Paul Cusick got trashed pretty badly for responding to the HED 3 post. He dared to post a “comparison” of the HEDs to his company’s Tillium wheels. Some members resented Paul’s posts as biased and blatant selling on his part.
I think the forum is better because we hear from folks like Paul, John Cobb, Gerard, Frank Day, and other manufacturers. Retailers too, like Tom D. I’m grown up now (in some ways) and think I can separate facts from fiction in their contributions to the forum. What do you think?
Yes they should post. People are going to believe what they want, but these guys provide info and insight that we don’t have. This forum is better because of them.
As a retailer I think it is acceptable to post as long as the person identifies their position within the industry- i.e., retailer, rep, product manager, etc.
I do think it is fair, when offering an opinion, to identify any vested interest one may have in benefitting from that opinion so the readers may use that when considering the opinion.
From my expereince, the conduct of most people- almost all in fact- is very good. People offer honest opinions, others refute them, and there is a healthy and sometimes spirited debate. To me, that is the primary value of the forum. I have learned a tremendous amount from this forum.
Absolutely. It’s an open forum. Aside from that, the posts are often very useful, like Frank Day’s about usage and benefits of PowerCranks. Also fun to hear him duke it out with Gary Tingley.
sure. Just let us know every once in a while that they may have a vested interest in their opinion. Obvious people like the immortal, or is it immoral?, Tom D. probably don’t have to make that statement…you pretty much have to have crawled out from under a rock not to know his position in the field! But, I didn’t know Paul C. was a rep…still, his post didn’t raise a hackle on my neck.
Let them post. If I was repping and posting I’d make sure to compare factually such as Brand X uses widgets made by XYZ company. Research has proven that our widgets last 2.3% longer. What this means for you as a consumer is… I’d stay away from slamming. I sell for a living and have never been slammed when comparing factually. Seen others slammed for implying or being just plain wrong.
I don’t think you should see a banner ad every time you open a post, but responding to a question about a product that you sell, or complete against certainly should be welcomed.
I agree that coming on the forum to say how great what I’m selling is and how bad what everyone else has would be the first step to ruining credibility.