http://i51.tinypic.com/vdiyhv.jpg

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Hate to see others succeed?!? I guess you didn't hear, Middle Men was a colossal failure.

If you gave a fuck about the adult industry and saw what Chris Mallick tried to portray the adult industry as, you would be glad few people saw his movie too.

I have to admit that I was certainly not expecting to see the (not in the movie) trailer which appeared on the Manwin network of tube sites, with "more traffic than God", prior to the release (and after the release) of Middle Men.

I actually thought that such 24/7 exposure on free (some would say, built upon stolen content) porn sites, would have people going to the theater in droves. I'm pretty sure that Chris Mallick (ePassporte) and Fabian Thylmann (Manwin) sure thought such marketing would produce a box office hit as well. Wrong (again)...

To be honest, I was surprised that with the talented cast, writers, and director whom worked on the project, that Middle Men sill turned out to be such a huge box office flop.

However, after paying to see the movie, what I was most disappointed with is that Mallick claimed that the movie was based upon a true story, and then proceeded to falsely imply (among other nefarious things) that his partners were involved with, and ultimately jailed for, their involvement in child porn (in addition to falsely suggesting that he had left the adult biz to reunite with his wife - since as we know, but I doubt that most people who viewed his movie are aware about, he never left the industry, and he and his wife divorced - so much for the happy Hollywood ending in his movie).

What kind of message does suggesting that the legit adult industry is involved with child porn send to mainstream audiences about our industry (assuming you are even in the industry)?

Chris Mallick should be ashamed of himself for trying to profit from perpetuating such negative stereotypes and lies about the adult industry which he has made a lucrative living off of.

Maybe if Chris Mallick wasn't so busy trying to be a Hollywood big shot with the money that he made from adult, and instead tended better to his ePassporte business, many in the adult industry who trusted him and ePassporte wouldn't be in the dire straits that they find themselves in at this present time.

If you viewed Middle Men and saw anything positive about the adult industry in it, please share it with us. The bottom line is that Chris Mallick tried to profit from a movie that denigrated the industry which made him rich.

Although I am not involved with ePassporte in any way whatsoever, I lost over $30k when iBill lied and screwed over the industry, and it took me awhile to recover, so I do not like to see others have to go through what I went through. :2 cents:

With all that said, I genuinely hope that this newest ePassporte disaster is resolved in a positive way for all of the honest hard-working people in this industry - I truly do like to see honest people succeed. :)

ADG

Thanks :)!

They came out with the wallet to help protect your account against fraud. I've used it, I think it's great, and it's too bad for those that left a lot of money in the visa portion. I hope al is well soon.

Very well said Steve, as we can all see, Visa is the problem right now and I'm sure Chris and the team are doing everything possible to find a cure.

I know how "Middle Men" did, I am saying you revel in it.

There isn't a single movie out there that doesn't stereotype. I guess the producers of Wall Street should be ashamed for trying to profit from negative stereotypes about wall street, the producers of Point Break should be ashamed for trying to profit from negative stereotypes about surfers, the producers of... come on.

There. The reason for all your long winded Middle Men posts. He tried to make it big. It bothers you.
Keep trying to convince yourself otherwise :thumbsup

all will be fine

^^^ Half assed responses

dang, the adg dude posting one of my chops! and i thought he had it in for me.

I think they are going to fix it as well.

Ofcourse they fix it, i hope..... got some funds there...

hey, amp, could you send me another email with your shipping addy? sending out free product, finally!

Steve brought up some great points. For those who don't know or don't have access to something like Lexus Nexus...

Chris had some troubles in the past. What night club owner doesn't? During those struggles he learned a TON about business. He joined Epoch (then Paycom) to fix their train wreck. He did. He put them on a very solid footing and taught them a lot about business. They learned. One of the things they learned is that it is not only OK to delegate some authority so you can concentrate on what is important, it is imperative that you do!

When he left Epoch it was because of a lot of issues. First and foremost was the fact that he had created a side job for himself that needed his full attention (ePassporte).

Chris is very smart. What makes him so fucking smart is the fact that he continuously learns every day. He makes mistakes like everyone else. His movie has currently turned out to be a personal mistake. Business wise he is much more solid. Going back to the movie, who among us hasn't done something like, buy an $800 remote control helicopter and then crash it on your first day of finding out that maybe you should have taken the training course...? That is one of my personal mistakes... Chris has more money to make mistakes with and the fact that he could bankroll that kind of production should tell you that you simply are not in his league and therefor should not talk shit.

