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Speaker Company Employees on Forums secretly???

8K views 129 replies 44 participants last post by  David Bott 
#1 ·
I'm on several forums and I have noticed a trend lately. I'm seeing people go onto forums and "pump" up certain products only to later find out that the person is actually an employee of said speaker company. I'm wondering if this is new? Has anyone else seen this?


It's been going on over at www.blu-ray.com (where I got banned for calling a guy out I might add). He was acting like he was an end user and then we discover he actually works for the speaker company in question...but was hiding it. He is still not coming clean completely, but now that he's been caught he's acknowledged his involvement with them at least.


Is this an isolated incident or an old practice of online retailers as a marketing strategy? It really pisses me off to say the least.
 
#3 ·
Like a paid employee you mean?
 
#5 ·
I went through a looked at some of AVS's rules and never noticed any rules that state if your an employee of a company you have to identify your self as such.


Pure Evil found the thread you were talking about. It doesn't surprise me at all, that isn't a very honest company. So I wouldn't put it past them to do such a thing. And the person in question is in fact an _____employee, his picture is posted on _____ website and he spent the entire week at the Salon Image show working the _____ room. Has an _____ email account and works the ____ phones and forum.
 
#6 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 /forum/post/0


I went through a looked at some of AVS's rules and never noticed any rules that state if your an employee of a company you have to identify your self as such.


Pure Evil found the thread you were talking about. It doesn't surprise me at all, that isn't a very honest company. So I wouldn't put it past them to do such a thing.

A link would be nice. I haven't spent much time on that forum since I went to HTPC a year ago
 
#7 ·
Speaking as a mod elsewhere I don't know if I would:


1. Suspend a member for ferreting out a company shill posting

2. Allow the company shill to actually stay around


SVS and Audioholics had a major row years ago due to this very thing. If you can't be above board about this stuff then you don't need to still be at a forum once you have been smoked out.


If you want an example of true class: When John 'Zaph' Krutke brought out his own transducer he stopped publishing any speaker measurements where the measurements were poor.


I read through the thread and couldn't find anything where I would suspend Pure-Evil. I banned two people over at AH for guerrilla marketing some speakers one in the guise of 'enthusiastic' owner. It even got to the point of them talking about BOGO offers on product and pre-sales discount.
 
#8 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by gtpsuper24 /forum/post/21864802


I went through a looked at some of AVS's rules and never noticed any rules that state if your an employee of a company you have to identify your self as such.


Pure Evil found the thread you were talking about. It doesn't surprise me at all, that isn't a very honest company. So I wouldn't put it past them to do such a thing. And the person in question is in fact an Axiom employee, his picture is posted on Axiom website and he spent the entire week at the Salon Image show working the Axiom room. Has an Axiom email account and works the Axiom phones and forum.

which speaker company would do such a thing
 
#11 ·
The fact is most all of the company reps that used to post here frequently years ago got frustrated and fed up with the abuse.


There are still some around but very few.


As far as worrying about shills on AVS people should think more about how industry experts and professionals are treated here and the fact that too often some anonymous member's opinion is given far too much weight.
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jinjuku /forum/post/21864827


Speaking as a mod elsewhere I don't know if I would:


1. Suspend a member for ferreting out a company shill posting

2. Allow the company shill to actually stay around


SVS and Audioholics had a major row years ago due to this very thing. If you can't be above board about this stuff then you don't need to still be at a forum once you have been smoked out.


If you want an example of true class: When John 'Zaph' Krutke brought out his own transducer he stopped publishing any speaker measurements where the measurements were poor.


I read through the thread and couldn't find anything where I would suspend Pure-Evil. I banned two people over at AH for guerrilla marketing some speakers one in the guise of 'enthusiastic' owner. It even got to the point of them talking about BOGO offers on product and pre-sales discount.

They deleted my post..but basically I called him out and called for his banning immediately. The response there was to ban ME for 6 months...nice eh?


He also claims to be an "audio expert" whatever that means...so I asked for his credentials...which of course I never got. It's not just him though...it seems to be that company as a general rule...but there's others as well.


I didn't want to name the company specifically for fear of being banned here. I don't want that...I love this forum and I want to stay on as a member.
 
#14 ·
I know two employees who work for Bose who were paid to not only cruise forums but to google 'bose' in search of threads to chime in on. This activity peaked about 4 years ago. They've cut way back because the anti-Bose sentiment is so overwhelming that pro Bose posts end up being counterproductive, with opponents outnumbering proponents by a wide margin.
 
#15 ·
Have to say I am not surprised. What is surprising is that the person states in the thread that he is not an employee and not on their payroll but they are a customer of his? In the meantime his picture is plastered all over "his customer's" website and he is wearing their company logo in most of them.


Really? Blu-ray.com should be ashamed of banning Pure-Evil for calling this out and letting this type of thing perpetuate. Especially when this "Audio Expert" states that his customers speakers are so superior to competitors..


This just comes across as very slimy...
 
#18 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethawk /forum/post/21865184


Since I'm considering a pair of bookshelf speakers from a three letter company, I'd appreciate a PM with a link or some clues. TIA.

Read post #8 more carefully (LOL).
 
#20 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by ack_bk /forum/post/21865165


Have to say I am not surprised. What is surprising is that the person states in the thread that he is not an employee and not on their payroll but they are a customer of his? In the meantime his picture is plastered all over "his customer's" website and he is wearing their company logo in most of them.


Really? Blu-ray.com should be ashamed of banning Pure-Evil for calling this out and letting this type of thing perpetuate. Especially when this "Audio Expert" states that his customers speakers are so superior to competitors..


This just comes across as very slimy...

I agree. If anyone knows a mod over there please feel free to let them know how you feel.
 
#23 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethawk /forum/post/0


OMG!! This takes snake oil to a new level! Please tell me there is no scientific justification for this! Subwoofer measuring tower .

Axiom measures from a 90ft pole, while the majority of the industry has settled on ground plane measurements using the CEA-2010 standard. It does give Axiom an excuse not to participate in subwoofer shootouts....
 
#25 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethawk /forum/post/21865287


OMG!! This takes snake oil to a new level! Please tell me there is no scientific justification for this! Subwoofer measuring tower .

That's actually a legit sub testing method but it's tricky because of background noise and wind skewing results. Most just do ground plane measurements close-mic'd.


I do think it's ludicrous that PE was banned for being what amounts to a whistle blower. Isn't this in the best interests of any science-based forum? I've seen a few occasions where someone was obviously a shill but it's always very tough to prove. For some reason the messenger gets killed.


Chris
 
#26 ·
I'm not a member @ bluray forum but I do agree if anyone here is a member there, that they should let the mod know how some people feel. Its not right for people to act like an owner of a product and willing to help, but in reality he works for them. I do believe that member still denys to be an employee, but the company is a client of his. If you call there he will answer the phone as I called and spoke to him once.

Didn't like him either as he came across as a typical salesperson who was just trying to sell his product. How do you say..full of s***...

I did talk to someone else there on a different occasion...Lets call him brent and he was much better to talk to and gave me honest answers and I definately felt more comfortable talking to him.
 
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