About users with hidden agendas

People will self police when there is a “do not cross this line” policy in place. It forces a “when in doubt, dont do it” mentality.
 

Worked in a bar in my younger college years with such a policy and they had a reputation for no BS. One fight in the couple of years I was there…it was broken up by other patrons and the two fighters were banned. I dropped in many years later, the place still feels the same, alot of friendly faces and the names of those two guys were still in the spiral notebook. There were only a handful of names listed after theirs. Amazingly, having a standard of behavior works.

Are the banned patrons evil? No but they decided the rules didnt apply….they were wrong. Things escalate without lines in the sand. Ive been guilty of raising my rhetoric on occasion with some who appear to be cultivating a personal confrontation. I would not have if there were enforced standards.

What makes them unfortunates? Everyone gets out of their purchases what they want...I rather appreciate buying preowned gear from them as well...its like new LOL!

Its ok to say that a dealer is a dealer. I would wager no one would be offended.

The real problem with aggressive and insulting posters, with trolls and “experts” issuing absolute pronouncements when they have a total of 20 posts and joined last month is that good folks who have posted and contributed kind and valuable advice and input just go elsewhere. Casually useful threads never get started. The last thing I need is to post an observation only to be attacked by some dude with his Humperdink integrated and he just discovered Harbeths and proclaims them the final word. Agressively.

Ive discovered the sooner you take a bully to the woodshed the better. The community benefits rather than the community being abandoned. Im sure aim not the only one who has seen the sparsity of interesting threads being started because of the same two or three people crashing every party. Ask a question about which tube someone prefers in their preamp and you get the usual “tubes suck”, “buy Tektons”, “you are an idiot if you arent using a magenta fuse”, “try chucks contact enhancer on the pins” and my favorite….”you wont hear any difference because they measure the same according to Amir”. Not to mention the amateur scientists and conspiracy nuts.

And no, it isnt censorship…its a standard of behavior to honor or simply move on….good people move on first, bad people move on later once theyve sucked the life out.

@jjss49 

Tammy and Audiogon have an opportunity to reclaim the high ground…or not. If they do so, at least initially, the forums will be slower. They should stay the course though. Pick the weeds, things look sparse until the desired growth has time to fill in. Listen, I love oldhvymec 60-70 % of the time and the other times he needs the penalty box. In my experience, formerly tough guys have to find their new identity when life evolves and they can no longer clear out the bar for the hell of it. Some hard standards of decorum will help. Or not.