"...and I don't take any advertiser money..."

@carlsbad2 The whole audio hobby consists of two parts, IME. One is made up of folks who are there simply to try and make a buck ( most if not all reviewers and others). For example, on one of the many forums I am banned from, one of the owners without totally realizing his mistake, disclosed that they do take advertising as a means of being profitable. When pushed, the forum ’geniuses’ revoked the membership of a manufacturer who had started several posts simply to expose his gear more fully, and who saw an opportunity to do so at no cost to himself.

Then we have the other type of hobbyist, that is the one who usually comes here, and is more interested in bettering his system and his musical experience. Personally, I am only interested in the latter.

Couple good discussions of this topic:

https://youtu.be/6dwT5uWRMXQ?si=NEEpaOKfwnWQ8ree&t=117

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhn1ELAqhw4

Key point: a reviewer who wants to keep his audience has to get the sound right. If they're being paid, they lose too much of their audience for it to be worth it.

These claims about audio reviewing, not about advertorials. Those are a different animal. 

So are we saying we can't trust anyone who gets paid to do their job reviewing audio equipment?  A rather jaded view IMHO.  

"So are we saying we can't trust anyone who gets paid to do their job reviewing audio equipment?  A rather jaded view IMHO"

 

Depends on who the reviewer is being paid by.  Would you trust the review of a product if the reviewer is being paid by the manufacturer of said product?

Ok.  I'm jaded.

But we've had discussions before of how we never see a negative review.  

I just think people should realize if money is changing hands in retrun for a positive review.

Jerry