I've been reading a good bit of this and I don't have much I can add.
I think though one point that seems to me that should have been considered is that if you have a limited amount of time, words, and space for a piece in a magazine, then it seems that the topic you cover should be one that is small enough that it can be covered well in that space.
The idea to have a section that informs people about a game series seems pretty cool to me. Though if it is a small space them maybe covering a smaller series would be better. Maybe MS was not the best choice for the limited space.
Also I've not gotten to read the article, however from what I have gathered here I should think the idea was it is to be more for entertainment than information. I guess that is how it is with game magazines though these days where there are so many free reviews and information sites about every game out there. One has to write something and make it interesting so having someone with a harsh opinion on something does tend to catch attention.
If the saying is true that there is no such thing as bad publicity, well then I guess all of this may have caused some people to want to go out and get a copy of the magazine, though it may well have caused some people to care less about it as well. Who can say.
As far as what has been going on here. I am a bit confused I guess.
So After reading in a magazine the work of this "Stu" fellow where he gives his opinion about some gameness, one of our members did not much care for what he had read. That member then posted a review of the work and it was rather critical but that was his opinion.
Members on the boards here read the post and gave their thoughts on the matter.
In the normal world that is usually the end of such things.
However, in this case something strange and unusual happened, and this is what throws me off a bit. Call me crazy but I don't quite get it.
This "Stu" fellow reads what our members wrote and decides he does not like their opinion, much in the same way one of our members decided he did not like the opinion given in the magazine article he had read. Mr. "Stu" takes offense to this and then formulates a response and posts it on the boards here.
Now I can understand where he is comming from to a point. I try to take pride in my work. I care about the things I put my effort in and it feels good when the things I do are well recieved, just as it can hurt a bit when they are not. I don't like to fail or fall short of my goal, let people down, or make mistakes. I think that is how most normal and good willed people are. With that being said, I know that I can not please everyone. I try to please the people who are imporntant to me, such as family, friends, customers, and my boss. Though beyond that, when it gets to people I don't know, have not met and may never meet it does become less imporntant. Because everyone has their own opinion of things, I know I can not please everyone and that it is foolish to try. So when people who are imporntant to me are critical of my work, I tend to try and reflect on the matter and see if I was really wrong or not and do what is needed. It may hurt my feelings but, that is a part of life and I get over it. When people I don't know or really care all that much about, (beyond the respect one should have for others) are critical of my work, I honestly don't care much at all.
So If someone on a message board I never met, am not a regular member of, and know nothing about had something harsh, critical, hatefull, or insulting to say about me. I honestly think that after finding out about it, I may be a LITTLE upset and then there would be a small moment where I would be curious as to what the hell it was all about. I may look into it even to see if there is some substance to what they have to say. Though really, and honestly, I can't imagine that I would actually care all that much about it. I would just go on with my life, because what people talk about on some little message board does not really have much if any impact on my quality of life. For the most part it is all just opinions that do not matter to me and this is where I am puzzled by our "Stu" fellow, not that he came here, not that he had something to say in his defense, but because why did our little board even matter to him?
Someone somewhere in another part of the world had something bad to say about something he had done. Someone A thousand miles away had an opinion on his work that was negative and voiced it to people on a message board that he does not frequent or (to the best of my knowledge) even care about, and he took offense to that, to the point where he came here and posted such things. It really does not make any type of sense to me. It does not seem like the workings of a rational or professional mind.
Now mind you that is not what is really upsetting about this whole affair.
It is not so much that he came here and posted but what he posted.
This forum is a community, though I admit it may not be much of one at times but still at least to me it is. That being to some degree, I care about the people here and am interested enough in the goings on here to read their posts and hear their opinions and conduct business with them. I care about my standing in the community here and what goes on here as well. It may only be a web forum, I may not have been here all that long, but none the less I am a part of it and proud of that fact.
Now to Mr "Stu." with your very first post you've come here and addressed me, a person you do not know, who knows nothing of you, who has never read your work, and has never had an opinion of you or your work, as an "Idiot and a dull obsessive nerd" and I say this was directed at me because I am a member of this community and I took the time to read what you had to say here in our community rather than if I were an outsider comming to peek in and see what was going on. I'm not sure what I've done to give you such an opinion of me and under nomral conditions I would not care, however what you have done here is much the same as comming into my house and taking a shit on my floor. Such a thing under normal conditions would not sit well with me. I am offended, but not to such an extent that I would go and make a huge name calling fuss about it. Being a normal person I understand that is quit pointless to get into an argument with people on line about things like name calling, still though I must say that your original post was in very poor taste.
Now I believe there was some form of tiny appology for such language, but It was meaningless and unheartfelt. I only say that because of the tone carried through the later posts, now I can understand it could be that way and one could be bitter due to the prodding that was being given by members here, but once again, comming into someones home and making a stink tends to get people upset.
Yet still, of all things this is not the worst or hardest to understand.
When I read through the posts made by the user named strider. I find myself even more confused.
I find it odd that as a member of the magazine in question would have anything to do with this argument. The idea to come here and clear things up I believe to have been a good honest one but really I don't think it was for the best. (Mind you this is just my opinion) To then stand by a person as he continues to stir up a fuss in a place where nothing should matter that much to him also seems a bad decision.
The magizine in question is an entertainment. It is not one I could get here where I am without a subscription. None of the local places carry it, so I've not gotten to see it. However because it is about retro games and such, I would be interested in reading it. If one were around I would be happy to pick it up and look through it. That being said if it was something I liked then I may subscribe to it. I get a few magazines from time to time, and it is fun to get things in my mail box. It gives me something to look forward to.
However, because of the way Stuart has acted on this forum I have no desire to read his work. I would have no desire to subscribe to a magazine that featured his work as that would be paying for content that I did not want. Much the same as not wanting to see a movie if you don't care for an actor or director. Though he may not be directley connected to the magazine, by comming here to support him it in a way does. I'm not saying I would have ever been a subscriber, but I am saying that I've no reason now to become one. That may not mean much as I am just one person, but chances are there are more that feel the same as myself.
Does and will it make a hill of beans difference, I don't think so.
When comments were made here by Darran, that connected Stuart to the magazine, and that made his rant here seem to go from being an angry venting, to unprofessional actions as a indirect party of the publication. Much the same way that in some lines of work one can have conduct unbecomming of their position in their outside of work hours and it have an effect on their position.
I agree that this is not the proper place for Darran or anyone else envolved on the magazine end to address any issue with his behaviour here, for the same reasons that it is not a place to explain his actions, stance, or approve of his work. That become unprofessional. As the opinion of a few people here, have little to more than likely no effect on the magazine, there is no reason for anone there to become involved, other than to aleinate, current and potential readers.
So would the proper response to all this be for me to go to Stuart's web fourm or the magazine's if they have one, and address everyone as idiots and nerds and then continue to be hateful and rude for a day or two?
How would the members of said forums take to such?
If I were trying to sell a product that you don't NEED. If I came into your home, insulted you, acted rude and hateful, would you buy from me?
I know Stuart is not selling the product, but it is his work that makes up part of the body of what is being sold, and in that sense one would be buying his product, as well as the product of others in one handsome package.
So I ask...
What was there to gain by this?
That is what does not make any sense to me.
).