Good Example of Bad Advertising

The first post in this thread on ENWorld.

If a product isn't selling or an ad isn't getting clicked, try a different approach other than "You consumers need to check this product out! We spent a lot of money on our advertising!" If people aren't interested in something, you're not going to browbeat them into getting interested. This comes off as very unprofessional, which is not what you want if you want to be taken seriously.

Later in the thread, the original poster mentions that he may stop advertising on ENWorld since he's not getting enough return on his investment, but he would prefer to keep doing it. But then later he says that it's "...not really about money..." So - which is it? Are you running a business or are you spending money on your hobby?

But, I digress. This thread reminded me of a former Inphobia columnist (McCubbin, maybe?) who was ranting a few years ago about how gamers were responsible for the magazine tanking because they weren't sophisticated enough to appreciate it (Inphobia was what White Wolf Magazine warped into). The concept that it simply wasn't to people's tastes was lost on him. Of course, there are a number of prima donna game writers out there with the patronizing attitude that you should simply buy whatever they put out since they know better than you what's good. The ones with long term success are those who actually put out what people want (though that may mean appealling to the LCD) or those who put out good stuff that isn't universally appreciated but don't rant about how Joe Gamer doesn't "get it."