Something really weird happened tonight.
Everybody probably knows by now that I’m crazy about cameras, digital picture frames, computers, and pretty much anything in the electronics area. I’d rather look at electronics than clothing. I’d rather wander around in the computers and cameras than look at shoes.
I’d been looking at Pentax cameras, so I went to their website and found their forum. Someone had asked a question I actually knew the answer to, so I signed up, joined the forum, and answered the guy’s question. I thought maybe I’d found a place where I could talk “electronics” with other geeky people. Um, no.
Bam. Some other guy mocked me, and complained about the link in my answer – which was exactly what the original poster was looking for – and the next thing I knew, I got an email telling me I was, and I quote, “banned for life” from the Pentax forum.
This does not ruin my life or really affect me in any real way, but it shocked me so much I actually burst into tears, sitting here at my computer. I mean, what happened? What kind of people are working for Pentax? What kind of company is Pentax? I guess I know the answer to both questions now.
I am no longer interested in a Pentax camera.
Update: I just got an email from Adam, the Pentax forum administrator, informing me that he’s going to give me “the benefit of the doubt” and let me back into the forum. Any comments I make will have to be moderated before they post, of course, because that’s how we deal with people like me. Etc.
Pentax, why would I want to participate in a forum with people who obviously don’t believe me when I tell them I’m just a geek who wanted to talk electronics, and not a spammer? All I did on your forum was answer some guy’s question. Why would I want to hang out with people who treated a newbie like scum and assumed the worst before they even knew me?
I don’t, that’s what. I prefer to hang out with nice people.
Thanks anyway, Pentax, but, you know, I tend to judge a business by the people it chooses to represent it.
I will never be interested in a Pentax camera, ever again.