About users with hidden agendas

things in life are just things, cars, hifi gear and so on

but to me things wisely collected and used can lead to wonderful experiences, and thus happiness -- be it for one oneself, with friends, loved ones

to me that is what matters most

i suspect there are numerous industry people who post here, with their biases and agendas hidden, giving people ’advice’... some properly self identify... many do not -- 'tis one of the big problems on an anonymous forum like this, where things go by the honor system...

... but often people are dishonorable

so a word to the wise here, especially newbies, please beware when folks here are trying to ’help’ you by recommending x-y-z, be it equipment, tweaks, cables, fuses ... sometimes they are actually helping themselves even though it looks like they are being generous and kind

so click the username, see the details, see their system, see their a-gon user feedback as buyer or seller (don't have any?  beware...), see and carefully past posts -- see where they are coming from...

if one comes here naive and lazy, one can and will ’get played’

we are making something fairly simple unnecessarily hard

the idea of this forum, attached to the main a-gon buy/sell/advertise site, is to have a community of primarily enthusiast/audiophile consumers, who, in addition to trading their gear, also be able to exchange ideas and experiences

of course, then, there are also manufacturers, dealers, and others within the high end hifi industry, who come here to access these consumers, to sell them things, and as other posters here have rightfully said, these additional people bring a lot of knowledge to the table, and can/should contribute their insights

so it seems simple, and reasonable, that when an industry person ’expresses their opinion’, they should also let folks know who they are, above and beyond being just an ordinary user/enthusiast sharing their personal experiences -- that they have an economic stake if others here ’act’ on their advice

so someone saying "your gear will sound better if you use a specialty fuse"... should then say "oh btw, i sell them".... or ... "vandersteens will be great in that room to play the classical music you listen to, and oh btw, i sell them" ... or even... "hey i think the nad m33 is a great integrated amp, so many useful features, sounds just great, and oh btw, i have mine listed in the for sale section...."

done right, it’s really not so hard... but i believe there are many folks here who will not, do not do this

MC stated in a previous post before he was asked to take a break from the ’Gon that he works for Townshend. He is also working on a couple other things since he retired from his "normal" work and when he returns he will provide more details in addition to some articles he intends to post on the hobby.

When he comes back, I expect him to be less confrontational/ignore his haters. I am not a fan nor a hater - I appreciate some very good information he passed along that improved my system for far less than the cost of upgrading components, and of course I passed on a number of things that he recommends because they didn’t make sense for me to buy (fuses, Schuman resonators, subwoofers, HFTs, etc.) but many people do use and keep them or else they would have taken advantage of a money back guarantee) or the people that sell them (the Ted Denny’s of the world) would not be in business.

MC is very enthusiastic about the hobby, and I think he exaggerates the benefits of many tweaks, but I do think he cares so much that they are significant in his mind. I look forward to his future contributions and hope his confrontations with his haters don’t return (at least in both directions).

my take on miller carbon is that he is a long time dedicated audiophile, pretty smart guy, figured out a lot of useful, positive stuff for himself in this hobby - in this respect he has a lot to share and can be a positive contributor to the a-gon community

the problems have been

1) his tone -- always touting his own superiority, speaking down to others (those of us who have lived a lot of life recognize this as a sign of his own frailty, and it would engender some compassion, except that it makes his persona so darned unlikable), and

2) as mentioned below, his mistaken belief that his own findings are truisms, panaceas applicable to all, just because they may have been for him (refer to point 1 above)... thus he delivers all his commentary on this forum with such a heavy hand, without restraint, on blast all the time, especially with respect to his favorite products du jour

combine 1) and 2)... the response and animus he engenders is entirely predictable, and deserved

all this said, it would be a good thing if he returned with a milder, more restrained version of himself, though, as another old dog, i am not sure that that particular old dog can learn the good new trick...

yes, as @thyname said, a user post can be deleted anytime by said user... no time limit

turned it into a complete $hit-show.

accurately stated at this point, for this thread...  

agree with @oldhvymec 100%

experienced hifi enthusiasts can look at pictures of a system setup in room and can spot issues quickly, there are elements of good and bad in room set up can be violated, but always at the cost of getting the best possible sound

not a substitute for being there, but photos can be very very informative as a lead in, and lead to numerous relevant and good suggestions or ideas of how improvements might be gotten

for whatever faults, and harking back (as we always should) to the title and premise of the original post...

ted denney for all his writings here, states on all substantive posts exactly who he is, not in the form of a a-gon handle, but in real life...

so some feel his company may sell pretty ridiculous stuff, with some snake oil quotient... be it as it may (or not, this judgment is rightfully in the eye of the beholder), but you know exactly who’s speaking... that is fair ball by me...i can then discount what is said accordingly, because i know who it is...

so what is the problem?

@astolfor

thanks for explaining your experience and view on this, appreciate it... and i understand and empathize

you seem much wiser for having had the experience, as unpleasant as it was, and i hope you are now much better able to extract good info from this site to achieve your desires in hifi and music

so based on the comments below, seems we can resolve a lot of this with an open promise by ted that he will use, and only use, his username ’ted_denney’ with ending subscript stating ’ted denney iii, lead designer...’ -- as he just did his most recent post below -- on all future posts heretofore...

...and he will also promise he will stay above using alternate handles?

well said @ghasley 

on the active mcintosh post i called out an argumentative user with 65 posts in 60 days since joining... zero marketplace feedback, zero sales or purchases, country of origin listed as 'n/a'... 5-6-7 posts in a row, piss piss piss on mcintosh, picking fights with longstanding users here ... so tired of this...

dunno if tammy is away...