What happened to the "club atmosphere" of Audiogon?


Hi Goners!

After 12 years as a member hear i have developed some questions based on my observations of Audiogon in the last four to five years...

When i joined it was a fledgling group of "music lovers" who now brand themselves, quite often it seems, as "audiophiles"! [ whatever that REALLY is...:-)
The boards were helpful, very helpful and almost never negative but like a brother [be it older or younger] discussing the finer points of a product,company, design etc...

It was known that you could score wonderful, WELL MAINTAINED audio and video products sold at a fair price and with confidence that the person who sold you that item would stand behind it!!

It was the CULTURE of Audiogon that made it so very special to me, in fact it has been on my radar every day since i joined!

I have been a seller, buyer, trader, cartridge seller and have noticed disturbing trends:
Seems if anything is mark "USED", even 5 minuted old, it should, at best, garner only 50%
Lowball offering has become rampant here,trying to then add insult to injury by asking the seller to pay shipping!
Nasty,curt e-mails without any simple courtesy and professionalism...Now i am painting with a broad brush BUT all of these negatives , and more i will not go into from this vein, have reduced this site to a "virtual close out Wharehouse" of close out merchandise or find your ads not even getting a question about your ad!!

I for one enjoy the banter with long time posters, some of who have earned my respect with they're
 witty yet insightful comments...

Has anyone else felt Audiogon's best days have come and gone if we follow the present template?
Thanks and keep the responses civil and helpful please!

azjake

Showing 1 response by gbmcleod

I agree with the original poster, although it's always subjective as to how far "downward" the site has drifted. Some would say a little bit, some would say a lot.
I do know that before 2007, I had never had anyone scam me, but it has happened 3 times in the past 7 years. Is that a little or a lot? A perspective of the people who were here 14 or 15 years ago adds insight to the original question. How long have the posters been on this site? I've been here almost 14 years. I like the site, but am still not a fan of the change several years back when it was more of a "gentleman's site" but was then clearly changed to "corporate mentality" in that say, a buyer is FORCED to use Paypal for buying, and cannot send a check, which means the site has an mutually beneficial arrangement with Paypal. (Does anyone wish to dispute that?) THAT part of it feels like cattle being herded.
Manners are certainly less in evidence than 13  years ago,  but that's been evident since technology has risen. People are just more curt, period. 
I wholeheartedly agree about people's buying habits when you are the seller: they do seem to want to buy something right off the bat $100 less than you are advertising for. In that case, I use the Nancy Reagan mantra: I just say "no."