I spend, I dunno, maybe five or six hours a week checking out this forum and I really enjoy it. It's the only online forum I visit (usually) or contribute to.

I'm very concerned that some members don't seem to understand exactly what a "forum" is. There are far too many posts (usually by the same people, over and over) that say "Why even have a thread like this?" and "There are right and wrong ways to express an idea like this."

SHOULD this forum be just the "Everything Mattel makes is great and it doesn't matter how long it takes for us to get our hands on it and no one should express any more disatisfaction than what certain members think is appropriate" forum?

Because obviously Mattel is listening to our criticisms as well as our compliments. And sometimes, yes, expressing our outrage is beneficial, just as the positive reinforcement that we provide is.

Yet there are far too many people who dismiss certain posts as trivial (HINT: EVERYTHING IN THIS FORUM IS TRIVIAL) or inappropriate, while, far worse, certain members try to dictate how other members should express themselves. And I'm sick of it. It's not my fault that several members aren't sophisticated enough to appreciate the value of a good rant-- ALL rants are constructive, even if they seem really dumb, because they create discussion.

I'm just sick of a small-minded, unsophisticated minority trying to tell other members what they should or shouldn't be allowed to say, or how they can or can't say it.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you just said.

It's one of the main reasons that I rarely post here. I usually end up offending someone. Which is fine with me.

I'm just glad SOMEONE had the balls to say it.

Jason and I are OK with anyone and everyone that is registered on the site expressing their opinion here as long as they are not being abusive about it. Express your views, make an argument, ask a question, whatever.

But when it starts getting personel or degenerates into name calling, that's when we start stepping in.

I sure some of this is directed at me, so I'll explain my point of view on the subject...



No, this forum should not be an all-positive one but at the same time people should be civil and constructive in the critisms. I have no problem with someone expressing a negative opinion if they explain -- in a civil manner -- what that problem is. The reason that I say this is that there are plenty of forums across the internet where anyone can go and let loose a tirade full of rage and cursing and that's all fine and good, but Daniel and Jason have spent a lot of time earning the respect and gaining the friendship of the insiders that frequent this site -- they come here for input on their lines not to have crap dumped on them. The industry interaction and the general willingness to help each other is what makes this site so important to those of us who have been here more than a couple of months. I will readily admit that there are some serious distribution problems with Mattel's DC lines, but strings of profanity and threating bodily harm to Mattel staff (I'm not saying that about you, but it's happened here before) over that is not going to solve the problem. I honestly believe that there are people inside Mattel who are working to solve the problems but as a corporation, Mattel has never really been able to crack the action figure market the way Hasbro has which means that their marketing and sales people don't have the same kind of pull to get retail buyers to purchase assortments with case packs that will be beneficial to the lines -- it could be a while longer before we really start to see changes.



I agree completely that expressing outrage can be beneficial *provided* there is an explanation for the outrage instead of the post just being an incoherent tirade which so often happens. At the same time, it's good for us to let Mattel's staff know what they've done right, too, and specific comments of that nature are just as helpful as explaining negativity about something. If Mattel knows what's being done right then they can try to apply it again and again.



I have a feeling this one is directed specifically at me over the "let's pick the pegwarmer" thread (I could be wrong, it's just a hunch). My problem wasn't with the nature of the thread as much as it was that no characters had been so much as announced at the time of the post, yet you were already trying to figure out which character was going to doom the line. Now that we know the first two waves, go ahead -- Orion is my pick for wave one, BTW... As for the forum as a whole being trivial, yes, in the grand scheme of the universe it is (just as much as the planet Earth and everyone of us are) but for a forum that is specific to Mattel's action figures (generally, JLU and DCSH) then this forum is not trivial. ToyGuru came here last week and specifically asked *US* about paint changes that we thought would help the line be more "authentic", that's not very trivial in realm of what we discuss here in "Mattel-All". Personally, I get tired of the types of posts that "He-who-shall-not-be-named"* inspires where the venom is not only in the thread to which it pertains but starts to seep across every thread in the forums.



Difference of opinion. I know I'm one of the more vocal members when it comes to calling people on this, but the PMs I get when things get heated tell me that I'm far from the only person here who feels this way. All I'm doing is trying to protect the integrity of this board so that Mattel will keep coming back here to listen to the good *and* the bad so that they can keep making the product better.

And, that's my two cents.

* that would be JLU Hal Jordan here, not Lord Voldermort...

Something that's annoyed me in the past but thankfully hasn't happened much lately, at least not directed toward me, is the pipsqueaking of hall monitors who take it upon themselves to do the moderators' jobs

What's the point of this thread?

Kidding aside, you make a compelling arguement. I'd say that you are correct in the importance of criticism as well as praise.

one of my issues is that some people only read/use the Mattel forum and so they post everything in the Mattel forum when there are more appropriate forums for it at AFI.

This for example is a general topic, and as such belongs in the Ask Julius forum. Since Julius responded but did not move it, I will not either.

Exactly one of the points the man was trying to make.

Check. I won't question ridiculous threads anymore.

Sometimes constructive criticism can lead to a more effective, productive forum in the future, if you can open yourself up to it.

How dare you say this! I'm offended!