Sue Xbox for Drive Failure!

Was the n00b comment directed towards me? I'm no noob. :smt045 :smt042

It's humor, damnit! We outnumber you fellows in the UK! Ours is t3h correct spelling!!11111

Haha, just kidding, I actually quite like the added 'u' in words. It fits just as well with as it doe without. (say that 3 times fast!) :smt023

I don't think there's any reason to sue anyone for any reason. People make mistakes, people are assholes, it's a fact. Even if the hospital shot grandma, I don't think that gives the right to sue.

The fact is, life is about taking risks. And when lawyers/people try to capitilize on this fact and try to purge this from life (unknowingly, perhaps, as money blinds them). What if all the doctors, one day, packed their bags, went home, and just plain quit? People would be outraged and would bitch like crazy.

And then they'd probably try to sue--for what?--quitting? Can I sue someone for quitting their job at Mickey D's? :smt042

The fact is, whether some people would like to acknowledge it or not, suing in the US is getting out of control. It is not really a gross over-generalzation to call it the U$ or the land where people sue.

 

I think part of the problem is that these fabulous lawsuits get so much media attention, they make the whole nation look bad. Even so...

The only two nations I've lived in are the complete opposites of one another. Don't take this as American bashing, but the US (or at least the west) *IS* the nation of the almighty lawsuit. Put aside alll the million dollar "my coffee was too hot / you made me fat / gee... cigarettes are addictive?" lawsuits, and look what you have: Judge Judy, People's Court, Court TV, blah blah blah. Suing people is an national past time.

When I moved to Japan in early 1998, I could walk into any hospital with my insurance. My wife, doing reading like she always does, demanded to know what hospitals she could go to with the insurance we'd have when we got to Hawaii. I told her, "any of them" she shot me a dirty look and told me to do some research. Embarrassingly enough -- she was right. The medical system is so screwed up, due to a massive circle of suing->malpractice insurance->doctors refusing to honor some insurance companies. It's a massive fuck fest.

True, after living most of my professional life in Japan, I'm horribly biased to what I read in the papers, but I can say that the situation has gone WAY down hill since the late 90's. For those that care, in Japan, suing is not fashionable at all, and doesn't happen often. ON the flip side, they have entire prisons that are dedicated to holding offenders of traffic crimes (DUI, manslaughter, unpaid tickets, etc.).
...and the entire prefecture of said offenders is subject to verbal torture and shame.</sarcasm>

Someone should do a goggle on lawyers to person ration in all the G7 nations. I read one somewhere before I moved. Japan was like 1/2500 people or something.... I think America was 1/20.

EDIT:
Check thisp.

Points of concern:

 

Hehe nah, not aimed at anyone in particular. All I meant was that I am surprised to see regular members not always being as civil as you might expect to newcomers. OK, so someone may not have posted a thread to say who they are always, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't welcome them and offer them at least a little trust. Likewise, people are skeptical of 1st time posters coming on and wanting to buy things in the for sale section, or indeed sometimes to sell. Whilst we should always tread with caution with ANY buyer or seller we do not know, we should offer them a little trust. That's all I meant by "newbie-bashing", that established members aren't always as civil to newcomers as you might expect. We were all new once! :smt045

Anyway, as I don't think I have officially said it, welcome to the board! ... although I did think you were from somewhere like Switzerland from your location :smt033

 

It's not that I don't have a sense of humour (I personally prefer humor, but do like spelling colour instead of color) but that your statement, thanks to the emotionless nature of typed text, was rather hard for me to pick up. I suppose I'm not giving you enough credit, but there have of recent been similarly ridiculous notions that were stated in all honesty (not by you, just saying) and so my tendency when confronted with a flat sentence followed by no emoticon or not overly sarcastic is to err on the side of being defensive - my bad this time around. I honestly cannot, as you have said, say I've never made a joke at the expense of other nations, races, etc. and now that I see this in the light of being a joke, it is indeed humorous. My problem was not with the joke itself, but with my assumption that it was meant in a serious manner.

I'm sorry, I'm honestly not aware of having done this. As a moderator, I try to respect other points of view (provided they are valid) and not try and shut anyone out, and if you were at one time expressing yourself and I did anything to negate that, I apologize. Like I said, I honestly don't remember the event you're referring to - help me out here.

