Vendors Who Post

Mrvco,
You stated, "... their tactics must work on enough of the population to make being a dbag worth their while." Exactly right. All you need to do is look at their feedback reports to see how many sales they are making by making themselves visible on these forums -- in whatever way they please. The only thing they really give a hoot about is the money. All the rest is either window dressing or obfuscation.

As long as they identify themselves as such, not only do I not mind, I welcome them. Even if I disagree with them from time to time, I find most of the contributors who have a professional link to this topic to be amongst the best contributors. I think the ones that don't properly identify themselves absolutely devalue the forum. I do wish Audiogon would provide a color code or an identifying symbol (*?) to classify the contributing poster(s).

Agree with Unsound. I agree with mars that their candy bars are all natural and healthy for you. I agree that we have a lot of only child's on this audiogon forum. But I do really agree with Unsound.

I'm not sure what you mean by vendor exactly. Do you mean some one who sells stuff rather than manufactures stuff?

Manufacturers and/or builders might have intimate insights into speaker, cable, amplifier design etc. Their knowledge, clarifications or explanations gained through experience could enhance understanding in some threads. Granted some manufacturers also sell their own products so bias could come into play although most bias among this group would probably be toward their own products. However, in some cases bias in this group might be toward a class of products, for instance a tube amp designer/builder might not like solid state.

Many vendors only sell other peoples products. They may also have unique perspectives and opinions that might be interesting to hear although their primary function is to sell the brands they represent to retailers.

Perhaps four classifications would be appropriate.
1. Regular folk, people who like music and stereos/hifi's. 8^)
2. Designer and/or Builder/Manufacturer.
3. Vendor [Wholesale] reps #2's products.
4. Dealer [Retail] Sells to public.

Just a start to a conversation. By all means add your own perspectives.

Rja,
You make important distinctions here. All 4 classifications are accurate. The objections I have are:

1. Industry-connected people who do not make a disclosure.
2. Industry-connected people who trawl for business and use the forums to attract attention to themselves -- sometimes in negative ways.