Joseph Young
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2001
- Messages
- 1,352
I can tell you that most of what Daniel says is true, at least from the studios' perspective. Yes, this and other sites, including mine, are looked at as marketing tools by the studios. As long as there is preceived value as a marketing tool, we will continue to get discs to review. This does not, however, make internet sites "pawns" of a studio. Some of you are wrongly reading that connotation into Daniel's comments.
Obi, I personally agree with those sentiments. But the majority of Daniel's post was not confined to discussing studio politics, but sounded to me like a personal criticism of Ron's style. I found it difficult to read the portion of the post that discussed reviewers as marketing tools as objective and academic, when the bulk of the post was spent tearing somebody down.
All I am trying to say here, is that I consider Ron's reviews a valuable source of information for me and I don't resent him for doing what he does. Regardless of whether the HTFs reviewing arm is simply a tool, I am thankful for the fact that Ron support OAR and he has always sounded like a pretty straight-shooter to me. I simply find it puzzling to find traces of personal resentment regarding what he does in anyone's post. Ron was just thanking us for supporting the reviews, not asking us to justify the political autonomy of his endeavors.
Despite the fact that the Jonestown reference was meant as a joke, I hope it's understood that there's a massive difference between a cult mentality and civility.
Peace,
Joseph