At Least 4 Months For Conversion Documents

Those waiting for official conversion documents from earlier editions of D&D to 5th edition are going to have to wait a bit longer. WotC's Mike Mearls says that "the person who needs to do the final approvals on them is serving on a jury that will take another 4 or so months. Sorry!" So it looks like we're talking July/August at the earliest. Thanks to Adrian for the scoop.

 

[DaveDash]

Nope. Not at all.

Lots of people will use the excuse that their comments are true, correct, or legitimate as justification for ignoring that their actions have consequences. But, being right doesn't give you license to be a jerk. If you have legitimate points to make, they can be made in ways that aren't dogpililng and throwing excessive negativity around.

Basic rule of communication: however legitimate your point is, that point is lost if you don't deliver it properly. Delivery that makes the recipient stop listening is not useful.



Their credibility problem is not a legitimate excuse for less-than-grand behavior on our part.

I imagine, in fact, that our overly critical approach to dialog helped *create* that credibility problem. We have given them a good reason to not feel safe with being entirely open with us. Anything they say gets ripped apart, and we are unforgiving. That leads them to avoidance behaviors and having to try to cover their butts and doublethink when they do try to get us information, and that leads to credibility issues.

If you've ever had the thought that others should cut you some slack... well, then you should cut others some slack as well.

I would criticise ANY company that took to twitter and made a statement like that.
It almost sounds like Mearls is talking to an annoying acquaintance who keeps nagging him, rather than his customer base.

There is a chasm of difference between what he said, and a more professional statement such as "We've been held up in our release of our conversion material, we understand however that many of you are waiting for this, but our current expected timeframe is roughly four months away".

I don't care if it's WoTC, Apple, or the hair dresser down the street. You don't communicate with your customers like that.

 

[SkidAce]

I would criticise ANY company that took to twitter and made a statement like that.
It almost sounds like Mearls is talking to an annoying acquaintance who keeps nagging him, rather than his customer base.

There is a chasm of difference between what he said, and a more professional statement such as "We've been held up in our release of our conversion material, we understand however that many of you are waiting for this, but our current expected timeframe is roughly four months away".

I don't care if it's WoTC, Apple, or the hair dresser down the street. You don't communicate with your customers like that.

I'm perfectly fine with how/what he communicated.

Short, sweet, and I understood all the words he used.

YMMV.

 

[Morrus]

IThere is a chasm of difference between what he said, and a more professional statement such as "We've been held up in our release of our conversion material, we understand however that many of you are waiting for this, but our current expected timeframe is roughly four months away".

That's what he said. Except in 140 characters. You don't get eloquence on a microblogging service.

I don't care if it's WoTC, Apple, or the hair dresser down the street. You don't communicate with your customers like that.

Along with the daily boycotts, this elevation of customer service into customer worship is one of the worst things about the Internet.

His tweet was just fine.

 

[DaveDash]

That's what he said. Except in 140 characters. You don't get eloquence on a microblogging service.



Along with the daily boycotts, this elevation of customer service into customer worship is one of the worst things about the Internet.

His tweet was just fine.

If you can't get your message across in a tweet properly, then you link to your website where you have a proper statement.

I guess we will agree to disagree, I hold myself to a much higher standard communicating to my customers than this, and my reach is far from as global.

My job is creating software that makes it easier to communicate and socialise with your staff and your customers, and I look at Mearls tweet and consider it a huge waste of social capability.

 

[Morrus]

If you can't get your message across in a tweet properly, then you link to your website where you have a proper statement.

That rather redefines the entire concept of microblogging. You may well do that when you tweet, but the world doesn't.

I guess we will agree to disagree

Very much so!

If the standards of replying to tweeted questions are elevated to linked pre-prepared PR statements, the world will be a worse place for it. Even now, WotC is too scared to say anything to anybody ever. This demand just makes it worse.

 

[SirAntoine]

Mr. Mearls should come to a game forum like ENWorld if he wants to engage in social media with the fans. Here he could be more eloquent, and it would be a good thing for ENWorld and any other sites he goes to. Twitter has enough people on it, and it has a reputation for being an open sewer in terms of the level of courtesy and politeness people use in the comments they make there.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Mr. Mearls should come to a game forum like ENWorld if he wants to engage in social media with the fans. Here he could be more eloquent, and it would be a good thing for ENWorld and any other sites he goes to. Twitter has enough people on it, and it has a reputation for being an open sewer in terms of the level of courtesy and politeness people use in the comments they make there.

he used to be here...a lot of wotc developers where...

I have no proof or evidence why they left, but I have a theory...

My theory is that people are jerks... I don't just mean people here, or on the web, or even any single person on enworld, but overall, we as a people are jerks... and (now specific) they were driven away as WotC was driven to silence because when people aren't happy, they say things like "They should have said X" or "They should have said nothing"

 

[Wicht]

he used to be here...a lot of wotc developers where...

I have no proof or evidence why they left, but I have a theory...

My theory is that people are jerks... I don't just mean people here, or on the web, or even any single person on enworld, but overall, we as a people are jerks... and (now specific) they were driven away as WotC was driven to silence because when people aren't happy, they say things like "They should have said X" or "They should have said nothing"

I have a different theory. Posting on message boards takes time and busy people find it sometimes difficult to make the time.

Dealing with jerks is just part of the job if you are going to use messageboards to communicate. Paizo employees still post on messageboards despite jerkiness, but its also part of what is expected of them as part of their job.

That being said, no doubt rudeness makes it easier to find reasons not to make the time.

 

[BryonD]

I think this tweet was fine. But I also think that track record is important. (and, fair or not, short term recent track record)
If you have mishandled bad news (before someone jumps on this, yes it is a game, we all care enough to talk about it, there is good news and bad news. This does not make it on par with childhood cancer) then your audience is going to be less forgiving of the next bad news.

Deliver more good news and your reactions to bad news will be less bad.
Don't botch delivery of good or bad news and reactions to your subsequent non-botched delivery of bad news will be less bad.

Establish a track record of quality and trust.

 

[Parmandur]

Mearls came on this board sometime last year and explained that the WOTC have only so much bandwidth for social media, and Twitter gives them way more bang for their buck than posting on these boards. More people get the message, anything they say there trickles over here in short order anyway.