How Not To Ask A Question

I received this over the weekend from a BZP member who will remain nameless (bold was my addition):

Okay Greg,
it's time to step up out of the shadows and explain the karazani set. Who are the matoran? Sarda? Idris? Gar? Is this set a store exclusive? What is the strange contraption thing? And here is the deal. You have been holding off long enough. You have to answer these questions and step up. If you didn't want these questions to appear, then why did you put that image out? Its time you got some explanations out to BZPower. Reply A.S.A.P.

There are so many things wrong with this, I hardly know where to start. First off, the poster obviously did not read the BZP article, which stated clearly that the image came from a Toys R Us brochure found at BrickFest. I did not release the image -- in fact, in four years on BZP, I have never released a set image to the site. That's not my job. BZP finds them on their own because they have a crack staff of journalists.

Second, there's this whole "have to" thing and the implied sense of entitlement. BZP members are entitled to ask just about anything they want to -- if they ask something that's out of line, I tell them. They are not, however, entitled to answers -- some things I won't talk about, some things I can't. Why? Because giving away everything about an entire year in the first quarter is dumb ... because my bosses don't want me to do that ... and because I am not on here to ruin surprises. There are some fans who just want to know everything in January, and then they wind up bored all year long waiting for the next January.

Third, I am on here for fun. I respect the site, the people who run it, and the members. I get something out of the interaction, hopefully so do BZPers. But I don't have to be here -- it's not part of my job -- I want to be here. And I don't have to answer questions if they are phrased rudely.

Finally, the amusing thing about this issue is that the things he was asking about are not things I was keeping secret. I have told multiple members for months that Sarda and Idris were coming out in a store exclusive set with a third, mystery figure. The only thing I held back was who that figure was, now that's out, and that's cool. This member never asked me about this set before and got refused, so acting like I somehow was holding out on him all this time is just silly.

I PM'd him back and explained the situation, and that this info was all already out on BZP. The PM I got back was just a repeat of his request for the info. This is a rare case where I am not going to respond. There are tons of BZPers who send me questions every day -- and I love it -- and ask them as fans and as friends in a polite way. So they are going to get enormous amounts of priority over people who are rude about their requests.

Greg