For sure, but you’d think they’re smart enough to at least recognize that they should want people to think they respect the community. Like, maybe Cam doesn’t care enough to give the credit, but dude, it was on a public forum; at least make people THINK you care about it.
I'd agree except the whole move of wiping the forum would have, otherwise, completely removed that evidence, just like it removed so much else. I'm sure that was part of the thought process there. Plus, they continued to frame the community as some bonus that they gave to us, as opposed to something that we fueled and was proven an incredible benefit/asset to them, up until the very end. That's why the wording in the announcement was delivered like it was and why it was such a callous move with them exhibiting their power and showing us that they can just take things away from us if they wanted to.
The biggest strikes against them with us all coming here, aside from snuffing out all good will, was obvious. They not only killed a direct line they had for people to jump straight from the forum to purchase, but one where members helped and encouraged each other to do it. If what they say is true, they want to integrate the accounts more seamlessly to the "new" forum they are claiming to build, as if us posting links for each other wasn't enough. Once you leave and all of that noise isn't around you anymore, members -- and ex-members, especially -- begin to realize even more that the value of that "club" was limited, because there is NO club. We are the club. VMP found more value in maintaining a mystique of us needing them and this idea of their curation skills, brand, and industry connections than they appreciated the community aspect. Even more, they didn't recognize how much more important the community aspect and element of respect was for us ... or, maybe, they just didn't care. They took a gamble and it wasn't the noble one. You can't give the community their due, or the curtain opens, providing a glimpse of the bumbling humans behind the all powerful entity. With all of the rest of their fallibility being exposed regularly, the question of what they do right gets louder and louder. I mean, you have De La Soul Is Dead, Nat Turner, The Anthology, Weyes Blood... people ordering MF Doom and Lloyd Miller albums they don't actually have in stock, as well as endless other problems in such a short period of time. Somehow, they still tried to play both the "sorry guys... thanks for sticking with us" angle, as well as the, "don't question our methods or power" approach. It's common for someone to not recognize where their strength or appeal lies.
In other words they're either not "smart enough," or they wagered on being stable and/or powerful enough.
If they ever fully admitted what members brought to the table, how could they have ever rationalized killing the forum? Any hopes of scattering us and diffusing a growing wave of dissent backfired astronomically. They had it pretty much contained within a platform that they controlled. Agitating a mob and letting them loose with hatchets is dumb as shit. Just think about how the whole EU back and forth was buried in the forum to where I had to have someone link me to it. Now it's posted above in full context in the one thread on this forum that's dedicated to preserving the history of that entire debacle. It's easier to find now than ever.
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