Please disclose your commercial affiliation

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.

This is a great question and not so easy to answer. I am a hobbyist first, I developed some cables and then posted it as a DIY review. After a lot of people asking me to build these, despite the fact I gave the complete formula in the review, I became a manufacturer of Jade Audio cables. Prior to becoming a manufacturer I was very active on Audiogon writing reviews, extensive threads on my latest experiments, and often felt I had something to add.

When I started manufacturing, I for the most part quit posting, for fear of being blamed of trying to slant a discussion, even when the discussion has nothing to do with my products. I know I took it to an extreme, but I do out of my great distaste for those who are very suspiciously having their products pop up in discussions. I do not imagine it is very hard for one guy to have many monikers assuming they have different email addresses, and if they want, use friends mailing addresses. This could be why some threads seem to never end, yet only ten or fifteen people do the talking, for years! Hmmmm.

Anyway, the problem with my approach is I believe the Audiogon community suffers by my lack of participation. I’m not saying I am all that, but I do have some good sound experience that I enjoyed sharing. Would an identifying mark make me post again? I’m not sure, I still would not like my reputation hurt by people feeling I had an addenda, so it still requires me to choose the appropriate thread to enter.

The flip side of this is my experiences developing cables, or others experience in the business could add great credibility to their thoughts, but only if those people are not hiding an addenda. I guess it then comes down to people judging if this person is offering their experience or their product. At least with some identifier people can make a proper judgment, where now they are clueless. This could not be a bad thing.

This does not solve the real problem posters however. Those who are not identifying who they actually are, or those who have multiple identities. It also does not identify those who might have some side deal, or receive some benefit for pimping a product. Are these associated people, or is this just life? Again it comes down to people using logic to determine if the amount of discussion matches the reality.

In the end, I am fully supportive of using an identifier to help us know who is who. I think I would feel better about re-joining the forums, something I dearly miss. For me it will still be a difficult ethical question, but at least I could not be called out for hiding my association.

jd
Jade Audio, LLC

With regard to the conflict of interest: in my own case, I simply respond to questions that I actually know the answer to. I try to avoid directly recommending our gear, though I am often tempted. It just seems to me that if you go for that bait that it will catch up with you sooner or later. The sockpuppets seem to loose credibility... and also seem rather obvious.

hi macrojack:

you're a genius. if i stated what you stated, i would be villified. instead, you have been ignored. you are a breath of fresh air and sanity. thank you for your wisdom.

i would like to add that an incognito dealer does not gain from touting a product. he/she won't gain a sale because his/her idendity is hidden. hence it doesn't matter whether an audio professional reveals his/her affiliation.

all recommendations should be confirmed. let your ears decide, not someone else's mouth.