Thanks to everyone who participated in this bet. It was a great social experiment for me to find out who my true friends were, and also to entertain the community (which is my true purpose on these forums and always will be). Unfortunately, it looks like I lost the bet. This means I'll need to pay out exactly as described in my original thread OP.

Many of the people betting were very careful to point out that others were ignorant and foolish to invest their money into Pirate without doing due diligence beforehand, so far as to call them shills, suckers, etc. This leads me to believe that the individuals betting in my bet are very wise with their money and would only bet if they carefully read and understood the rules of the bet. For this reason, I am confident that the very wise individuals betting in this thread will be satisfied with the very literal interpretation of my thread.

I will begin paying for my losses as outlined in the following rule:


I'll begin processing the payouts for each of the 112 betters in this spreadsheet immediately: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajtx05YrHtIydFVHcGxLOExTbnhqajJLZmlSZUNtM3c&pli=1#gid=0

Please make sure to following along for your own record keeping purposes. I will update this thread with each payment as well. Thanks again!

To hell with your magazine.

What difference would my bet make to your magazine? I must be missing something.

For the record, the reason we don't generally see this kind of trickery with contracts is that the courts take an exceedingly dim view of it. They do not interpret them in the way that Matthew is trying to do. Ever.

First honest thing you have said in a long time.  You are missing it.  The reality is as an owner and senior editor of the magazine your personal actions DO reflect on the magazine.  People can't trust you (that is obvious) so why should they trust a company who trusts you.  Either the company is equally illreputable or has horrible judgement.  That has to factor in to the decision to do business (subscriptions, advertising, partnerships). 

Our company was considering advertising but we won't not until you are off the payroll.  Simply too much of a risk.  Your personality and low moral standards are a business risk.  You are the senior editor.  Can we trust your judgement not to defame our company in the event your personal feeling get hurt?  Can we trust the magazine to take a deposit for advertising over the next 6 months and then just walk away? 

The magazine is more than just you but while you remain a part of it you are dead weight and a liability.

Your personality and low moral standards are a business risk.  You are the senior editor.

I paid the bet already as described in my thread.

On top of that, are you saying if I wouldn't have made this bet, everyone would magically have subscribed?

I look forward to more accusations and butthurt, but it's pretty late here. Let the trolling begin! I have a big day of work tomorrow in various companies that no one even knows I'm involved in apparently. ROFL.