| MattDavidT |
I read the OP thusly, whether the OP is justified in his feelings or unjustified, - "Shame on all of you. I'm taking my ball and going home. MA! See what the bad people made me do!" Color me unimpressed by the reasonable and plaintive tone.
That's not too fair - the way I read it he's basically saying that Paizo stuff looks kind of neat, but the fans are being lousy and unhelpful, which means the product is lessened in usefulness since he can't get any help or inspiration for it from the people who know it best - unlike the Atomic Think Tank, f'rex, where the fans try really really hard to make the company's products worthwhile.
If I'm buying corn from somewhere, I can either go to the sewer where there's corn that I've heard is good and sift through people's poop and argue with the various sewer denizens about whether corn or apple cores or sewage is better eating... or go to a cornfield and chat with farmers who have recipes. The poop corn may be objectively tastier corn, but it's not going to be as good. Because of the poop.
Then there's the slightly less rational "if these people are fans of these products, and these people are stupid and mean, does that mean I won't like the products because I'm *not* stupid and mean?" Not necessarily my cuppa, in terms of motivation or rationalization (I do stuff alot of stupid mean people enjoy all the time, like watch Top Chef)...
But I can comprehend why the thought of being associated with people you don't like, particularly in a social and community-oriented hobby, would be unpalatable.