It's a great question. In hobbies with small bases, like audio, speculation affects companies much more. The history and structure of audio companies doesn't help either. These are often under 5 employee operations that a few small hiccups can sink. Combine that with us paying thousands for each product which become one technical problem away from being worth zero, and it's a precarious industry. Oh, don't forget not wanting to post or to see posted a negative thing about something you own, because the used market pretty much supports the entire industry.
I've heard dealers say negative, speculative things about products they don't carry. That then gets repeated by customers that trust their opinion. Most of the time they know nothing more than anyone else and are often repeating what they hear in their "friend group". It becomes a tiny bubble within the already small audio bubble.
I don't know the answer to your question as it's dangerous to talk about problems, but also dangerous to not talk about problems. Audiogon boards also have the problem of poor moderation and no system of upvote/downvote to maybe combat some of these issues. I'd love to see a process of when things like that are posted, they get "hidden" until the manufacture can respond. Having good moderators would also be a huge help. These boards are ancient and need to be modernized in some way. It's the wild, wild west of audio forums here.