[Histonet] Vendors Strong ArmTactics

[Amos Brooks]

Hi,
     This sadly is NOT an unusual situation. You'll notice if you have ever
asked a question here that you will get a lot of private messages sent
directly to you not to the list in general. This is usually because they
have been threatened in one way or another by a company over an opinion they
have shared.
     This happened to me before too. A vendor that will remain nameless
(that almost everyone has some equipment sold to them by these people) took
issue with my stating that we were having trouble with an expensive item
they sold us when someone asked about this item on the Histonet.
     Needless to say, I to this day do not hold the company involved in that
situation in high regaurd (or any similar situation for that matter). I
think the gentleman that said this provides an opportunity to solve a
problem is certainly on the right track here. Rather than fixing a finishing
problem with a sledge hammer, it would be better to actually deal with the
problems that the user is experiencing than to try to silence them with
their wretched villanous legal department. (Cease & Decist my a$$)
     For my part I answer questions either privately or ambiguously for
purely self defensive reasons. I know that devalues this forum because we
are self censoring and serving the lowest common denominator but situations
like Joe's are evidence that it is just too dangerous not to be looking over
our shoulder for big brother. Unfortunately some Vendors are being more of a
problem than a solution. Most alarmingly it appears that the larger the
company the larger the problem!

Trust no-one,
Amos

BTW: You'll also notice I don't add where I work either. The above reasons
are why. Not that it would be impossible to figure out where I work but I'm
at least going to make someone have to do some homework to figure it out.