Stardock's relationship with Neowin and its criticizers

[Osiris]

We all have to remember that we use this site FOR FREE. Therefore, the administration and the staff is not obligated to divulge things if they don't want to. It's nice when they do it (like now) but I don't think they have too. Again, this site is free and you can donate if so you choose, but I think that some of us are a little bit too demanding and ungrateful.

It's a two way street, how many sucessful pay-forums do you know of? Plus, oh whats that, the echo from a few pages back...neowin gets its money from where? Advertisements. Hrmm what do advertisements need? I am thinking an audience....how much of an audience do pay tech-sites have, given the absolute abundence of free ones online? Well thats a good question one sided mono-post, and I am sure we both know the answer is...not many, short of a very few outliers who tend to offer massive software services as well... Oh thank you for showing me the otherside of the coin. No thank you for the insightful questions.

[Zirus]

I didn't know, and honestly didn't care to know.

I've been a member here for awhile and I remember always getting the "Server too Busy" errors all the time.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I got one. So if this is in part due to Stardock buying part of Neowin, thats fine with me. I've never had a problem with either Stardock or Brad.

[NienorGT]

I don't have a problem with Stardock, It's nice.

It's nice that you guys goes on this, after the Console Wars, the OS Wars Stardock was one of the most badly criticized...

:s

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

After reading through all the comments, I have only one thing to say: is there a difference? I think you can guess my answer, so to speak.

Scirwode

I have to agree, I didn?t even know Stardock had a stake in Neowin until I read this thread.

I?ve been reading Neowin since 2002 and a casual member since 2003 and I?ve always found it to be a great comm:)ity :)

[markwolfe Veteran]

The problem with this whole thing is that the staff here assumes most people have a problem with Brad due to his Stardock affiliation, but that's not the case at all. People just flat out don't like him. It has nothing to do with the companies he owns or doesn't own. It comes down to the way he treats members here.

If you drive members away due to a "I'm better than you attitude" then all the money invested doesn't mean much now does it?

The only problem I have had on a direct level was when I questioned the need to "digg" a news article he posted. I was directly warned to "stop trolling" on threat of having my account removed. :blink:

It turns out that I think he was just having a bad day (we all do), and reacted poorly to my questioning. (and, I noticed that shortly after that, many news items (all?) now have digg links - seems that it was a new direction Neowin News was going - would have been nice to had that explained in the PM)

But I don't use his company's products. I don't care about Stardock, one way or another. I was a little upset at first that I was accused of trolling his news article, but after taking a couple days off (my own choice) from Neowin, I no longer cared that I was sent that account removal PM. I think I have posted in another Stardock related thread/news item (I remember wondering if I should avoid his threads), but I am pretty sure that I said "f--- it" and posted anyway.

I am willing to write up my one negative experience in this matter as a "bad day". Staff members are mostly human, after all. Heck, Neowin even had me as a staff member for a while! :p

[Fred Derf Veteran]

I've been a member here for awhile and I remember always getting the "Server too Busy" errors all the time.

Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I got one. So if this is in part due to Stardock buying part of Neowin, thats fine with me. I've never had a problem with either Stardock or Brad.

The stability improvements for Neowin coincided directly with Stardock's investment.

[Darksoft]

It's a two way street, how many sucessful pay-forums do you know of? Plus, oh whats that, the echo from a few pages back...neowin gets its money from where? Advertisements. Hrmm what do advertisements need? I am thinking an audience....how much of an audience do pay tech-sites have, given the absolute abundence of free ones online? Well thats a good question one sided mono-post, and I am sure we both know the answer is...not many, short of a very few outliers who tend to offer massive software services as well... Oh thank you for showing me the otherside of the coin. No thank you for the insightful questions.

No need to be rude. But anyways, sure there are advertisements on the site but you don't have to click them. My point was that we don't pay for the services provided, therefore we don't have the right to demand explanations from the people in charge (when it comes to matters such as the one being discussed). I'm not saying you have to agree with me but what I'm saying is that some people express their views very negatively and harshly.

Again, I'm glad this happened. I don't get "server too busy" or some database error anymore and I can access this free site whenever I want to get free help. So I'm all good with the situation, again, you don't have to agree with me.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

I keep getting these email newsleters from Techspot/Neowin. Is Neowin in anyway connected with Techspot?

[williamhook]

Doesn't bother me in the least. Pretty much every forum ever has topics that don't interest me/you, so just ignore them? :p

[Cara Veteran]

I reckon some of our members from 2001/2002 and beyond can vouch for this too, Neowin has only ever improved its services to you, be thankful of it and Brads support if you want it to stay that way.

You know, this bugs me. Brad and Stardock have never done ANYTHING negative to this site and have always been a huge contributing factor to bringing good things to Neowin. I can understand that people have personal preferences against a certain company (or every company as some people do) but to individually target one person out of the company who has helped the community so much is simply stupid.

No, I'm not a Stardock person, I'm an Apple person and I think it can be said that Apple has had it's own dislike of Stardock from time to time when Apple IP was used in skins used by WB, however I don't really care about any of that when it comes to Neowin, I let the legal teams figure it all out.

The people who have issues with Brad, perhaps setting aside your biased against Stardock and give the guy a chance, he has always been polite and helpful to me and I'll bet he will be with you as well, if you show him respect.

[dDrumz]

Smart move on Neowin's behalf --- good job!

