Gankers love spinning a good story just as much as they love blasting ships out of the sky, and this past week was full of interesting tales. On Friday, February 17, news broke on Reddit that famed multiboxing ganker Jason Kusion had absconded from CODE. with the contents of the corporation hangers. Evepraisals produced by Globby and Jason himself estimated the theft at 500 billion ISK, including most of their stockpiled loot, ships and fittings. The following day, another Reddit post surfaced, this time providing proof that Jason had, in his theft, also targeted MiniLuv’s Burn Jita stash, 17,000 coercers strong. MiniLuv reported internally that Burn Jita would have to be delayed, but stayed relatively quiet.
As confusion grew, posts continued to swirl around Reddit: James 315 was retiring; the alliance would be sold; a buyer was found and will turn it into a Mining corporation; the buyer was apparently scammed for 80 billion ISK. As fact and fiction swirled, numerous claims circulated about the validity of any of these stories.
This story took on a life of its own, spiraling out of control with so many ruses and rumors that it’s hard to keep track of them all but as best we can tell, here’s what actually happened:
Noted CODE. and Miniluv ganker Jayson Kusion found that he needed his own corp to ease the pain of logistics. Knowing that leaving TCE would likely get the rumor mill started anyway, he spoke with Globby, and they hatched a plan to “rob” CODE.
A few doctored screenshots of ill-gotten goods, and an evepraisal of some miniluv loot cans later, the story was making the rounds on Reddit, posted by none other than infamous ganker Globby himself. This proved highly convincing, as gankers are no strangers to robbery and scamming. Both CODE. and MiniLuv have been robbed in the past.
Seeing an opportunity, Miniluv FC Logical Fallacy, started seeding rumors that the Ministry was also affected by this, first on Reddit and then on Tweetfleet and Something Awful. The following Saturday, when Miniluv Director Boneytooth Thompkins ISK-Chip woke up to the flurry of PMs, he decided to fabricate some logs, stage some screenshots and leak a pretty convincing post to Reddit.
It just so happened that Jayson had been helping with the production of ships for Burn Jita, so one of those screenshots was quite easy to fabricate, Boneytooth traded Jason the modules for the ships, and Jason used the combined stacks of Coercers and modules to make a screenshot of all the Burn Jita supplies he “stole” in order to throw more fuel on the Reddit fire.
With the logs, the screenshots, leaks posted, and numerous posts on Facebook gaining traction, Burn Jita was effectively “delayed” on account of not having any ships to burn with, a rumor echoing back to 2015 when Burn Amarr was abruptly cancelled. As all the scheme escalated, Boneytooth quietly added a message to the Burn Jita thread on the GSF forums, stating simply “Rumors of our theft have been exaggerated”.
Not to be outdone, amidst all this chaos, the announcement of CODE. and Minerbumping.com’s impending shutdown. was spread by multiple respected CODE. members. Finally, yet another post that the alliance was “sold” to a buyer surfaced – as of this writing we’re still not sure if that was a scam or yet another ruse.
INN reached out to Boneytooth, Jayson Kusion, and The Conference Elite’s CEO Mildron Klinker for comment prior to publication of this story:
“You know, it kind of took on a life of its own? One day Globby and Jayson are talking about hard ruse-cruisin’ Reddit with another CODE. theft, the next day we’re stacking ruses on ruses on ruses with fabricated screenshots and logs. The best was the Goons on SA believing it and Pooki Bear asking me if MiniLuv was okay or if we really got robbed.” -Boneytooth
“At this point, the line of what’s ruse and what’s real is very blurred. I know what MiniLuv did, and I know what Jason did, but I’m not sure if CODE. really got sold, or if the guy really got scammed or if the guy wasn’t in on it in the first place. You see, contrary to popular belief, CODE. is not Goons, and MiniLuv is not CODE. But you know MiniLuv brings the motherfuckin’ ruckus.” -Boneytooth
“I never expected this would work out so great that even CODE. members started to believe we’ve lost alot of equipment and isk. People were willing to donate ISK, equipment and ships, just to keep CODE. alive. I can only say, support CODE. by buying shares and ofcourse a permit. Praise James 315! I wish all Miniluv and CODE. members a great weekend. AG will of course fail again daily!” – Mildron Klinker
And in what is becoming a fine Miniluv tradition, right on the heels of “cancellation”, Burn Jita 4 Kids begins today, running through downtime Monday morning.
Boneytooth Thompkins Isk-Chip and Jayson Kusion provided assistance in compiling and verifying this story.
