[SK138]

Hi Mark, my wife had the same concern when I hosted a local micro-meet (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=202328) with thrice and slwiser. From that meet I found some of the nicest guys around. slwiser and I exchange gears and PM often since then and I purchased thrice's amp.

As long as the crowd is managable (and I get my wife's permission and tell her I will not buy anything), I can always host another meet at my home

Btw, if you do decide to have a local meet at your place, I will have my kids with me. I told them you have a horse training farm and they are all over that

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't give up there are a lot of nice people here for sure. You know what scares me is the meets. You guys invite us into your homes. Then share all your gear. I hope no one ever uses this generosity to steel stuff later. I would love to have a Northern Va. Meet here on the farm, but worry about the lurkers who are looking to do no good. I think the meets at hotels are the way to go for safety. I have had a few head-fiers ask to listen to my new amp. I say sure, but my wife worries. Jeff (vpivinylspinner) get over here and listen to this thing now!

 

[3x331m]

As head-fiers, we need to think clearly and act decisively...

This is the only forum that I think worthy for my precious times. We don't want to ruin it.

 

[ppxnouse]

I am sad to hear about the rip-offs some of you experienced when trying to help other head-fiers by loaning equipment or shipping gear to them before payment.
The head-fi forum is one of the last places that seem to me like a real community.
May be this is a bit off topic, but since I am brand brand new to head-fi stuff and to this forum, I just wanted to post my opinion on the idea to institute a high post count before a new member is able to see the 4sale section:
For me and other new head-fi members this might produce a kind of a chicken-egg dillemma (or however this is called in English.
I do not own or owned much headphone equipment, so I am not very experienced and I can not post very much valuable information yet. (This plus the poor English ). On the other hand I am desperate in trying as much gear as i can afford and the 4 sales forum gives me the opportunity to do so and to become a more valuable member in helping others and post useful information. I do not expect anybody to just ship me his amp or cans w/o me paying for it in advance, I am also OK with the fact that people tell me they do not want to sell me their stuff because of my low post count (some did not even answer), but taking away the possibility the convince other head-fiers, that I am worth to trust me and sell me gear would be a big backlash. I made 2 transactions on head-fi so far and all went smooth and hope it will become much more.

So please consider my standpoint before making a decision like closing the 4sale forum for new members (I hope all this does not sound too selfish).

Thank you for listening .

As a sidenote - I made the worst ebay experiences with 10000+ feedback e-bayers.

 

[K2Grey]

It's a pity, the more people on head-fi, naturally the more idiots there will be on the f/s forums, and the more trust you hand out, the greater the chance of getting screwed over for it.

It's very impressive that these unfortunate incidents didn't cause you to lose faith in humanity. To be honest I realize that people are complex and have many characteristics of differing natures, but I am not sure if it is good for them to be alive.

 

[regal]

Two things on this board concern me:

1. People who feel that because they wore a headphone they should sell it for more than it can be bought new.

2. Companies paying people to post hype

I can deal with #1, but don't the mods realize that people will quit coming hear for insights if half the posts are just disguised spam ? And don't these people posting all this spam have any ethics? People come here for honest opinions, not "I just got a check and think brand xxx is the most speaker like involving phones I've ever heard." A good board would crack down on the spam.

 

[redshifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two things on this board concern me: 1. People who feel that because they wore a headphone they should sell it for more than it can be bought new. 2. Companies paying people to post hype I can deal with #1, but don't the mods realize that people will quit coming hear for insights if half the posts are just disguised spam ? And don't these people posting all this spam have any ethics? People come here for honest opinions, not "I just got a check and think brand xxx is the most speaker like involving phones I've ever heard." A good board would crack down on the spam.

i can think of a number of reasons someone would give a headphone a good review:

- reviewer tested the headphones to the best of their ability and gave their honest opinion.

- reviewer is a noob and is over-enthusiastic about their first good pair of cans

- reviewer got money or free samples or some compensation to give a biased review

- reviewer trying to increase the value of headphones they intend to sell by giving a good review

- reviewer paid a lot of money for their headphones and feel compelled to justify the expense with glowing reviews--even subconsiously

- reviewer heard a mediocre headphone that synergized with an exceptional amp and source (rare)

can't think of any more now. the point being there are lots of reasons members give good reviews on head-fi.

 

[Nomad]

Really sorry to hear about this. Unfortunately, as the site grows, this kind of things will happen.

There was a time when a lot of pots had sentences like "give me your address and I'll ship it to you" or "You got PM" after talking about loans. I had very generous offers and I did the same. I always feel that the level of integrity in this forum is far above average. Fortunately things are not that different these days. It's just that it can't be so open anymore.

