The more that media becomes a product, the harder it is to feel like you're conning an artist by getting a refund on a purchase.
It's gotten incredibly easy to put media out there, and it's great that people are able to tell the stories they want through the medium they want. At the risk of sounding like I'm just bootlicking, traditional outlets used to be able to filter out some of the more low-effort content and it was easier to expect that you were at least getting mediocre stuff. At this point, a lot of really low effort and low quality junk is in the ecosystem and it's harder to just buy something that looks cool.
I agree on the state of things but I still think that's just my problem.
Sometimes I read reviews for a restaurant, go, and come out thinking the other reviewers and I have a totally different take on things. It happens.
Same goes for movies, books, games, etc. I "do my research" and sometimes I'm wrong.
And sure, I absolutely sometimes feel "scammed" but to me that's just something that happens.
I'm not too bothered by the idea of demos (eg 2 free chapters), but I am a bit bothered by the idea of "I want a refund if I'm not satisfied enough".
I guess everyone would have a different threshold on what "satisfied enough" is.
In all reality, I've eaten larger purchases as losses than some dumb $20 steam game or ebook or whatever. I just don't think that people are terribly unreasonable if they feel burnt badly enough to press for a refund. It's never been easier to do the old "if I can get x number of people to give me $5 each..." bit
Yeah. I guess it's just a question of where you draw the line between a scam and a customer just making a bad choice.