[size=xx-small] Quote:
Originally posted by Fixup
As the poster of the thread in concern, I respect the rules (as long as they are clear) and any decision made by head-fi staff and modulators.
I posted the pictures because I had seen similar posts, and I could not help myself of sharing the new amps I developed and love to see what people would say about them. I did not thought advertising (no need and no interest, really). If needed, I would have simply paid someone to post the pics for me. As you can see, I did not post any commercial words afterwards and kept my talk stricktly on technical issues. As already mentioned earlier, it is great to have a place for designers and users to talk. I liked very much the talk we had with Dan Wilson from Etymotic about a year ago, even though Dan and I had many differences. The fruit of that talk was the ER6.
Jude, I agree with you that this forum should still allow the talk between designers and users. However, the line between a product and a pre-product is hard to define. I never think my amp is really a commercial product but a fomat for a hobbiest to offer the best he or she could offer and to boost the technology. I have been and will be always improving it. Because my amp is a "product" and thus I can no longer talk about it technically, this will hurt your members and this forum. Looking at how many viewers the thread has got within just a month, you'll know how much people liked this type of discussion. Such attraction the thread has draw to this forum, is not what $$$ can do.
I fully understand your worries and your action. Even though I did not post any commercial content in that thread, it has gone so wild that some business people might go even far beyond. You ought to stop somewhere and my explosive thread ought to be the lucky one
If a thread did violate the rule of this forum, then it deserves being blocked. But, if it is blocked in fear of the unhappiness of the sponsors of this forum, then I'd say its not fair and don't worry. People come here to see what they want to see, not just what the sponsors want them to see. Is the most popular thread not the one people want to see? If people can no longer see what they want to, that's a real problem to a website or any type of media. I believe, if this forum has more threads like the one that get thousands times of viewing, people, including manufaturers, will be more willing to pay you to come here. |
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Fixup,
Your post post that opens
the thread in question was an ad, at least as I define it. See, even if you posted that as a DIY'er, it's still an ad because you simply posted photos of
something that you happen to sell (three words from your site to drive this point home....
"Add to Cart").
That is what makes that thread-opening post of yours an ad.
If someone built a version of your amp and posted a bunch of photos of it, and this person had absolutely no intention of selling that amp or versions of it for a profit, then that would be allowed.
Now, can you discuss the technical aspects of your products? Yes, absolutely -- if people ask you technical questions about your product, that would begin a technical discussion of your amp. Your thread was closed largely because of that opening post, and because we made a decision to crack down on commercial ad-type posts, because they're becoming more common, and we ended up banning someone for it after repeated warnings.
As far as engaging in technical discussions with the community, Joseph Lau does this all the time. Do you see me deleting posts by him? No. And guess what....Joseph Lau is
not a sponsor, and he has had fewer posts deleted/edited than either Jan or Tyll. And, as you pointed out, Don Wilson from Etymotic also participates in technical discussions here from time to time. I very much enjoy reading the exchanges I've read between Joseph Lau and the community (and also Don Wilson, Jan, Tyll, Chris Hoff of BPT, Alex Nikitin of Creek, etc.).
I know the similar post you were referring to in your post above was Jan's Pre-Head one. That thread has been locked, too. And I think that's an example that I didn't create Head-Fi with the purpose of appeasing sponsors. If sponsorship was my primary concern, we'd have a lot more sponsors than we have now, as
many companies have by now shown interest in sponsoring Head-Fi. And we're working on being able to accommodate more sponsors, but Neil and I just haven't had the time to finish the improved sponsor infrastructure. But, again, if, as you put it, my intention was to simply allow the members of Head-Fi to see "
just what the sponsors want them to see," why would there be a DIY forum here at all? I mean, isn't encouraging people people to build their own stuff maybe sort of what at least two of the three sponsors here (and certainly the biggest sponsor) would
not want?
C'mon, Fixup, you've been here since June 2001, the month Head-Fi was founded. Can you honestly say that these forums have been shaped according to the preferences of the sponsors? If so, explain the announcements on the front page that consist, in large part, of announcements by non-sponsors. If so, explain why the product reviews consist mostly of products of non-sponsors. Your suggestion isn't fair, as I see it, nor is it accurate.
Just ask the sponsors (well, at least Tyll and Jan, as FreeSystems doesn't post here) if they've ever had their posts edited or deleted by me (they have, and definitely more than once each). Again, Jan's Pre-Head thread was closed, too. And I do recall a fairly hot issue from earlier this year, or late last year (I can't remember when exactly), in which one of Jan's posts was deleted outright. Jan is a sponsor.