Open letter to NAG Magazine re:abusive language by staff

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jaygeewk

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I have decided to post this open letter to NAG across some SA community sites/forums in the hopes of receiving feedback. I have received no feedback from their editor wrt this issue. Since I see they are advertising their site and by proxy their forum as a banner on this site, I thought it would be appropriate.

Dear NAG Editor.

I would like to refer to

http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=9448&page=2

screenshot:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/9097/naggfyfy7.jpg


Specifically the response by one ‘Azimuth’, a member of your staff and forum moderator, telling a forum user and potential customer of your publication to, and I quote,

“Go <expletive deleted> yourself.”

It is merely but one isolated incident. Perhaps your management should review what is happening on your forums? Unless it’s management policy to allow this kind of thing to run rampant.

I’m not sure what NAG’s policy is in terms of telling clients to go &*%^ themselves, but frankly if this is the way your staff treat users of your website/forums and current/potential purchasers of your magazine, then I’m afraid your publication can, in fact, go %&^$ itself. I will also be sharing this issue to other members of the South African gaming community seeking their input and asking them to boycott your publication until such time as public apologies are made and you review your policy on this issue.
Further, I have logged the issue with Hellopeter. http://www.hellopeter.com/the_comment.asp?recid=240816
I am certain that I am not the only one who feels that a business should value and respect it’s customers. Beyond simply the terrible treatment of customers by some of your staff online, there is also the issue of children reading your site/forums.

I, for one, will not buy your product when your personnel show the people who fund their salaries this amount of disgusting and outright disrespect.

Kind regards,

JG.
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What is your view? Their opinion is that the forum is seperate from the magazine, but my opinion is that they are the same company and that when I go to their forum, after having bought their magazine, that the last thing I want to see is being told to 'go <bleep> myself' by one of their writers, for posting a criticism. Of course in a follow up thread (link here: http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=9454 )their forum admin tries to make the issue only about the use of expletives when the real issue is the abusive, disrespectful and derogatory way in which their staff respond to customers posting on their site.I think it is a simply shameful way to treat customers, I think that your web presence and your actual product are directly linked in this day and age, I think the concept that the forum is seperate from the magazine is absolutely fallacious, and will no longer support their publication as a result.

signed,
Frustrated ex NAG reader,
Jaygee
 
This is a tricky one. On one hand, I enjoy NAG and have utmost respect for the publication, furthermore, I know a few of the people involved (not well) and they seem to be a great team.

However, I would tend to agree with you on this one. While I enjoy Azimuth's articles and reviews in the magazine, and don't have a problem with her general slightly "abrasive" forum demeanor, I feel that this comment is crossing the line.

An admin swearing at a forumite should not be acceptable. While the magazine and website do operate separately, it is still the same brand and the same people. I would think NAG would want to use their forum to foster a more positive relationship with their readers.

The fact that she was also blatantly trolling in the first place makes it worse.

I have seen her slam forumites for trolling in a similar fashion to what she was doing here, and if they had responded similarly, the ban hammer would have swung swift and true.
 
thanks for your reply. Yes as the eminent gaming publication in SA I would expect more whether in their mag or on their forums. It is a sad state of affairs when the admins are conducting themselves in such a manner. In the case of it being a simple user of the site then I can understand bad language. But at the end of the day your site or forum is simply a medium and still a representation of your brand identity and if I use it to seek some information and then get scolded and verbally attacked by an admin, then I'm afraid it does reflect badly on the publication itself. Perhaps they have never heard of the saying, the customer is always right.
 
This is a tricky issue indeed: NAG is the premier publication in the industry and they are certainly a great team. I always enjoy dealing with them and I know that have the best for their readership in mind.

On forums things can get heated and I assume that is what elicited that response. Not that I condone it – maybe just trying to understand why it was said.
 
I think they are a decent magazine. They have their moments.

I used to be relatively active on their forums, also had an altercation with azimuth, so I just stopped going. The attitude towards their readers on their forums stinks.
 
Eh, I haven't ever really bothered to read NAG. I know there was a big rivalry between them and PCFormat back when I worked there. I presume this to still be the case. :p

But in reviewing the thread, they could probably convince their contributors to show some restraint on the forum. I see no reason why the reply couldn't have been "Excuse me, but your response is unreasonable because..."
 
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I love my NAG, and have been for over 10 years, but I've found Azimuth to be fairly confrontational on the NAG forums (don't bad-mouth the Xbox or face her wrath :P). I just try and avoid her as best I can, can't waist my time cyber squabbling with someone, it's just ridiculous.
 
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Pc format is a copy paste of the British publication. Last issue i bought. somewhere in 2008 5 different items pricing was still in Pounds, and the ask Louis thing was all about British stuff.
 
SpoOkie said:
Pc format is a copy paste of the British publication. Last issue i bought. somewhere in 2008 5 different items pricing was still in Pounds, and the ask Louis thing was all about British stuff.
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That's true, not exactly an original S.A. magazine.
 
I initially got nag for the disc period, so when i got adsl it stopped. Apart from that i just got tired of the snotty never ending remarks from the editors towards its readers- its not like the reviews and previews was AAA anyways...
 
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