Open letter to NAG Magazine

Would you buy NAG?

  • Yes

    Votes: 17 17.2%

  • No

    Votes: 77 77.8%

  • Unsure

    Votes: 5 5.1%
  • Total voters
    99
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Skurm

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Found this at mygaming.co.za.
I have decided to post this open letter to NAG across some SA community sites/forums in the hopes of receiving feedback. I have received no feedback from their editor wrt this issue. Since I see they are advertising their site and by proxy their forum as a banner on this site, I thought it would be appropriate.

Quote:
Dear NAG Editor.

I would like to refer to

http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/sh...?t=9448&page=2

screenshot:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9097/naggfyfy7.jpg


Specifically the response by one ‘Azimuth’, a member of your staff and forum moderator, telling a forum user and potential customer of your publication to, and I quote,

“Go <expletive deleted> yourself.”

It is merely but one isolated incident. Perhaps your management should review what is happening on your forums? Unless it’s management policy to allow this kind of thing to run rampant.

I’m not sure what NAG’s policy is in terms of telling clients to go &*%^ themselves, but frankly if this is the way your staff treat users of your website/forums and current/potential purchasers of your magazine, then I’m afraid your publication can, in fact, go %&^$ itself. I will also be sharing this issue to other members of the South African gaming community seeking their input and asking them to boycott your publication until such time as public apologies are made and you review your policy on this issue.
Further, I have logged the issue with Hellopeter. http://www.hellopeter.com/the_comment.asp?recid=240816
I am certain that I am not the only one who feels that a business should value and respect it’s customers. Beyond simply the terrible treatment of customers by some of your staff online, there is also the issue of children reading your site/forums.

I, for one, will not buy your product when your personnel show the people who fund their salaries this amount of disgusting and outright disrespect.

Kind regards,

JG.
What is your view? Their opinion is that the forum is seperate from the magazine, but my opinion is that they are the same company and that when I go to their forum, after having bought their magazine, that the last thing I want to see is being told to 'go <bleep> myself' by one of their writers, for posting a criticism. Of course in a follow up thread (link here: http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=9454 )their forum admin tries to make the issue only about the use of expletives when the real issue is the abusive, disrespectful and derogatory way in which their staff respond to customers posting on their site.I think it is a simply shameful way to treat customers, I think that your web presence and your actual product are directly linked in this day and age, I think the concept that the forum is seperate from the magazine is absolutely fallacious, and will no longer support their publication as a result.

signed,
Frustrated ex NAG reader,
Jaygee
Click to expand...
For clarity's sake, I am not "Chevron", only a casual browser of NAG's site and forum, so it's not directly sour apples on my part. But having lurked there for years, I can only agree with the above.
 
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Mephisto_Helix

Mephisto_Helix

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I already do in a way boycott their forums because of the God-Complex they have there ..... if it ever had to crossover to the magazine, a lot of people would stop buying. Poor little writers have to be big shot online to have any self worth it seems .... very sad and pathetic.


Edit: Mebbe our mods could teach them a thing or 3 about moderating :D
 
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stoke

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It's their forum, they can do with it whatever they wish.
 
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Skurm

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stoke said:
It's their forum, they can do with it whatever they wish.
Click to expand...
I don't believe that. It's not only another forum on the internet, it is a forum for a for-profit company.

Would you think this way if you posted on Telkom's website and a service rep there told you to go screw yourself? I don't think so. You would be outraged.

I dunno. Maybe I'm overreacting.
 
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Grimspoon

Grimspoon

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Just based on that post Skurm I will not buy another one of their magazines again. Who do they think they are? It sounds to me like they do indeed have a god complex. We in fact pay their salaries and when they start telling the customer to *beep* off then they need a wakeup call. They don’t deserve the business. I for one will boycott NAG. That is NO way to treat your customers. I am a firm believer in consumer justice in this country and companies like NAG are clearly one that has no regard for their customers who in fact make them who they are. Good luck to them, hope they get what they deserve.
 
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crysis

crysis

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I agree with you grimspoon. For a magazine that is all about computers are technology, the forum should have a direct link to the magazine its self. I have seen this stuff many times from them. It truly is something only d*ck would say.
 
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DeadCore

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to be honest,NAG suck,been on their forum and the mods there are a bunce of idiots.
 
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HideInLight

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At least keep things in context...Your creating a one sided argument by not showing why he was provoked in the first place. Although I must admit they do swear a lot.
 
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Skurm

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Well, I personally don't wish the actual mag any ill will, the mag itself is great. Pity about the narrowminded abusive little powerfreaks running(and I use the term loosely, more like trolling) the forum though.
Interesting to see some shared opinion on this topic. Guess I'm not paranoid after all. ;)

*edit* with respect, context shmontext. SA as a whole really needs to realize it doesn't matter if the customer is being a **** (even though in this context he strictly wasn't, he was only critiquing their posting as trollish, constructive criticism imo). He's the customer. Unless he/she's being absolutely crazy unreasonable, there is never call for you, as a member of staff, to swear at and insult them. So does the context really matter, and does it matter where it was said/what medium was used?
 
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The_Right_Honourable_Brit

The_Right_Honourable_Brit

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Well NAG has been invaded by little kiddies :p. Then again, some sections of this forum would be considered less-than-mature. (Although I still consider this forum the best :D). A lack of maturity is sometimes good for a laugh...

Basically the level of maturity, in descending order is this:

Prophecy > MyBB > NAG.
 
P

Pizza

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Mature level.1 means drooling babies and 10 means adults.

MyBB:9
TK:5
NAG:1
PCF:9
PK:2
;):10000000
 
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Skurm

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Well NAG has been invaded by little kiddies . Then again, some sections of this forum would be considered less-than-mature
Click to expand...
Yeah, maybe. Diffs is, and correct me if I'm wrong, MBB is a more a community site and forums. NAG is selling a product. Way I see it, NAG forum isn't supposed to be like, say, SomethingAwful forums. They're supposed to be like Ford Motor Co's forums. It's supposed to exist in support of the product they're trying to sell, make a profit off of, and earn their paychecks with. So it's a bit shortsighted to flame and lay into people on your forum and expect that not to have any consequences on the product you're trying to sell. At least that's how I see it.
But hey, I suppose they're free to run things the way they want to. Maybe they don't actually want or need new subscribers? Maybe Internet isn't important? Maybe increasing revenue, not treating your customers like crap, having a large forum readerbase so you can take advantage of free advertising on your own site and other such concepts aren't relevant? Maybe they went to a completely different school of business theory where pissing off your readers and building niche communities is the best way to make the big bucks? Hell where do I enroll, I could make millions. ;)
 
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D

DeadCore

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aggggg,In the January 2009 issue of NAG Magazine, what is the name of the "Letter Of The Moment" winner on page 14?
 
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