Text 16569, 104 rader
Skriven 2007-08-02 11:42:07 av Amy Guskin (3045.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Reports from Comic-Con
==================================
>> On Thu, 2 Aug 2007 00:11:30 -0400, Matt Ion wrote
(in article <SPcsi.23946$rX4.5258@pd7urf2no>):

> Amy Guskin wrote:
> 
>> You knucklehead.  
> 
> I thought personal insults weren't supposed to get past moderation? <<

If there is a less rancorous, more affectionate type of "insult" than 
"knucklehead," I don't know what it is.  As angry as I was when I posted 
that, I was _extremely_ careful in my choice of that word.  In my experience, 
"knucklehead" is the kind of non-insult insult usually used between brothers 
and sisters, close friends, etc., when no _real_ insult is meant.  Sorry for 
the assumption of apparently non-existent conversational intimacy between us.

>>> I was trying to _do the right thing_, by letting them know 
>> why they lost the sale, and how they might be able to snag my business next 
>> time.  (Let's let slide for the moment that Amazon gets PLENTY of business 
>> from me during the course of any given year, plus I use their credit card.  
>> They're not hurting for my money.)  And I believe, in fact, that I did this 
>> at the implicit suggestion of Jan, who is firmly _not_ on my side in this 
>> matter.  She made some kind of point somewhere in this thread (very much 
>> paraphrasing) that if you let people know that you want such a thing as a 
>> bonus comic in with your Amazon.com purchase of the DVD, you have to let 
>> them 
>> know.  So I did.
> 
> So Amazon is now a branch office of WB's marketing department? <<

I don't think any of you people suggesting that this complaint be made to WB 
are thinking this through clearly.  From what I know of these type of 
marketing bonuses (from my admittedly limited exposure to them in the book 
publishing business, where I used to work), they are usually a combined 
effort.  Meaning, WB and Best Buy would have participated in this _together_ 
in some way, either splitting the manufacturing costs of the comic, or 
something.  Now, from the perspective of WB, they don't care _who_ I buy my 
disc from; just that I've bought it.  So IMHO, it doesn't make sense for me 
to tell _them_ that I want a bonus comic next time they put out a disc; after 
all, they have already done that, so they _know_ they're doing a good job by 
the fans, and I've already bought my disc (from whoever), so they've already 
done a good job marketing.  It's _Amazon_, my preferred retailer, who needs 
to know that I want that comic; in fact, that I wanted it so much that I was 
willing to return an item I'd been waiting for for four months, and to eat 
the shipping charges.  That way, the next time a B5 disc comes out, they can 
either solicit a premium themselves from WB, or if WB solicits _them_, they 
can agree to participate instead of passing it up (for all we know, WB _did_ 
approach them before Best Buy, and they said "no thanks").  So I think it was 
perfectly sensible for me to tell Amazon this.

And what you seem to be forgetting is my dozens of messages _before_ this 
one, where I was so wracked with guilt over the idea of cancelling my 
pre-order -- which I said outright seems like a sacred trust between me and 
Amazon -- that I contemplated selling the disc at a reduced price on half.com 
rather than returning it to them unopened (I ultimately _did_ return it 
unopened, but my point is, someone who felt guilty returning an unused 
product to a big, faceless retailer isn't eagerly rubbing her hands together 
just _waiting_ for her opportunity to lambast that retailer and scream at 
their customer service and ruin their day).

So maybe _you_ read it that way, but I submit to you that if you hadn't 
limited your reading comprehension to that one note but rather carefully 
considered _all_ of my conversation on this matter, and in fact _all_ of my 
previous postings over many years here, you would _not_ in fact have come to 
that incorrect conclusion.

>> Do we even KNOW how the BB/comic deal came about?  Was it WB's idea? 
> Was it BB's?  Maybe it was just ONE PERSON at BB clever enough to come 
> up with it.  So you withdraw your business from Amazon simply because 
> they didn't think of it first?  I suppose this action is meant to 
> encourage them to... what? Form a think tank to do nothing but come up 
> with incentives that they can have DVD labels include with their discs? 
>   A whole department dedicated to coming up with special extras for 
> anyone who pre-orders from them? <<

You're saying this like it's crazy, but if they know they are losing sales 
due to premiums that another retailer is giving out -- because their loyal, 
long-standing customers _tell them so_ --  they might very well look to 
solicit them from manufacturers in the future.  If, on the other hand, I 
_hadn't_ made the extra effort to let them know, they'd have no clue why I 
returned the disc.  Honest to god, Matt, I saw this as doing them a favor.  I 
_like_ Amazon, a _lot_, and my general philosophy in life involves being kind 
and doing good things in the world.

>>> Petty, indeed!  Thanks for letting me know the low opinion of you have of 
>> me!
> 
> I didn't think so until this whole thing started.  Now I have the 
> distinct impression that if you'd gone to BestBuy and found them sold 
> out of the "special" versions of TLT, you'd be pissing in their 
> cornflakes as well for not having the foresight to have MORE copies on hand. 
<<

Well, you know what happens when you assume.  Have fun sitting around 
imagining scenarios of how I'd react to things.  Me, I have better things to 
do.

Amy
-- 
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over 
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George 
W. Bush, May 24, 2005
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