I'm totally grief stricken over this whole thing. The magazine loses money because I was a dumbass who accepted work too easily, we lose a possibly good client, and one more person will sulk in their pride thinking I did them wrong.
There has got to be a more sensible way to handle things in Bitcoin beyond these dumbass backyard politics.
Unfortunately you can not change how they think. Obviously they wish to make some stand on principle when they should realise the world doesn't always work out the way we would like it to.
You have made it clear the two services were being delivered separately, the Magazine does not want to accept an ad for a service ( linked to a web site or not), you couldn't deliver the website and offered a full refund, and the client/user was under prepared to do what they needed to get the web site up and running. It actually takes knowledge and time from both sides, and time often goes with money. As people tend to be cheap and not spend what it takes, they get disappointed.
On the plus side, that you care enough to make this conflict public an ask for opinions is good. However, you might still feel shitty about it for a while yet - then some other crap will land on you.
The occasional trolling is part of your user profile, and I'd be happy to call you a douche over a beer if I had the chance.