Why Don't You Like Neogaf? (Or why do you?)

[Turkish]

Aquamarine said:

NeoGAF really pisses off The NPD Group because its "NPD leaker" reputation attracts hundreds of thousands of people all across the Internet who then take the leaks from the three people who release them on GAF (CosmicQueso, John Harker, and Creamsugar) and then share them ad nauseam.

You can tell that they're especially pissed off with NeoGAF lately (the perfect example of which is forcing me to perma-ban myself from the site)...and their anger is amplified by the fact that there is nothing they can do to stem the leaks.

VG Chartz is a drop in the bucket compared to NeoGAF...the fundamental problem is the main leak source "Creamsugar" who never posts anything except NPD leaks...so it's near-impossible to track him down.

 

The one thing I've learned from all of my experiences with The NPD Group is that they're really childish and schizophrenic...their mood is all over the place. One month they're fine with me posting, the next month they force me to ban their account.

One month they don't want any forum presence whatsoever, the next month they're fine with me posting anywhere that isn't NeoGAF.

Etc. It's all a bunch of bullshit. But right now, it's clear that NeoGAF is their main target.

 

One of my biggest grievances with NeoGAF is how approving new accounts takes SO GODDAMN LONG. I mean seriously...waiting months just so an account can get approved? That's fundamentally absurd.

However, it's that very waiting time for a new account that largely prevents The NPD Group from causing the damage they want to cause. It doesn't help that you can only search member histories if you're signed up, and that previous NPD threads are archived away in a forum that only members can visit.

 

Shadow1980 said:
It's a pain in the ass to sign up. I don't like having to go around my ass to get to my elbow. I honestly don't see why free email accounts are not allowed. I can understand the wait and approval process taking a little while, but some of us only have our Yahoo/Gmail/Outlook/whatever and having to jump through the extra hoop of acquiring a paid email account just isn't worth it to discuss video games. Unfortunately, the only people on the whole internet who actually have NPD and other sales data beyond what's publicly available seem to only pose on GAF, and that's the only reason I'd want to sign up is to talk to them.

You also apparently don't even have to do anything wrong to get ban. I hear that some users just get randomly banned because "culling the herd." If that's true, then that makes the need for a paid email account all the more onerous.

Also, that place is insanely busy. A new thread can be busted down to page 2 in 60 seconds flat. Of course, that could be solved by creating a variety of sub-forums. Imagine if VGC only had 2 or 3 sub-forums...

Well, once upon a time The NPD Group actually gave GAF numbers directly through a liaison named "sonycowboy."

So there are years of historical precedent which attract guys in high-level research equity + game developers who happen have NPD numbers.

 

There are honestly just not many places to discuss video game sales. There is this place...but there are definitely high-level people who are dismayed from ever posting here because of Chartz's reputation.

This place was originally a turnoff for me personally because I felt like Chartz hasn't done a sufficient job pointing out that their numbers (that haven't been previously leaked on GAF) are calculated estimates based on sample methodologies and can vary significantly from actual results...i.e. Chartz comes across as authoritative on first glance.

This place has a good community, but that main feature of the site has definitely scared away higher-level people from being prominent members here...if for no other reason than pettiness.

 

But there are other aspects about NeoGAF that annoy me as well.

I'm a moderate Republican, and I've made no secret of that in the past. But on NeoGAF it's near-impossible to bring in any sort of conservative perspective because the liberal thinktank is just SO ridiculously pervasive.

There is a STRONG hivemind mentality on NeoGAF that spreads to the moderation team as well, which leads to incredibly-heavy liberal biases.

Basically, I can get away with extreme, radical liberal opinions scot-free, but if I even start to flirt with it on the opposite side, it's an instant perma-ban.

 

I've also noticed that pro-Microsoft sentiment on the forum is prone to being ganged-up on. I honestly don't like the Xbox very much...I've never owned one...but that sort of behaviour is disturbingly rampant.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I actually witnessed astroturfing accusations when someone in the NPD Predictions thread was optimistic about Microsoft. It's utterly ridiculous.

 

Another example...I really couldn't care less about "more diverse" representation in video games. I want games to stay exactly the way they are---just as developers intended them.

But on NeoGAF it's very hard to communicate that opinion in a way that doesn't lead to a ban. I've been dogpiled about it before...and let me tell you...it isn't pretty in the slightest.

Are you the real Aquamarine? If so, welcome!

And I agree with you on most points.