Category: PbNation

PbNation And NPPL Break Up

pbnvsnppl-cropped.pngAww, it’s so sad to see such a cute couple break it off, but that’s just what PbNation is doing. They’ve had enough of the NPPL and all their shenanigans.

So what was it that finally caused them to break it off? The NPPL won’t allow people to film the center court due to their deal with Fox Sports. Yes, a forum that doesn’t film anything and has no use for center court filming is banning the NPPL from their forum because of it.

That sounds a little weird, doesn’t it? But they say that it’s hurting Monkey With A Gun productions and they’ve had a long standing relationship with them.

But people are completely behind PbNation, saying it’s a great move. Really? Great move? Come on, now. You think they did this for the “greater good”.

If I know Ed, which I’m going to say I do, he did this for nothing other than money. PbNation has a business relationship with MWAG. They give them a forum and sell their DVDs, which I’m sure they’re making a decent profit from. If MWAG can’t film, it’ll take longer and be harder to make their next DVD, which means they can’t sell it, which, in turn, means PbNation doesn’t make any profit from selling it.

It’s all about money kids. The NPPL did the Fox Sports deal for money, and PbNation bans NPPL for money. Hell, they could also be pissed that they aren’t getting a cut from the Fox Sports.

The reason why Fox Sports wants exclusive use of the field is because if other people film, they could release films of the games before it airs causing less people to watch it on TV.

How many of you would watch a football game if you could’ve watched it hours or days before?

I wouldn’t. I completely understand why they wanted the rights. They are making a decent sized investment in this, and they don’t want some random guy showing up and taking away viewers.

But here’s the thing, does the NPPL need PbNation? Nope. They’ll be on TV soon enough, and people will look for the NPPL after watching. They aren’t going to look for PbNation or even know what it is.

Personally, I think it’s time for NPPL, or more precisely their parent company, Pacific Paintball, to get involved in the whole web game. The just bought PB2X. Buying or creating a forum or “social networking site” definitely isn’t out of their reach. And with 2 larger companies like the NPPL and PB2X backing it, it can probably succeed pretty quickly.

Does PbNation need the NPPL? Yes, probably. It definitely won’t be in their favor in the long run. A good amount of users go to the NPPL forum everyday. Some might stick around, but a lot will just migrate to one of the other forums out there that allows the NPPL. It’s not like it won’t be hard to find another.

Banning the largest paintball tournament series? Yeah, slick move PbNation. You’ve put your own money grubbing interests over your users yet again.

PbNation Feedback – A Complicated Solution To Nothing

PbNation implemented a new feedback system yesterday.

First, in order to just to understand it, you have to read 3 pretty damn long posts. After that, it should be simple right? Meh. First, you have to find the little tiny link next to the report the post link. Great placement geniuses. Expect a lot a “Great Seller. A+++” reports in the future. After you click that link, you’re presented with some options. Like having to say if you were the buyer or seller, since it’s too stupid to figure that out from the thread.

Once you have figured out all that and there’s some feedback there, it’s all presented in an eBay-esque fashion. In fact, so eBay-esque that it’s a blatant rip-off of an eBay Feedback page.

PbNation:

eBay:

Yup, that’s a rip off if I’ve ever seen one. I guess copyright infringement doesn’t apply to them.

But, it’s not so much that’s it’s annoying and confusing, it’s the fact it doesn’t prevent anything it’s supposed to.

According to them, it’s much harder to commit feedback fraud. And by much, they mean slightly more complicated. Here was the old way to commit feedback fraud.

  1. Create account
  2. Post in feedback thread

Here’s the new way

  1. Create account
  2. Post in B/S/T thread
  3. Post feedback

Mmm, 1 extra step. Hardly a deterrent. But hey, if they want to believe that, I guess they can, since ‘fake feedback’ isn’t even a reason for the feedback to be removed.

If PbNation is provided with a valid court order finding that the disputed feedback is slanderous, libelous, defamatory or otherwise illegal.

The feedback comment contains profane, vulgar, obscene, or racist language or adult material. Inflammatory language, such as “fraud, liar, cheater, scam artist, con man” etc., while strongly discouraged, will not be removed.

The feedback comment contains personal identifying information about another member, including real name, address, phone number, or e-mail address.

Negative feedback intended for another member will be considered for removal only in situations where the member responsible for the mistaken posting informs PbNation of the error and has already placed the same feedback for the correct member.

Now, for the best part, it’s really easy to screw someone over. Let’s say, you give someone feedback. They wait for the 24 hour grace period that allows you to edit it, then they give them some nice negative feedback. you can’t do much about it. Before, you could at least reply to it to let others know that that guy was crazy, but now, you can’t do crap. You can’t edit the feedback you gave. You can’t give them bad feedback in return (you already gave them feedback. I would constitute that as feedback fraud). You can report it, but according to the rules, it’s can’t be removed. You got yourself a nice frowny face stuck on your feedback.

And let’s say you only had 20 feedback prior to that, you now have a 90% feedback rating (Good = +1, Bad = -1, 20-1 / 21 = 90.47%). Personally, I wouldn’t ship first to you. A 90%? That’s just as good as a 20. Anything but 99% or 100% sucks, that’s just how it is.