(Disclaimer: This is not a confrontational post. This is not a personal attack. I am asking a legitimate question. Why am I hearing this disclaimer in a robot voice in my head? Also, I got carried away and strayed way into tl;dr territory, so I applaud and thank anyone that actually reads the whole thing.)
It seems like those who decry woot for continually printing Ramy and Seki shirts, beyond the perpetual vote-rigging accusations (please do not provide links to prove your point; that is not the crux of my argument) all claim that the designs are lacking in artistic merit and rehash the same designs over and over again. Without agreeing or disagreeing with either of those accusations, I have to ask a question:
How do you feel about these guys?
Now, I admit, I'm not a fan. I worked with them for years in a technical capacity and they most certainly do not "just work." They're fine machines, but they cost more than an equivalent device under most circumstances, they are proprietary and occassionally incompatible. However! I will readily admit, with great fervor and enthusiasm, that they have marketing down to an exact science. Their marketing machine works like gangbusters, and I've been wanting to use that word for a while. If there was a Nobel Prize for Marketing, they would win -- retroactively and pre-emptively -- forever. They have a very sound design philosophy, they know what will sell products and they never deviate from what works.
And so it seems to me that woot prints these shirts because, primarily, people want them. I mean the shirt just sold out, which means at least a couple thousand people, give or take, wanted one? Secondly, woot's model seems to be, "You there, on the internet! Vote for the shirt you would most like to wear. On your body. In public, if that's your thing." That's a pretty straightforward model, and if most of the people out there don't want clever, thoughtful new shirt designs every week then so be it, the masses have spoken. I like the shirt because the juxtaposition amuses me, but I wouldn't wear it, which means that several thousand people disagree with me, and that's fine.
So I invite anyone that wants to respond, especially Adder because he seems like a pretty sharp guy and I'd be interested in hearing his opinion, what is it about the shirts that really bother you? Is it the sameness? Do you feel the guy just can't draw?
I understand your frustration in seeing the same thing over and over, but at its core, woot is a business. They're a friendly, amiable business that we all enjoy throwing money at, they're funny and clever and easy to like, but they're still a business, and at the end of the day they provide for their families and maintain their lifestyles based on doing what will be best for the bottom line. Which seems to be a Ramy shirt every now and then.
