Saltman

He will be missed.

As one of the more vocal members myself on Strat's ill-will, I've already had a number of my forum rights stripped. I'm one foot out the door, until my credits run out.

Their abhorrent censorship goes well beyond what is one ANY other message board out there. I understand it is private and they have that right. But they are driving away good paying people with their actions. It's what happens when (no offense to those who fall in this range) when the game is run by a bunch of old farts who don't understand how the current world works, and continue to out-right lie to their customer base.

If it was just a matter of removing something with offensive language only individual posts would be deleted, not entire threads. I do not remember any offensive language in the TRW thread that disappeared. Several others have disappeared without any offensive language. Some of my own posts have disappeared and I certainly have not used any offensive language on here.

I have no doubts questioning the game company can lead to thread removal and potential banning. Now whether they have the right is another questions. If they have the right whether it is wise to crush any sign of discontent is yet another question. I have opinions on these other questions but my opinion is not worth near as much as I once thought when I was younger and more naive. I doubt these days if anyone considers me important to even acknowledge I have ideas let alone what they are.

Tom, really? I'd say a good dozen threads have vanished entirely and quite a few folks received warnings. Salt and Nev got 2nd warnings and were suspended from the board for two weeks. The company wants only cheerleader type comments, critiques often just vanish. Especially ones about bad customer service. Just ask Valen, Visick, and TRW. Oh that's right you can't ask TRW -- he's exiled in Grindi Land, except Grindi can still buy teams.

On the other hand I like to think positively. How often do you get to see a train wreck, up close and personal, in slow motion.

I don't consider myself an old fart, but I suppose I am, and I'll confess that I no longer have a clue about how the real world works. But I have always enjoyed this game, and have tried my best not to offend anyone connected to it, including the SOM/TSN management. I have received terrific cooperation from the onlines support staff in correcting my mistakes and have no issue there. But:

1) I regret losing people like Salt from this game, though I fully understand (and agree with) his motives for leaving.

2) I don't think that non-profane complaints about flaws in the game, or about the lack of response by SOM to legitimate gripes, should result in any kind of punishment or censorship.

3) Some kind of response by SOM to such complaints is a no-brainer. If losing a valuable contributor (customer?) like Salt isn't a wakeup call to SOM, something is indeed very wrong.

4) Like others, I miss the good old days when I could enjoy reading the forums, trading ideas and barbs with a lot of vicarious friends. Whether this is caused by fear of retribution for complaining or simply from boredom with the lack of interesting submissions, it again should be a wakeup call to SOM.

5) If or when diehards like Nev and Petro decide to call it quits (or are forced to call it quits), this game is DOA.

Sorry to see Salt go. I agree with him. I decided I have had enough myself. I plan on playing my final credits and calling it quits.

Wow -- I didn't know all of that past history. Train wreck is right. I don't think SOM understands the ATG culture that developed over at TSN -- which included lots of griping, but always because of dedication to the game. They need to figure out the difference between a Grindi (who deserved to be banned and had a zillion chances before it happened), and old pros who are venting. Considering how much money some of them have spent on the game, they've bought the right to complain. Any smart business would recognize that and give them their space.

They can't ban us on Facebook.

Nothing will get done with the game whether you mouth off here or there.
But at least it won't get deleted there...

i got a warning email for something i had said in defense of "ideas" that SOM felt were "wrong". i will most likely be leaving soon as well.

-steven

I do not understand management's reluctance to deal with this situation in a more positive way. I have been in market research for a number of years and many companies pay good money for focus group type information. Here we have many seasoned veterans who love (loved?) the game willing to offer information for free yet management chooses to go in the opposite direction and alienate those who should be treasured. Being inherently overly optimistic I still hold out hope that somehow a light goes on at SOM and they embrace rather than shun those who helped make this game fun at TSN and at times here as well.

Best wished to those who have and will be leaving, I am grateful for the lessons learned and advice freely offered. Hopefully there can be a 180 degree turnaround and those lost will return.