Pony Up for Ponies - Achieved!

Have to see how things work out financially. Will know in 10 days. Might donate here then as well. For at least $25.

Taharka wrote:
Alien13z wrote:

With this much interest, you should raise $1000 and grab both of the Rabbit-authored donation slots and force him to write about another equally sh*tty game.

Honestly, if we were to raise another $500 (which is extremely possible! We're at $650 pledged!) I think I'd want him to write that Bioshock article he mentioned on the podcast last week.
I mean, cruel and unusual torture is outlawed by the Geneva Convention, I believe. :-)

True, though when the new EverQuest expansion came up on this week's Conference Call I couldn't help but imagine what a great article Julian could do on the game and those who continue to play it.

He could interview my upstairs neighbor for that EQ one.

That's why I want to donate to this, though. It's not that I want to torture Julian. That's more of a nice perk. That pony game isn't that bad, particularly for it's intended audience. That audience is horrifically under-served in games media, despite it's ever-growing market share. There is a lot more here than meets the eye and I would love to see what he can do with it when he digs in and takes it seriously.

I don't know how much yet but I'm in for at least 10 bucks.

momgamer wrote:

He could interview my upstairs neighbor for that EQ one.

That's why I want to donate to this, though. It's not that I want to torture Julian. That's more of a nice perk. That pony game isn't that bad, particularly for it's intended audience. That audience is horrifically under-served in games media, despite it's ever-growing market share. There is a lot more here than meets the eye and I would love to see what he can do with it when he digs in and takes it seriously.

I completely agree that the interesting thing isn't just to torture Juilian, but a chance to look into a story that simply no one else is going to. Which is also why, as much as I'd love to read more on BioShock I'm far less interested in that story- it's been well trodden (not to say Julian couldn't bring something else out of it of course).

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

I agree with momgamer.

That's not to say that it wouldn't also be amusing as all get-out to read the article (especially if there is a public one, and a private one for the donors that reads more like someone with a bad case of Tourette's syndrome) as Rabbit is, all joking aside, a true games journalist, which is very rare these days.

I agree with momgamer.

That's not to say that it wouldn't also be amusing as all get-out to read the article (especially if there is a public one, and a private one for the donors that reads more like someone with a bad case of Tourette's syndrome) as Rabbit is, all joking aside, a true games journalist, which is very rare these days.

rabbit wrote:

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

You certainly know how to encourage us. Or is this reversed reversed psychology?

Sparhawk wrote:
rabbit wrote:

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

You certainly know how to encourage us. Or is this reversed reversed psychology?

This way he can review Magical Unicorn Ponies 2: The Resparkeling while simultaneously reviewing a voice-to-text app.

HedgeWizard wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:
rabbit wrote:

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

You certainly know how to encourage us. Or is this reversed reversed psychology?

This way he can review Magical Unicorn Ponies 2: The Resparkeling while simultaneously reviewing a voice-to-text app.

After you do the fingers on one hand how do you get the others?

Alien13z wrote:

After you do the fingers on one hand how do you get the others?

Chewing.

Alien13z wrote:
HedgeWizard wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:
rabbit wrote:

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

You certainly know how to encourage us. Or is this reversed reversed psychology?

This way he can review Magical Unicorn Ponies 2: The Resparkeling while simultaneously reviewing a voice-to-text app.

After you do the fingers on one hand how do you get the others?

Rotary table saw? Thresher? Homemade guillotine? A really good friend?

rabbit wrote:

If you make me write about Everquest AND Secret of the Magic Crystal I may cut my fingers off so I can't write anymore.

Well count me in for $25 then.

If rabbit cuts his fingers off, be sure to check him in ASAP. I'll pitch in $25 so we can have them reattached.

That could be one of the stretch goals in the kickstarter.

Paying for an emergency first aid course for his wife so we can 'save' the fingers appropriately for the re-attachment.

I say send the fingers to people donating over $50? (limit 10)

demonbox wrote:
momgamer wrote:

He could interview my upstairs neighbor for that EQ one.

That's why I want to donate to this, though. It's not that I want to torture Julian. That's more of a nice perk. That pony game isn't that bad, particularly for it's intended audience. That audience is horrifically under-served in games media, despite it's ever-growing market share. There is a lot more here than meets the eye and I would love to see what he can do with it when he digs in and takes it seriously.

I completely agree that the interesting thing isn't just to torture Juilian, but a chance to look into a story that simply no one else is going to. Which is also why, as much as I'd love to read more on BioShock I'm far less interested in that story- it's been well trodden (not to say Julian couldn't bring something else out of it of course).

