What happened to the "club atmosphere" of Audiogon?

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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When a site grows it "normalizes", whether that's for the good or bad.

I'm new to posting here myself, and only doing so because of the recaps Audiogon sends to my email, but I have bought a few things here. I probably won't be a regular contributor, not because I sense any attitude, but because it seems to be a site enamored of subjective views. And I'm not. But other than that it seems pretty normal in tone.

As for low-balling, I'm not sure why people get upset over this. I have no problem with people trying to save money and test my price. All I have to do is say no and counter. It's not personal. It's not an insult. It's just money. Recently, I made a bid (about -25%) where the seller never responded. He probably lost a sale because I was willing to come within 7% of his asking price, but just wanted to see how much I could save. The item still sits there today and I moved on and bought it elsewhere. Asking for 50% off is silly, but not trying to get the best deal you can is pretty silly too.

I think nsgarch and smittyjs pretty much nailed it.  You have to separate the forum/social side from the sales side.  Business is business, if you don't like an offer, either counter or say no.  Don't get insulted.  When someone asks you what your best price is, either say what it is and stick with it, or (as I chose to) say make an offer if you're interested, but I'm not going to negotiate against myself.  On the forum side, there has been quite a bit of "turnover" but there's still lots of good info out there. 

I still love AG!  

Only recently have I given my voice to it and yes, I am grateful for the help, insights, product knowledge and occasional wheeling and dealing, buying and selling for great items from knowledgable people… had some great conversations even when things didn't work out…   I did buy a pair speakers here recently and it was a good purchase for me, the seller seemed happy…  Love em!  Could not have purchased such quality new… I enjoy the music as much or more than the gear chase… the HiFi madness !

I have noticed more negative tones form some voices… so far as AG history and future goes… I will defer to the wisdom of Charlie Brown and Snoopy… 

Scene:   Watching the sun go down… Charlie Brown states…

"Some day we are all going to die"….
Snoopy responds " Yes!  But every other day we are not!"   ;-)

If one is offended by extremely low offers, you are probably too attached to your equipment and shouldn't be selling it (OK, only kidding! ;~)  But there are two solutions:  either ignore the offending offer (and put it out of your mind!) or don't offer to entertain offers (you'll probably get some anyway  --  and they'll be serious, not lowballs!)

While I agree the current culture seems to me somewhat less congenial than in the 'old days' I think it may be partly due to the internet culture in general, and it doesn't bother me that much.  The two main reasons I don't shop here much anymore (well three actually, but I'll get to that) are:

1.)  The overwhelming presence of commercial sellers and retailers on the present site.  Every time I do a casual tally, it comes to just about 50%.  So the likelihood that something you're looking for is for sale by a private individual is about 50/50.  Or to put it another way, half the items you searched for, and half the time you spend browsing, will be a waste of your time (unless of course you're looking to pay 'retail'.)   Although not specifically banned, commercial sellers were never encouraged to use the original site, as it was clearly meant for private classified listings.  I don't mind that the current site has both, but they should definitely be kept separate.  Especially since these commercial users enjoy privileges/features not offered to private sellers.
2.)  Due to the cost of listing and selling on Audiogon, (and on eBay too) prices run a little higher than on free sites like USAudio, AA Trader, etc.

The "third" reason (which has nothing to do with Audiogon) is that it's become unnecessary to browse individual 'audio classified' sites anymore.  I use HiFi Shark exclusively.  It's free, and it scans every audio classified site in the world (plus eBay and Yahoo) and sends me an email (with links!) the minute an item I'm looking for gets listed.  It also provides up-to-date information on all recently sold or expired listings, which is a big help if I'm planning to sell something  --  check it out
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