Several months ago, I gave on loan a Baby Orpheus set and I've been so busy lately that I didn't have the time to get them back (I try to avoid couriers as much as I can). Well, this head-fier sends me mails sometimes reminding me that he has my Baby Orpheus and I can collect them whenever I can.

Hopefully we won't lose this over the years.

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal /img/forum/go_quote.gif Two things on this board concern me: 1. People who feel that because they wore a headphone they should sell it for more than it can be bought new. 2. Companies paying people to post hype I can deal with #1, but don't the mods realize that people will quit coming hear for insights if half the posts are just disguised spam ? And don't these people posting all this spam have any ethics? People come here for honest opinions, not "I just got a check and think brand xxx is the most speaker like involving phones I've ever heard." A good board would crack down on the spam.

Uh...yeah...whatever.

Forgetting for a moment whether there's any merit to that last paragraph (I say there is not), what exactly does this have to do with the subject of the thread?

 

[bahringe]

That's just not right.

 

[splaz]

It's all been great for me so far. My only selling experience went smooth as can be. I've had people buy me stuff, add to orders, send a spare part etc. and I'm very thankful of the what people will do for a fellow member and make sure to thank them many times.

So because of that I try and spread the genorisity, like the KSC-75s I sold still in the box at break-even price, that price is 1/3rd of what they retail for here. Sent some spare caps to another member free of charge, probably going to be sending another spare part that a few distributors have run out of free to someone as well.

 

[TVaudio]

I have been fortunate in all my dealings, not just here, but in other forums as well. I cannot believe the generosity of people worldwide through the internet. In a vehicle forum I am in, I was having problems that required a special piece
of equipment. A guy from Texas sent me a PM and said he had this and would be willing to send it to me to use. His only request is that I paid shipping both ways and $25 for the use to help offset the cost of this unit. The thing cost over $400 U.S. and he didn't know me from a hole in the ground.
Needless to say I took him up on his offer and returned it ASAP and paid for it even faster.
I hope a few bad apples don't ruin a great thing for so many, but would understand if you were a little gun shy from now on. Hopefully these people will come to their senses and redeem themselves.

Rick

 

[grawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom /img/forum/go_quote.gif Uh...yeah...whatever. Forgetting for a moment whether there's any merit to that last paragraph (I say there is not), what exactly does this have to do with the subject of the thread?

The subject of the thread is how times are changing at head-fi, and few will argue that it hasn't gotten more commercial, and also that there's a much higher number of people posting reviews for gain rather than to inform. At least that's my observation.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif The subject of the thread is how times are changing at head-fi, and few will argue that it hasn't gotten more commercial, and also that there's a much higher number of people posting reviews for gain rather than to inform. At least that's my observation.

i wanna know who these shills are. at least post something like "hi, i was paid/given free junk to praise this can, so here goes!" bah, honestly. let's see, from the first (ANT Amber loan) to the last (current PK1/2 loan), i've always been a straight shooter and returned the stuff after. anything else is unfair to the buyers but also to the manufacturers - they would then have to try to live up to unrealistic hype, and also take a reputational hit. no one benefits from that kinda behavior, hopefully folks will realize that.

so yeah - who are these guys?

 

[grawk]

I'm not going to name names, because it's been done before, but there are both high post count members with obvious relationships with distributors and manufacturers and new members who join just to review the latest unknown amp. I'm certainly not accusing you of anything, jahn.

 

[elrod-tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif The subject of the thread is how times are changing at head-fi, and few will argue that it hasn't gotten more commercial, and also that there's a much higher number of people posting reviews for gain rather than to inform. At least that's my observation.

If what you mean by "posting reviews for gain" is that people are posting what amount to paid reviews (which the quoted poster states), then it's a bit of a mystery to me how you or he would know that. You might have an OPINION that this MIGHT be happening in some cases, and though I can't say that we've never had anyone shilling at this site, I feel like most of the reviews that get posted are by folks who are genuinely pleased with their experience and wish to post about it.

So if you think otherwise, I guess we will have to agree to disagree about that. That's a bit conspiratorial for me, but there's certainly a lot of conspiracy theory floating around on the internet. I suppose that if one looked hard enough, one could find some fringe site with a couple dozen core members who spend much of their time formulating conspiracy theories about certain manufacturers...but who would want to hang out at a place like that?

At any rate, WRT to the quoted portion of my post: The point I was making is that the OP posted that time was that he had no thoughts about sending tubes to a member to evaluate. Apparently he's been burned by this lately, and started the thread to express his frustration at that. Others chimed in with similar stories (including one of our moderators), and the thread pretty much followed that theme until that post. What this line of discussion has to do with paid reviews (the quoted posters words, paraphrased) or with this site being "more commercial" (your words) is a bit lost on me, and as such is off topic.