Does anybody read reviews?

What is with the attitudes lately?
First off the reviews are in there own category, secondly no one is forced to read them. How is it that your acting like they are infringing on your forums?
As far as the quality, well some have been good, some not so. I don't believe the people (including myself) who have taken the time and effort to write reviews in the hope of helping people thinking about new equipment deserve the comments above. First it takes a lot to try and write an honest review. Secondly if it some how bothers you that people love there equipment I'm sorry for you. I have tried in my reviews to explain the selection process and the equipment I tried while making the selection. I have praise for the equipment I selected because it was the best of what I tried. So should I say it's bad just to get your approval?
Frankly I'm sickened by the feeling expressed above and can only pray that you're a very small few who have such a problems with the others on this site and there desire to share there systems with others.
Please I beg of the above posters, DO NOT READ REVIEWS. You may learn something, God forbid that happens, and you get exposed to systems you would otherwise never have experience with.

Thank-you Zaikesman and Nrchy for taking me out of the general direction of this thread. Maybe we could spend time offering thoughts to make the reviews better and more useful. I do agree that there is a lot of "junk" being written right now, but I would hope people would look into some of the better written material. I have done this by bringing up the reviews of people I believe have offered great suggestions on the forums, people I respect. I read your review Nrchy when it came out and found it helpful. The fact that Audiogon is running a contest where they simply draw names from a hat of those who have written reviews has allowed for some poor results. I assume Audiogon knows that now, but for the present we are stuck. I am hopeful that once this contest passes the "non-reviews" will be deleted. I do know that Audiogon hopes to build a library of reviews on not only new equipment but some of the older "classic" to see how they have held up over time. I think there will be some real eye openers when that starts. What Audiogon is looking for right now are members with the ability and interest to write reviews. I believe they would like to use that pool of people to write future reviews. I can not get into details in that I am not an employee of affiliated but I can say I have spent many hours talking with Arnie at Audiogon and the review idea is simply the tip of the iceberg. Arnie has spent a huge amount of time and money making this the greatest site on the Internet, we have a great future ahead.
I encourage anyone who has the time and ability to write a review to take this opportunity and try to put one together. I have had Arnie critique my reviews trying to build a model for others to follow. I have first tried to explain how my system got to where it is. Secondly tried to show the components I auditioned and lastly tried to compare the equipment I did settle on to that of my past and the equipment I auditioned. I hope my reviews came across showing the strengths but also where other equipment was similar or better. (One thing I am continuing to work on is shortening my reviews, the magazine model is not right for the Internet. I hope we eventually will be able to have printer friendly versions should we want to file some reviews for future use) If the above posters would try to contribute by writing some reviews too, the entire site will benefit, and you may be surprised at what you'll find at the end of the road. I am now in the process of reviewing a pair of Cary 300 mono blocks that are about three years old. This is a serious departure from the direction my system has gone, there are some real surprises I'll write about.
Zaikesman, you have always been a guy I respect on this site, so I thank-you for your words. I believe you are one who could write a very good review if you have the time.

Esoxhntr, I agree that your point has been reinforced by my comments. The review today will go un-noticed, but I'm looking further out. If people find one of my reviews worth reading, then maybe they will read the other reviews to establish my taste and basis for writing. For my personal taste the system I have now is better than anything I've heard, ever! I'm sure there is a better set of components available that could improve the weaknesses, but I have not found that combination. So my efforts are to help others find out what the past six years has yielded for me. If digital, natural, very neutral is the type of sound your looking for and if you listen to vocal, acoustic, jazz and rock than my reviews will help. If most of your time is with heavy metal, punk, opera or vinyl I can't say how my system will work.
At any rate, over time I'm hoping people will find the reviews they are looking for. If they are not written they are guaranteed to look to another source than Audiogon for there exposure to other equipment. I personally see no benefit in the scenario in that I believe we have a great sight and some extremely knowledgeable members to pull from.