kokokyuchitsune said: Many people can be quite uncomfortable with using guesstimates to base the crux of their argument from. And rightfully so, many times arguments have broken out when references to numbers here have been made - when NPD or company numbers are released things just break down entirely and many people are painted as fools or morons.
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The problem with this statement is that VGC numbers simply do not break down when compared to those of professional services. They're virtually always within 15% of NPD numbers (their own error margin), and as far from the two similar Japanese services as they are from each other. The numbers on this site stand up to comparison extremely well. Heck, during the holidays we had a month when ioi was closer to Nintendo's financial report than NPD.
That being said, I have some sympathy for GAF. They're a huge forum, so some kind of a list of stupid stuff that immediately gets you banned is more or less necessary, and I agree with quite a few of the things on their list. The problem is simply that the ban on VGC seems to come from ill will more than anything else, and the widespread disbelief in our numbers more from herd behavior and dissent leading to bans than anything else.
Also, doesn't the rule forbidding VGC say "Our numbers are right. Theirs are wrong. Period."? I'm not a fan of the whole "they're afraid of us because our numbers are better than theirs" claim, but that's what this looks like. Maybe if there was a public debate where they had to prove VGC numbers aren't good, or indeed they ever agreed to put out a list of their grievances, but the way the people running GAF are doing it now is just pathetic.
I have little trouble believing they suffer less from a few problems due to their ban-happy policies, though. Some users here seem to get away with even publicly admitting dodging several month long bans, and nothing is done about them...