Indeed there is a difference. Hence why plenty of people have asked questions, and not had their orders canceled. They aren't canceling orders for every question. They're canceling orders for assholes trashing their business.
I've dealt with plenty of customer questions, and usually do my best to work with them. It's a VEEERRRRY rare occurrence that I tell somebody to GTFO, and it's because they're being an asshole.
We can all see plenty of people who've merely "asked questions" who didn't get their orders canceled, and get blacklisted. So the idea that BFL is canceling orders of those who 'ask questions' is asinine.
And even if they WERE doing so, that's their prerogative. It won't make good business sense, but if they want to cancel every order of any person who asks them a question, they're well within their rights to do so, and you don't have a basis to "Sue or get revenge some other way" as somebody suggested.
If you're gonna talk smack about/cop attitude with a company, be prepared to lose the option to do business with them. If you intend to have a working business relationship with somebody, behave in a manner that fosters feelings of mutual respect. Especially if you're in the position of being hosed if they tell you to get lost.
For every one customer that pulls out or gets booted for running his mouth, there are 10 more willing to take his spot. Beggars can't be choosers.
There was another person in this thread besides the one you quoted who was banned for asking how many units had shipped, not for being an asshole, so I would disagree on whether or not that idea is asinine, but anyway.... You completely sidestep my point here. What about the
potential customers who are treated like shit for simply asking questions? Because that certainly
is happening more often than cancelled orders. How does talking shit on forums, trashing the people who are trashing your company, and refusing to provide any citations for the claims you make fall under the umbrella of 'good service'? Not only does it show how concerned they are(not) with keeping customers happy, it damages their reputation as a whole which is also typically bad for business. Think about it, if a question that irritates Josh or whomever up there could be answered by saying 'Hey, we have addressed that, click here for more info.' - in that case then what type of business person would opt to just call that person who asked an idiot instead, as they have many times over?
MT has it right, as you yourself say "behave in a manner that fosters feelings of mutual respect" - and I don't see that type of behavior coming from BFL. Not that that is an excuse for the way some people talk about them, but it is an excuse for me to not do business with them. You originally defended their right to not engage in an abusive customer-business relationship, and that holds true just as much as everybody has the same right not to engage in an abusive business-customer relationship. You may be great at keeping customers happy, but you aren't BFL, are you?
I have't seen his post, and I haven't seen his other posts, so I can't speak to that, but I'm going to go ahead and HIGHLY doubt that the context was a simple question of number of units shipped. Was he piling on? Had he been harassing them otherwise? I've asked questions, but in a respectful manner, and nothing bad has happened to my order. In fact, I was answered respectfully, and surprisingly quickly.
This forum has a cancer of anti-BFL trolls, so I can see why BFL might be what some would perceive as being overly sensitive; but there are several members who dedicate several hours a day to trashing BFL. So I don't blame them for having a short fuse with people on this particular forum, or with members who chose to pile on in certain trolling threads. Even if they're not necessarily the instigators, the context of piling on can change the meaning of a simple "question" significantly.
Again, if you believe that BFL has something of value to offer (and I genuinely do), then it would behoove you to be respectful of those whom you seek to do business with. I have seen Josh lose his shit with a few members, but never entirely undeservedly. I've put members like Smoothie and NachoLibre (or whoever the fuck), on ignore, and the static has calmed down significantly. There are the n00bs who get out of the n00b cage and straight into trolling, because they think that's how they'll get popular, but they don't keep at it too long, or they make the ignore list as well. If I were at BFL, I'd probably write this forum off altogether, and focus only on the BFL forum. I'm surprised they extend as much courtesy to dealing with people on this forum as it is...