Individual members or non-members MAY be biased, that is true. I think that most people will recommend products that they personally like or know others that have had positive experiences with. After all, that would only be natural.
On the other hand, how many dealers have you ever dealt with that:
A) do NOT badmouth other manufacturers product lines that they don't carry
B) do NOT try to steer you towards products that they carry even if you are interested in something different
C) would enthusiastically recommend products that they don't carry ?
A dealer is obviously motivated to sell you his products so that he can make the money. While i know dealers that are exceptions to these generalizations, i'm not going to turn this into a plug for them. Needless to say, they are FAR and few between.
The difference in this situation, even if a non-dealer and a dealer make biased recommendations, is that the non-dealer does so without any outside motives other than love or enjoyment of the product. They have nothing to gain. Nor have they ever hidden the fact that they could directly and / or indirectly profit from such recommendations. Having someone that stands to profit from "name dropping" continually do so shows a lack of ethics or morals to me. The fact that they have done that while trying to keep their affiliations as quiet as possible verifies that they have / had something to hide. It might also tell you that they knew that what they were doing was wrong yet continued to do so to the benefit of their wallet.
The fact that Jtinn has consistently thrown out brands of products that he carries begins to look sinister once you know his affiliations. The fact that he has even STARTED threads of praise and support for specific product lines that he carries ( do a forum search for Tenor ) clearly shows that he has abused the trust of forum participants and readers.
I see this situation as being FAR more "provable" than the claims that Brian at Hello was stacking the deck in terms of positive feedback. At the same time, i don't see people jumping up and down about ethics, being misled, outside motivations, etc. Is it because Jtinn has always come across as being "helpful" and Brian is sometimes very tough to deal with ? Probably.
On the other hand, Brian aka Hello, who has contributed to these forums with his honest opinion and always identified himself as a dealer, may or may not have stacked the deck in his own favor. We don't know either way for sure. We DO know that Jtinn has "stacked the deck" in a very public manner time and time again.
To further prove this point, i ask ALL of the regulars that post / read here to confirm that they knew Jtinn was a dealer or had professional business affiliations in the audio field. If you did know, how long ago did you find out and how ? If he was forthright about his affiliations, EVERYBODY here should have known he was a dealer. After all, he has made hundreds of posts.
A similar situation arose over at AA pertaining to an official from Plinius doing something similar. This to me is nothing less than "shillery" and needs to be identified and stopped. I hope that i'm not alone in my thoughts and feelings on this.
To set the record straight, i have never dealt with Jtinn, have no hard feelings towards Jtinn nor do i know anyone that has been "ripped off" by Jtinn. He simply happened to be the first dealer posting without identifying himself that was pointed out to me. The more that i researched the subject, the more "tainted" i could see his recommendatins being. As such, i felt that others should be made aware of such activity.
The fact that "TomThompson" responded negatively to the thread on ethics that i started also brings up another question. If you visit Jtinn's website, you'll find the names of "Thompson & Tinn" displayed for all to see. It is anyone's guess if this is the same person that i think it might be. If it is, you could understand why they would react negatively. The fact that their website is now "down and out" only leads to further shadows being cast on the subject. Otherwise, you would be able to see exacly what brands Jtinn is selling and has continued to promote. Sean
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www.chambersaudio.com
