Manufacturers pushing their products and agenda in the forums.


In the deep, dark, past manufacturers participated in the Audiogon forums with a general sense of decorum and a sensitivity to other products that they did not manufacture themselves and which were, from a design standpoint, philosophically opposed to their views. 

What has happened? Manufacturers now post into the forums dogmatically espousing their myopic view of the hobby, shamelessly pimping their own products and view of the audio world and, even more disturbingly, running down opposing brands. 

IMHO, it may be time to throw the baby out with the bath water and ban manufacturers, distributors, retailers and importers. If they can’t get their act together they should take it on the road.
128x128viridian
I share your view and had suggested a couple alternatives to Admin- if somebody is posting as a dealer to peddle or promote, they should have some badge identifying them and charge them for that privilege (in the same way as "Insider"). For those manufacturers or dealers who are kind enough to offer technical or other advice without the sales job, perhaps they can do so under another user name (though that kind of puts the crush on some long time members here who can wear both hats and provide technical or other advice without an agenda). And having a strict compliance rule that is enforced by user flagging if someone is flogging stuff through the forums without paying for the privilege.
My suspicion is that somehow Audiogon sees value in having dealers and manufacturers and I generally do too-- If Audiogon can monetize it (which is really what this site is about, right?- nobody offers this platform simply for the sake of providing a place for us to ’chat’), perhaps they can figure out a way to separate the two intelligently.
At bottom, how much money does Audiogon make from the forums? Advertising, I suppose. But the original main mission was as a sales exchange for gear, much of it used (I remember when a dealer first said, "I’m getting out of taking trade-ins, just put it up on Audiogon").
As it stands, I just ignore certain threads altogether-- though that may not mean much in the overall scheme of things. I’m sure that Admin is aware of the issue. I think it is a question of how Audiogon can do this sensibly without wholesale disruption.
Disgusting. Awful.

By the way, Linconln Contintentals are now available with my personaly selected audio components ...
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