Why is it ethical to disclose price in a private business transaction?
Has the focus of the forum shifted? Is it the marketing, promotion and cheerleading arm of selected companies? Has advertising changed the landscape?
- Thread starter Elliot G.
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Why is it ethical to disclose price in a private business transaction?
I think that it is hard for even the good reviewers to highlight the negatives in a product review.
Magazines want to please advertisers, not be threatened by lawsuits over what could be considered one persons subjective opinion.
Editors will often sanitize reviews that are too critical.
I think that many reviewers will just turn down a review rather than print a negative review.
And no matter how bad a product is, there will always be some reviewers who will give it a rave review.
A friend who is a reviewer for an online publication wrote a complimentary review for a product that included some comparisons that put things in perspective. The comparisons were edited out for publication.
You just admitted the unspeakable. How dare you???!!!
The unspeakable should be disclosed.
Tom
I don't know what he wrote or why comparisons were edited out so hard to comment. Some publications can be heavy handed that way and others not. It depends on for whom he writes. If he is good he can switch to another publisher. I left my first publisher because he buffed up a conclusion to make it more complimentary. I'm quite happy to say Positive Feedback has never edited any of my submissions.
Dear Mr Kedar.
We are writing to inform you that your application to join the prestigious ‘Wise Men Of Audio’ Members Club has been reviewed and after due consideration declined , on this occasion .
We would like to draw your attention to the following disclaimer which was considered to be an impediment to your membership Viz,
“They each share an abiding humility as to all they don't know.”
Please consider this decision regarding your application to be full and final.
The Presiding Committee of The Wise Men Of Audio Members Club.
I am quite humble as I am much wiser than I claim to be, and know much more than I claim to know.
I don’t know if Andromeda audio speakers are any good, despite not being horns
Well soon find out
Most of the established brands will be there as well .
And the publisher gets money from manufacturers. Reviewers and influencers can get financial support from distributors to cover expenses associated to travel and stay to cover shows.
Surely reviewers are biased - IMO bias is part of this hobby and particularly of the high-end. All we can do it is learn to live with it and rationalizing it.
An audiophile without biases would be victim from the Buridan’s ass paradox - curiously I know a few that were victims of it!
IMO the main problem when debating reviewers and reviews is that readers expect too much from them. IMO, YMMV.
Well, I would immediately question why. And there would be a strong probability that the real reason would not be due exactly to the piece of gear being reviewed but due to a particular interaction with the system or room.
What can be really meant "weak point" in the high-end when addressing a particular piece of gear? Too large and heavy?
as i consider reviews and reviewers a few things come to mind regarding these unsaid things you refer to. and honestly it takes work and paying attention to lots of reviews to be able to get inside a review and discern missing elements.
if i've followed a reviewer and his reviews for 10 years, and know his system somewhat, and read other reviews he has done, then i can understand where he is coming from and maybe his system blind spots, or even how he might need to spin this or that point to fit into his narrative and perspective.
then i can take what is valuable from the review and leave certain questions unanswered. does the review lead me to have further interest to investigate this product. how does what he wrote fit into his previous perspectives? i agree that some seemingly obvious conclusions are omitted from reviews to make them tolerable to advertisers. maybe not from pressure from above, just common sense. so that can happen.
it comes down to what you expect from a review. not every reviewer has equal gravitas to just shoot from the hip. so i also consider that part. and some reviewers have pet peeves, or a bit of an agenda.
Bang on Mike. I happen to be an unabashed fan of Steve Guttenberg’s YouTube channel, and part of the reason is that I’ve watched dozens of his reviews since he launched the channel about seven(?) years ago. Without that, “reading between the lines” wouldn’t be possible, even though he always ends reviews with a “So, Steve, how do you REALLY feel about it” comment. He almost never does a negative review (if he doesn’t like it he doesn’t publish the review, but I assume he provides feedback to the manufacturer to help them make the product better).
But most importantly, he describes sound in a language that resonates with me. I GET what he’s saying. He listens to a lot of rock music and so do I, so when he describes what he’s hearing on an album, I understand where he’s coming from. On the other hand, there’s a long-time Stereophile reviewer who has carved out a niche by reviewing pricey amps who only listens to digital and who mostly listens to classical music. I have tried but can’t convince myself his reviews have any value to me. And that’s just fine.
and i view reviewers and reviews not that different from forum members and what they post. little happens in a vacuum. what is written is in the context of what has previously been written, and actions too, and to understand it requires some observation over time. then the pieces fit. and things written have more value and are more understandable and useful to me. i forgive omissions, and recognize deeper inferences.
I was having a bit of fun in what I wrote and therefore included a specific price, but it could be disclosed that the reviewer purchased the unit at a reduced price and the same point would have been made. While those in the know may think this obvious, it may not be for many who read the review and it could be a good general practice of transparency.
The transaction may be private, but it could also affect the review, even without the reviewer consciously knowing it.
I am not sure buying at accommodation pricing really is a genuine source of bias. I have relationships with dozens of reviewers and what I have seen is that most go to trade shows often and determine what they prefer sound wise and tend to review components they like. Accommodation pricing is available on most products and it’s generally 50% off retail. So there is arguably no inherent bias when a reviewer selects a product.
I am also highly skeptical that there is widespread paying of influencers to promote products. First, the media and forum landscape is so highly fragmented that a few individuals would not make a meaningful impact. Second, Hifi manufacturers just don’t have nuch money to make the payments. Most are just getting by lately, with a few exceptions.
I disagree. Anything about marketing that isn’t covered by the confidentiality laws and regulations of my profession is fair game. Any private marketing deal is suspicious.
It’s more a matter that the people doing the measuring aren’t very good at measuring audio equipment.
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