I read most of the recent posts, and keep thinking, are you really Stern's customers? You are the distributors customer - but not Stern's. Stern's customers are the distributors. So why is there so much angst towards Stern if aren't their direct customer - shouldn't the bitching be aimed at your distributor's lack of communication?

And why would Stern throw their suppliers under the Pinside bus? It wouldn't do Stern any good to say Churchill is failing to deliver on time, would it? Seems to make sense that if anybody needs to hear from Stern about supply issues, its likely the distributors who already know the story.

Makes perfect sense that many pinball employees have left Pinside posting to others. The abuse those guys took for no fault of their own, was to blame. What really sucks is those who left know a bunch about games, are hobby and collector enthusiasts, and we all lose by having them chased away.

It seems most of this thread has posts from folks without any new pins listed in their profile, nor waiting for a game that's delayed.

JackOfDiamonds summed up my feelings on Pinside bashing (aimed at people or pinball makers, its the same vibe).

Bashing doesn't change behavior, it just wastes space. We get it, post once, move on.

When pinsiders speak AS IF they have an insider pipeline to manufacturers (about delays, design, plans, suppliers, motivation, communication) almost always they have no idea what is going on within said manufacturer. Learn the pinsiders who make opinions sound like facts, are discount the truth of their posts or if its all lame, use the ignore feature.

When posts are numerous, negative drivel - I ignore those too. Get rid of the noise, so you can hear what real people are saying.

My suggestion for new pinsiders is to choose who you want to screen as early as possible and ignore. When a pinsider continues to poke a nerve, then remove the thorn.