I don't get why people are even defending it. We know why they are doing it, but it is shitty considering it is more extreme than before and everything feels rushed. Like they removed the story mostly. As I said earlier/last week/whenever, when people watch something for 7 years, you expect some sort of consistency in it. We are not getting it. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of posts on twitter/facebook/reddit and here are calling it out. Especially this season. It's obvious, it's annoying and yes HBO even warned us. Everyone I know( real world not shitty net world ) is bitching about it on their shit and I don't talk about GoT to them. So why the fuck defend it, it is a perfectly acceptable gripe and I think time will not favor it once everything is said and done, but that is an opinion.
The real damage here is now people will not trust HBO as much when it comes to long successful series. There will be a percentage that grumbles as the seasons go on knowing HBO may decide at any time to just say fuck it. Here is the story in a Story for Dummies format. They would have been best off in the long run cutting 6/7 down some and making 8,9 and 10. Yes, between the cut times but paying actors 3 more billings it would have cost another 12 million but that is chump change for HBO is making and to be honest, people like me who used free weekend+free month HBO made not a cent off of to view it, where as 10 episodes I would have paid a month as would have others. Sidenote- I saw HBO commercials on Cinemax tonight, don't recall ever seeing that before.