A question concerning ethics


Should business professionals related to the audio field be required to register as such when joining Audiogon or making public posts ? I am talking about those that are involved with manufacturing / marketing / advertising / wholesaling / retailing, etc... audio gear or audio related accessories. After all, if someone is "raving" or "bad-mouthing" a product or product line, i want to know if they are simply a "joe average" end user / consumer or if they have something to gain by promoting or slagging specific products. Would this be out of line in your opinion ?

Obviously, this would be done on the honor system since anybody can make comments with total anonymity and thicken their wallets or take pot-shots at their competition. The fact that MANY that post here have made their affiliations clear only adds credibility to their posts since they were willing to be up-front and honest to begin with. Those that "string along the crowd" can only expect complete distrust once they are found out. I am not going to name names here, but i think that a few of the guilty parties will know who i'm talking about. Sean
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sean

Showing 2 responses by swampwalker

Brulee- this has been an issue discussed at length before, and there is a fine line between information exchange/shameless self-promotion/exploitation of the medium's anonymity/outright deception. There are legal (read libel/slander) issues as well that Agon has had to deal with as well. I think just about everyone agrees that it would be nice to be able to know any poster's background. As I said before, verification in the problem and Audiogon has been pretty firm about keeping this site from deteriorating into a flaming war. My advise would be that until Agon comes up with an identification code that is easily verifiable (and with hotmail accounts thats pretty hard)if you see someone crossing the line, maybe just send a private email to anyone who might be the target of exploitation. We can watch out for each other and help out the newbie who hasn't caught on to these shameless types.