[Glowstick]

The only problem I have had on a direct level was when I questioned the need to "digg" a news article he posted. I was directly warned to "stop trolling" on threat of having my account removed. :blink:

It turns out that I think he was just having a bad day (we all do), and reacted poorly to my questioning. (and, I noticed that shortly after that, many news items (all?) now have digg links - seems that it was a new direction Neowin News was going - would have been nice to had that explained in the PM)

He seems to have a lot of bad days then, because if his opinion or posts challenged, he gets often enough condescending. Not really anything wrong with that, if he wasn't also an admin and/or has direct access to the MySQL server. That's what people don't like. Your anecdotal evidence just supports that.

--edit: Not to mention that you'd expect a CEO of a company to keep himself under control while he's in a bad mood.

[DaveLegg Developer]

Reading the comments here, it seems a few people have read it as if this just happened, the investment was made a few years back, nothing has really changed since then. We got the new servers back then, which made a big difference, but other things more recently such as changing the way the site runs from them have been the help behind the more recent improvements in stability and load times. It's good to know that Stardock are a host we can rely on, many people may knock us for hosting with stardock, but it's handy for us Devs to have access to someone in the datacenter with access to all the systems there to make tweaks to things if we need them, such as blocking out attacks at the firewall, with a normal datacenter, we'd just be another customer, and have to join a queue of tickets, here we get a really quick response.

[Shaun N.]

Never had a run in with "Frogboy/Brad" but I have tried and dislike a few of the stardock products. As I've not had any expirience with him I don't feel aggitated at all by the fact he has helped keep the site alive and running.

I would feel abit homeless without it.

[Panacik]

He seems to have a lot of bad days then, because if his opinion or posts challenged, he gets often enough condescending. Not really anything wrong with that, if he wasn't also an admin and/or has direct access to the MySQL server. That's what people don't like. Your anecdotal evidence just supports that.

--edit: Not to mention that you'd expect a CEO of a company to keep himself under control while he's in a bad mood.

Wow :blink:

I havent had any dealings with the guy personally, but if what you say is true, then i can understand people being upset by him :s

[markwolfe Veteran]

... Your anecdotal evidence just supports that.

No, no, no... My story is just one single incident. I haven't had any other problems at all, so I don't see a pattern of one. My story was perhaps more about a communication method than anything else. A brief PM but no action. No "authoritarian abuse". I consider it more "venting" than an indication of anything malicious.

And, as others have stated, there has been a benefit to Neowin from the Stardock connection.

[Volatile]

I did not know Neowin was partially owned and it does not change my outlook on Neowin...

I have never had an enounter with Frogboy and never heard or seen of anything negative until this thread...

I do feel that under rules stated by Neowin people can come to this forum and state their opinions on anything. Consider it a place to vent about whatever you see fit. This forum is primarily software based and thus the conversations are in the majority of that favor. Regardless if software is perfect, you cannot please everyone. Trolling is generally termed by someone in the forum with malicious intent. I feel expressing your opinion on specific software should be viable as long as it does not site ugly or malicious remarks. (i.e. I had a bad experience with that product. -vs- That product sucks!) Thus, to express your views, use words in a positive way to convey your message.

If the appointed admin who is the owner of that product takes offense to a viable remark specifically because it is his product, and throws threats towards someone because of it, then I point the malicious intent on the admin. To hold that position takes great responsibility and that person needs to learn to tie down their emotions to serve that position.

I am sure that the move with Stardock has been very beneficial for everyone and I commend Brad's kindness to keep the community going.

[Marshalus Veteran]

Guys, keep in mind that this has been going on for nearly 3 years and the impact to you, our users has been positive through the whole thing. Faster more reliable access to the site, more features, etc... who knows if Neowin would even be here if it were not for Brad.

[insanekiwi]

I reckon some of our members from 2001/2002 and beyond can vouch for this too, Neowin has only ever improved its services to you, be thankful of it and Brads support if you want it to stay that way.

couldn't have said it any better (Y)

[stevember]

All I can say is Neowin was great when I joined, and better today for that I believe we have Neo, Red and alot staff to thank as well as Stardock, The Planet (I believe have helped), Invision and subscribers.

I own Stardocks Object Suite don't use it all time but I love what it does, and bought before they was part Neowin and renew regularly.

I'm in 1st 1,000 members so I seen change a lot, visited most days for long time. (Ignore post count as I realized years ago you can't win argument on a forum.)

[-Vivicidal-]

That's cleared a lot up. Thanks.

[Ferret]

Like some other people, i've never spoke to Brad - Not got a problem with him.

And as far as i'm concerned, if it were not for Stardocks investment, then Neowin wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is !

[Volatile]

And as far as i'm concerned, if it were not for Stardocks investment, then Neowin wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is !

I agree with you 100%, but I think this thread is pointing out trolling events between Brad and members, and members question of authority along with stardock bias when it comes to opinions.

Again, I have never seen or had this happen to me, just piecing together the comments.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

It's not my board, and you guys can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't affect me/community negatively, or else I'll speak up.

Business is business, and if it helps the future of the site in a positive way, how you can be negative is beyond me.

No issues here (Y)

[Lighthalzen]

No issues here with me here, I am glad Neowin's improvement over the years was supported by Stardock, even though I am not a fan :p

However, I do ask everyone to be a little more considerate of each other, making this community even better! And of course, don't stop donating!!