now I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail

I really should know better, and I'm not specifically aiming for controversy, but--the hell, people. Did he just not realize his alpha panels had completely faded to invisibility? Plus, I'm fairly sure that's just how that particular silk set is made, but it also looks like he handily tied his penis in a knot for the photograph. Tch. (Though definitely impressive in a weird way if true.)

Of course, he still looks much better than this lass, because you would have to be as high as she looks to think those outfit bits go together. Is the gold/orange nightmare bit part of a...bodysuit? Maybe? Because I'm confused as to what, exactly, it is. (Also why it seems to be worn over her jeans.)

And apparently, there's now someone in Second Life offering virtual Botox injections and we need them to stop.

In the meantime, if you've ever considered joining the Royal Air Force? You're in good hands, then, with Captain Jack Harkness, poster child for the flyboys on the battlefield. Well, and the flyboys off the battlefield. Well, and the female support staff for the armed forces...Really, he's the poster child for anyone. Just call him.

Back to the Escapist.

affabletoaster: When James said that the Escapist could put him at the bottom of the pile, that was his unprofessional move. Professionals get paid, end of story. What he was doing was being Nice, and it ended up exacerbating an issue that any professional should never have to deal with: not getting paid.

What bothers me is when people here and elsewhere conflate being "professional" with "keeping your mouth shut and smiling no matter how you are being treated, even if that treatment undermines the very core of your profession." We have seen other content providers quietly leave this site, "professionally," one might say, and only now are we getting hints that the Escapist has made a habit of not paying its content providers in a timely fashion.

zephae in response to Daniel Floyd, earlier in the thread: You know, the more I read your posts, the more I see why you're the voice of EC. Being one step removed from the what would appear to be the most contentious issue and seemingly not having personal issues swirl around you, I think it would've been a lot better to have you, instead of James, do the messaging to the community. Perhaps the whole drama storm could've been avoided if the person making the statements was also not the most intimately involved in the whole process. I'm very glad to see you step up on the issue of refunds, though - it underscores to me the respect and consideration you have for your following.

magicmonkeybars: You'll forgive my laughter then when this goes to court and The Escapist gets its fair share of the donated money...

krellen in response: Don't hold your breath; Mr. Marcis has withdrawn all claims to it already.

Though I do believe he meant "Macris", but the point stands.

Da_Vane: The problem here is that only one side uses the term 'joint effort' and that is the Escapist. They are the ones who had been claiming they were also involved. A link means nothing, and quite frankly, I don't think anyone expected people to be so generous.

In a court of law, ALL of the money actually belongs to Allison. That's who people were donating to - and any intention otherwise would be considered fraud. The Escapist helped support this, but they hold no claims to anything - they willingly donated their time and effort to help Allison.

It is therefore up to Allison to decide who should and shouldn't get the money that is left over. Presumably, Allison has elected to give the excess funds to James and the Indie Game Fund, otherwise James wouldn't be able to hold any claim to the excess money, and could face criminal charges should he do so.

That said, if Allison made James her agent during this affair, then James does have a right to do whatever he pleases with the money in Allison's best interests, and if she has agreed then nobody else really gets a say in the matter.

The Big Robb: The site is covered in ads, there is defiantly a large volume of traffic here, but the content providers that produce the traffic aren't being compensated. If they aren't paying anybody, where's all the money going?

Also, if they're paying everyone weeks or months after they're supposed to, wouldn't that lead to a case of them owing everyone a ridiculous amount of money in the long term? If they can't pay them now, how are they going to pay off the huge debts in the future?

I know it's kind of off topic, but this is an important point in all this, If The Escapist can never pay back the content providers, it's likely that more issues similar to this will happen again.

Glass Joe the Champ on the 14th, close to the end of the thread: Hm, it's worth noting that this thread now has more comments than the Huffington Posts's headline story about Congress passing the debt ceiling bill.

Congratulations: video games are now more important than politics.

Wasn't that always the case?

TypeSD: Seriously, aside from EC, where is there in-depth discussion of stuff going on ~_~

And in a brilliant rejoinder to that, a sysadmin from Escapist, Kross, said: Not all of our content is in picture form.

Which is a damned good point. (Though my immediate retort: are all of them getting paid?)

And finally, we reach the end of the thread. Couple last comments to tie things up.

n00beffect: So, what's the conclusion so far?

And arealperson in reply: The Extra Credits team left, The Escapist and certain contributors are badly in debt, but everyone is just gonna keep on truckin'.

What I'm curious about is the official status of the IP and how that was/has-yet-to-be arranged.

And that's where things stand. Next up: wrapping up all the links in this derailing of the wreck, followed by any mention I can track down of those supposed emails.