Stardock's relationship with Neowin and its criticizers

By Steven P.
in Site Announcements

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Grand Master

_bobcat_ Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I don't really understand why anyone would have a problem with this deal. Do people expect Neowin to be run out of someone's bedroom with the current amount of bandwidth/users etc?

Having some more substantial backing keeps Neowin secure and it's not like we have Stardock stuff splashed all over the place. It's there if you're interested, but if you're not, you can easily avoid it...

Grand Master

Rappy Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
I don't have a problem with Stardock / Brad, but I am really happy this thread is here and people are discussing the issue.

:laugh:

Yeah I like threads like these where can discuss rather then argue (Y)

Grand Master

Denis W. Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Thanks for that. I'm perfectly fine with forum administration admitting they had crappy days.

Unfortunately we can expect all the trolls in that thread to read this thread, skim, say 'meh, arse kissers' and exit thread. :rolleyes:

Grand Master

azcodemonkey

Posted
Posted

First of all, I had no idea that Stardock was affiliated other than Brad being on the site. I recall the old days of downtime and slow response, and I'm very grateful that Brad stepped in and helped out. This site is the only tech site I frequent other than /., and the only site I post on.

I was a Stardock customer back '99(I think), and would be involved at times in their newsgroups, lurking mostly. I can't recall a time of him being irrational. The only irrational crap I see comes from the trolls that post "Windowblinds blowz" or other similar crap. If it was a product I helped create, I certainly defend it, especially against baseless generalizations and ad hominem attacks.

Neowin has to pay back an investment. I thought that when you invest in something there is no paying back. If I invest in stock , I don't have to pay it back, the stock can benefit the investor. As Neowin can benefit Stardock. Or do you mean that Neowin has to pay back Stardock in a non financial way?

Unless Stardock is a charity, they have to be payed back.

When you buy stock, you are the investor! The company, if it chooses to, can buy back stock. Scarcity of its stock raises its value should the company be in good financial position. The company would probably buy the stock back at more than it's face value, meaning you'd profit.

Typically, the agreement is that there will be a return on investment equivalent to a percentage over the principal investment, unless the company just takes a dive. I don't know the terms that Neowin and Stardock have, but often, when the ROI is met, ownership returns completely to the company. Honestly, Stardock having only a 40% share is pretty awesome. Most investors will want a controlling percentage(51%+) to protect their investment. Way to go Neowin! =)

Grand Master

+shift. MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted
It's there if you're interested, but if you're not, you can easily avoid it...

Users can always just hide that entire section of the forums anyway. It's actually quite convenient! :)

Grand Master

guru

Posted
Posted
...

For instance, I'll get into discussions on cars, politics, OS wars, gadgets, skinning, gaming, you name it. I give opinions on those topics. Some people, naturally, don't agree with those opinions. And a few of them come to not like me for those opinions. And they project those opinions onto Stardock as a whole.

..

1. Thanks for helping out Neowin

2. quoted part of your post must have ****ed you off. but why didn't you create another id and post those opinions. would have been a lot easier on you and your company?

Grand Master

Martyn

Posted
Posted

I knew Neowin was affiliated with Stardock, but I thought it was just a mutual partnership for the benefit of both parties, I never actually knew Brad "owned" 40% of Neowin.

In todays climate, and with Neowin ever expanding, it is harsh to expect the site to continue without any financial backing besides advertisements and subscriber fees. I suppose it is good for everyone, and to be honest most of the moaning is unjustified. I personally have no problem with Brad whatsoever, and I am struggling to see how some other members could.

I only have one qualm though; apparently we are now on StarDocks servers (since Feb 2005), but in the years of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 the site was horribly, horribly slow and a lot of people did moan about that.

By the way, I love ObjectDock...

:p

Proficient

Xenomorph

Posted
Posted

I've been around Neowin for a while (just look at my reg date), and I've paid for Stardock products in the past (such as Windowblinds). I even have a current subscription to Startdock "Ultimate" thing.

Stardock's products are not the problem. You can like them, love them, or hate them. They're just like any other product.

The issue is the USER-created and submitted content. Most of what I've seen is god-awful. And then various websites (such as Stardock) charge MONEY to download it.

Want an ugly, eye-gouging theme for Windows? No problem! Just pay $10 to download Theme A! Or Theme B, or any other of the hundreds of poorly-design, non-maintained skins available for use with Stardock products.

Maybe if you offered downloadables for a more fair $1-$3 each, you know, like the price of ring-tones, people would more likely pay for all the stuff you have.

Also, perhaps put up some good design guide-lines. Having something minimal or professional would be more well-received than the LOUD, amateur-ish skins offered.

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

To be honest:

This thread proved my pessimism wrong: When Neobond started it this morning I expected a lot of negative comments and an outright flame war knowing how critical some users are of Stardock in general and Frogboy in particular. Perhaps I overestimated their number.

Grand Master

DaveLegg Developer

Posted
  • Developer
Posted
I only have one qualm though; apparently we are now on StarDocks servers (since Feb 2005), but in the years of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 the site was horribly, horribly slow and a lot of people did moan about that.

We are on our own servers at Stardock's data center. Initially there were issues with how they had been configured, but for a while now that has been resolved.

Grand Master

Island Dog

Posted
Posted

Let me just say I have been a member of Neowin far before being with Stardock, and this thread to me shows the true people both behind the scenes, and the community members that make this community one of the best.

Want an ugly, eye-gouging theme for Windows? No problem! Just pay $10 to download Theme A! Or Theme B, or any other of the hundreds of poorly-design, non-maintained skins available for use with Stardock products.

The premium skins are few and far between. The overwhelming majority of skins are free, and just because you don't like them doesn't mean everyone else does.

Grand Master

Mike

Posted
Posted
We are on our own servers at Stardock's data center. Initially there were issues with how they had been configured, but for a while now that has been resolved.

i think the slowness is more down to cogent than the actual servers, there are times i've waited 30s for the site to load only for the bottom of the page to state <0.5s to generate the page, that is my biggest problem with the stardock/neowin partnership :p

Mentor

williamhook

Posted
Posted
i think the slowness is more down to cogent than the actual servers, there are times i've waited 30s for the site to load only for the bottom of the page to state <0.5s to generate the page, that is my biggest problem with the stardock/neowin partnership :p
Isn't that how long the server took to grab the thread content from the database, parse it through PHP, and spew it out with Apache? :p
Grand Master

p858snake

Posted
Posted
I think that's a big part of it. In the old days, when there'd be a Stardock news post, no one cared. But then, AFTER (starting 3 years ago), every time there was a Stardock news post, a portion of those wanting to "fight the man" felt compelled to get in there and stick it to us.

So even though the number of Stardock postings per month has declined since 2005, when a Stardock posting comes up, there are those who think it's part of some corporate take over and want to get in there and zing it. :)

Althought i don't really have a problem with it (although have mentioned it in passing in chat) most people hate it when "stardock updates X or stardock releases X" reaches the FPN not Software FPN which causes most of the negative comments i would say.

Grand Master

Simon Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
Isn't that how long the server took to grab the thread content from the database, parse it through PHP, and spew it out with Apache? :p

Yup, which means the problem is not with PHP or MySQL. That's the point he was trying to make, I believe.

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