RE: Verbolten
Before we leave this subject, lets remember something: The park cut off all communication with the site long before the Verbolten leak happened. If they had kept some kind of relationship with the site prior to that leak, we would have happily listened to any concerns they had and probably would have followed their recommendations. We never heard anything from them until that DMCA notice came months later. If the park wants to try to start over with us, we're all for it but they have to realize something: They can't micro-manage us just like we can't micro-manage them. It has to be a give-and-take on both sides. It's no secret that we provide a massive amount of free publicity for the park and it's no secret that our ability to do so depends on leaks. Single-park enthusiast sites like BGWFans have to fight to stay alive in a sea of larger, more well known, all-encompassing enthusiast sites. How do we do that? Exclusives. We need content to set us apart from the crowd. Without it, this site and this community will eventually die- taking with it the huge amount of free advertisement we give. If the park wants a say in what this exclusive content is, that's fine, they just have to realize that if we're passing up releasing something like, say, the Verbolten plans, we're going to need some replacement content.
Also, frankly, the competitive advantage defense is BS. They were forced to give the layout of the coaster way before we released those plans at the JCC Planning Commission meeting. The only real info those leaked plans provided was a false name, a vague theme, and that it would have drop track. When did we actually release the drop track plans? On the same day that the drop track was being installed at the park.