A user at MobyGames forums pointed out that the Wayback Machine copy of the website is fully functional and the Game Browser works as it should.

Gemini000 wrote:

What Jim said. An important thing some people don't realize is that these big corporations don't want to lose the people who enj […]
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MobyGamer wrote:

Malik wrote:

One of the worst parts is that Jim/Trixter is STILL writing as though he's an employee of Gamefly

No, I am not. I am simply calling for reason. I don't understand why people think abandoning the project less than a month after the redesign is sane. Obviously gamefly made a huge mistake, but they are a corporation and it takes corporations a long time to react.

I am not defending GF's actions. I think the redesign was a mistake, and I think not communicating with the community was a mistake.

What Jim said. An important thing some people don't realize is that these big corporations don't want to lose the people who enjoy their services, since in Gamefly's case with MobyGames, they make their money on the advertising they sell, but if their numbers aren't good then the advertisers won't be willing to pay top dollar for the ad space and thus the company doesn't get as much money as they want.

At the same time though, large companies are often highly disconnected from the people they provide products and services for since the people at the top of the chain rarely have contact with the consumers (especially when it comes to publically traded companies) and it takes a situation as is happening now, where hit counts plummet, to get these people to notice something's wrong and to take action.

Gamefly does not want to intentionally screw up MobyGames, I can assure everyone of this since the mistakes being made right now are going to cost them ad revenue and profitability in the long run. The community has spoken though and the hit counts are dropping. Now that they know they've screwed up, with a little luck, they'll take actions to remedy the situation. I don't think they'll bring the old design back but I wouldn't be surprised if they tweak the new design to function more like the old one did.

One way or another, because of what's going on right now, they're either going to fix the place up or shut it down, and since shutting it down would be incredibly difficult to do without REALLY (I mean, far more so than now) drawing in scorn from the gaming community (not to mention upsetting the advertisers who've paid money to run their ads on the place) I don't think they'll do that.

...yeah, I'm an optimist. 😁

If this was a one-off thing, I would agree that this exodus would be overreacting. But this has happened repeatedly over the past seven years, at the least. We ask for answers, nobody talks to us. And when they do, it's not to address any problems. And I'm sorry, Trixter, but you've been gone from the site for so long that you have absolutely no idea of the kind of crap that the people who actually tried to keep the database updated have dealt with. I quit a long time ago because I stopped putting up with Corn Popper's empty promises. I came back to support my former colleagues and what do I find? Same shit, different day, just under a new overlord which seems to care even less about the site. This isn't just about the look of the place, it's about the core functionality being broken.

Whenever someone asks us to "be patient", and tells us that everything will be fixed... all I can think of is this guy.

I don't see MG ever returning to way it was. The Wayback Machine will preserve what was as in amber. If the site's popularity continues to decline, gamefly may simply pull the plug.

Foxhack wrote:

Whenever someone asks us to "be patient", and tells us that everything will be fixed... all I can think of is this guy. […]
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Whenever someone asks us to "be patient", and tells us that everything will be fixed... all I can think of is this guy.

I think this guy would more appropriate

Yay, back to politics. Great

Dominus wrote:

Yay, back to politics. Great

And the Iraqi propaganda minister isn't political?

sliderider wrote:

Dominus wrote:

Yay, back to politics. Great

And the Iraqi propaganda minister isn't political?

I wasn't using him as a replacement for another politician. It was due to the meme that involved him.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/comical-ali-baghdad-bob

I didn't mean to take the discussion off-topic.

sliderider wrote:

Dominus wrote:

Yay, back to politics. Great

And the Iraqi propaganda minister isn't political?

I didn't write that he isn't.

Time to lock this thread?

Think so, yes.

Done.