Dealer affiliations and attitudes, assumptions and lack of respectful engagement in audio.


When I started in Audiogon 20 years ago it was a different  place. There was pretty civil discussions with fellow audiogoners. There were audio dealers on the site and there were also hobbyists and it wasn’t a big deal.  I been on the dealer side/business side the last 7 years. Here is what I find. A lot of us tend to be quickly negative and nasty to those who disagree with us. We don’t have the sharing of knowledge spirit that we used to have.  A lot of us want to show others how much smarter than we are than them. In addition to that there seems to be an attitude that if you are a dealer you gotta be shilling instead of just telling the truth. More importantly there seems to be an attitude that audio is the only thing you do. I have a firm in my professional life that I have ran for 25 years. I’m smart enough to know you never know who you are talking to. I just think audiogoners have repeatedly started to step over the line and become HABITUAL LINE STEPPERS and not engage with the necessary level of respect.  A lot of us in the hobby just want to meet and have positive audio and music experiences. Not rage debate! WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS EVERYONE? 

calvinj

Showing 4 responses by devinplombier

Well, I had a post expressing the opinion that Fox was merely a symptom of a greater societal shift toward incivility rather than its cause. Here it is: 

Post removed 

 

There are several audio forums where a vast majority of interactions are civil and pleasant. Folks contributing their experience and helping other folks who are in need of some assistance.

To be fair, these tend to be specialized forums (fora?) focused on DIY or on a single brand or some arcane specialty. Even here on Audiogon, you'll find tube-related threads to be rather sunny and tranquil places.

As far as the general-interest threads on here, too many are like this one: just lit matches masquerading as faux outrage.

 

if we avoided these sort of arguments, maybe we would be left with more civil discourse based on actual experiences and mutual respect. But that’s just my opinion, and I’m wrong all the time.

@kerrybh 

Not this time though. You nailed it right on the head!

 

Unfortunately, spending time here needs to drop lower on my priority list.

@mitch2 

I for one hope you might reconsider. Your contributions are excellent and add a lot of value to this forum. But I see your point.