We had an incident occur today where we had to jump into a private message – something we really don’t like to do. We don’t have the time to monitor PMs and the such, and so we generally just don’t. However, there was an incident about six months ago when a number of users began to share pirated files from other producers. One of those producers found out and complained, prompting us to create a plugin that scans all forum messages, both private and public for mentions of competitors, then alerts us. We rarely check those notifications – it’s just a way for us to have a record, so if another producer complains, we can quickly identify the offender and take action.
In the past few weeks, we noticed one producer popping up multiple times. We still ignored it, until today, I finally decided to see what the issue was. It wasn’t someone pirating the subs, but rather advertising that company. In the past, we’ve allowed people to talk about other companies in their messages because we wanted people to express what they’ve tried, their results, experiences, etc. However, this is more than that – this is an individual / few individuals messaging as many people as they can and talking about a competitor, and even making up reasons of sowing discord within the community (saying things such as, Saint only responds to certain things – we’ll get to that in a minute).
That behavior stops now.
We give our users much more freedom on this forum than any other subliminal producer. We go out of our way to make sure our titles are stackable, even though we’d get more sales if we simply added a module that strongly urges / forces you to take action. However, we wanted our users to have the CHOICE to decide.
We give out copious discounts – 30% off the first order, a rather robust Sub Club Elites program, and we’re even incorporating loyalty coupons that are being sent out via email (some of you have already gotten them) when you reach a certain amount paid.
We give a 30-day, no questions asked refund policy, only blacklisting those who clearly abused it – no one who posts on this forum regularly was ever put up there, and we’ve even swapped out titles for you.
We gave out FREE Q subs for those who participated in the Ultima Test. Another producer made everyone pay full price for an experimental program, made it clear that there will be no refunds, and as far as I know, that program isn’t finished.
We treat our customers well. Do not abuse that. Do not advertise other competitors on our forum. You know the difference between someone asking, “what have you tried” and you telling the truth, and actively messaging any member that has reconciliation and promoting someone else. I’m not going to make any kind of edict right now, that you can’t mention another producer at all, but if this bad behavior continues, we will. We didn’t build this community for other producers to use it for their own means.
As for the “Saint only responds to certain things,” claim. Yes, you’re right. I have limited time to respond to posts, hence why my posts are generally so short. I log on, daily, to 99+ notifications. I tend to answer questions that are novel, meaning they haven’t been answered before. Most of these people complaining, their questions were answered by a senior member of the forum, but they are demanding to hear it from one of us. @DarkPhilosopher is VOLUNTEERING his services, so we aren’t going to force him to answer every question. However, we have a FULL-TIME support agent. The official support channel is by submitting a ticket and they’ll get back to you within 24-48 business hours (though we do try to respond on weekends). You can email [email protected] and it’ll go straight to our Zendesk. Or, click “Send a support ticket” on SubliminalClub.com (fixing the Q link today, not sure how it broke). You may still PM me, but it may take longer to respond – you will get a response though.
No one has been banned because of this. There’s a lot of reconciliation going around, and @Fire and myself are creating better support guides (I just wrote a ton of it last night) to alleviate some of the issues, including Stack Rotation, understanding why you need rest days, etc. We’re in uncharted territory here. No one has the technology we have, but even we don’t quite realize what’s happening sometimes (like with Terminus Squared, but I think @Fire cracked the code). But people, be cognizant of the work we’re all putting into this community and company.
Questions, comments and concerns are welcome.
