Please disclose your commercial affiliation

I will agree that what sometimes seems to be excessive praise of a certain products may cause suspicions about the motives and identity of the reviewer, but I am curious to know what the members contributing to this thread think about member reviews which contain even mild negative comments being dumped by the moderators because the product under review is being produced or marketed by an Audiogon advertiser.

It is mandatory that any such "affiliation" be disclosed at www.positive-feedback.com. And, in fact, they are on the website.

I know of a few reviewers that are "interested" in the business, but they don't ever review products that they have such an interest in.

John

Agree re: disclosure.

But an interesting point one observes over time is that the emotional investment even owners have in their own favorite equipment creates some fairly foaming-at-the-mouth biases. Dealers, having heard more gear than many of the rest of us have, can be very fun and helpful people...more so than some of us hobbyists...as long as everyone's clear about the commercial interests.

Well...with all the buying and selling non-affiliated "consumers" do on this forum...who's to say that they aren't "shilling" whatever gear they have stacked up in their closets?

For myself, I could imagine what it would be like if I posted somewhere in a thread..."You know...that Electrocompaniet ECI-3 I have...well...I think it sucks".

Then, If I ever get around to wanting to sell it...what would I put in my ad? "Wonderful Tube-like Sound" and all the other superlatives? Should I state that I'm selling only to "upgrade"? Or should I just say that I'm selling it because I think it sucks? After all, the potential buyer would have already researched the threads and noticed that sometime...long ago in the past...that I said something (gasp) negative about it.

BTW...I don't think it sucks. In fact it's the best used integrated amp hands down for the money. It conveys a sense of air like no other. The widest deepest soundstage I have ever heard at it's pricepoint. It has the best qualities of solid state and tubes and none of the bad qualities. The ECI-3 doesn't just lift "veils"...it lifts the lead curtains that are infront of every other amplifier made on the face o the earth from the beginning of time. In fact, it's soooooo good...and such a giant killer...that I think I'll list it for sale.

And now, when people do searches for an Electrocompaniet ECI-3, they'll find this thread and think it's the best amp ever...because I said so.

;^)

Everybody has some affiliation or affinity. We all have preferences and opinions. Most of us don't know what we're talking about. Only a fool would buy expensive equipment on the basis of recommendations from total strangers on a chatroom forum. Few people are able to differentiate between what they've read or heard and that which they actually know to be true. Given all of this, why concern yourself with the motives behind any particular blog entry?
If you want someone's opinion contact them directly and ask for it.
You feel you need to be concerned about the quality of info from some people because they have ulterior motives and the rest because they are poorly informed and just plain wrong.

This topic is based on a faulty premise. There is no value in any online advice.