[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Sharkus

I cannot say how wide ranging the view of MobileRead is (no offence intended towards MobileRead) insofar as it being a main point of contact for people looking to purchase eReader devices, maybe it is, maybe there are other forums / sites that are more active in regards to this type of thing.

Mobileread is, and has been, the primary place on the internet to get detailed information about ereaders, ebooks, and ereading apps. The only other place that comes close is Teleread--and that's a blog site, not a discussion-with-archives site.

Christmas morning, for the last three years running, Mobileread is *flooded* with new ereader owners asking how to use their devices. The three months before that have a steady flow of people asking "what device should I get my [husband/ girlfriend/ child/ coworker]?" Year-round, there are questions of "my device isn't doing what I think it should; how do I fix that?" And the regulars, who constantly discuss devices and books and changes in the publishing industries and copyright law, answer all those questions as best they can.

There are no comparable large, active communities online. (Feel free to contradict me; I can't claim to know the entire web. I can claim that I've actively looked for ebook communities; this isn't just the best one I've found, it's the only one that covers hardware, software and content in depth.)

This place is a *gold mine* of information and PR opportunities for any company that wants to sell ebooks, ereaders, or ebook software. This is not where the average person who reads ebooks hangs out--it's where the people who give them advice hang out.

If we have official representation here, then who is to say we should not have it on other forums, and this then adds to the amount of work that is required by the customer care team.

There's a big difference between "should we have a presence on forums A, B, C, etc.," and "should we *maintain* the presence we started at Mobileread?" The issue here isn't whether or not there is an official presence, but that one was offered, and then rescinded.

Nobody at MR cares that Amazon's never had an official Kindle rep here. They do care when company representatives show up, say "I'm here to answer your questions!" and then vanish, apparently after realizing that Mobileread's membership has *real* questions, not "where can I buy the newest device" or "how do I buy a book from a different store and get it to work on my device?"

Someone at Kobo decided it'd be a good idea to answer customer and potential-customer questions directly and publicly. And then they decided to stop. They didn't say, "it's been two months and we're done with this phase of public outreach." A developer said he'd answer questions, but was present for less than two weeks before vanishing without explanation.

*That* tells me that Kobo doesn't follow through on its commitments. That Kobo thinks it's okay to tell the public that they'll do something, and then decide not to bother.

One question would be, Do Sony, Amazon, B&N, and other eReader device and App companies have official representation on here? If not, then why don't they?

EZReader did. Their devices sold while he was here, even at higher prices than some of the others at the time; people bought EZReader devices in part because they knew someone from the company was paying attention and could answer questions. He couldn't fix problems, but he could, and apparently did, report back to the company, "X is a situation that customers care about."

They replaced him with someone who wanted to focus on Facebook. Soon after that, they stopped selling the Pocket Pro, and later, the larger device. The Astak EZReader line is now obsolete, no longer supported.

Again: the issue isn't "device manufacturers should have reps at Mobileread." It's "companies that offer to answer questions at Mobileread, and then stop, are telling an awfully large crowd of ebook experts that they don't care about PR."