I think the main problem is that it should never have become a programme with two different audiences watching for odd bits that please them in the first place. You're never going to get away from people complaining, because different people are now looking for different things in the programme.
Except for the fact that TG would probably be dead by now if it remained too informative and less entertaining, staying with the enthusiast crowd rather than the mainstream one. I'm willing to bet that
a lot of viewers, both those watching legally in the UK and those not doing so, would not be interested in the show at all if it did not contain the humour that everyone on this forum seems to hate with a passion. A good example of this is something I read in a thread a bit back about the ratings for 15x04 (upyourego, I think?). While all the haters on this forum moaned and groaned about how cringeworthy and dreadful the motorhome segment was, the viewer numbers seem to disagree - it increases throughout the hour rather than decreases. TG
needs the ratings in order to survive as a show; while I'm sure the TG team do give a damn about what people on here think, the fact remains that you (or most of you, anyway) are illegally downloading their show, and are not paying for its development and funding; if the show had remained as it was, but using up more money, I think there would be some public outcry about how they were wasting taxpayers' money, and therefore subsequently would be gone. TG does not exist to craft a show based around the comments and criticisms of the members on a fansite, but to reach whatever targets they have in mind - which generally involves higher viewer rates. And just a bit of background info; I have a friend, who is definitely more into TG for the entertainment value; she loved 15x04, which everyone on here seemed to hate for some reason or another, but disliked 15x05, which she found boring with the exception of the Veyron SS. I think that's more like the person who makes up the 6 mil or so 'official' viewers of TG, whereas the TG anoraks (dunno if I'm using this word correctly, just remember JC using it before
) on this site appear to exist solely to piss on everything that TG does nowadays. I'm pretty sure there are less than 6 mil people on this forum who are (so-called) fans of TG. You are the minority. It's the truth. Deal with it. As I said, the TG team, while unlikely to completely disregard the comments on this site, are even more unlikely to model the show on what a tiny fraction of the total viewers want. It's logic, not ignorance. BTW LiamC this isn't directed to you personally, just that I thought it'd be a starting point.
I dont have anything about protecting privacy, but when they change around during the show it makes me question what other things are being edited in/out for whatever reason. There's really no reason to switch the plates around during filming.
Even if they unintentionally made a mistake, to borrow the Clarkson quote from the other week, "Even if it shows no symptoms, the disease is still there, and it sort of spoils the relationship."
Is a license plate really that much of an issue meaning that you have to dedicate two short paragraphs to it? While I'm sure most people noticed it, I doubt many were actually troubled by it to the extent that you appear to be. If anything, you seem to be "making a mountain out of a molehill" (I think that's the saying...or something like that). No offense intended.