Post originally by superfreak at 2004-08-04 12:06:57
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What hostility? The review wasn't useful and I told him why, in more detail than he told me what he didn't like about the book. Like he rated the product, I rated his review. What's wrong with reviewing a reviewer? What is hostile about that? It's not like I attempted to be a smart aleck (like you did with your nerd Karnak retort; and yes, my remark just then was hostile). I just let him and other readers know it wasn't useful. I didn't ask for or complain about a lack of "excrutiating detail." I complained about generalized "I don't like this or I don't like that." He just never tells us why for some aspects, and others that we do hear why are just tied to his personal idiosyncrasies that are not useful to others who don't hold the same. In other words, it didn't really tell us much of anything objective about the product, unless one reads between the lines.

By way of example, before buying this book I know what the Claremont Academy chapter is about, as I own Freedom City and know the reference to Chris Claremont is intentional. The reviewer missed the whole point that the chapter was included for those who wanted to run an X-menesque campaign! Freedom city is full of M&M analogs to common comic book themes -- even the Freedom League is an obvious analog to the Justice League/Avengers, there is a Fantastic Four analog, etc. That's like complaining about the chapter on legacy heroes because one is sick of seeing JSA and All-Star Squadron being done to death or complaining about the Freedom City 2525 chapter because it sounds too much like the DC comics set in the future -- the point of the chapter was to let those who wanted to run such a campaing emulate such a campaign. All I know is the reviewer doesn't want to run such a campaign; he doesn't tell me how the chapter fulfills its purpose, though, for those who do.

By the way, look at the link to the other review I posted above and compare, you'll see why I wanted to let people know why this review isn't good. As you can see from Atom Man's post, it was a good thing I said the review wasn't good and pointed him to a a better one. Anyway, Amazon just confirmed by delivery of my M&M Annual today, so I will see for myself. I bought it after reading the other review that told me what was covered, whether what was covered seems workable, and whether what was covered actually did a good job addressing it's intended purpose.