2. misc-audio
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Are their paid boosters on Audiogon?

I've seen it suggested that there are Audiogon members who receive some sort of undisclosed consideration from dealers or manufacturers to promote or denigrate certain products, vendors, etc.? That's an interesting, somewhat discouraging thing if its real. Just wondering what the group thinks of that- is it true, and if so how prevalent is the practice. 

With one notable exception (no longer on the forum) I've never really suspected that, but never gave it much thought.  There are dealers who just happen to have the perfect product whatever the need may be, but the selling is in the open and nothing is disguised. There are those who always recommend the brands they own, but I tend to put that down to human nature- we all tend to believe our choices are the best choices. We are lucky to have the expertise of incredibly talented designers who add a lot and are kind to freely share their vast knowledge with us-something I truly appreciate.

So, I've never really suspected there are paid shills here, but maybe I'm naive. I know there are YouTubers who receive benefits from sellers-some disclose that, but I think a lot don't, which is unfortunate. I hope that doesn't happen here.

Thoughts?

kerrybh

Showing 1 response by carlso63

carlso63
23 posts
 

On thing that always puzzles me about this genre of topic(s) - playing Devil’s Advocate here:

While I am not sure (by any means) that there are paid shills / naysayers on this (or other Forums) - how come whenever this topic comes up... and many people express the opinion (paraphrasing) "...OF COURSE there are - it’s so obvious..." etc....

How come I have yet to ever see ANYONE get on a topic thread of this nature and ever admit to having been paid to shill or denigrate (even if it was in the past)..?

What? Are they having to sign NDAs or something? wink

And, since this has already stepped into the political arena... I would offer the same litmus test for the (alleged) "Paid political protesters"... even further on that one, the few who have claimed to have gotten paid to protest have ALWAYS turned out to be proponents of the opposing political ideology who end up were lying about their being paid in an effort to discredit the opposition...

Again, I really don’t have any proof one way or the other... and am just posing the question that how come no one else has any actual "proof" either..? (being it is SO obvious wink)

 

 

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