That's true, nobody knows the extent of your knowledge or experience, however (and mind you, this argument is in keeping with the original fallacy I made of thinking your comment was serious) when people attempt to speak authoritively on events or situations in a place that are observed to be completely different by people actually living there, it's obvious that someone isn't doing their homework - such as experiencing what they talk about firsthand. Again, this defence follows on the negated assumption that your lawsuits comment was serious, so it's a bit of a moot point, but rest assured that this was not entirely directed at you, but more of a general point that has been brewing for about a week and that I am to this day unable to articulate in a satisfying fashion. So again, my apologies for speaking rashly.

Again, this is a topic where - due to either foggy memory or my being unaware of my actions as offensive - I must claim ignorance. The only time I believe I've engaged in anything close to 'newbie-bashing' have been when we have people showing up asking for roms and the like, which I believe has been a while. I do know of occurances on the board where people have been dumped upon for apparently not getting their facts straight or not knowing an 'obvious' answer, but as far as I know I haven't been a participant in that. I am full well cognizant of the "we were all new once" philosophy and have visited many a board where I've been infuriated that the higher-ups have forgotten that they were beginners once too, and as such I attempt to handle all new members gently, like a fragile egg, but if I ever slip in this I'd like to know.

Alright, that said, back to the original argument. I don't believe people should be able to sue Microsoft or Sony for one million bajillion dollars because their console fails - it is, as people have said, ludicrous. However, class-action lawsuits representing people with legitimately failed machines and seeking recompense in the form of the cost of the units would be fully valid in my book. I understand that with any mechanical or electrical device, there is a defect rate involved, and problems of many types can crop up in normal use at any time from purchase. However, when a single product consistently fails at an alarmingly high rate under normal use (PS2 drive laser, XBox disc drive, etc.) due to cheap products/cut corners in manufacture and usually requires the customers to pay additional fees for repair, I believe the company should be held responsible, as it was their negligance/cheapness in the first place that brought about the problem. Again, suing for $500,000 because your XBox craps out is stupid, but initiating a suit representing everyone in the past 4 years who's sent a legitimate complaint to Microsoft about a defective DVD drive and is reimbursed the cost of the console is okay in my book.

That's entirely what I was trying to say. Why can't I articulate in a manner that makes sense?? :smt009

And to be honest, yes, our medical system is in shambles because of outrageous malpractice lawsuits. I'm not sure of other states, but we've got a bill here in Oregon up for vote to limit damages to $500,000, which if passed will do wonders for healthcare costs. But anyways, this is one example where the idea of lawsuit-happy Americans is sadly true.

I think I'm finished.

 

Uhmmmm...

Uuuuuhhh...
I was just dropping an interesting anecdote where a ridiculous guy decided to wage a lawsuit rather than send his machine in for warranty work.

 

Yeah, my bad. I seem to be blowing everything up lately.

 

Really GSL? Ya mean like :smt067 and KABOOM!!!!! ? hehe - you old pyromaniac, you :smt033

Like I said before, no hard feelings. I know you're a reasonable guy (that's why you're a mod ;-) ) and wouldn't intend to offend. I guess I was a little over sensitive too, rough coupla weeks.

As to what you overlooked, ahh this is gonna sound really petty! You replied to a thread, quoting someone who used the slang "Jap" that Gaijin had pointed out was offensive to Japanese people. Yup, I'm a petty person sometimes, but hey, it was all I could dig up on ya :smt083 lol

As for the newbie bashing, I wasn't aiming that at you, just saying that I understand you're annoyed at the stereotyping, and here's my thing that I see going on that I don't favour. And sure, most of the regs have newbie-bashed in that way... I know I came down harsh on some people around the time when people were joining just because of PA.

And you emphasised the point I usually make, that we have to be careful what we say, as it is easy to take plain written text out of context. I will be more careful in future!! Oh, and I'll use more HUMOUROUS smilies when I'm joking :-D

Sorry to go off topic here, but this is a good site that pokes fun of America in a fun way, and even you'd appreciate it GSL ;-) It is really poking fun at ancient history that may or may not still exist

http://www.dumblaws.com

And yes, it has other countries too, including the UK! And I must ask yakumo if he knows any ladies in Liverpool that work in tropical fish stores, because "It is illegal for a woman to be topless in public except as a clerk in a tropical fish store."

Enjoy!