Well...this is unfortunate. What horrible timing, right? I'm afraid that we've been met with terrible news. Aquamarine is no more.
It's time to tell the whole story. My name is Aquamarine. I work at a pretty high-level position at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
I have been lurking NeoGAF since 2010. In early-2012 I decided to sign up with my own account and contribute.
I was quickly perma-banned as a junior back then because a mod misinterpreted my post as contributing to piracy (I was talking about WBFS partitions for personally-ripped Wii ISOs on external hard drives). But I bounced back. I made another account a week later (Aquamarine) and I've amassed...18,796 posts since then.
I've participated in countless sales threads.
In late 2012, because there were so few NPD leaks, I started helping GAF out here and there.
In the beginning, it was fine. NPD was more lax back then. They didn't know who I was. And really...a couple of leaks isn't going to hurt anybody. Nobody isn't going to stop subscribing to NPD numbers just because of a few leaks. It's utterly ridiculous how idiotic they've been about the whole matter.
But as they years have gone by, it's slowly escalated. Threatening memos about leaks, etc. NPD management has become increasingly intolerant and increasingly frustrating to deal with.
I've tried a variety of methods on GAF to appease them. Cryptic posts, leaks in hidden email tags, etc. But none of it stuck.
And a while ago, they found out who I was and confronted me / JPMorgan Chase directly. It was really nasty at that point.
That's when I made a super-inflammatory post and got myself banned for a month. I deserved it...but I essentially snapped because of all the stress I was put under. I had to go take a vacation away from work for a while.
But we calmed down, and afterwards I dropped all pretenses and tried to reason a deal with them. That's why I have no qualms saying where I'm from in my profile.
Every month that has gone by since, NPD management has become increasingly fickle and childish.
Last month I was reduced to a point where I was PMing people who requested numbers. And now, it's finally come to a bitter end. I flew too close to the sun.
I'm still part of JPMorgan Chase. I'm not going to get fired. We're still going to get NPD data. But Aquamarine is no more.
I'm forced to delete all of my public profiles. Previously, I was forced to delete my Twitter account and now I'm forced to delete my GAF account.
Obviously you can't exactly "delete" an account here. So the best I can do to appease them is a perma-ban. Right after this post I'm forced to ask for a perma-ban. If any mod sees this and I'm not banned yet, please permanently ban me.
There is absolutely no way around this. They're giving ultimatums. And to be honest, my job is more valuable to me than anything else.
So I'm very sorry to say this, but this will be my last post on NeoGAF. I love you guys, I love this community, and the last thing I want to do is abruptly leave.
But when I returned before I said that I wasn't sure how much longer this would last. And now, it's over.
To anyone else who leaks NPD data on GAF, watch your backs. The NPD Group is becoming increasingly vicious, and I am their latest casualty.
That doesn't mean I'm going to completely abandon GAF, though. I lurked GAF for two years before I registered an account. I'm going to go back to lurking the threads.
And, NPD Group-permitting, I will continue to post leaks at the super-secret base (for those in the know).
You can disseminate them to other GAF members privately. It just can't be out in the open.
And I would also like to continue to write the USA software / hardware release list in the OP and post NPD predictions. You know where to find me, donny2112.
So long, GAF. It's been a wild ride.
- Aquamarine
This is terrible. You've always had some incredibly useful insight and just been a good spirit around these parts, this is like the worst outcome. Anything that threatens the job is a no-go, but it sucks your employer isn't more tolerant about this sort of thing. That it had to come to this, is extremely upsetting.
I hope you'll still be able to find a way to participate around the boards (under a different name of course, since they're aware of this one) because it'd be really sad to not see you around. It wouldn't have to be NPD either, since that's obviously too hot-water. Wish there was something I could do.
It sounds you'll still be able to send info to a few others so it's not all lost, but it won't be the same without your input that's for sure.
Best of luck with how you proceed in this regard, again really sad that happened but as you said nothing's worth jeopardizing your career over.
Much love.