Carry on.

I cheer up for Chris :)

I would be lying if I said I wasnt nervous but I think they will get it figured out...and I will use them again

Visa is the problem? hunh? Seriously, you think Visa just made some "ut oh" mistake or some kind of missjudgment? Epass and St Kitts and all other players involved did nothing wrong, Visa just yanked this because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning.

While we all might not like Visa's rules. We either play by them or not use them. Since not using them is an option we haven't been able to figure out, we are at their mercy.

People can "freak out" and people can have wishful thinking, in the next couple days you will find out for sure what is going on and it will be it is what it is. Everyone handles stress of not getting paid and potentially losing lots of money differently.

I agree with everything you said except the movie wasn't a personal hobby. It sounds very much like it was a business investment. I am pretty sure all parties involved where doing it to make a profit.

But I can tell you first hand when you are very successful in one business you tend to get cocky and think you can be successful in other businesses that you don't know as much about or have a lot of experience with. It's happened to me and many other people.

Good post steve ... I agree 100%

Chris Mallick is a super stand up guy and a very close personal friend of mine. I've spent a lot of time with the man and he is one of the smartest people I've ever met. And he is by far the most sincere, genuine, honest and generous person I've ever met. Im proud to call him one of my best friends. He will do everything he can to make everything right for everyone IMHO. Middlemen might have not done so well, but he will learn from this and come back stronger than ever. :2 cents:

qft ....

Dude, what? He NEVER said the movie was real, just BASED on true events. The true events are him salvaging an adult billing company, and making a lot of money from that.

I thought the movie Middle Men was EXCELLENT and didn't in any way negatively portray or impact the adult industry as a whole.

If you have not had a couple of failures along with the wins then you probably have not tried enough so the movie is just that....a failure, or is it. You may know the box office but you, like me, probably dont know the accounting including tax. I stopped assuming I know others business a long time ago.

I have a couple of Epassporte business accounts and I was lucky in that I paid studios and had affiliate money there in the Ewallet and having it wired out. Personal Epass accounts were for ATM withdrawal and we have some cash frozen there but I doubt it is lost (it is low 5 figures if that matters). From where I sit it looks like too many visa cards were program issued and without ID held and these accounts have too much cash going through them. I checked messages and some high volume personal accounts we have received requests for ID and utility bill and we have sent those. Check your messages.

I dont know Chris but people I do know say he is one of the smarter guys in the business and that he will work through this. There was no blueprint for setting Epassporte up and no guidelines but he did it and it works...yes WORKS. If it was easy there would be 47 Epassporte clones and it would be a real mess.

I lived in Asia for 12 years..... I know how reliant many are on Epass... especially those outside the US and I feel sorry for them and hope they can sort a Plan B until the issue resolved. I doubt Epass are finished...... far from it.

LOLZ!!

Trust but verify.

well, I will wait to see how the events develops, to me Epass is really convenient and I'd hate to see it gone. To be honest, I'm 99% sure on how will it end, but for now I'll keep my mouth shut on most of it and what do I think it happened.

I'll just say that it doesn't help Epass cause that its official statement is a bunch of lies, I was a manager for banks AND for VISA and I know what they said is pure bullshit, it simply doesn't work that way.

I just called a former fellow at VISA with a very high position and asked if there were changes on VISA policies and if he had any info on this. He answered me today that nothing changed and that even though he doesn't have any info on this specific subject, he told me all the possible scenarios where this could happen (which confirmed what I thought).

Anyway, to make it short and sweet, despite ONLY 1 OF THOSE SCENARIOS (which is the worst possible) it all ends the same: Even if VISA unplugs a company, the money should be at the bank and it would be possible to withdraw it via wire or any kind of bank transfer, which, as we all know, is impossible. Now, if that ONLY POSSIBLE SCENARIO is true and VISA kept the money (believe me, highly unlikely, difficult and it doesn't happen from one day to the other), kiss your money goodbye and good luck to all people involved with Epass. And this is not "GFY mob" mood, just plain objective facts on how VISA REALLY WORKS :2 cents:

Too bad you're a douhe.

