Quote:
Originally Posted by Grindmentality
I don't understand this strong movement against Carbon still, it's rather unproductive and in some ways misplaced.
It's hard to take a stance like this when the main purpose of the thread is to complain. In fact, if you look at all the threads, support forums, etc, the main thing is complaints. People rarely come around to say "good job, we like playing here at xyz poker site" because the players that like what sites are doing, just play. The marginalized players, are the ones that complain the loudest. Flame wars ensue when someone with your beliefs speaks up heh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grindmentality
It seems like since they ruined everything they at least seem to be listening to player feedback and making an effort to improve.
I assure you that subjects in this thread are discussed by management and marketing partners who care. The outcome of those discussions are not always what certain players want, but logical and well written responses are weighed and considered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grindmentality
. In case you missed it, Black Friday changed everything and we're lucky to even have sites to play on. All of this nonsensical bitching about poor us as US player is unproductive and in a lot of way works against the cause.
Either except that we have to take what we're given or just move on and keep trying other sites until you end back up at Merge. It's the best of a bad situation but by knocking the network constantly you're just giving players a reason to not deposit on the site and hand you money, just sayin.
Merge isn't the best spot for all player types, but it's a damn good option for many of them. Part of the backlash is psychological. I liken it to pulling a bandaid off very slowly and painfully. It pisses people off the way it's been done. IMHO they should have ripped it off all at once, let the player pool adjust how it will, and started "tweaking" from there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iPlayPLOhigh
How are they brining in more casual players?
Different marketing plans. One example being, not catering to the 2+2 crowd with a support forum. Now you may not like that, and I may not like that, but it is one of the changes. Others would include redistributing those marketing dollars in ways that target a more casual audience of players.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iPlayPLOhigh
You want more casual players to play? Get rid of the 4 hour late reg and unlimited reentries. Or make some sort of compromise and make it 2 and a half hours and unlimited.
You know this could be done. But the guarantees would be cut accordingly. And then the forum would blow up with things like:
"OMG why cut the late reg, I don't care if a fish rebuys with 3BBs, that's good for me, what idiot made that decision!"
"FML, GTDs down again, Merge gonna Merge."
There is no way to make everyone happen. For every action, there is a reaction. And as I explained above, the reactions in this thread, will always have a negative bias, no matter what is done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SantaCruz
The fact of the matter is that the player pool has plummeted for reasons that can be directly attributable to business decisions such as increasing the NLHE rake to the highest in the US. When it really comes down to it, I think that it is the shrinking of the player pool that players are most miffed about.
The player pool plummeted b/c Jazette segregated completely. If they reintegrated Merge would triple in size in under a month. But that won't happen, so it's all wasted breath.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SantaCruz
And PH has thrown off more players than just the reported 12.
You must have better sources than I do. And since I doubt that, I'm going to have to say that you are simply incorrect. Feel free to prove me wrong and I will humbly accept defeat, but I'm certain that you can't, so please don't spread falsehoods like this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SantaCruz
They have the best software in the US right now but they slam the door in the face of any casual player who might want to check out the software before depositing.
Overwhelming majority of rec players don't care about checking out the software first. Sure, a minority percentage do, but that is not on the mind of most recs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SantaCruz
It's easy to blame BlackFriday for Merge's diminished role in the US but the fact of the matter is that the DOJ hasn't gone after Merge. It actually opened the market somewhat. Bodog has done just fine despite crappy software and a dirth of promotions. There is no reason that Merge can't be doing a lot better than it is. It's the bad decisions that have made it difficult to find action on Merge that has players are pissed off.
I agree, Black Friday was good for Merge and lead to them growing significantly. And yes, Bovada has done the best job of marketing of all the US sites and has reaped the benefits. Merge could be bigger, we all know this, we've all seen it, and it was great IMO. But again, so could Bovada. Bovada could grow massively if they wanted to slash their margins and offer rakeback/huge promos/etc. But for the same reasons Bovada won't do that, Merge wont either.
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Kahn