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Comment by taneq | Hacker News Reader

> They still aren't listening to a PR expert, and this is only going to throw gasoline on the fire.

Of course, if they had listened to a PR expert and written a first-rate apology letter, then we'd be calling them out as insincere and saying it was just PR fluff, a la the StackExchange letter recently.

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It depends on the expert, I suppose. I know comms people who will very sincerely argue for actions to go with words. Just like they do in the real world, really. But for to work you need executives who aren't just trying to put lipstick on a pig.

Still, even an insincere apology has a far better taste than none at all.

They dragged someone's name through the mud and didn't even try to apologise for that. They said they were sorry to the community but at same time gave the community no extra time to influence the decisions. It was a well crafted apology but insincere. I don't think we gain anythijg for applauding that.

That's mistaken. Everybody called out the first Stack apology because it was like this -- not an apology. The second Stack apology was much better recieved because it was actually written as an apology, even through their actions didn't change at all.

They were put in a lose-lose situation from the start.

Yep, however that way they'd atleast have a better chance of reducing the impact the drama is gonna have on blizzcon.

I agree.

Something to remember is China was a much different place 10 years ago when Blizzard started being distributed there.

I don’t see this as being about the money as much as it is about really freaking complicated relationships. You can’t turn off a billion dollar business in an afternoon.

> They were put in a lose-lose situation from the start

Sure, but it’s telling which lose they chose. If we don’t want this to keep happening, the consequences from losing us have to be greater.

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