I belive in ePass too

IF the cards were issued as reloadable prepaid cards the money would be with Visa
If the cards were issued without sufficient ID and over $1000 passed through that may trigger a problem
If there are the hundreds of thousands of cards then it is a big problem

Sorry, dont think you have a clue

OK buddy, you know better than VISA top guys, great for you :thumbsup

Since SIPS and interbank clearing seems to be a total mystery for you, I won't go further on the subject (just in case, VISA works on CHIPS and OTC regarding DEBIT cards). Therefore, all transactions made between VISA and any bank using their brand have at least 12 hours clearing (usually 24 hours) and depending on the country it can go up to 72 hours. Thus, VISA only keeps a nominal reserve and handles all via CHIPS, doing otherwise would require a very complicated legal process. That process only happens with a very justified reason, requires permission from the countries national banks or Federal Reserve (if in US) and there's where I won't go further.

But even assuming what you're saying is right, what Epassporte said is still a lie, so really don't see your point other than playing the "oh I'm so smart" card

but hey, you do whatever you want, don't let people tell you otherwise :thumbsup

I am not sure listening to you will help anyone and doing what I want seems to work.... but hey, you keep scaring people and have fun.

I agree 100% to Chris is a guy with pride and integrity. if anyone can make it right he can:thumbsup

Double Bump

scaring of what? believe me nobody here has any control on the situation, at least not for now, other than sitting and waiting there's no much you can do. There's a lot of misinformation these days and people is worried, with good reasons. I'm just saying that Epassporte official statement is full of lies. Does it mean Epass is dead? Not necessarily, maybe they can solve the issues behind the REAL story, and I certainly hope so, as I said, it's a really convenient service for me and thousands of webmasters.

However, if the VISA story is true, then Epassporte is absolutely dead, and the events that may unfold out of this won't be nice for many people.

So, what "scary" story do you want to believe?

Anyway, I think this board is filled with many adult grown ups that could use some information rather than believe in Santa Claus. To each its own :2 cents:

You managed a bank?..... really

Thanks for reminding me about another $800 i wasted :(
Open the box, put the batteries in. Hrmm, a simulator program that works with the remote control on the computer...naw, i don't need this. 15-20 seconds later the helicopter is in pieces.

Never said I managed a bank, that's your problem, you don't have a clue and have serious problems at understanding even simple concepts. I said I WAS MANAGER FOR CITIBANK AND DEUTSCHE BANK, and I was marketing manager for Credit Card Channel, not financial, which is not a secret for several people in this board. Even then, I've very good relations with my former fellows at the financial area. To the very least, I know what is implied in working with VISA, something you already shown have no idea of.

So you say I'm saying bullshit? why don't you find someone from VISA and ask if what I'm saying is true or false, or simply ask what are the conditions for financing on VISA branded products? It's as easy as that, you don't need to believe me or my friends, just find out by yourself, it's not like VISA managers are hard to find, any important city in the world will have a couple to the very least

Now, let's be clear, at first I thought you were really interested in the outcome of this, now I'm starting to think you're just posting on an agenda. I simply can't believe that ANY single person in the world would prefer to have no information at all on their business and/or money, and much less because they'd be scared. Sorry, but I can't believe it, so either paid, either because you're a friend or whatever kind of association, you're posting on an agenda, and what a coincidence, you decided to start post on Epassporte issues just to back up Chris Malick.

so yes, Peter, "really"

Don't try to land, or take off with one of the mini's from a girlfriends head either... I've discovered that landing typically goes smooth... take offs, not so much. :helpme

The politics and bro-dum in this thread are heavy.

OK...so you are not a bank manager, never were and relying on what you claim other people have told you....got it...... you are obviously on top of things. I dont see non specific scare mongering from un named visa reps about a case they have no knowledge of has any point to it. You obviously do...lets see how this plays out shall we....

True dat! It's like bro-back mountain in some of the posts about this most recent ePassporte / ePass debacle...

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5_LOxjnk9dM/0.jpg

I predict major brogasms this week, if/when Chris Mallick straightens out this several days old mess...and even if he doesn't. :winkwink: :party-smi :1orglaugh

ADG

Nice thread, Steve. He really did make it right. If by makign it right you mean fucking all of us.

Don't forget to thank his friends like KarupLou who supposedly was getting info about other users wires the whole time Chris was too busy to talk to us.

Hope you all choke in your own puke.