AudioBanter.com - View Single Post

(Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:znr1067558893k@trad...
This is a real zoo. I know Scott, but who are all these other people?
And has anyone else seen a Sebatron preamp? I like to read about
products I can (and might) buy, or products that are available to
people who have a whole lot more money that I do, or products that are
used by people in other areas of audio in which I don't participate.

But this is beginning to sound like a review of policies, not a review
or even informal comments about a preamp.

I don't read the recording.org forum, but if reviews are a feature,
either they should be understood as a free-for-all, or there should be
some dialog and fact-checking between the reviewer and the
manufacturer before anything is published as a revirew. Everything
that Scott, Dave, Paul, I, and others have reviewed for Recording has
been sent to the manufacturer for fact-checking, responses, and
perhaps information about updates before it goes to press. If
recording.org is going to play the role of a publisher, then they
should treat their reviews (and reviewers) as other publishers would
treat them. And if it's going to be an open forum, then there
shouldn't be any censorship. I'm sure the manufacturer's comments are
as welcome as the reviewer's.

Mike,
I agree 100% and we do just that. As a Matter of fact, this is one of
the problems (among others) I had with Luke posting Scott's
"comments". It appeared without Sebatron ever seeing it, or having an
opportunity to reply to any criticism. This was not Scott's doing
however and I freely admit that. But back to the question you raised.
Every review I have ever published is seen and approved by the
manufacturers prior to publication, sometimes several exchanges are
gone through until they are satisfied and they are given the chance to
address any critiques. Every manufacturer I have ever had dealings
with through RO, has expressed great satisfaction with the outcome of
the review.

As far as censorship on an "open forum", the only people who have any
complaint regarding this issue are those who wish to attack others
with personal comments instead of addressing the issues, or as in the
case with Luke's post, a posting of a "Review" (which he clearly
stated it was) on the bulletin board, instead of in the E Mag where we
publish all our reviews. Luke's attempt was nothing more than an
attempted end rub around the editorial process and the result was that
it was deleted. We really do not want to control thought at RO but we
do have a lot of young impressionable people come by and we have many
members who tell us "Hey, I have this up on the computer when my kids
are here". So we strongly discourage the use of profanity, unlike
other "pro" forums. As long as someone stays on topic, doesn't go off
on a personal attack like

...... "Don't forget, assh#le, that you're the one who
started this. I never said a fuc%ing word in public about what a
sanctimonious sh*theel you are ...."

Three guesses as to where that stream of vileness came from.. (btw, I
edited that because I would have been ashamed to post it, as it was
sent to me.)

But really, I don't know where this concept of "free speech" on a
privately owned and funded bulletin board comes from. No one pays any
user fees at RO. No one contributes a dime to the operation of it. I
know, there were a couple times we needed some cash to pay for server
upgrades and we put out the call for donations. We also asked people
to support RO and buy some merchandise from the "store". I have to
say the results were disappointing. When flames erupt, our traffic
slows down. We attempted to try to control this with all other methods
which proved unsuccessful. We then decided to try something new and we
started deleting the personal attacks. When the poster came back and
cried. "mommieee, they deleted my post!", we delete that too. Traffic
is way up now, so I guess aside from the complaints of a few of the
people here (who incidentally are some of the major offenders), things
run pretty smoothly at RO. I don't apologize for this. If people want
to come to RO and speak their minds, that fine and it will stand. If
all they want to do is raise discourse and make personal attacks
against members or moderators, then it gets deleted..