Just before Steve made his first post on the first thread, I asked him if he was familiar with the 3 stages of acceptance. He said no, so I told him he was about to experience a head jarring roller coaster ride.
When a new and radical concept is introduced into a group of similarly-interested individuals of varying experience and understanding there is a predictable pattern of response to the new concept:
Stage 1) full frontal assault
Stage 2) Ridicule
Stage 3) Acceptance of the concept as a well-known and longstanding fact
When the only criticism that can be mustered comes from the uninformed, that criticism is dead on arrival. The disturbing outbursts we just experienced are the death rattle of Stages 1 and 2.
Greg, you didn’t deserve this. You are the better man because you spoke truth from experience. Those of us who create change and report change live the 3 stages. Forgive the full-frontal assault. Forgive the ridicule. This won’t be the last time this happens. Enjoy it. It means you’re doing your job. We need you!
Joe
Hello Joe,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and support on this matter. I’m well aware that reporting from the trenches leaves me open to challenges. That I don’t mind. Legitimate questions or concerns about my findings or methods do not bother me. Everyone, no matter how careful or well-intentioned, can make mistakes, myself included!
What annoyed me here was a Forum Member, who clearly had zero personal experience with either systems of the caliber I was writing about or the products in question, made sweeping uninformed and, from my perspective, embarrassingly foolish statements.
My first reaction was to take the time to address the flaws in his first assertion (that a very expensive speaker would “obviously” make more difference than any silly footers) and elucidate why this was a mistaken assumption.
This same member responded with no concern for any of the information offered, either in both of the original reviews or the reasoned and enhanced response I had just offered. For the record here, one member called me directly after that response to say that I had perfectly “nailed” that explanation.
I’m sorry, but when someone’s response does not address the content under discussion and they deliberately skirt the legitimate issues by trying to shift the focus off the facts using poorly constructed, utterly irrelevant diversions (like saying that because I had just taken possession of a Von Schweikert Audio speaker for review, that the opinions of that company’s chief designer on the performance of these footers was somehow invalid), I decided to take each false statement (like that I never removed the footers), foolish assertion (that my ancillary equipment had any bearing on the results – I had to explain how an experiment works, that changing only one item at a time, regardless of all the others in play, is a standard testing protocol), and uninformed statement (that the addition of a $300,000 speaker clearly trumps the contributions of these footers), apart…in detail.
My response, which included calling a spade a spade – i.e., pointing out that this member (and another member with no experience with the products under discussion who just deiced to pile on) either clearly can’t read, can’t comprehend what he reads, or is just responding to show how smart he (thinks he) is or cause trouble. I proceeded to controvert each false assumption, assertion, and claim that he’d made. And, given his arrogance in ignoring the facts combined with his unwarranted self-righteous tone, suggesting that my statements were all just so much hyperbolic bull, I drove each point home. I further punctuated that response by saying that if members could post such irresponsible, uninformed, and clearly irrelevant crap, with no one calling them on it, that perhaps this platform might not be the right place for me to expend my considered efforts.
Well, by defending myself as vehemently as this poser had launched into me, suddenly I’d become the attacker. So be it. It wasn’t long into the day yesterday before I stated getting independent communications from other colleagues and friends who are also forum members that these two members (and a few others, whose screen names were shared with me) are well-known for such vacuous, uninformed, and off-topic responses. It seems that most of the forum users are used to this type of response from these members. I wasn't.
I will only add this. IF I do decide to frequent this forum moving forward, I will continue to call bullshit whenever and where ever it comes up. And, armed this new perspective, knowing that this is just how it may be here, I may also simply chose to ignore such empty and invalid responses. Thanks for the outpouring of support from all my industry friends and colleagues who took the time to reach out to me and both thank me for calling it as it is, and for my willingness to engage in such platforms.