I seem to have run afoul of some sort of politics on Audiogon

Atmasphere

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I don't sell anything on the site- I just read and post. I try to help out where I can. I have a lot of trouble shooting experience since I put myself through engineering school by servicing consumer electronics, and have continued right to present day.

Recently a customer posted a thread about updates we do but he was really just commenting about how he liked our service. A number of people chimed in but one individual trolled the thread and accused me of exactly that on a different thread. I maintain that such isn't the case.

Regardless the thread suddenly went missing. I contacted the moderation about why and got ghosted.

Then I discovered a manufacturer essentially hawking his wares on a different thread. That's supposed to be against the rules over there but apparently he can do it but I cannot. I'm sure a number of people think that I've done exactly that but I've made a point to make no qualitative comments about our gear (for example, I don't say things like 'its the best' or any such nonsense) and only offer information about point of fact like 'its got tubes in it' or 'its balanced' stuff like that. Usually that is in the context of someone asking- under such circumstances I've seen that as fair and until now not seen any of my posts deleted on that account.

But on this post which I reported I've heard nothing back - again I'm being ghosted. I've been on that site since its inception over 20 years ago. I've tried to stay in good standing (I was invited to be one of the 'insiders' at no charge) and sometimes I've been flamed but I've not been burned (usually others come to my defense) as I like to stay away from innuendo and just deal with facts and avoid things about which I feel I might be unqualified. This has worked pretty well - up until now.

Whatever the politics can't be discerned as I'm being ghosted. But at this point it is clear that its real- I'm not making any of this up. So it would appear that its a waste of time to be over there any longer.
 
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BruceD

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Don't despair Ralph your posts alway incite helpfulness and sensitive to the questions being asked , a pleasant change from some of the dealer
discourse that is allowed to slip through the net on some Forums. The Gon has had it's moments from the secret society days of Arnie to the
present sometimes strange decisions still be made at admin level. Maybe if Bill Leebens was still there things may have been more accessible to discussions/etc.

Inspite of all though it is still a force on the WW Audio Market scale
and one just must take the good with the bad if its conditions of service are to be
adhered too. Bounce the line and rue the consequences. I've sold and posted also nere on twenty years --mostly good some OK and the odd
flamin' nuisance:mad:

Did you contact Tammy?--she always answers promptly and courteously

Good luck and keep up the positive posting--kudos,

BruceD
 

Lagonda

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Sorry to hear that, you are normally very informative and not pushing your
products, here or there. Yes Audiogon has become a strange place, with a lot
of other people always selling something, one more Tekton tread and i will
kill myselfo_O
 
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LL21

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Frankly, if that is what happened...that sounds like extremely poor monitoring of the situation by the website monitors.

In my experience, Atmasphere, you have been one of the singularly most valued and educated contributors to forums. I always read your posts at least 3 times to try to absorb and remember what you say. And never did i sense you were selling anything.

I am sorry you've had such a bad experience there...i have to say after the changes to that site many years ago, i stopped going and have not posted there in years...so many years ago i cannot remember.

The silver lining (for us) is perhaps that means you will spend even more time posting here...welcome!
 
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Ron Resnick

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Obviously I am completely biased. Very occasionally I post on Audiogon to make a simple point. I find the quality of the discourse there far below what we enjoy here.

It is crystal clear that you always do your very best to take questions seriously and to educate people about tubes and circuits. You generously perform a public educational service.

Ralph, you are a valuable and treasured resource. We are grateful that a manufacturer like you whose products we love and respect participates here.

Feel free to vent here as much as you’d like!
 
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JackD201

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You are appreciated a lot here Ralph
 
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Bodhi

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This account doesn't surprise me. Audiogon has become a very hierarchical structure founded on greed. Since the site was sold, it has gone down hill fast, becoming corrupt and hypocritical. The owners/mods allow blatant shilling from fake accounts linked to manufacturers. They are also seen to defend shills by routinely deleting any dissenting posts from members, and banning members who complain too much. In that environment, trolling has become rife and many threads have become farcical. Members are merely a means to an end now. And even long-standing members like yourself are being banned for life for dissenting against their double standards. They do that so routinely now it's like going to the kitchen to make a coffee. It's a sad, pathetic website..
 
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Atmasphere

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^^Just to be clear, I've not been banned. But its obvious that there is a bias with regards to moderation.

@BruceD Other than through the reporting function, I don't have a contact for Tammy. If you do, could you PM me with it? I feel like I should at least make an honest try to get this resolved.
 

Bodhi

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I can name one long-running thread on Audiogon posted by a notorious shill that has had hundreds of posts voluntarily deleted by members as a protest against the blatant shilling in the thread, inclusive of the entire posting history (in that thread) of several members...all to no avail. The mods defend shilling threads/posts with absolutely unmoveable resolve. I mean we're talking about a website whose moderators selectively enfoce their own TOS, routinely wipe posts and entire threads with no recourse, and attempt to aggressively push members into paid subscriptions. The level of manipulation is unbelieveable. And yet the sheeple on that site either don't care or are too lazy to even read their TOS. All I can say is, thank God that WBF exists! We're lucky to have a forum for open and intelligent discussion which is a breath of fresh air and an oasis.
 
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bonzo75

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BruceD

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^^Just to be clear, I've not been banned. But its obvious that there is a bias with regards to moderation.

@BruceD Other than through the reporting function, I don't have a contact for Tammy. If you do, could you PM me with it? I feel like I should at least make an honest try to get this resolved.

support@audiogon.zendesk.com

Attn: Tammy---she always has replied and helped me-- with your standing you would get the Goldstar treatment --hopefully:p!

Good luck

BruceD
 

BruceD

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Sheesh Bodhi--tell us how you really feel:mad:--but Its all we have for the Hi End product sales--sorry matey but I'd tone down the rhetoric a tad
--we are after all a tempered forum with more decorum than some others;)!

BruceD
 
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Bodhi

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Sheesh Bodhi--tell us how you really feel:mad:--but Its all we have for the Hi End product sales--sorry matey but I'd tone down the rhetoric a tad
--we are after all a tempered forum with more decorum than some others;)!

BruceD
I tell it like it is brother.
 

christoph

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tima

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Sheesh Bodhi--tell us how you really feel:mad:--but Its all we have for the Hi End product sales--sorry matey but I'd tone down the rhetoric a tad
--we are after all a tempered forum with more decorum than some others;)!

BruceD

That's one heckuvan avatar, Bruce. Olga Korbut plays a record.
 

Bodhi

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If you are not over stepping the mark--Fair enough

---but I'm not ya brother:cool:

BD
Well I described gross examples of breaches of Audiogon's forum rules with the full knowledge and consent of the admins - and I can back up those claims 100%. So you tell me if you think i'm over-stepping the mark?
 
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