I asked this the last time someone made a comment like this and would very much appreciate a response: What was I, someone who does not actively watch PM or seek out PM content, supposed to do regarding PM at Apex 2015?
Here was my experience:
--Lineup gets put out
--Smashers of every kind express sympathy for PM crowd
--A couple idiots who do not in any way represent the PM community do some very stupid things and are rightly condemned from all corners
--PM fans and devs are upset but accept the situation and move on from it with relative immediacy
--The end
I swear to you, I genuinely thought (and so, I suspect, did many others) that the PM community made their peace with the decision quickly and of course did not like it but accepted it without any particular organized fight. I'd have showed up for the fight, I'd have signed a petition and written comments in support, but where was the fight? I didn't bother raising a stink because all I ever saw was PM players saying "this sucks" and other folks saying "you're right, it sucks, we're sorry." I never saw PM players organize any kind of meaningful movement.
It doesn't fall on me or any other person who doesn't play PM to start a fight that as far as we can tell the PM community isn't angling for. Why are the rest of us supposed to get that ball rolling if there doesn't seem to be any initiative from within? If there was some kind of movement it never reached a lot of us. I check this subreddit daily, I follow along with the Twitters of several community leaders who were very vocal in their distress that PM wasn't a part of this Apex, and I never heard a thing. Didn't ever see the hashtags, didn't see anyone making any noise in stream chats, nothing. And PM is popular enough that if there were some sort of movement with any degree of popularity or interest from within the PM crowd that I'm pretty sure I would have seen it.
I did not receive any response last time. I ask for one now in a thread that appears to have more attention. I would like to know why it is the fault of those of us that do not actively play PM or follow PM content that we didn't help in some sort of movement that never reached our ears. I heard much, much more about Brawl's struggles to stay alive this summer than I heard about PM folks doing anything about the Apex situation (and consequently I did more for Brawl despite it being my personal least favorite Smash game official or otherwise, encouraging Brawl players to continue attending tournaments and giving an outsider's perspective on proposed rulesets and etc. etc.).
This post is not intended to be harsh in tone and I apologize if it comes across that way. I'm just legitimately confused. I've seen many, many more people complain that no one outside the PM community tried to do anything than I saw anyone within it try to do anything and I honestly don't know whether that's a failure of mine or if there's just a bit of scapegoating going on when there wasn't any grand initiative within to begin with. I really want to know what others and I were supposed to do differently so that next time something like this happens, I actually know where to go to find information and what I can do to help.