I need to stay away from online forums! My virtual stalkers from Frothers are at it again on The Miniatures Page. I have a hard time walking away from a fight too, which is my only weakness when it comes to those trouble makers.
They truly hate me and will do anything to derail any thread my name shows up in. Lately they act like I've done something wrong by not putting a disclaimer in every review I write that the products are provided for free by the companies who make the products. So they go on and on and on about that, as if it has some kind of influence on my thoughts or opinion of any given product.
They also took something I said 5 months ago on TMP and twisted it into something else altogether, and they continue to run around shouting that I threaten negative reviews to companies who refuse to provide me with review samples. And that “Manufacturers should be aware of that" Which is not the case at all, and I've never done that, and I never will. Nor have I ever said that. So I've now made the truth of the matter perfectly clear here at my own site to stifle these lies once and for all.
Anyone with half a brain would know their words to be untrue if they considered who the source was spewing these lies around too... a variety of vile and abrasive Frothers forum members, who live only to take things to the extreme. I can almost envision them as being those guys from the first Harold and Kumar movie who do all the stupid stuff, and keep yelling “extreme” throughout the movie. Except I picture these specific Frothers members as a bunch of overweight 40-something scraggly bearded UK guys with glasses doing it with a British accent.
I've made it clear time and again that every product I review at WarGameGuru is provided free of charge by the company who makes the products. It has to be this way, because it's the only way I can cover the wide variety of products that I do, as frequently as a do, because I'd have to be extremely wealthy if I were to purchase all of these products myself. And I'm not rich, or even close to being rich. Nor is WGG turning a profit yet to have a budget to cover it.
Every magazine I ever worked for online and in-print over the past two decades operated with the same review policy too. Here in North America if a company wants their product reviewed, they provide review samples to that magazine/website, or it doesn't get covered. It's that simple. This isn't a new practice either, things have been done this way for decades before I ever got into writing too.
Granted there might be a few publications that do purchase their own products for review, but you're talking about different industries altogether too. I'm pretty sure food critics buy their own meals, so they don't alarm the establishment that a critic is in the house, and the magazine reimburses them, but they're in a position to cover the bill. The magazines/websites in the entertainment industries like this one that turn a profit are few and far between.
So there's a few exceptions, but I've worked in this industry, the PC games/hardware industry, and the toys/diecast collectibles industry, and review samples were always provided by the companies who make the products in all three industries. I've never known it to be any other way quite honestly.
So I just wanted to make that clear if some of you didn't know the review policy here at WarGameGuru.
I've also counted roughly 55 companies that I've dealt with since I've started WarGameGuru, who have all provided products for review, and none of them can say I've ever threatened them. I will admit, there's a few others out there that have been uncooperative, and some were even quite ignorant, arrogant and nasty with me to boot, but no one ever said this or any industry was made up of ALL professionals either who act in a professional matter 24/7.
Actually one of the companies that was abrasive with me 6+ months ago when I first started WGG works with me today, because they see the value in me covering their products here at WGG, and they know I'll give their products a fair shake. I've simply proven myself to them by the wealth of coverage I continue to offer here, and anyone can see my reviews are in-depth, unbiased and very honest.
The fact of the matter is, this is an industry made up of mostly very small 1-3-man operations, where people wear many hats, and most are people who know ONLY how to run their company, or how to make games or models, but some simply don't have the best people, or Public Relations/Marketing skills. So I've ran into a small number of people who I wished I hadn't met, but I've never taken how I felt personally about anyone out on their companies products either.
Here's a prime example of how I operate under the worst of circumstances. The owner of Pulp City (Morf is his username around the web on various forums) went as far as publishing part of my home address on Frothers while others were making threats to me a few months ago, and I'm a single father with children in the house! That was really nice and professional-like of him right? I think not, and it angered me a lot. He had already sent me some Pulp City models to review at WarGameGuru too.
So not long after he did that, I had to sit down and review his products, and I had every opportunity to get even, IF I were that type of person, but I'm not!
The review was very positive, because the truth of the matter is his companies products turned out to be great models of super-heroes, and everything I said was based on my experience with the Pulp City models, not the way the owner of Pulp City had acted. A close personal friend said to me that I should have thrown the models away and not covered them at all. However I've never asked for a product that I didn't write about as promised, and I'm a man of my word. That's how dedicated I am to providing an honest, unbiased and in-depth review.
The true measure of a man, and I'd go as far as saying a professional, is having the means to set personal feelings aside to get the job done with dignity. He wasn't the first person I ever met who did something cruel or mean spirited to me, and I'm sure he won't be the last. However I think I handled it properly, and with dignity, which is how I roll here at WarGameGuru.
