GW Web staff comments

[dragoon161523]

so ranting on facebook or going on a "buying strike" Isn't considered protesting?

I also think you've missed my point entirely. Yes if everyone worldwide didn't buy for a month then wow that would really hit home, but it won't happen. i have no idea where you have gotten 60% from, but nowhere near 60% of GW's customer base will partake in a "no buy" protest for reasons listed previously. Kids will buy what they want and will not be phased by things they don;t really understand yet. Parents will continue to buy. Hobbyist's, veterans, regulars will also not agree with he boycott and will just ignore it and those are the ones that even here about it. At my local GW at home, only 3 of us out of about 30 are on any online forums or in frequent touch with topics such as this. Also, I have noticed that a fair few people that are for the boycott idea, have stated previously in the past that they buy from the discount stockists or even from ebay. This being the case, if they jumped on board there would be no noticable effect at GW's end.

Waving banners isn't necessarily any better "hence my student protest reference", but a smart plan could be devised. But a "no buy" boycott just seems to have too many flaws for it to work.

O.K. last post response...good golly miss molly

My facebook response was referring to communication not protest....woosh went right over your head...so only 3 out of 30 of you use forums huh...are your lips stapled shut, are you not allowed to speak to these 27 people...geez guy give me a break. If your neighbor is blind are you just going to stand there and not tell him the cars coming...let me know when any of this sinks in. I'm not saying they have to take your side, but if you tell them....at least you have given them a choice.

My point was about communication, something very lacking these days.

1st a boycott is a boycott it has a different definition then protest, the only word in the definition of protest to link my statements the way you want them linked is (action). Where boycott is VERY specific thus NOT a protest, but.....a......boycott.

A boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization.

A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion.

Once again your right though, don't express your opinion to those 27 people at your shop....then maybe they won't have a discussion with 27 people they may know etc. etc. etc. thats my 60%, but you are my prime example of whats stopping this from happening, or at least your frame of mind is.

I could be wrong, but from your responses I have drawn my conclusion about you. I'm very much a realist and I don't see this as difficult as long as everyone discusses it with someone else. Of course conversation is lacking these days.

Well I have enjoyed this and maybe our discussion has convinced a few people to speak to someone they know who may not be informed about this....and that means I have done my part, have you done yours?

Nice chatting with you, I bid you.....good day

[addamsfamily36]

O.K. last post response...good golly miss molly

My facebook response was referring to communication not protest....woosh went right over your head...so only 3 out of 30 of you use forums huh...are your lips stapled shut, are you not allowed to speak to these 27 people...geez guy give me a break. If your neighbor is blind are you just going to stand there and not tell him the cars coming...let me know when any of this sinks in. I'm not saying they have to take your side, but if you tell them....at least you have given them a choice.

My point was about communication, something very lacking these days.

1st a boycott is a boycott it has a different definition then protest, the only word in the definition of protest to link my statements the way you want them linked is (action). Where boycott is VERY specific thus NOT a protest, but.....a......boycott.

A boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization.

A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion.

Once again your right though, don't express your opinion to those 27 people at your shop....then maybe they won't have a discussion with 27 people they may know etc. etc. etc. thats my 60%, but you are my prime example of whats stopping this from happening, or at least your frame of mind is.

I could be wrong, but from your responses I have drawn my conclusion about you. I'm very much a realist and I don't see this as difficult as long as everyone discusses it with someone else. Of course conversation is lacking these days.

Well I have enjoyed this and maybe our discussion has convinced a few people to speak to someone they know who may not be informed about this....and that means I have done my part, have you done yours?

Nice chatting with you, I bid you.....good day

Ok i agree that your point was about communcation, but the fact remains that it would be almost impossible to arrange an organised boycott to the scale of which it would make a difference. Yes i talk to the other 30 or so people i know down at my local GW but i also know them as a group. There are those who don't really care other than where there next plastic fix is coming from. there are those who enjoy the social side more and just play with what they already own, and then there are a few of us who do debate and talk about the business side of the hobby, but the fact of the matter is we all love the hobby and as a group we all enjoy the fact we can meet up once or twice a week and use our store free of charge. Practically no other hobby offers that service. Hell i would even be willing to pay a membership fee if it helped to contribute to my local GW, instead I am happy to pay that price through the price of the product.

So i will spread the news, but i am also a realist and am aware what my local response will be. In fact i've already had a chat with a fair few of them on the topic already and the percentage of those interested was minimal. And that group of 30 represents the veterans the regulars the older kids etc, the ones who are educated enough to care about a boycott or not. so if only say 3 of them join the boycott thats 10% of a small portion of our local shops overall customer base. And as a long time customer, i am perfectly aware that my and many other older players spend-age tends to be greater in lump sums, but also less frequent. It's been a month since i last brought anything because i have had more important costs in my life. The kids who spend weekly sometimes daily (if they are spoilt) however will continue to fuel GW's weekly average sales and as long as those figures remain consistent then they won't flinch.

All i'm trying to point out is that the percentage of the community that will join the boycott will be far less than those that won't. And on top of that, a lot of forum users that are proposing a no spend boycott also don't buy direct from GW in the first place. so if anything the discount stockists will be more effected, which i hardly see as a good thing if people want to keep the discount stores about. A boycott could hurt more than just GW , and thats a factor people are overlooking.

As to the protest/boycott definitions, you state that a protest is an expression of objection by words or actions. A boycott is an action. you can dress it up as much as you like, but its a direct response to an event. So it is an action of expressing an objection to the current situation, therefore a protest. It might not be a lets wave banners and march definition of a protest, but it is a form of protest. The dictionary even uses the word protest:

-to refuse to have dealings with (a person, organization, etc.) or refuse to buy (a product) as a protest or means of coercion.

I could be wrong, but from your responses I have drawn my conclusion about you. I'm very much a realist and I don't see this as difficult as long as everyone discusses it with someone else. Of course conversation is lacking these days.

This is my main problem with you. You ask for a break but it was you who attacked my original offering which was if anything only trying to point out that a boycott might not be the best idea, i by no means said to just give up. You also draw conclusions of the type of character i am yet didn't ask about my initial post, just presumed my intent and twisted it. If after every post i make you are going to make a new presumption or conclusion of who i am or what my intent is based upon how you are choosing to read my offerings, then yeh it's been nice chatting to you too. have a good weekend.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

Anyone else notice an eerie similatry between GW and Telstra (Of about 5 years ago)?

Given that Telstra dominates the communication market here, absolutely.

[Gir]

wasn't there a government "bailout" type arrangement in there at some point? might be a different case though because Telstra was government owned.

It used to be government owned, but it was then sold off. There was no bailout as far as I remember.