Alexander Macris, Appendum

I'd like to follow-up on yesterday's post. I've been hearing that perhaps James Portnow was in the wrong in a few places, namely in how he handled the sudden cash-overflow from supportive fans. The idea being that, since Extra Credits is featured on The Escapist, then logically they must be entitled to some of this outpouring of support.

What this fails to understand is that Allison Theus' arms are NOT the property of Alexander Macris, The Escapist and Themis Group. Macris has no actual legal stake in the Rockethub donation drive. He did not help in any way. He doesn't even pay these people! THEY cover the expenses, and forum rumblings I've heard suggest they may not be the only ones he's stiffing.

Demanding $60,000 from charity donations, meant to make sure one of your employees doesn't become an amputee is psychotic. There is no justifying that. You are not entitled to being paid by your slaves volunteers, you piece of shit! Alexander Macris is a gaping hole where a human should be.




I've been to a lot of games websites. Over the years I've seen some pretty reckless, greedy shit. I thought the low-point was Jeff Gerstmann being fired from Gamespot for giving an adequate review to a game that bought ad-space. But no one, working for any games website I can recall, has done anything this selfish and evil. James may not be blameless here, but he could have spent that money on a crack-team of puppy-stranglers, and his actions would not have been as cruel.

Look, I get that I can't really respect Dan, Allison and James by disrespecting Macris. I get that this isn't taking the high road, and a lot of other Escapist alumni are taking the "NO COMMENT" route. But at the same time, they seem to be giving the EC crew some vocal support, while saying absolutely nothing to defend Macris' actions. Keeping in mind these guys and gals might rely on The Escapist to pay the bills, so it isn't wise to badmouth a guy who's willing to resort to this kind of bullshit and also decides whether you get to stay employed.

But SOMEONE needs to say this. Fortunately, because I have no actual ties to The Escapist, I can say these things. And I honestly think Alexander Macris is too busy fucking a dog to care what I have to say, so here we are.

To those of you who are still working for Mr. Burns, know that you aren't cowards for this. Now is a bad time to stand up for your peers. You shouldn't have to risk putting yourselves and your families on the street just because you would absolutely be in the right for it. And the EC crew I'm sure will find a new and better place to call home.

I just hope you understand the kind of person you're working for. And that if the situation were reversed, Dan, Allison and James would absolutely stand up for you, at their own peril. They've shown this kind of selfless bravado in the past. Keep that in mind next week when you're uploading new content, and they aren't around to make your Thursdays a little brighter.

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~A.H.