You know I promised myself I wouldn't get dragged into a "debate" here; that I would simply state my opinion (that's still allowed in the "free country" you're talking about, right?) and leave it at that. Sadly, I am weak and cannot ignore the fact that my arguments are widely ignored in preference of putting words in my mouth and painting me as anti-FLGS, which is the exact OPPOSITE of my argument. Let me reiterate my stance for those few of you who didn't bother to try and understand it:
- I LOVE FLGSs, I have been blessed with one of the best (IMHO) in the country here in South Jersey (Jester's Playhouse).
- I have no problem with online commerce; I engage in it on a regular basis and have even bought SWM singles from online shops and a couple of C/U DDM blocks from eBay.
- I understand that there are large swathes of this country and others that have no physical access to quality gaming shops. For them: online shopping. No worries.
- It sounds like the Madhatter games runs a great brick-n-mortar shop and should be commended for that endeavor. Absolutely. Period.
- Unfortunately, MH has decided to
discount online when it is this very thing that hurts their realworld business (well that and MMMMMMMOs). But that's a moot point: I'm not here to tell them how run their business. Believe it or not, that's not what I was trying to do.
- Sadly, I cannot justify to myself advertising an online discounter (indirectly, via advertising this site) to people who may want to purchase product from my home-away-from-home (and tangentally others' homes away from home). After all, they could save 10% by doing so right? It was this fact that I would have liked to state (and thought I did) and simply leave it at that (which I apparently couldn't).
- I am not against sponsors for forums and websites as I know there are few things one can do to allay the costs of such an undertaking.
- I was tongue-in-cheek suggesting you "pay me for my banner" simply to make a point. It seems awfully obvious to me when I reread it, but I think 1 or 2 of you were looking to jump on a bandwagon too quickly to bother to see that, I'll use the
and the
and even the
so that no one has to bother thinking in the future
I do think most of you understood that, though.
- Unfortunately, I
do have to concede one point: because there is virtually nothing on that website to suggest it is a reallife store, I
did believe it was an exclusively online discounter and reacted even more abrasively than my normal charming self (for instance, it wasn't meant to be an ultimatum, but that's how it came out). Again, there was little to suggest to me otherwise, but I will admit that the BnM aspect of the company changes my opinion significantly. However, I can't get around the notion of advertising an under-cutting competitor to potential jester's customers. You can hold that against me if you like, I won't it against you if you do. Of course, my opinion can (and does) change without notice and I may decide later that I have less of a problem with it than I currently do and I may put my banner back up (especially since I took the time to make it
).
- Lastly, I never intended to come across as though I have a problem with this site or do not appreciate the work everyone has put into it. I do not believe that I actually stated anything to suggest that, but some may have taken it that way.