They truly hate me and will do anything to derail any thread my name shows up in. Lately they act like I've done something wrong by not putting a disclaimer in every review I write that the products are provided for free by the companies who make the products. So they go on and on and on about that, as if it has some kind of influence on my thoughts or opinion of any given product.
They also took something I said 5 months ago on TMP and twisted it into something else altogether, and they continue to run around shouting that I threaten negative reviews to companies who refuse to provide me with review samples. And that “Manufacturers should be aware of that" Which is not the case at all, and I've never done that, and I never will. Nor have I ever said that. So I've now made the truth of the matter perfectly clear here at my own site to stifle these lies once and for all.
Anyone with half a brain would know their words to be untrue if they considered who the source was spewing these lies around too... a variety of vile and abrasive Frothers forum members, who live only to take things to the extreme. I can almost envision them as being those guys from the first Harold and Kumar movie who do all the stupid stuff, and keep yelling “extreme” throughout the movie. Except I picture these specific Frothers members as a bunch of overweight 40-something scraggly bearded UK guys with glasses doing it with a British accent.
I've made it clear time and again that every product I review at WarGameGuru is provided free of charge by the company who makes the products. It has to be this way, because it's the only way I can cover the wide variety of products that I do, as frequently as a do, because I'd have to be extremely wealthy if I were to purchase all of these products myself. And I'm not rich, or even close to being rich. Nor is WGG turning a profit yet to have a budget to cover it.
Every magazine I ever worked for online and in-print over the past two decades operated with the same review policy too. Here in North America if a company wants their product reviewed, they provide review samples to that magazine/website, or it doesn't get covered. It's that simple. This isn't a new practice either, things have been done this way for decades before I ever got into writing too.
Granted there might be a few publications that do purchase their own products for review, but you're talking about different industries altogether too. I'm pretty sure food critics buy their own meals, so they don't alarm the establishment that a critic is in the house, and the magazine reimburses them, but they're in a position to cover the bill. The magazines/websites in the entertainment industries like this one that turn a profit are few and far between.
So there's a few exceptions, but I've worked in this industry, the PC games/hardware industry, and the toys/diecast collectibles industry, and review samples were always provided by the companies who make the products in all three industries. I've never known it to be any other way quite honestly.
So I just wanted to make that clear if some of you didn't know the review policy here at WarGameGuru.
I've also counted roughly 55 companies that I've dealt with since I've started WarGameGuru, who have all provided products for review, and none of them can say I've ever threatened them. I will admit, there's a few others out there that have been uncooperative, and some were even quite ignorant, arrogant and nasty with me to boot, but no one ever said this or any industry was made up of ALL professionals either who act in a professional matter 24/7.
Actually one of the companies that was abrasive with me 6+ months ago when I first started WGG works with me today, because they see the value in me covering their products here at WGG, and they know I'll give their products a fair shake. I've simply proven myself to them by the wealth of coverage I continue to offer here, and anyone can see my reviews are in-depth, unbiased and very honest.
The fact of the matter is, this is an industry made up of mostly very small 1-3-man operations, where people wear many hats, and most are people who know ONLY how to run their company, or how to make games or models, but some simply don't have the best people, or Public Relations/Marketing skills. So I've ran into a small number of people who I wished I hadn't met, but I've never taken how I felt personally about anyone out on their companies products either.
Here's a prime example of how I operate under the worst of circumstances. The owner of Pulp City (Morf is his username around the web on various forums) went as far as publishing part of my home address on Frothers while others were making threats to me a few months ago, and I'm a single father with children in the house! That was really nice and professional-like of him right? I think not, and it angered me a lot. He had already sent me some Pulp City models to review at WarGameGuru too.
So not long after he did that, I had to sit down and review his products, and I had every opportunity to get even, IF I were that type of person, but I'm not!
The review was very positive, because the truth of the matter is his companies products turned out to be great models of super-heroes, and everything I said was based on my experience with the Pulp City models, not the way the owner of Pulp City had acted. A close personal friend said to me that I should have thrown the models away and not covered them at all. However I've never asked for a product that I didn't write about as promised, and I'm a man of my word. That's how dedicated I am to providing an honest, unbiased and in-depth review.
The true measure of a man, and I'd go as far as saying a professional, is having the means to set personal feelings aside to get the job done with dignity. He wasn't the first person I ever met who did something cruel or mean spirited to me, and I'm sure he won't be the last. However I think I handled it properly, and with dignity, which is how I roll here at WarGameGuru.