It has nothing to do with a dissenting opinion. It is more akin to marching with a sign into a business saying you do not like something the company is doing, and then expect that they would not ask you to either get rid of the sign or leave. Again it is about behavior , not an opinion.
I would agree with that, however what happens when that person marching in is a paying customer, and has a group of friends who agree with what's on the sign, and are paying customers as well? Many companies will simply ignore such things, instead of coming out and crossing swords with them, which is what's been happening lately, and frankly, is a complete waste of your time Dale. Nobody else can create what you've made, or else they would have done it in the last 15 years you've been around, so any time you spend on your bbs system dealing with this stuff is a complete waste of valuable time IMO.
Even when you're right, sometimes it's better to just stand pat and do nothing, as opposed to coming out knife in hand. I know HTC has often said it's a case of being caught between a rock and a hard place, damned if they do, damned if they don't. I can understand how they feel that way, however in the case of a purely business perspective, would it not be better to come down on the side that doesn't get a bunch of customers, no matter what % of your business they are, angry and wound up over their fellow squadmates being banned from the bbs system over words, regardless of what they've said or who they've said it.
What would have happened if HT and SKuzzy never posted or moderated that original 12 hour rule thread at all? What would the net result be in terms of subscribers? It's pretty much down to this IMO - would potential new players look at that thread and think, great, I see no bad words or arguing going on, this game must be fantastic! - versus a few dozen people now talking in private forums or through PM's about how p/o'd they are about a few people being PNG'd, regardless if it was "deserved" or not. What was actually gained vs what has been lost, and could be lost?
I do know one thing as I first stated, just having this going on is a waste of HTC's time, and part of me wishes that other than the help section and a few other areas, the BBS would be just shut down, that or it just left to its own devices, without so much time and concern being poured into it by HTC. It's obvious from the posts here from HT that this issue has him p/o'd, and he's well within his right to be so, but where is that getting anyone? Sometimes customers, even the ones you think are wrong, no, especially those ones, have to be treated with kid gloves, and be told what they want to hear, even if you don't want to say it. It's just a different school of thought from what I've observed vis a vis bbs interaction between HTC and a number of customers over the years. I do know one thing - in the beginning years this never happened, not like it is happening now, I saw few if any customers leave over having bent feelings due to bbs bannings and suspensions. Why is that, especially when the game cost 2x what it does now, and 3x for people outside the USA at the time due to the dollar?
There is a popular sentiment that it's HTC's house, they should be respected at all times, and anyone who doesn't abide by this should be shown the door. This is an easy policy to agree with when you don't count on those players, even the ones being "disrespectful", to provide you with revenue. If you have a customer call you every name in the book, tell you your product sucks, start other websites about you, go on Facebook ranting - is that a bad thing? Any advertising, good or bad, is a + in the win column for any company, as they are out there talking about you, and most people make up their own minds regardless of what they read. When you take action against those customers, or even potential customers, in the form of punishments and PNG's from your company's website, all that's happened is that bonus you're getting has just been tossed out the window, as now the opposite happens. People walk away, instead of towards you.
Just my opinion, like Peppr, I've been around too long to go anywhere now, and what's keeping me here is I know it in my bones that the next thing coming will be something special, and will make me happy the way the first time I came here did, when Soulyss told me about it when we were talking Warbirds in another game 15 years ago. IMO any time wasted on BBS trivium is making this date further into the future, and I personally don't want to wait any longer than is necessary.
