Server population is dropping...

Does not change the simple fact we are not 5 months into TOR but 4, very simple fact. Sorry, but you are simply wrong.

--edit--

Also, open beta was end of november, 25-28. Even if you count that as an unofficial 'start' of the game because anyone who did a little bit of effort could have played it by then, it is still 4,5 months and not 5.

Technically we are still in beta, since the game was rushed out the door early by EA. But we are paying anyway because a broken SWTOR is better than no SWTOR.

oh boy.. you really want to be accurate on this..

Fine, its IN ITS FIFTH MONTH.. does that sound more acceptable ?

Your understanding of the word 'technically' is very low it seems. You are paying for the game, therefore it is neither technically, nor literally, nor actually in beta.

Really, factual discussion is not your strong point is it?

Sorry for being so pissy about this, but I simply dislike people changing facts to give their own opinion more weight.
When stating facts as part of your argument, at least make sure they are.. well.. factual.

PS. an advice on word choice: If you said 'practically we are still in beta', or said 'we might as well still be in beta' your point would have been a much more acceptable part of a debate.

I see someone say that about every MMO I have ever played, and it has been wrong almost every time including this one.

In this case, Bioware even admitted that EA forced them to release before they were ready.
Thats's why the game has a hard time running on lower end machines. The massive problem they are having trying to optimize the rendering and IO subsystems.

1.2 was practically hailed as the 'real' launch of SWTOR.

They licked the textures issue pretty quick(in mmo terms), they will get around to the rest soon enough hopefully.

PS sorry if I hurt anyones feelings in a previous post, I tend to use language that is pretty borderline in todays super politically correct world.

Feel free to PM me or report me if I cross the line. Sometimes I get worked up and momentum can take me over the edge.

Yeah they made some strange decisions that went against player feedback too.

Drop the hyperboles. SWTOR is not broken. It has some bugs. Name one commercial software package that doesn't.

The topic is whether Bioware/EA are paying people to come here on the forums to "deflect bad press from the inner circles of gaming". The claim that I object to is that this is "standard marketing practice." You posted a paper on viral marketing, which you apparently did not read, because it doesn't discuss any examples like this. It discusses a number of viral marketing techniques (use of youtube videos, minigames, etc.), but that is not what we are talking about. So again, where is the evidence that Bioware/EA is hiring people to deflect criticism on the forum or that this is a standard marketing technique?

Look everyone, I just proved fairies exist because wikipedia has an entry for them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairies

If the game isn't fundamentally broken, then why are most of the servers deserted?

Because the game engine itself has huge issues. Most of the PC game playing userbase does not have brand new computers.
And you basically need a new and powerful PC just to overcome the shoddy programming.

Until they fix the broken engine they will not attract many new, recurring subs.
They might not even recover the subs who abandoned the game because of all the issues.

EA might learn for a second time that you can't recover from a poor reputation and terrible optimization in the MMO world.