Edited later on...

Hey out there!

I'm listening to the latest HotSpot cast and I don't really know what to say.

I'm at work in my office so I haven't got to its end yet but I've heard a lot of apologies why that video review and even the tested game happened to be poor quality and the equipment K&L was tested on wasn't quite right and only a small and dumb portion of the game appeared as footage and I suspect that even Satan did visit Gamespot short after the review was already uploaded by mistake.

Could anybody throw out 11 years of hard work and say "oh well, it was a series of unfortunate events that made me leave"?

Well surely not for just one game review.

Damn it stinks so much...

Regarding the management's reactions to this affair:

It reminds me those times when I was about 25 and wasn't yet managing a company and my management's only instructions in tough situations were "do something".

I'll continue to boycott CNet sites because I still got no acceptable explanation why Jeff's gone. I remain totally disappointed.

I'm a Hungarian guy far away from you. I'm thinking in my own language that's why I might think and understand everything differently than you try to (or must) say. Let's say I have some language difficulties then. Anyways, something's under the rug and you all know that...

EDITED:

Well I must admit I suspect that it might be better not to know the exact answers to our questions. I'm not going into family affairs anymore. At least for a while... But I'll keep my eyes more open than before.

As you surely all know Jeff Gerstmann's departure from Gamespot was officially confirmed by the staff. If I knew that CNet's management lacked input devices I could have sent one for them.

Many of us protested and believed in miracles and thought that Jeff could have been brought back by GS users to his well deserved position but I doubt he would ever wanted to come back and continue his career at GS once CNet Network's management decided to get rid of him.

You all must accept that he's not that fool and he must have pride and some hard feelings in his heart now anyway and to be honest I would be surprised if the guys responsible for his departure would ever altered any decisions they have already made otherwise they'd also risk their positions. That's the way managements must work to maintain their power.

Any reasons they told us why Jeff had to leave would just have been official PR c'rap they try to hide behind and we couldn't even expect more from them because they made a bad decision. Time will tell if they learn from that or not.

All we can do is NOT letting them forget about how much pain they caused to us and to the whole GS staff and how they can endanger their own revenues by mindlessly slashing around.

The management forgot about a very important factor that makes Gamespot editorial be able to get closer to their readers and viewers compared to most of the review sites and it's that they're providing audiovisual experience by uploading audio and video materials for the audience. That's how they show up as flesh and blood guys and that's a way how they prove their honesty to us. Our personal bonds to them are stronger than they'd think they are.

CNet won this battle by taking down a significant leader but the war has just begun.

Rumours say that many registered GS users have already cancelled their subscriptions to show their indignation which seems to be a right way to protest against an indirect threat on reviewers. Since I have nothing to cancel the only way I can tell CNet they're not right is that I boycott CNet websites including Gamespot on every Thursday until the end of next year. No matter how hard that will be for me I'll stick to my plan because there's no other way for me to express my support for the rest of the staff.

Completely leaving GS is not the right way to show how upset you are and I'm sure you'll come back sooner than you'd think because there's no other place to go. Keep defending this one and not only for just one or two days! Let CNet constantly hear your voices to make them realize that YOU ARE REPRESENTING THE MONEY they make and that's why our reviewers' independence provide them dollars!

Farewel Jeff and stay cool! You know you're a hero to most of us. Maybe a hero you always wanted to be...

I would never think that I will ever have to speak out my thoughts about this site and the whole gaming community but "nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition". I'm 32 and my enthusiasm for games has chilled down or at least began to turn to be sentimental memories with time passing by.

Nowadays I still play games about 5-10 hours a week but regarding gaming I find more fun in reading game reviews and watching a community that still has that true enthusiasm I used to have earlier. I still remained to be part of game publishers' target audience since I usually pay a lot for various titles when it comes to buying gifts for my family members or close friends of mine. I'm still buying games for myself but most of their boxes remain closed for years. I'm sure you all get the point why I'm telling you that.

As a foreigner I happened to bump into this community lately just a few years ago and I started to feel something similar to what I did when I used to have more time and freedom to play. I was amazed when I discovered Gamespot's family like crew and watched their shows and video reviews late at nights. (Since I'm in GMT+1:00 time zone.) I never missed any On the Spot shows Tournament TVs or video reviews and whenever I had more time to spare on Gamespot I surfed the forums and read what I was interested in.

Each and every reviewer had his own s t y l e and it was great that Gamespot delivered this unknown distant family and all their "adventures" to me living thousands of miles away from their HQ. Greg Kasavin's s'tyle stood closest to my taste and his personal values reflected in his reviews and other stuff inspired me the most to become part of Gamespot's community. His leaving was a truly sad moment for me and made me afraid that more significant changes were going to happen to my favorite site soon after his departure. (I know he'll never read my lines but I wish him to make all his great dreams come true.)

The hard and honest work of remaining reviewers and great folks joining later on gave me a hope that Gamespot will be able to maintain my motivations to come back every day but with deciding to fire Jeff Gerstmann in that "ugly, ugly" way they screwed up everything. I'm feeling being slapped in the face for the favor of an advertiser and that hurts as much as you suffer from that and this reminds me that we're not part of a free and independent community anymore. Their move was something like a harakiri but it doesn't show any nobility to me and to the whole of Gamespot readers.

Something went wrong and this affair went too far from the point where at least our pain could have been eased a bit. Most of us think that firing Jeff was the worst and most thoughtless decision the management could have made but sadly it appears to be done.

Jeff indeed has a kinda harsh s t y l e but that was his role in the Family and that's why we like him or like him not. Reviews are reflecting the personal taste and s t y l e of the reviewer and should never get influenced by any business interests. Most of the readers know which reviewer matches ones taste and which does not and none of these professional reviewers will ever risk the trust they achieved with hard work and honesty towards their readers. That's what all my favorite reviewers might feel at the moment and that makes me hopeless right now.

CNET managed to mess up everything more than they think.

It seems that CNET has its hands too tight on Gamespot and tries to influence any content related to advertiser interests. They wiped off Jeff's review and fired Jeff immediately. I'm afraid this is just the beginning. Gamespot is CNET-land and every pageview on GS puts money into CNET's pocket. CNET doesn't care about us and the GS staff. We must show them our power and force them to think their whole policy over. We must leave our land for a few days to show significant visit drops that would endanger the existence of GS in the long run. I'm afraid CNET won't care about it but at least we try to do something instead of accepting what is going on with our beloved gamer mates.

Sad but CNET's behavior reminds me many other cases when great online services were ruined by a completely idiot management without sheding a single teardrop.

After Greg's departure I crossed my fingers and hoped it will never happen to GS. I'm afraid it's happening now...

Let's show CNET how strong we are and that our values reviewers share with us can't be just deleted or fired!

I suggest the whole community not to visit GS and other CNET sites on Thursdays until CNET begin to pay attention to us and ensure our freedom.

Salute to all past and present GS reviewers and keep up the good work! We all support your independence and we trust you all.