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<blockquote data-quote="Buttercup" data-source="post: 421799" data-attributes="member: 990">Well, I don't purchase products from Avalanche anyway, since the covers are so gratuitous.&nbsp; I just always assumed that any company that used covers like that probably wouldn't write material that would appeal to me.&nbsp; So it's no hardship for me to swear off them now.I did want to reply to the 'Devil's Advocate' posts.&nbsp; If they didn't want to give out any more review copies to ENWorld staff reviewers, for whatever reason, the sensible way to go about that would have been merely to say, &quot;I'm sorry, but we aren't giving out free products anymore.&nbsp; If that policy changes, we'll let you know.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; They would then have been able to keep their reasons private, and not appear to be unsavory.&nbsp; In publishing, it is standard practice to give out review copies, if you are going to give them, with no strings attached.&nbsp; They may be inexperienced enough not to have known this, or they may have been under the impression that review copies were a bribe of some sort.And besides, a review score of 4,4,3,3,2,2 isn't so bad.&nbsp; Sure any company would want it to be higher, but I can think of more than one company on the reviews page whose average is much worse.&nbsp; The fact that they did get some good numbers should have shown them that the staff reviewers were not out to get them.The whole thing is just perplexing.&nbsp; And inexcusable, IMNSHO.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Buttercup, post: 421799, member: 990"] Well, I don't purchase products from Avalanche anyway, since the covers are so gratuitous. I just always assumed that any company that used covers like that probably wouldn't write material that would appeal to me. So it's no hardship for me to swear off them now. I did want to reply to the 'Devil's Advocate' posts. If they didn't want to give out any more review copies to ENWorld staff reviewers, for whatever reason, the sensible way to go about that would have been merely to say, "I'm sorry, but we aren't giving out free products anymore. If that policy changes, we'll let you know." They would then have been able to keep their reasons private, and not appear to be unsavory. In publishing, it is standard practice to give out review copies, if you are going to give them, with no strings attached. They may be inexperienced enough not to have known this, or they may have been under the impression that review copies were a bribe of some sort. And besides, a review score of 4,4,3,3,2,2 isn't so bad. Sure any company would want it to be higher, but I can think of more than one company on the reviews page whose average is much worse. The fact that they did get some good numbers should have shown them that the staff reviewers were not out to get them. The whole thing is just perplexing. And inexcusable, IMNSHO. [/QUOTE]

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