Are threads disappearing from the forums?

[Korlithiel]

To me the posting style of Phoenix Down: Azure comes off like the trolls on GameFAQs. They insult the product, but while doing so they attempt to appeal to other users to add validity to their post.


I'm not so certain his/her complaints aren't valid, as I've had issues with a number of Pandoras. Then again, I've kept my discussion to inside the appropriate threads and only on the occasion where people are discussing issues with their units do I mention the issues I've come across and attempt to note how pleased I've been with the product overall.


breakpots, I used to browse the PSP forums before finally migrating to GameFAQs (easier on the eyes was the initial reason, eventually the slightly better moderation system and for a long while the overall better discussions since they weren't so strictly kept in one department). A few trolls aside, it was always a pleasent vist to the forums and aside from people wanting to mod their systems (hardware or software) it was very rare for me to end up having to help people with repairs, so the quality came off as top-notch.


And to the thread in general, while I can't fully agree to thread deletions in general I can understand it to a fair extent. Ed has done his best to explain his understanding of the situation, and while he basically wasn't involved I am grateful for his thoughts and Craig's. I'm still a fairly content consumer, though curious how Craig deleted the thread if he no longer has admin powers.

 

[ZXDunny]

I'm [...] curious how Craig deleted the thread if he no longer has admin powers.

This is the problem right here. AFAIR Craig deliberately removed himself from the moderator/admin pool as a gesture of good faith to the nascent community that was growing here. Now we find that he's still got the power, just not the identification. This is very, very worrying (though not terribly surprising given his past behaviour).


I suspect that if Craig isn't more careful, people might head back to GP32X (or just abandon these boards for those of us that read both).


D.

 

[ibisum]

Every single PR disaster that Craig has to deal with on these forums is a direct result of him not dealing with Quality Control when he should have: before the product was put in the box and sent to the customer.


Draconian measures like deleting unsavoury threads is only necessary because the Quality job wasn't done in the first place. Customers who receive faulty products are always going to ruin your company PR (the reason for the thread deletion) because, frankly, a poor-quality product is the worst possible PR you can produce.


Instead of worrying about 'caustic content on the boards', you should be worrying about missing screws, dead keys, faulty batteries, pubic hairs and other stray content that finds its way into the customers hands, Craig ..

 

[TitanUranus]

Well, clearly Pandora could never work without Craig, but yet again we see here another PR disaster and the ensuing shitstorm.


Do I understand why he deleted it? Sure.


Do I understand why he still has the power to delete it? Absolutely not.


For all his efforts and value, if I were the other members of the team responsible for producing it, I'd long ago have tried to keep him working quietly in the background - where he excels and his talents can best serve the project. Now I'm not saying he shouldn't be allowed to post, that would be ridiculous - like it's ridiculous to ban any poster unless he says something borderline illegal.


If you'd just let the Azure have his say, plenty of fanboys and more impartial defenders would have slated him and tipped the public perception in OP's favour. Instead you've dented confidence about QA and you look like you're covering stuff up. And doing it with naive incompetence. This has and will now continue, almost certainly to lose customers. I'd sincerely recommend you make an apology, and make a show of good faith by offering to replace the unit in question one final time. Otherwise, you're going to lose the backing of many people you rely on for support.


Also, do something like this again, and I'd personally urge a boycott of the official forums in favour of gp32x. It's totally against the spirit of the company and utterly detrimental to needlessly curb the voice of a customer. You can still make a u-turn - and a show of humility could seriously repair some of the damage. Otherwise you'll continue to accumulate difficulties from incidents like this.

 

[Exophase]

breakpots, I used to browse the PSP forums before finally migrating to GameFAQs (easier on the eyes was the initial reason, eventually the slightly better moderation system and for a long while the overall better discussions since they weren't so strictly kept in one department). A few trolls aside, it was always a pleasent vist to the forums and aside from people wanting to mod their systems (hardware or software) it was very rare for me to end up having to help people with repairs, so the quality came off as top-notch.

Oh hey, I knew your username was familiar. I honestly can't remember if you were one of the people I got along with or didn't. Remember that one kid who pretended to have a Saturn emulator done and it took us forever to get him to admit he was lying?


Good times. Well, not really ;p I take it from your post that those boards got less terrible in time.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

http://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/03/06/2142233/Disarm-Internet-Trolls-Gently

 

[Gerix]

Where are we moving this time? I'm just kidding! Please don't ban me...

 

[Trip]

Just realised that I never even bothered to post my thoughts on the thread deletions. As I've been saying over the last couple of months "It's the classic example of the end justifying the means".


You want something (even some thing that everyone agrees is a good thing) too desperately and so you start eliminating obstacles to your success.


Then in order to keep going, you've got to harden yourself by doing more and more things that are morally dubious or at odds with your core beliefs of what are right and wrong.


Sooner or later it comes to the point where you make the goal so important that you end up forgetting why you were doing it in the first place and you don't realise how much your prior actions have had a negative impact on what you originally set out to do.


This I believe has been the big down side to the project and what could ultimately ruin it. I see the devs doing things now that they wouldn't have ever thought about at the beginning of the project. I also see people too scared of not getting their Pandora letting stuff slide that they would usually be up in arms about with any other company. Deleting negative threads is not a common practice with other companies at all and shouldn't be shrugged off.


