF again?

I'm not a person who lives with regret. Just not my thing I guess. I like to look forward.

[StuffSneak]

Before HF I was self-employed since about 1995, HF was formed in 2007. I was in NYC from 1988-2005. In NY when I was young I worked at Burger King as a kitchen manager right next to the World Trade Center for a few years. Then near the age of 22 I started working in the Village at a place called Entertainment Warehouse which sold music and videos (like a shitty Tower Records). I worked both jobs for about a year until they offered me management at EW then I quit BK. I became the Store Manager a year later and helped them to open a 2nd store location in Manhattan (West Village). When management wasn't giving me the pay I know I deserved I planned to open my own store. I eventually did, called it "Multimedia 1.0" and I did computer repairs, custom builds, software, movies, and video games. Gaming got big (Playstation released) and that part of my store expanded. Eventually I opened multiple locations and did very well. My store was featured in many magazines (Spin, Rolling Stone), newspapers (New York Times did a whole page), and Television (news channels would interview me). Store started to bore me, I wanted more. I started a gaming magazine called Foul in 2001, literally months before 9/11 which basically ruined my business. Eventually went broke publishing the magazine and moved to Vegas to start over. Here in Vegas I simply focused on internet, did a fair amount of client work. I did domaining and website building, did fairly well. Eventually HF was one of the many sites I started that took off. And where we are today.

There is more of course but that's the brunt of my more recent history.


Back then I was doing forums forums forums. It was my specialty. This is before Social Media or Apps so forums were the thing. I had dozens of forums started, I sold many of them as they gained members. With HF I could see a bigger potential. HF was just a domain I bought for $75 that I installed one of my themes, gained members, and grew. It was not my first choice for a successful forum.


Making money is just something I do. If HF was seized today or shut down or stopped making money, I'd be fine and working on a recovery plan almost immediately.


I'm not a person who lives with regret. Just not my thing I guess. I like to look forward.

Thank you for sharing that with us!

[Dredd]

Before HF I was self-employed since about 1995, HF was formed in 2007. I was in NYC from 1988-2005. In NY when I was young I worked at Burger King as a kitchen manager right next to the World Trade Center for a few years. Then near the age of 22 I started working in the Village at a place called Entertainment Warehouse which sold music and videos (like a shitty Tower Records). I worked both jobs for about a year until they offered me management at EW then I quit BK. I became the Store Manager a year later and helped them to open a 2nd store location in Manhattan (West Village). When management wasn't giving me the pay I know I deserved I planned to open my own store. I eventually did, called it "Multimedia 1.0" and I did computer repairs, custom builds, software, movies, and video games. Gaming got big (Playstation released) and that part of my store expanded. Eventually I opened multiple locations and did very well. My store was featured in many magazines (Spin, Rolling Stone), newspapers (New York Times did a whole page), and Television (news channels would interview me). Store started to bore me, I wanted more. I started a gaming magazine called Foul in 2001, literally months before 9/11 which basically ruined my business. Eventually went broke publishing the magazine and moved to Vegas to start over. Here in Vegas I simply focused on internet, did a fair amount of client work. I did domaining and website building, did fairly well. Eventually HF was one of the many sites I started that took off. And where we are today.

There is more of course but that's the brunt of my more recent history.


Back then I was doing forums forums forums. It was my specialty. This is before Social Media or Apps so forums were the thing. I had dozens of forums started, I sold many of them as they gained members. With HF I could see a bigger potential. HF was just a domain I bought for $75 that I installed one of my themes, gained members, and grew. It was not my first choice for a successful forum.


Making money is just something I do. If HF was seized today or shut down or stopped making money, I'd be fine and working on a recovery plan almost immediately.


I'm not a person who lives with regret. Just not my thing I guess. I like to look forward.

Awesome to see a bit of a back story as to where you started, I think sometimes like yourself when you're in a position of power people fail to see the relationship between themselves and you. But like you've said you started at Burger King it's humbling and insightful to say the paths people have taken in life.

Thanks for taking the time to share this.

[Charlie Sheen]

Before HF I was self-employed since about 1995, HF was formed in 2007. I was in NYC from 1988-2005. In NY when I was young I worked at Burger King as a kitchen manager right next to the World Trade Center for a few years. Then near the age of 22 I started working in the Village at a place called Entertainment Warehouse which sold music and videos (like a shitty Tower Records). I worked both jobs for about a year until they offered me management at EW then I quit BK. I became the Store Manager a year later and helped them to open a 2nd store location in Manhattan (West Village). When management wasn't giving me the pay I know I deserved I planned to open my own store. I eventually did, called it "Multimedia 1.0" and I did computer repairs, custom builds, software, movies, and video games. Gaming got big (Playstation released) and that part of my store expanded. Eventually I opened multiple locations and did very well. My store was featured in many magazines (Spin, Rolling Stone), newspapers (New York Times did a whole page), and Television (news channels would interview me). Store started to bore me, I wanted more. I started a gaming magazine called Foul in 2001, literally months before 9/11 which basically ruined my business. Eventually went broke publishing the magazine and moved to Vegas to start over. Here in Vegas I simply focused on internet, did a fair amount of client work. I did domaining and website building, did fairly well. Eventually HF was one of the many sites I started that took off. And where we are today.

There is more of course but that's the brunt of my more recent history.


Back then I was doing forums forums forums. It was my specialty. This is before Social Media or Apps so forums were the thing. I had dozens of forums started, I sold many of them as they gained members. With HF I could see a bigger potential. HF was just a domain I bought for $75 that I installed one of my themes, gained members, and grew. It was not my first choice for a successful forum.


Making money is just something I do. If HF was seized today or shut down or stopped making money, I'd be fine and working on a recovery plan almost immediately.


I'm not a person who lives with regret. Just not my thing I guess. I like to look forward.

Thank you for taking the time to share that with us, this is something I've always wondered about. I like that you're not super secretive about who you are, you're not some mystery. Why Las Vegas though? I spent most of my life in the same city, and recently this year I decided to move out of state, and now I'm constantly thinking about which city or state I may move to next. I thought Vegas was an interesting choice.

[Omniscient]

Before BK I worked Taco Bell, a car wash, a bagel store, an RPG retail store, telemarketing, delivered newspapers, and a pizzeria. Probably a job or two I'm forgetting.

Why Las Vegas though?

Great weather, no state income tax, and believe it or not, same racial makeup as NYC. I don't think the wife and I would feel comfortable in a place where the racial makeup was too lopsided. Vegas has a diverse culture and the people live together peacefully. Having biracial kids we didn't want them to be unique. Funny thing is that here in Vegas, a TON of interracial couples exist. Most of their friends ended up being biracial as well.

Oh and Vegas also has a great economy. There are real opportunities here. Vegas was the #1 growth city in America for about 20 years when we moved here. I think now it's Austin or some shit. But for a long-time, it was Vegas. Economy here is great.

btw, just had a good friend move here from NYC that worked for me in the store. Known this dude over 20 years. Great guy. He chose Vegas too and loves it so far. So does his wife, kid, and dad who all came with him.

[SIM-3323508]

We should add an about the admin page to the hf wiki I think everyone would like to hear the story of how HF came to be!