ripped off by repair

I'd love to know how the subject went from the canon repair to sexual
assault.. yea im too lazy to read all the comments

How on earth did this happen? Why is there such a terrible
misunderstanding about the reason for needing moderators? And, above
all, why in the world would anyone suddenly be afraid to speak their
mind? Could someone please explain to me what is going on.

I don't understand how this got so blown out of proportion, and for
the life of me, I can't understand how the regular commenters ever got
the impression that they had to walk on eggshells. That's not the way
I understood it at all. I just assumed everyone realized who the new
rules were meant for. Why are you all taking it so personally? If
we're going to fight amongst ourselves, then the trolls have won.
Congratulations.

It's 4:00 a.m., I can't sleep, and after making the mistake of looking
at this letter, I may never sleep again.

...describing a sexual assault is NOT the only appropriate way to use
the word "rape".

Dictionary.com says it can also be used to describe:
* an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation;
violation.
* the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
* to plunder (a place); despoil.
* to seize, take, or carry off by force.
* the residue of grapes, after the juice has been extracted, used as a
filter in making vinegar.
* a plant, Brassica napus, of the mustard family, whose leaves are
used for food for hogs, sheep, etc., and whose seeds yield rape oil.

Not to say it was the best word to use - obviously, it was highly
irritating for the community. It is entirely possible the letter
writer didn't mean to say that the company had sexually assaulted him,
but rather that the company had abused or violated him - which it is
his perogative to believe.

This is why I do not like the idea of where I think Mod's will take
this site. No offense at all to you Erik, I think you are trying to
do what you were asked to do.

With that said, to me, it's a judgement call on what you make of it,
and I think many have over-reacted to it. This is my own personal
take. People who actually commit anything resembling the sexual
version of rape have committed a heinous act. For that, there is no
question. The word has other, documented definitions, as I have
pointed out, and it is often used as a figure of speech.

So while you asked for no more rape talk, I think this is relevant in
that it deals with how people can respond to a letter. If you want to
say that "that issue has been dealt with already", you can make that
same argument about 80% of the letters to the left in the Top 20.
It's the same stuff hashed over by many people - and I am just as
guilty. Most of those issues have been dealt with and commented on
accordingly.

So with that...and no more fanfare, I will kindly step away as I had
planned to do 2 weeks ago. I fault no one and leave with no regrets.
I wish PFB and the great community of letter writers nothing but the
best.

With Regards,
Chris

who has already left or is thinking of leaving, please let me have one
more word.

Sticking it out and trying to make this work is a lot harder than
leaving the site. Chris, you have proven that by your comments,
especially the last one. If you really believe in PFB, then please
help see it through the recent changes by simply continuing to do what
you have always done.

That's all.

But, since you never bothered to ask, the title wasn't changed because
of the KGB, The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, or because a Secret
Society threatened to boil our bunnies. I know you'd love to think
we're out here in our Hitler moustaches looking for things to whack at
with riding crops, but I'm sorry - our lives just aren't that
exciting.

Erik sensed that the original wording was too harsh, asked the letter
writer if he would mind having it changed, and the letter writer said
it was fine. So we changed the wording. Because the original
language was harsh and offensive, and the changed language made the
point just as well.

Oh noes!! Alert the media!!! The moderation team is trying to sooth
rumpled feathers and help people be less offensive!! For sooth, the
world is ending!! Heaven forbid people should reconsider their
words!! That we should help them be less inflammatory! Clearly,
we're burying a scandal somewhere!!

You know what? This site is not run by the Jerry Springer show. If
you have a problem with something that's done, try asking someone
about it - and then LISTEN when they explain it. As I've said
approximately 42 billion times before, the email is
beth@planetfeedback.com. Do me a favor and USE IT.

Well since Mark was nice enough to come back and tell us they didn't
charge him this ONE TIME free... I think we should expect a "Thank
You" note written in a more civil manner to Cannon after dissing them
in such a foul, uncouth manner in a public forum, and causing US to
read it!!

Good job.

Bend over. Let someone forcibly assault you.

Then decide whether you want to use the word "rape" in such a manner
ever again.

I hope your entire post gets deleted by site moderators.

"rape their customers"

Lovely. Absolutely lovely.

Mark, you may be upset, but sexual assault is not the right image for
a business letter, y'know.

Of course, since you were a repair tech, isn't this something you
could do yourself? I'm no camera expert, but a bottle of cleaner, a
soft cloth, maybe a brush... these can be purchased at a camera store
for what, under $10?

Which, of course, backs up your point. But if it was something that
you could do in 10 minutes for less than $10, why even bother with
Canon? Claims of "free" or no, I can't imagine mailing my camera away
if I could just do it myself.

If you were told by someone at Canon the repair would be free then
they will likely take care of it.
Cleanings are normally NEVER free. It's like changing an air filter
in your car or an oil change. Granted the price may be higher, but I
am sure the cleaning is done by a skilled technician, not an oil
change mechanic.
If I recall this cleaning is a requirement on all SLR digital camera,
regardless of the brand...
Sounds like it is general maint to me.

I have to raise a question, if you were a repair tech for them, then
why didn't you just clean it yourself, especially if its that easy and
quick to do, rather then pay to ship it etc... ? Something smells
fishy about your story... Just my thoughts.

As an aside, prices are going up for service because the prices of the
products are going down. When companies make cheap products, quality
companies like Canon, have to compete thus making up for the price
difference somewhere normally in repair. This is industry-wide in the
electronic market.