Pat,

Quote:

PGMusic provides this forum for a specific purpose, and that purpose is not our entertainment. It is an advertising medium for their product.



I respectfully disagree Pat, but since you believe that, it explains your thinking.

Forums for any product aren’t there for the company. They exist for the users. The users pay for the forums by purchasing the product, and with most of us, we’ve purchased it over and over in the form of upgrades. We aren’t “guests” or “freeloaders” here, we’re paying customers.

In addition to paying for the forums by purchasing and promoting the product, the forum users frequently act as “tech support”, saving PG time and money.

Quote:

I've noticed that Peter tends to get involved when topics require damage control. ……………………. and if Peter is gettting involved in your thread, it's probably an indication that the topic would have been better handled in a less visible way.



Silly me. I thought Peter got involved in that thread because he’s a good businessman and he wanted to address the problem and find out the specifics so he could do so. (Actually I do believe that’s why he did). The problem had been brought up on the forum before, but never on a dedicated thread and in a detailed manner. Near the end of the discussion, he said he’d make a concerted effort to fix it. Being a man of his word, he did just that.

Peter’s participation wasn’t “damage control”, as you insinuate. It was a company owner showing legitimate concern for a problem and wanting to fix it. I appreciate that. It speaks well of him and his company.

The forum isn’t an “advertising medium”, as you suggest. It’s a tool for the users, (one that we are paying for). It also increases the customer loyalty because the users build relationships and realize they have more than just “customer support” to find solutions to their problems.

To compare it to being invited to a "free" dinner at someone's home is ludicrous. We paid for the steak, so it's okay to say how we'd like to have it cooked. (Bad analogy I know, but it's yours).