Honestly, Thoma$$$ is such a greedy bastard, it surprises me that he hasn't found more ways to keep the "ka-ching!" going.  I'm sure that more money is always a good thing for him.

[edit]  And dammit, I have a feeling I know where the trojans that popped up on my computer came from now.  That'll teach me to browse that site (and I was just going to see the kickable pirate crap).

Ah, now I was lucky because I grew up out in the countryside, far from neighbors.  You had to go to town to trick-or-treat.

First time I lived in town as an adult, I got trick-or-treaters.  I was dumb enough to leave my lights on (don't do that anymore).  In any case, I felt so damn dumb when they came to the door...I scrounged around my mom's house, looking for candy and found some cinnamon balls to give them.

I don't know how old that candy was (as my mom usually never eats it).  :oops:

You know, I am probably one of the only people in the world who wanted to celebrate Halloween (trick-or-treat, pranking, dressing up, the whole lot of it) but couldn't -- not because my family is religious and against the holiday, but because my dad said it was complete bullshit to expect people to buy candy for kids who weren't even their own.  :?

And yet, he never bothered with buying us candy on the day to ease the hurt.  :roll:

In a way, I ended up hating the holiday for a while as a little girl...only because of an asshat tradition at our school involving marching the costumed little kids into the older kids' classrooms to show off.  Of course, I never had a costume, so I'd get all sorts of "Who are you supposed to be, dork?" responses.  I'd ask the teachers to let me stay behind, and each year, they said no.  

...I need rum.  :cry:

Yeah, Exnem was one of them.  There's been a few.  The Civilization community had a couple pop up a while back, too, according to my in-law.  They were "kindly" showed the door.  

Wow...I had to see it for myself, and when I typed it in the location bar and hit enter -- presto!  Holy shit, the game is delayed "for quite some time" (according to Game Informer and a few other places), and yet Thomas has already sunk his greedy fat fingers into it.

Haha, if the thing about how CC will be handled is true (and I'm sure it is), I can't wait to see this hit the fan!  As Calalily said, they'll find some way around it, but as it's been pointed out by Neriana (and me a few posts up), the "normal" gamers won't tolerate this paysite shit.  Thomas and his cohorts can expect some sort of hell unleashed their way (as what happened with Oblivion when some complete asses tried to sell mods for the game).

I know that I tend to lurk around these forums (and most other Sims-related forums), but it's usually because everyone has already beaten me to the punch when it comes to my personal feelings and beliefs on this paysites subject, and I feel rather foolish posting a stupid "I agree!!1!" post.  :roll:

In any case, I'm speaking up right now because after reading through this thread, I find myself growing more and more aggravated with EA.  Everyone already knows how Will Wright/Maxis feels on this subject, but EA can't seem to settle on one solid thing, and now it's becoming apparent that they're giving everyone who emails a different flippant response.  Which is complete bullshit, considering this gives idiots like Greg, MIKEY!!!, and their ilk "ammo" to use in this "war".  The whole lot of this mess is EA's fault for trying to play all sides in a greedy attempt to keep customers placated.

I have put a lot of money -- and I do mean a LOT -- into EA's and Maxis' pockets over the years.  I suppose I'll be firing out a wonderfully polite letter asking them why I should continue to do so if they can't come up with simply ONE GODDAMN STANCE on this whole paysites issue.  If they don't wish to piss off fans by condemning paysites, then fine -- at least acknowledge in all correspondence in NICE BOLD LETTERS that EA/Maxis SUPPORTS filesharing of ANY files pertaining to The Sims 2.  Then we won't have to keep hearing about how PMBD is filled with thieves who belong in prison.  Paysites will continue to sell their shit, people will continue to fileshare everything, no one will be able to do anything about it, the ridiculousness will stop, and we'll all be one big lovely happy dysfunctional family again.  :lol:

I'd certainly love to see all paysites go up in flames because I'm an "old skool" gamer who is used to people making and sharing mods for free just to add to the gaming experience...an ideal that always escapes TS2, sadly (and a few other newer games).  I feel that all modders in it for the money should be laughed at by the collective gaming community.  Honestly, the concept of paying for a fanmade mod that may end of breaking the game...well, it's certainly not tolerated in other gaming communities.   However, I'm not that optimistic, nor am I naive; I realize that paysites have been around since TS1, and sadly, they'll probably continue onto TS3...unless EA finally does something about them then.

Just my two cents, and to let you know to expect an EA letter from me...if they give me a damn response, that is.  I'd also like to take this time to *wave* to armywife whom I've already met in another paysites thread.  

I agree with you there.  I saw that you're emailing Paypal about her screwing you over with your subscription.  I encourage you to keep trying because, heaven knows, someone needs to knock her down a few pegs.  Especially after she changed her disclaimer to read that everyone "donates to help her site step foward" instead of subscribing in order to get member privileges.  Now I may be wrong about this, but aren't donations usually any amount you can afford, and not a set monthly amount?  Maybe she needs to brush up on her English skills.

Heh, someone just invaded Deviant Art lately, going by the name of Peggy from China.  Art looks a little familiar, too (kind of same style as some of the blinky crap from the site).  Wonder if it's the same person.

http://peggyly.deviantart.com/