A simple apology could go a long way to helping this project move along a lot more smoothly. Ignoring it on the other hand could have a very damaging effect on the whole project.

 

[Zucadragon]

Just realised that I never even bothered to post my thoughts on the thread deletions. As I've been saying over the last couple of months "It's the classic example of the end justifying the means".


You want something (even some thing that everyone agrees is a good thing) too desperately and so you start eliminating obstacles to your success.


Then in order to keep going, you've got to harden yourself by doing more and more things that are morally dubious or at odds with your core beliefs of what are right and wrong.


Sooner or later it comes to the point where you make the goal so important that you end up forgetting why you were doing it in the first place and you don't realise how much your prior actions have had a negative impact on what you originally set out to do.


This I believe has been the big down side to the project and what could ultimately ruin it. I see the devs doing things now that they wouldn't have ever thought about at the beginning of the project. I also see people too scared of not getting their Pandora letting stuff slide that they would usually be up in arms about with any other company. Deleting negative threads is not a common practice with other companies at all and shouldn't be shrugged off.


A simple apology could go a long way to helping this project move along a lot more smoothly. Ignoring it on the other hand could have a very damaging effect on the whole project.

Now, I don't look at it as bleakly as this guy, a lot of companies have a closed circuit kind of tech support thing going on. Somethings broke, you contact company, company contacts you, that's the whole loop. The idea of an open forum where you can post about your misery about a product is very very uncommon.


Though that doesn't mean I think deleting a thread is a good idea, I would have much rather seen craig explain what he did in this thread, and locking it. The issue with that customer is resolved, even if it's a slightly jagged resolution. To keep it alive on the forums where "Everyone" can add their opinion, is simply too time consuming if you don't have an actual person (or group of people) that handle complaints.


It's like telling mister cookie factory production guy that he needs to work faster, BUT he also needs to be in a meeting at the same time. He's not allowed to drop any of those two, so he ends up frustrated because there is only one solution in that scenario.

 

[palmertech]

Removing threads in an official board that let your product shine in a bad light is normal - that's probably why most companies like Sony, etc. don't HAVE official boards.

Actually, they do have official boards. http://community.us.playstation.com/index.jspa


They do not delete threads about defects in their products, either.

 

[Trip]

They do not delete threads about defects in their products, either.

Apple did... but then they got screwed for it :lol:

 

[moxie]

Mm. Me no like. I can understand the frustration, but it needs to be dealt with better than this.

 

[MarioPandio]

Just realised that I never even bothered to post my thoughts on the thread deletions. As I've been saying over the last couple of months "It's the classic example of the end justifying the means".


[snip]


A simple apology could go a long way to helping this project move along a lot more smoothly. Ignoring it on the other hand could have a very damaging effect on the whole project.

Though that doesn't mean I think deleting a thread is a good idea, I would have much rather seen craig explain what he did in this thread, and locking it. The issue with that customer is resolved, even if it's a slightly jagged resolution. To keep it alive on the forums where "Everyone" can add their opinion, is simply too time consuming if you don't have an actual person (or group of people) that handle complaints.


It's like telling mister cookie factory production guy that he needs to work faster, BUT he also needs to be in a meeting at the same time. He's not allowed to drop any of those two, so he ends up frustrated because there is only one solution in that scenario.

End = Pandora in hand and pocket.


Means = Thatcherite trample, bludgeon and steal if necessary. Rape & pillage further is unwarranted after Pandoras acquisition.


An Apology = ? +1


Keep thread 'alive' = Wiser. Yet monstrous. It was actually really dull and dead and no one had the time to love it and so it spawned new threads of its own and they and Anne of the Green Gables forlicked in the woods of cautiousness....


No it was just Azure's since reposted videos and valid comments that it would take a long time and more cash again for an RMA (true), could he do the fix himself to save this (possibly) and should he have to (no), will it void his warranty(?)


He finished by saying the QC seems 'Piss Poor'.


Craig politely said in response "Well you could have been nice about this but instead you were a (mild profanity)"


"Everyone" = does add their opinion to waste their own and everyone elses time. As this is the tinterwebz, or such like and everyone else, is always wrong and needs to be more offensive back in response, in order to raise the level of profanity or trolldom, that then reciprocates and maintains the licensing laws and confectionary trades, in the absence of legalised cafeterias, (of disrepute and lower earnings for politicians) in order to present entertainment to some masses, that aren't otherwise corporately entertained, or free spiritedly elsewhere beyond a computer screen, or smart tracking gadget of closed source nature.


"an actual person" to deal with this = Everyone / group of persons acting as one, don't have an 'actual person' to deal with this or anything else, in fact no-one does. Even an individual. As a Person cannot be actual.


One is fictitious and purely of the legal system and the other is physical and walks about, on breaks, if not chained to the loom between dealing with a shit load of largely pointless emails a day, occasionally smoking as stress relief whilst packaging Pandora's, or making hats, or perhaps model Middle Earths, or stamping bugs for a mixed personal collection.


Damn it, its taken ages to get to the piece I wanted to respond to, which was Cookies and the purveyor of said devilish Wares of Manufactured Deliciousness.


There is more than one solution for the frustrated cookie manager told to not drop any here and thats....

Spoiler

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