Can we set el bunny de la muerte onto a magazine we don't want to be around? I'd chip in for a chance that the Weekly Standard goes away. I'm guessing that might need to be the something about American exceptionalism rather than sparkle ponies though...

rabbit wrote:
Alien13z wrote:

After you do the fingers on one hand how do you get the others?

Chewing.

Table saws have amazing cutting powers. Plus they leave cool red stripes around the room.

Also, people can type with feet, and voice recognition too. You're not getting outta this one Rabbit.

mrtomaytohead wrote:
rabbit wrote:
Alien13z wrote:

After you do the fingers on one hand how do you get the others?

Chewing.

Table saws have amazing cutting powers. Plus they leave cool red stripes around the room.

Also, people can type with feet, and voice recognition too. You're not getting outta this one Rabbit. :twisted:

IMAGE(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_-Ep-IyPfGEE/TBZ159ZNOGI/AAAAAAAAA6g/vsI4lIxQRDc/s1600/3544-2.jpg)

Stretch Goal @ $1000, Julian gets to do a follow-up article on how it feels to play the game consistently for 3 months.

In for $50. Looking forward to when / how I can give my monies.

Grumpicus wrote:

Hi folks. I'm sorry.

No apology necessary. No-one knew how the set-up worked, and I don't think any of us want you getting in trouble with the IRS.

Thanks for the effort you went to, we all appreciate it!

Taharka, over to you. What's next?

How about we all just donate and send Certis an email with 'Pony Donation' as header? I am sure Certis knows how to add up.
If it reaches the goal, awesome. If not, at least we donated....

A plan?

Hi folks. I'm sorry.

I hate to have to make this post. Especially after having made a pledge to you all. Especially after having jumped through all the hoops to get my accounts created and verified. Especially after having made a pledge to you all. (Yes, I'm doubly sorry about that.)

I talked to my financial advisor and he recommended that I not go forward with the Kickstarter project due to the potential tax ramifications. You see, even though Amazon is highly unlikely to send me a 1099-K...

Amazon Payments will file Form 1099-K to report unadjusted annual gross sales information for people who meet both of the following thresholds in a calendar year:

• More than $20,000 in gross sales, and

• More than 200 transactions.

...the IRS will still technically view the contributions from you to me as income. If this ever became a point of contention, I'd then have to prove that I didn't keep the money for myself but instead sent it on to GWJ. The Paypal receipt print-out would probably suffice but if the numbers got high enough, it might get complicated. Ultimately, this combined with the fact that GWJ would be losing 10% of (y)our monies to Kickstarter + Amazon*, it's probably best if we punt the Kickstarter idea.

Once again, I'm very sorry to have led you all down this path into a dead end. It looks like Taharka already have plan B up and running but if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know.

*Edit: Just to be clear, I promised and intended to pay any of the fees so that 100% of your donations went to GWJ, but that meant that that was money that would go to Kickstart/Amazon instead of GWJ. I'd rather that money go to GWJ, so consider this a matching pledge. I'll add 5% to whatever the final total ends up being.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

No apology necessary. No-one knew how the set-up worked, and I don't think any of us want you getting in trouble with the IRS.

Thanks. As implied, the chance is slim on its own, but the letter of the law is that monies from any source are considered income and random audits are called "random" for a reason.

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Sparhawk wrote:

How about we all just donate and send Certis an email with 'Pony Donation' as header? I am sure Certis knows how to add up.

I don't think it works that way.

On page 4, Certis wrote:
Grumpicus wrote:

It would be so much easier if we could just tag our Paypal donation (@Certis: hint, hint). ;)

Dude, you started it. The send money to PayPal and then send one lump sum seemed like a fine plan to me.

Totally understandable Grumpicus.

If Certis prefers (for the spirit of the donation) to have a single payment, and there isn't a better idea out there, and folks are a little leery of donating via Taharka (no offense intended - NEWB!) then I am happy to solicit the ducats via Paypal or Wallet

We can use Taharka's Google pledge-o-matic form; and then you can send the funds via either method.

Also happy to just shove my ducats in Julian's jock directly while I stare intently into his eyes and mouth the words, "Sparkle ponies."

I'm open to running the Kickstarter based on previous experiences, and would be happy to risk the audit if the Kickstarter is the best way forward. I think simpler is generally better, however, so I like the Pony Donation email idea -- Certis, how can we best torment GWJ's writers?

Send Hedge your money (post your Paypal email Hedge!) and he can handle the rest. He's usually pretty smart. Taharka, you can pass along the $50 I sent you a while back

When you send Hedge money, note your forum name so we can track it after!

Sounds good