This is a really dumb stance to take as a business. You're actively looking to increase customer engagement with the less vocal consumers and also attract new consumers. Looking to the silent opinion is kind of a major part of business and it's goal #1 to keep expanding your reach. You can't do that by just listening to the same vocal people who already buy your stuff. You can't completely forget about them and their input, but you do actively look to new areas.
Silent opinions are something people should be aware of at basically all times too. There's more power in the unheard public opinion then you think, and it can absolutely surprise you and overwhelm you if the right moment strikes.
From a business and politics perspective, I totally agree that it's important to reach previously untapped patrons, but that's not the context I was referring to. I meant it from the prospective of the consumer in the context of "You don't vote, you don't voice your needs or wants, then nobody cares." It's kind of in the same spirit of the saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." It's a simple fact of life that the status quo will never change unless someone nuts up and says and/or does something. Period. Why? Because more often than not, a SILENT opinion is interpreted to be NO opinion (And unless we see a significant spike in unit sales after Terry's release, this is probably the case). People who pay for DLC will buy him and like him either way, but I'd be interested to see if anyone could generate some numerical proof as to whether Nintendo's attempts to reach untapped fanbases is actually working.
Now, with respect to Smash Bros and the Terry argument, I wasn't saying that Terry doesn't have a sizeable fanbase or that he isn't worthy of getting into the game, or even that Nintendo didn't have a strategic reason for putting him in. I was simply agreeing with KC's point that, as far as anyone knows, there was no significant campaign for him to get into Smash. He had no significant showing in ANY ballot that we know of, there was no petition, no tweet campaign, no renown Youtubers throwing in a plug, nothing noteworthy enough to get on speculation's radar. Obviously, Nintendo and Sakurai favored him enough to put him in, likely to appeal to the untapped fanbases out there, but the fact (and unless someone starts loading this place up with links and actual prove to the contrary) remains that those that regularly play and care about the Smash Bros franchise did not seemingly care as much about Terry getting in. Conversely, when you consider how long and how vigorously the Geno fanbase has been campaigning, it's not hard to see why some might see it as kinda screwed up to be asking for "A" for a decade+ only to get "Z" instead. Regardless of intent, it sends the message that Nintendo/Sakurai's priorities are, at least for the DLC:
1) Appease Sakurai's personal preferences
2) Appease untapped fanbases
3) Appease the already-existing Smash fanbase
Not to say that these can't overlap, or that there isn't justification for it, but this is what it looks like.