The worry here is not incessant complaints....it's that pretty soon NT is gonna be state-TV for Nike. The blogs now provide enough of that for them -- NT used to be different and a hell of a lot more knowledgable. It's changed somewhat, and that's fine. We've been over that all now for a couple years.
People here think there is a faction of "complainers." The beauty of this site though is, because this is not (yet) state-television, we get people from all walks of life and ages who like to state their opinions on the products Jordan Brand pumps out. That's what this site is for. It can be minor, it can be over the top. That's what other fan boards are like (go to any boards for any product and you will have members critiquing every last detail down to the inch I assure you). Niketalk itself was not, but it often is getting close to, a site to act like robots for every release Jordan Brand gives us and say "three pairs! Next!" It was a site to critique all aspects of the product. Hell, we were the best to do it! People brought knowledge and we all learned, we all called out what was needed to be called out. That's the beauty of a shoe board. It's not an infomercial. It's not owned by Nike.
The youth these days, to no fault of their own, do not care about the originals. They just don't. They care that it comes out, Mike supposedly wore it, and they need it. There is no problem with that whatsoever.
But this site also has the older heads hanging on. These guys, for the most part, like to check out the product and critique what is different about it. Some of it is major, some of it is minor. Some of it is just so outlandish and cheap that certain masses revolt accordingly and what results to some is "everyone is complaining." That's just the way it's gonna be still for awhile here. Some can critique and still buy, some can critique and walk away - it's our choice. But you can STILL buy a shoe and STILL talk about how it's disappointing NA is not on the back, or disappointing the patent leather cut is so damn low, or it's disappointing the 1's are so low cut.
You wanna know why those things in that last sentence are not in discussions anymore? Because places like NT changed the narrative and called out Jordan Brand for years on skimping on shoe legitimacy. We eventually got NA, we got higher patent, and so on. Often I think Millennials on here think those things just happened "because."
Am I giving NT too much credit with the evolution of some of the retro line? Maybe. But we still have a ways to go, and JB should be thankful that despite huge profits they still have a large section of fans who demand simple details that they know JB could do if they spent a few more minutes on the product. We buy what we like, we pass on what we wanna pass on. But as a member and lurker really since 2002 I hope and pray this site continues to be THE place to go to for everything involving Jordan releases.....and critique away
