NKD wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 23:37:
Crustacean Soup wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 23:33:
You're not getting my point. It's not about the $10 I might get from Valve if I sue them (vs. the $0.25 class action settlement). I couldn't care less about that. Since I can't/won't afford to waste my time taking them to trial or arbitration over such a piddling amount, what's discouraging them from stealing my $10 in the future? A couple dozen people bothering to bring them to small claims doesn't do that. A class action representing a couple dozen hundred thousand people would. That's the whole reason that the class action even exists.
If someone can't be bothered to even enter arbitration or small-claims , then they don't deserve remedies. You should have to participate in the legal system if you expect to benefit from it. And conversely, if the wronged "class" can't even be bothered to fire off a few emails on their own behalf, maybe the company in question doesn't deserve to be punished. This attitude of "Click here to admonish a company and get a free coupon!" is the laziest perversion of a tort system I can think of.
Incredibly well said.
And as for the EA comparisons some people are making...wake me when Steam has a few decades behind them of shitting all over customers, competitors, and employees. EA voted worst company of the year. Steam not even in the running. For anyone who doesn't understand why that is you shouldn't even be taking part in this conversation.
"The horse I bet on was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip." - Henny Youngman