Bye Bye Folks

[blueball]

Just wanted to stop in and say farewell. It seems my posts are not looked upon very favourably so I'd sooner just leave.

I wish you ALL well.

[melon]

Just wanted to stop in and say farewell. It seems my posts are not looked upon very favourably so I'd sooner just leave.

I wish you ALL well.

I think your being oversensitive again personally, but suit yourself.

take care,

m

[TheAnimus]

backstory? In tldr form please!

[Phage]

What ? Where ?

[DR]

He is upset that I closed the SCAN thread which he, as normal jumped in to and I've told him via PM that it doesn't fill me with joy to see every time a slight negative word about Scan happens he is the first to jump in and get angry.

That said, I also told him not to go and he is always welcome.

But instead, he has decided starting a thread in the forum like this would give him more attention

That's the backstory.

[melon]

backstory? In tldr form please!

I think his ego is bit hurt from lack of response to his posts , and people getting attention he thought he deserved ,so hes decided to go out on a dear john and scarper before it gets any worse.

oops - well I was kinda close


m

[DR]

Let's not turn this in to an attack on him please.

[g8ina]

For me, I've always got on with you matey, sorry it was my thread that brought this to a head.

I would ask you to reconsider, but if you do go, I wish you well.

[jimborae]

He is upset that I closed the SCAN thread which he, as normal jumped in to and I've told him via PM that it doesn't fill me with joy to see every time a slight negative word about Scan happens he is the first to jump in and get angry.

That said, I also told him not to go and he is always welcome.

But instead, he has decided starting a thread in the forum like this would give him more attention

That's the backstory.

That's one side of the back story, I'm sure he has another view and from seeing some posts from forums sponsor reps....... lets just say I'd be less than happy.

[TheAnimus]

Oh IC.

Well I posted in that thread that scan are crap and I don't use em, I'm sure it's not the only one and I heard nothing.

So I dunno if its a clash of personality or something, but surely its easiest for Blueball just to give scan threads a wide birth, or just one "haha" post?

[melon]

Oh IC.

Well I posted in that thread that scan are crap and I don't use em, I'm sure it's not the only one and I heard nothing.

So I dunno if its a clash of personality or something, but surely its easiest for Blueball just to give scan threads a wide birth, or just one "haha" post?

I dont think BB is programmed to do that, maybe you can lend him some anti virus ?

On the otherhand if he got dealt with badly by Scan reps understandable too - hell even Ginas complaining about it - so it must be bad !!

m

[MrJim]

That's one side of the back story, I'm sure he has another view and from seeing some posts from forums sponsor reps....... lets just say I'd be less than happy.

This does raise an important question as to the relationship between Hexus & Scan. Hexus describe themselves as "the UK's number one independent technology news and reviews website" (my emphasis), but blueball's treatment must call into question just how independent Hexus really is? I've had problems with Scan's customer service in the past too, but is it against the Forum's rules to voice that fact?

[Allen]

That's one side of the back story, I'm sure he has another view and from seeing some posts from forums sponsor reps....... lets just say I'd be less than happy.

Indeed. Obviously, I have not read all of blueballs posts, but what he posted in the "Rant" thread seemed like legitimate comments, especially since Scan keep closing threads where we were asking them what's going on (as you can see I agreed with him, I also still want to know why my post about Reevoo didn't get the responses I feel as paying customers we were due). But I didn't get a PM warning, or a sarcastic response from Chris P (seriously, I think you need to work on your customer service skills).

Maybe blueball does have a bee in his bonnet about Scan, I do too as they have pissed me off enough to stop spending with them, and maybe he replied to a lot of threads about Scan. Maybe he meant it in a good way but came across wrongly. Whatever he did, Scan in my opinion should not have antagonised him further with their responses, that is not what customer services is about. I think it's clear to see that Scan's responses prove they do not care about their customers any more, yet somehow Scan always seem to get their way on Hexus (even the rant thread in GD was closed because it was highlighting Scan's incompetences felt by many members).

And this is why I believe blueball has left, because he's had enough of it. Fair play to him to be honest, I would too if it wasn't for a couple of other sections of the forum that I frequent a lot (purely because of Scan I might add, the rest of the forum is, as always, fantastic TBH).

See ya blueball, I somehow think you'll be back though!

[kalniel]

This does raise an important question as to the relationship between Hexus & Scan. Hexus describe themselves as "the UK's number one independent technology news and reviews website" (my emphasis), but blueball's treatment must call into question just how independent Hexus really is? I've had problems with Scan's customer service in the past too, but is it against the Forum's rules to voice that fact?

Independence is hard to quantify if you're a business that relies on commercial partnerships (with more than just SCAN as well). I would expect that SCAN have no contractual say in the editorial style of Hexus, but as Hexus is a private forum they can independently chose to protect the interests of their commercial partners as they like, and indeed it would make business sense to do so.

I would prefer it if such commercial partnerships were declared when dealing with Hexus' role as journalists - remember the furore in several game review sites when such partnerships were not declared? Increased transparency would only aid Hexus' reputation in reviews etc. But for forums it's just a matter of taste - threads can be closed as and when they like.

[Tarinder]

This does raise an important question as to the relationship between Hexus & Scan. Hexus describe themselves as "the UK's number one independent technology news and reviews website" (my emphasis), but blueball's treatment must call into question just how independent Hexus really is? I've had problems with Scan's customer service in the past too, but is it against the Forum's rules to voice that fact?

There's a specific HEXUS sub-forum devoted to Scan orders/information/complaints - http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-hexus/ - and users are free to post in there without prejudice from us, assuming the comments don't contravene basic house rules such as swearing and personal attacks.

The original thread was going nowhere, frankly, and it degenerated into a coarse conversation between blueball and a SCAN employee. I personally believe there to be fault on both sides, so it was decided to close it before the invective became stronger on both fronts. Note that the thread wasn't closed at the first negative mention of SCAN; it was only done so to stop a potential 'slanging match' that really shouldn't take place on a public forum. We don't tamper with any threads where a genuine grievance is noted in the SCAN sub-forum.

And with respect to transparency in editorial matters - and we have nothing to hide - please do let me know what information you'll like divulged and I'll take it under advisement.

[kalniel]

Thanks Tarinder. As mentioned, I'd like Hexus website articles to contain disclosures about commercial partnerships as and when they are even slightly related to the article/suppliers/manufacturers in the article. If a supplier provides you with hardware to test then it's not going to worry anyone if you declare that the hardware was supplied by X. If a supplier provides you with a whole bunch of extra stuff in addition to the thing they want you test then it's useful to know - some sites even make a feature out of disclosing such information in a fun way. If you have a partnership that you benefit from and it leads you to say X can be purchased from Y at the end of an article for instance then I'd also like that disclosed in the article - it's part of the article and such looks like it's coming from an independent Hexus, while on the other hand banner ads for Y are clearly not part of the article text.

For me, it's about making it clear to the reader what is genuine independent Hexus opinion, and what is commercially interested material. I don't have a problem with either, but what I don't like is commercially interested material masquerading as genuinely independent material.

Several sites have even started declaring any and all hospitality they receive, so as to be completely transparent. I wholly applaud this approach and hope that Hexus would consider it conducive to a position of the highest quality journalism.