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Simon Collins forwarded me this amusing email. I've edited out the company's name. The funniest part of the email is where they claim that a reviewer who gets his copy for free does not have the right to give a bad review. Yes - they actually directly say that!!!
Of course, this is made funnier by the fact that said publisher has received two 4/5 scores from EN World staff reviewers, a 3/5, along with two 2/5 scores. Average score = 3/5, which does not constitute,as they put it, "disturbingly unfavorable reviews
our products received up to, and including XXXXXX". Here's the wonderfully amusing email Simon received:
Quote:
I am afraid, Mr. Collins, that the message had not been passed on
that XXXXXXXXXX is no longer supporting ENWorld with review
materials. Our reason for such is the disturbingly unfavorable reviews our products received up to, and including XXXXXXX.
While we are not opposed to constructive criticism, and
appreciate the objectivity of a professional reviewer, we find it quite disagreeable to support a publication that continues to publish negative reviews of our product, esspecially since said products were not paid for by the reviewer. A customer who has paid for the product has every right to complain as much as they want about the product, and its value. Someone who got it for free does not reserve such judgement.
Thank you, but no thank. We are quite happy to support
GamingReport.com, BeyondAdventure.com & Games Unplugged Magazine.
Of course, that's OK by me. Those other sites don't get EN World's traffic between them, so this company is cutting off its own nose to spite its face.
Wow. A professional company expects that giving a review copy entitles them to a biased review? That's... just sad. Whoever it is, I can't say I think much of their ethical standards.
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are they completely unaware of the standards used in almost every literary review process?
heck many reviewers of books outside of the d20 realm can get the book on tape, even if a "book on tape" hasn't been made for release yet just to make it easier on the reviewer.
and do they think movie reviewers are just waiting to get into the theater opening night to do their review?
the should be sending out the books with free gifts just for the attention.
some of the galleries i work with will arrange a car and a private viewing of any art, as well as a meal and a sit-down with the artist.....whenever it is convenient for the REVIEWER.
man, that is gall, that is actually funny. i just wish i knew who it was so i could avoid them at all cost.
Exactly - like the reviewers are quaking in their boots that they won't receive any of XXXXX's products. The publisher actually appears to be under the impression that they're doing the reviewers a favour... sorry, guys - news flash: reviewing stuff is a chore! They don't want to review your products - they do so as a service for the community.
Of course, I'm going to have to explain at some point on the publisher's review page exactly why it is that no more staff reviews will be available for their products.
It is interesting. Now if we were talking 50K sports cars, then yes, there might be some outrage by the company but even if said company was providing EN World with four copies (one for each staff reviewer and one for Morrus) of hardcover products, that's still not reason to think that the reviews would be positive.
Now I'm curious as to which company it is. I've got a few ideas but it could just be thatther'es more than one company like this.
Location: The Cleveland, OH area, but missing San Diego, CA
Posts: 4,838
Petulant, unprofessional, corrupt, snide, clueless...man, they run the gamut, don't they? How naive or cynical must they be to think they are buying good reviews with review copies? Are they unaware of screenings of films done especially for critics, or books sent to newspaper reviewers, or...well, you get the idea. They can't seriously believe that all those reviewers pay for what they review, can they? And, as Morrus points out, they apparently get decent reviews at EN World. What do they want, uniform 5s? Are they seeing negative posts on the message boards and counting those as bad "reviews" also?
I have my own guess as to who it is. I won't say who, but I can say that, as a consumer, if I knew for certain who it was, I would almost certainly never buy one of their products ever again, on pure principle. They're that disgusting to me.
__________________ "Illegitimis non carborundum." - General Joseph Stilwell
Let me be a voice of dissent here. I'm not sure what position the person who sent Morrus the email has, but we can't assume that a whole company is unprofessional just because one email implies that they were doing ENworld a favor. I'm not saying that as an excuse for them (like I care, right?) but I know that in businesses sometimes what the PR say isn't necessaryily the intention of the high ups. Granted, I assume this is a small business, so such stuff shouldn't be very common.
editing out ^most^ horrendous grammer mistakes
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Last edited by tleilaxu; 12th October 2002 at 07:38 PM..
I'm with ColHardisson, Tleilaxu. It looks like they thought they were buying good reviews, or at least investing in good reviews. It would be better to invest in better products.
Location: The Cleveland, OH area, but missing San Diego, CA
Posts: 4,838
Quote:
Originally posted by tleilaxu Let me be a voice of dissent here. I'm not sure what position the person who sent Morrus the email has, but we can't assume that a whole company is unprofessional just because one email implies that they were doing ENworld a favor. [/i]
Not to be argumentative, really, but that's exactly what makes them unprofessional. Why is someone who obviously is "in the know" or in a position of authority with that company sending out such e-mails if that isn't the company's position? Now, perhaps the e-mail should be forwarded to the CEO of that company for clarification - how that person handles it would be further indication of how professional the company is.
__________________ "Illegitimis non carborundum." - General Joseph Stilwell
Wow. I don't know what to say, other than two things:
"Would they like some cheese to go with their 'whine'?" and
Match up the reviews (publisher has received two 4/5 scores from EN World staff reviewers, a 3/5, along with two 2/5 scores. Average score = 3/5) and see if ya can figure out who it is.
Originally posted by Grazzt
Match up the reviews (publisher has received two 4/5 scores from EN World staff reviewers, a 3/5, along with two 2/5 scores. Average score = 3/5) and see if ya can figure out who it is.
I'm doing that now. The funny and shocking part was when I first did it, I came up with Necromancer, lol. Due to a scroll of the wheel gone awry, I missed a few reviews of them, so Necro is safe.
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Last edited by Khan the Warlord; 12th October 2002 at 08:40 PM..
I'm doing that now. The funny and shocking part was when I first did it, I came up with Necromancer, lol. Due to a scroll of the wheel gone awry, I missed a few reviews of them, so if Necro is safe.
Ha. It's not Necromancer Games, I can assure you of that.
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