I consider myself an intelligent person, but I think I only follow maybe 30% of the purpose of this thread. To answer the title of the thread: "Fair" is what we
say it is, if only because a) we pay the bills, b) we pay the bills, and c) see a) and b).
But in all earnestness, one thing we can't stand is paying for these forums so that others can be critical of how we run things... it's just not something I feel we have to tolerate. Truthfully, it doesn't happen all that often, but when it does I may react in several different ways depending upon the situation.... could be a PM warning, could be a post/thread deletion, or a ban... or I may just have OPRA
write an editorial about how ridiculous the poster is.
As for our advertisers, criticism, etc... When it's legitimate and non-threatening (i.e. not assuming your situation represents the normal practices and situations encountered by all) we generally deal with it by bringing the manufacturer's attention to it - and getting it solved. Many a people have had situations taken care of because of this. Here are two examples of why you'll see differeing results on this:
Example A) XYZ Company SUCKS. The music sounds tinny and the cabinets are pieces of junk. You can't even bi-wire the mains and QRS company is half the cost.
Example B) I had an XYZ speaker for 6 months and the surround separated from the cone. I called the company and they told me it was out of warranty and won't replace it... Unbelievable.
Post A will be ignored or deleted if they are an advertiser - the post is ridiculous and not substantiated by any facts. It's a clear bash of the company and there is apparent bias.
Post B will have us calling the company and pointing them to the thread. The end result is usually that we find out the poster either lied and dropped the speakers down a flight of stairs (or bought from an unauthorized dealer) OR the manufacturer will apologize for the lack of attention and replace/repair the product... In either case this is a legitimate potential issue and will be addressed... This isn't hypothetical - it has happened several times.
In other situations, we have disallowed linking to certain sites because, frankly, those sites lead us on and then dissed us on advertising... And though no one is obligated to advertise with us, when companies lead us on and take advantage, we're also not obligated to send them free traffic.
And finally, we only invite manufacturers to advertise that we already
trust and respect. Because of this we are able to defend them without it being about the money. We recently spoke to a popular print mag's Advertising Manager and he was DUMBFOUNDED that we would turn down advertising. He literally could not BELIEVE that we would have any kind of standards on who can advertise on the site. It is a foreign concept in the industry.
Hope this helps. And if you argue with me I'll ban you so fast you'll wonder if you ever signed up.
That was a joke.... sorta.
