Can we have an "Ask Sean" catagory?

About the fears of lawsuits...the words "I think that..." pretty much protect you. You can express any opinions. If you represent them as fact (and you have credentials that suggest you are competent to judge these facts) you can be sued. Thus, in audio for example, an audio salesman would be held to a higher standard than Joe Sixpack.

It has nothing to do will lawsuit potential, it's simple business. Audiogon is a commercial, profit oriented site for the buying/selling of equipment. Dealers and manufacturers are the major source of revenue for Audiogon. The discussion forums may attract visitors to the site, but they generate zero revenues. So if you're the owner/manager of Audiogon and there's a problem in the forums that in any way threatens your major source of income, then the solution is obvious. Push comes to shove, the people who own and run Audiogon can simply discontinue the forums. It's not a free speech issue. If you got something to say Audiogon's not stopping you from starting your on website and saying anything you so desire.

I buy and sell a lot more on Audiogon because of the forums than I would otherwise. The forums feed the nervosa condition, if you know that I mean. I'm probably in the minority.

Yes like playland at McDonalds the forums are a draw. Losing Sean was like taking away one of the big slides. Now all we can do is play in the ball house and you know how many kids pee in there.

Marco, are you insinuating that I wear small shoes or you have a big mouth? = P

One a side note... Even though the forum does not generate profit in terms of advertising fees, the forum does dictate how high these fees are. The higher the number of hits that this website generates determines how high they can charge their clients. And, I would think, it is the members' unbiased comments and entertainment value that supports the forum's and the site's hit counts.

On another side note, come to think of it, this website atleast has kept banner ads away from the forum and kudos to them for that. And, no pop up ads either.