[rds]

I've been away from Head-fi for a few years now. Actually I stopped visiting the site not too long after the re-vamp, where the look of the site was changed slightly and a major focus was put on controlling the aftermarket sales of gear - in particular DIY equipment. This was not too long after the 2008 crash and I understand the motivation to keep the commercial interests happy and maximize profits, however I felt that the spirit of the community (in particular the DIY community) was negatively affected. I see that the current rules state that DIY equipment must be sold at parts cost (ie scrap value) rather than market value - which is a case specifically applied to such equipment and nothing else. I guess this policy has dried up the market for DIY equipment, leaving only the option to buy black box commercial products, which is to me really unfortunate.
 
All that said I'm wondering how people feel about the current state of Head-Fi, and in particular the state of the DIY community. I look forward to hearing your comments.

 

[Tsujigiri]

Huh, I hadn't heard of that policy. It doesn't make much sense to me. Does that mean that the Mad Dogs have to be discounted heavily to be sold on this site?

 

[rds]

It makes if you think of the financial incentives. DIY amp sales take away sales from commercial companies, those companies are then less interested to spend money to advertise on head-fi, the head-fi owners then make less profit.
Of course this is a very simple way to look at things. You always need to balance keeping the community happy with making money.