A few years ago, the "financial partners" in this site decided the site should be making more money. Nothing wrong with that, as a goal; the times were changing. The simplest way to achieve that end would have been to raise prices, right? Increase the price of the ads; maybe put them on a sliding scale tied to the advertised price of the item. And perhaps add a small annual membership charge. Unless the increases were outrageously high, no one would have objected. And no one would have left the site in disgust. But that's not what happened.
The partners didn't understand the "club" culture of the site, nor had any of them interacted with the members before then. They imagined they could be the "eBay of Audio". And it never occurred to them that Audiogon was, in fact, a club (or that eBay was not a club!) So they decided to follow the eBay model: specifically, they would make money by adding a fee to every transaction, and (in the beginning) never considered raising the ad prices or charging a membership fee.
As a result, it became necessary for the owners to micromanage the members' interactions; to make sure they didn't communicate privately or make deals without telling Audiogon; just like eBay does. When the fellow who originally conceived Audiogon balked at that approach, they forced him out (like when Steve Jobs, the 'soul' of Apple, was forced out) and that was the end of the "friendly" Audiogon.
So there's no point in talking about the "different kinds of members", and how they behave. People are people; but the Audiogon culture is no longer genuinely warm and welcoming. And many of the oldest members -- those with the most knowledge, and the patience to provide the best answers over and over again -- many of them no longer feel inclined to freely contribute their time and knowledge to what has become a purely commercial enterprise. It's a shame, because it didn't have to go this way . . . . . .
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