I'm not going to name names here, but I kinda wanna ask a question here, because I'm not sure where I stand myself on the issue...

There is an imminent payware release that I was really looking forward to, so I was hanging around on the company's forums a bit. Someone asked a minor question about cockpit layout authenticity, it wasn't a very signifigant question, and, yeah, maybe it didn't really need to be asked, but he did. Someone from the company answered it, the guy acknowledged the answer as being sound, and the thread should have been over.

Instead, another member of the company jumps in and starts reaming the guy for "wasting their time" answering "stupid questions". The original poster tries to back out, and is told that "he doesn't get to decide when a thread is over" and such. Very rude, very bully-like tactics.

So, now I'm sorta conflicted. I still want the product, and I *know*, logicly, that I've purchased products from rude people before... Every time I buy a computer game, you gotta figure some of the people at the company are rude people, and that doesn't bother me. But that sort of unprofessional behavior in their public forum grates on me, and the old-fashioned part of myself is hesitant to reward a company that acts that way.

What would anyone else do?

may i ask who is that company

For me it depends...

I find most companies are quite good with the customer service and by customer service, mainly on the technical aspects and issues areas. When it comes to generic questions and release dates, and questions that have been asked over and over again, I cant blame developers for cracking the whip.

Most forums have a search function and few use them.

Now someone asking about cockpit layout authenticity...well its two fold. Such questions might come as thinking the devs might not know what they are doing. Wait until its released and look at screen shots or better yet wait until its released and see how purchasers respond to what they have bought.

Then sometimes I weigh how good past experiences are such as ease of buying, ease of reinstallation for those 'just in case' times, and how few issues I have had in the past with the aircraft/scenery/utility I purchased, and if there were issues, how fast and supportive the devs were with a patch.

Now, is it another member of the company or is it a forum moderator (who in such cases is responsible for their actions, but often times can come across as a bit beligerant)

The actions on a forum dont weigh much with me, but the product and the tech support do.

personally I would like to know the name of the company so I can give my opinion more accurately, but without knowing, I can only say, wqatch the actions of other co. members. Sometimes like in any field, you have those with a holier than thou attitude such as a certain popular flight sim website where I called them a bully in defense of a payware company and was permanently banned and given a lengthy letter from the owner of the site on how idiotic I am. I had my repaints removed from their website, and dont use their forum. I look and see what is available on their site, but other than that, I just leave them alone.

if I see aggressive company members on their forum, and have had tech issues that took a long time to resolve or I gave up, then no, I would not purchase the item.