HAHAHA oh BPAL. Just when I was wondering where all the supposed wank was on the forum, they bring it but good. I'll be over here, keeping an eye on fandom_wank.
A basic rundown - Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory sells like a zillion blends of perfume oils. They are fun and addictive and a rather insane fanbase has sprung up. A few days ago, the proprietress, Beth, announced a price increase, which is the first one in years. She said that the increase would take effect with the new update, which would be August third (today).
Well, the update went up a day early, and so did the prices. People who had, for one reason or another, waited till the last few hours to make their final orders at the new prices are understandably pissed. Why wouldn't they be? They were counting on a specified deadline and it went right out the window. Not cool. (Personally, I don't see why the update couldn't have gone up early and the prices remained steady until the promised date, but that's just me being sensible, I'll stop now.) These are people I consider sane, who recognize that BPAL is in fact a business and that sticking to promises made is what we like to call good customer service.
But OH MY GOD, don't EVER criticize ANYTHING Beth does on the forum!! These people are piled by the fangirls (who, frankly, are probably also the fangirls who can afford to drop a few hundred bucks at a time on perfume). And! Even better! Beth participates in the forum, and she descends upon the thread with this passive-aggressive martyrtastic post about ohhhh, how DARE she put up the update a few hours early and get alllll excited about heart and soul blah blah blah I seriously about wet myself it was so great. I recall a BPAL wank report a while back in which someone observed that Beth getting involved in the fandom is a bad idea, and while mostly I think it's cool that she takes her fanbase so seriously, something like this makes me think that person was right. Never believe your own press, Beth. BPAL does a lot of really smart customer service and PR stuff (I think the free samples included with each order are especially brilliant; wonder how much money they've made from people falling in love with one of the free scents?), but they screwed up here.
I have to say, the last couple months watching the forum has been interesting. It's its own little society, and I do love sociology and the study of cultures. I think this whole incident is pretty revealing; the forum is a warm and fun place until you break one of the unwritten rules, and then you better watch your back. I wish I'd discovered this place when I was taking Human Behavior in high school. This would make a great extra credit paper for the Sociology unit.
A basic rundown - Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory sells like a zillion blends of perfume oils. They are fun and addictive and a rather insane fanbase has sprung up. A few days ago, the proprietress, Beth, announced a price increase, which is the first one in years. She said that the increase would take effect with the new update, which would be August third (today).
Well, the update went up a day early, and so did the prices. People who had, for one reason or another, waited till the last few hours to make their final orders at the new prices are understandably pissed. Why wouldn't they be? They were counting on a specified deadline and it went right out the window. Not cool. (Personally, I don't see why the update couldn't have gone up early and the prices remained steady until the promised date, but that's just me being sensible, I'll stop now.) These are people I consider sane, who recognize that BPAL is in fact a business and that sticking to promises made is what we like to call good customer service.
But OH MY GOD, don't EVER criticize ANYTHING Beth does on the forum!! These people are piled by the fangirls (who, frankly, are probably also the fangirls who can afford to drop a few hundred bucks at a time on perfume). And! Even better! Beth participates in the forum, and she descends upon the thread with this passive-aggressive martyrtastic post about ohhhh, how DARE she put up the update a few hours early and get alllll excited about heart and soul blah blah blah I seriously about wet myself it was so great. I recall a BPAL wank report a while back in which someone observed that Beth getting involved in the fandom is a bad idea, and while mostly I think it's cool that she takes her fanbase so seriously, something like this makes me think that person was right. Never believe your own press, Beth. BPAL does a lot of really smart customer service and PR stuff (I think the free samples included with each order are especially brilliant; wonder how much money they've made from people falling in love with one of the free scents?), but they screwed up here.
I have to say, the last couple months watching the forum has been interesting. It's its own little society, and I do love sociology and the study of cultures. I think this whole incident is pretty revealing; the forum is a warm and fun place until you break one of the unwritten rules, and then you better watch your back. I wish I'd discovered this place when I was taking Human Behavior in high school. This would make a great extra credit paper for the Sociology unit.
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