First off, let’s get a few things clear:

The negative reaction to NeoUltraMike wasn’t because he offered criticism, but because he apparently has some sort of beef stuck in his craw in regards to Minecraft. Not only that, but some of his complaints were untrue, and I addressed those in my own response to him.

(1) “Move on to other games. Play other series” – as I pointed out, they do play other games. The Minecraft is in addition to the other content they were doing before.

(2) “Do you guys even know your on blistered thumbs [sic]” – yes, they do. They recently highlighted some of their favorites, including Angry Joe, Rinny, and Benzaie.

(3) “It’s so freaking old and I don’t know [sic] why I’m the only person who has said anything by now.” – because no one else seems to mind, and there are people who actually enjoy the Minecraft episodes.

But I for one was not accusing of NUM of trolling, but I did point out where he was wrong in his assessments.

Now, as to your remark concerning Drift, you do have some valid points: the comment system is in place to allow feedback. I thought Drift went a bit too far in demanding that all comments should be nice. That is why I chose the word “constructive” instead. Because it is perfectly okay to offer constructive criticism.

In his last paragraph, NUM tried to be congenial. What he should have done was try to be congenial in the body of his post.

Now, as for TGWTG, I was extremely disappointed when they removed the Thumbs system. I actually prefer getting feedback on my posts, and my ego isn’t so easily bruised by something as inane as a Thumb Down. That whole thing took place because one or two critics got Thumbed Down and couldn’t handle the rejections of knowing that some people didn’t agree with them. No, their criticism did not make them trolls, but it did open them up to the very same disagreement that they themselves offered. Bottom line: if you can’t take criticism yourself, then it is best not to offer it. A few sissies couldn’t handle their criticisms being criticized, and as a result, we have now lost the comment feedback system.

But then again, even over here on BT, the Thumbs system has problems. Here, people just like to thumb down comments arbitrarily. Still, I’d prefer to have a broken feedback system in place than none at all.

The First Amendment means that no one is beyond criticism, and that includes the critics themselves.

As for Fraser’s “strutting” before his “underlings”, you yourself said it: it’s part of the humor among the people of the server. Fraser does not take himself that seriously in reality.

As for his apparent lack of knowledge concerning some of their themes, well, I’ll give you half a point for that. In some cases, if the reference is a bit obscure (or even if they hadn’t seen the things being referenced in a while), then it’s not going to be that easy to identify. For the Mortal Kombat, I don’t think it would have been too hard to at least have some knowledge of the characters, but even then, the obscure ones like Mokap and Meat would have been lost on anyone who hadn’t played those particular games. So, again, half a point there.

As I pointed out, NUM was factually incorrect in some of his points. I would expect that someone who offers this kind of criticism would know his subject well enough to know some of those things I talked about, like the show where they talk about their fellow BT personnel, or that they are still working on other games. So, basically, the charge you level against Fraser can be easily leveled against NUM as well.

No one is above criticism. Not the site personnel, not their critics, and not the critics of the critics. It’s not about having opinions; it’s about being able to present those opinions in a constructive fashion and being able to defend them if need be.

That is all I have to say.