Quarantine/Vetting by Admin prior to allowing "Company Is Dead" Threads to go live

With today's technology, no matter how big or small the company, there is absolutely no excuse for a customer not to get an out-of-office email, an appropriate phone recording, or a website splash page informing the customer about their status i.e. holidays/moving/maintenance etc.

Not stereo, but in a similar hobby where there are many small companies producing high end product, I watched a similar thing - someone posted that they couldn't get hold of the company and that it must have crashed.

Turns out that the owner had just taken a 3 week holiday and his answering machine had died on him while he was away.  Untold customer grief over a total non-issue.  Maybe some sort of moderation would be in order.

Like a query about whether anyone else has been in contact with the business if you call, email and mail with no response for over a month (people today are notoriously impatient and want instant gratification - if they don't get a call back in a day they go postal sometimes).

I'm brand new here and can vouch for the SEO and google hits that brought me (as I've been researching my dream mid 90's system that I can now afford to put together).  Although I don't like heavy handed forum moderation, I abhor clickbait titles even more so.  So I agree with david_ten.  As I see it, that's what threads asking if a company is dead or out of business are doing, using clickbait tactics.  Kind of like the fad on facebook of posing a question with a random picture "pic for attention".

The internet is a completely different animal. Our company sign blew down during Dorian. Someone driving by may infer we are out of business, but hopefully the cars in the parking lot would dissuade them of such an assumption. A company's internet server goes down along with their phones....how does anyone know? It is not responsible to post "are they out of business?" More responsible to post "it appears XYZ is having technical issues..can someone pm me a cell number or dealer info regarding XYZ?"

Completely agree with david_ten.

The posters have a responsibility for the words they choose and how they ask the question.  There is an effect.

It's very simple.  Ask your question in a responsible way.  

How difficult is that?


Rich   

If an Audiogon post has as much influence on businesses as implied in this thread, the playing field is leveled by the fact that anyone from a mischaracterized company can post here to dispute any rumors or inaccurate claims. That instantly gives the company a shot of good publicity, and solves the problem. 

@steakster and others noted above
+1 this problem has to be looked at from both side.

@roxy54   Good points. I have no stake in this other than an expectation for valid and accurate information.

Do I believe I should take that expectation seriously with respect to this forum, NO. Half the posts across threads here don't meet that threshold (I'm being generous). 

This was not in response to a single thread. There were 4 'current' threads at last count that were false and speculative about going concerns: Audio Research, MIT, The Needle Doctor, and Meridian.

- "Demise of Audio Research"
- "MIT closed the doors" "(It appears as though MIT is closing their doors and going out of business)"
- "Is the Needle Doctor going out of business?? "(I saw on another forum (Steve Hoffman) that the Needle Doctor was closing its doors.)"
- "Is Meridian dead as a product company?"

The question comes down to how this would go over, if it were your business and livelihood that was pronounced dead on online forums?

There is another active thread where the member hasn't been able to get an amp serviced and which is MIA. There, there are calls to punt it up to the State's Attorney General and one member offering to go bounty and hunt down the perps and acquire the amp. 

A very interesting difference (indifference) from some in their responses between these threads. 

Our hobby isn't doing so well. I doubt false claims are helping the very principals who support us with their products and services and enrich our hobby.

Audiogon's only responsibility should be to inform the manufacture/person/entity in question and give them an opportunity to respond directly to the thread.  Heck, we have members who have relationships with manufactures and give them a heads-up when a thread about their product starts to go south!

YOU.. yeah you... have zero say. Don't like it? Start you own forum.

+1

Not about rules. About being factual and accurate and honest.

09-24-2019 8:43amThere dead throw dirt on them asap!!

Sound familiar???

Let me get right back to you! : )

Thanks for reminding me of your thread. It also serves as an example.

Thread: "Is Meridian dead as a product company?"

--- So I just went and looked, and it seems that they stopped developing products about 5 years ago. --

Since you looked, I also just went and looked.. .one example for verification, a simple few clicks on the web:

"Meridian Audio proved why they are the outstanding brand in high-resolution audio at this year’s CEDIA Expo in Denver, taking home the CEDIA Award for Best New Hardware in the Americas region, and also winning a CE Pro BEST Award for the new Meridian DSP640.2 In-Wall Loudspeaker.

The DSP640.2 In-Wall Loudspeaker saw off tough competition, rising above renowned industry brands Lutron, Samsung, and Sony, to win the Best New Hardware category in the Americas CEDIA Awards 2019. The CEDIA Awards recognise the very best in technical excellence and product innovation and the judges were especially impressed by the dynamic audio and unmatched levels of performance delivered by Meridian’s DSP640.2 speakers."

Yup, that CEDIA, the one right after RMAF 2019. 

Fluff, Fluff indeed.... Sounds, smells, drops feathers, quacks and duckwalks like a "dead as a product company" ....

PS - I have no sour grapes with Meridian. I was genuinely interested in picking up some gear, before I realized they haven't updated their HT product line in years.

If we block sour grapes what good is this place?

Just a place to fluff already fluffed brands?

+1 @cleeds  +1 @lalitk  +1 @onhwy61 

I am unclear to me why you started this thread and others agree.  Within a couple of post the original OP's thread was proven to be incorrect, the system works.

@onhwy61 +1

Unless the OP can provide a weblink, a screenshot or an audiofile where the manufacturer or retailer clearly states they are closing down, then all such posts asking the question should be banned.  They serve no real purpose.

If you are having trouble reaching someone, wouldn't if be better to ask a general question in the form of "what's the best way to contact someone at..."?

+2, @gavman. 

Responsibility and freedom goes together. If you don't want to take responsibility for your actions, you shouldn’t exercise your freedom to post false, unverified info about any entity ‘going out of business’. 

rdk777

There's already an issue with post removals without adequate explanations.

Not true. The forum's rules aren't complicated and the moderators are responsive to questions about the deletion of posts. 

@gavman +1

This is a forum.  If someone wants to vent and post their experience and point out a company for their lack of customer service, it should be allowed.  There's already an issue with post removals without adequate explanations.  Now this thread is suggesting further scrutiny by Agon which I think is totally unnecessary.

But it's irresponsible to permit someone with sour grapes over a week- late delivery to post a thread claiming a company's demise. This can have implications for the business in terms of credit worthiness, suppliers demanding early payment etc
As for chasing down rumours,  it should be apparent from the OP whether someone is discussing a genuine case of a company closing it's doors, making staff redundant etc, or just whining about what they feel to be bad service. 
 Any self respecting website does not want to be a source of misfounded rumours, even malicious rumours like we've seen this week.
 Personally i feel that if somone posts an intentionally misleading thread claiming the demise of a healthy company they should have their thread- starting priveliges removed

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want an admin that I don’t even know deciding what posts I should see and which ones I shouldn’t. This is a very slippery slope. Who is to say that the admin is even qualified to validate or refute the statements. We should not replace one’s responsibility to think for yourself and validate information before accepting it as fact with an information clearing house of dubious quality (no offense to the admins, but I suspect you are busy enough without being required to chase down rumors). 

^^^ LMAO!! :-)

Why?
Bob

^^^ LMAO!! :-)

Fake news, eh? So can you shut down CNN?

Yes. Sending email now. Thanks.

@david_ten  Is this post directed to some current threads that are posted now? Email me at Support@audiogon.com, Attention:  Tammy