Pro-skippers, politeness will get you further

Haha, hostage.

Yes, a terrible ordeal to have to watch 5 minutes of cutscenes. The humanity.
The player paid for the right to watch the cutscenes. No amount of conveniently phrased "democracy" can change that.

Yes, convenient democracy in the form of vote-kick can change it.

And the duration depends on the flashpoint. The cutscenes in Esseles nearly double the duration of the flashpoint.

And, again, why watch the same crap over and over and over again? It can't be entertaining after the 20th time. Are you just trying to hide your desire to grief others behind the tale that you love the story so much that you could watch it every day for eternity?

That was a blatant misinterpretation, and I suspect you know it, unless you're high (which, from your name, may not be far off). I'm saying that if you don't want to run the risk of putting up with someone who wants to watch the story, you need to form your own groups outside the random context of the group finder. And a social person with good community ties in this game will have that ability within their friends list and/or guild. You use the group finder, you deal with the fact that someone might want to do things the way the game is designed (possibly intended) and watch all the cutscenes.

I tend to get annoyed when people don't skip, but only when I'm during Black Talon social runs and have clearly stated that only space-bar spammers are welcome beforehand.

You sound like one of those kids he is talking about. Did he say if it was story mode OR hard mode in his original post? But yet you jump to conclusions and harp on him before you even ask, "Was this hard mode?"

And you do not need to ask to watch cut scenes...its actually PART of the fp. People should state ahead of time they do not want to watch them...even in Hard Mode. Not everyone is automatically aware of the ADHD rules some have regarding running FP's.

Indeed you can try to vote-kick if you like. Perhaps you will even find enough like-minded people to win the vote and get rid of the non-skipper. That's how the system works. I for one would not vote against anyone wanting to watch, and it looks like I'm not the only one.
And you know, perhaps watching the same stuff many times IS indeed enjoyable to some. For instance the Star Wars movies (org. trilogy). I'm a huge fan and have seen those at least 20 times. These cutscenes are not of the same quality by far, but if someone enjoys them, neither you nor I have any right to decide to what extent that person should watch them. They paid for the right to watch.

Pretty much this. If people are so intent on running FP for gear, they should PUG with likeminded people. If you want to skip, be up front and recruit others who want to as well. Some of us enjoy the story and the choices.

i like to watch it but if everyone wants to skip i skip. However if it is 2/2 the skipers will have to deal with it

What I wish they'd add is a <ding> or something so that after you've spacebar'd your way to the 'waiting for others...' screen where you wait an unpredictable amount of time for others to catch up (I personal don't mind waiting for others) then not realize they're all waiting on YOU to make your selection of [1,2,3] because you were off browsing forums, watching TV, etc. instead of hovering around waiting for the options to popup.

STORY mode means nothing. They simply changed the name a few weeks ago yet mechanically changed nothing. For that argument to hold up the devs wouldve had to either mention or do something to the HMs that hinted at it being a mad rush to the end. SM, and HM are simply titles given according to difficulty ... has nothing to do with cutscenes at all. Not to mention how even SM mode has the ADD kids rushing people all throughout leveling so it has nothing to do with your made up SM vs. HM rules.

If they one day change the name of heroics to "A.D.D Rush Mode", "Farm Mode" , or even make them auto-skip cutscenes then maybe ill agree with you. Until then you have no right to rush anyone in a video game for playing the game how its meant to be played and enjoying one of the main attractions in it.