Shills...

[barrows]

What are everyone's opinions about the new members here who appear to just be shills for various (often Chinese) manufacturers?  It appears to me that there are members who sign up just to post what are essentially free advertisements for various Chinese manufacturers in the guise of being "interested" in these new products...  Personally i am  a bit tired of seeing "newbie" member posts which read as an advertisement of a product.

 

@The Computer Audiophile, does AS have a policy addressing this?  I guess it would be nearly impossible to police, but it does appear to be both relatively deceiving to unsuspecting members, as well as somewhat unfair to your actual paid advertisers.

[barrows]

8 hours ago, sandyk said:

Hi Alex

 

 Given that so many members loathe and detest the Audiophile press, we would never know about new and alternative products,

which may be a brand new type of product, and not necessarily in competition with our Paid Advertisers.

Perhaps we could have a new thread where bona fide manufacturers could post a ONE OFF information release, with neither members or the manufacturer being permitted to post any replies ?

 It would then be up to any interested members to check the manufacturer's site for themselves.

 I agree that it could be a Double Edged sword, but in the absence of reading sometimes biased reports elsewhere, we could be missing out on some new and worthwhile products.

 Chris could even charge a small nominal fee for each product listed in this area to deter Spam ?

 

Kind Regards

Alex K.

The standard approach for a manufacturer of a "new and worthwhile" product would be for a manufacturer to send a press release (new product announcement) to Chris for him to review and publish, if the product seems worthy to him.  There is no need for a specific and unmanaged forum area for this.  The publishing of press releases is already an established practice for product announcements.  This can be published as "News" and need not be considered any kind of endorsement.  Then if the manufacturer desires further exposure they are welcome to advertise, or to offer a sample for review.

[barrows]

1 minute ago, davide256 said:

I like reading CA member posts where something new is introduced ( I'm trying "this" now with the following results). I detest posts where the material is just "fanboy" advertising, some guy used to spam legitimate threads on CA with multiple giant Sony product pictures, no actual user experience. Haven't seen anything from them lately,

might be one of the few cases where I blocked someone.

Agreed.  I have no problem hearing about actual members who have some experience with a new piece of gear (or music) and are posting about their experience with it, that is great-I love hearing about folk's actual experiences.  To me that is one of the main benefits of being part of an online community such as this.