Why create this transparency center?

It is very easy for someone to write a poorly researched blog post on the internet. Blogs are one-sided points of view, without any context or references to back them up. And it’s easy to create a compelling narrative when you control the medium through which it is conveyed.

“Ryan Kopf is a terrible guy who cheats attendees and doesn’t pay his taxes, avoid his conventions,” is an easy story to write. Nobody wants to feel taken advantage of, so unknowing people will be taken in by slanders and share these stories.

I started my first convention in 2010 to bring happiness to fellow fans like me. During High School, I did nothing but stay at home and read, no social skills or practice to speak of, and few enough friends that I could count them on my hands. This changed when I attended my first convention, and met people in the same boat. We didn’t like going to football games and getting drunk in parking lots like other teenagers – we wanted to play Pokemon cards instead.

I learned a lot about people, their hopes, their dreams, and what it really means to be happy. I’ve made countless lifelong friends.

And I want to bring this happiness and joy to more people.

Some people lack self-satisfaction with their lives. They aren’t working every single day, 10 hours a day, to make other people happy. And this is where the rumors and smear campaigns against me begin.

Help me continue to make a difference in people’s lives by sharing my side of the story.