HTFocus Blog Writer Eats Circuit City Crow

[Wayde]

Break out a slice of that humble pie, I'm ready to take a bite. Last Friday I reported on a story about Circuit City forums being hacked. In that news item I made an offhand quote:

"It's a good excuse to have better taste in forums."

Comments by members of the Home Theater Shack suggested I was being an elitist snob. So, I created an account on that forum (GarbgeDog, named after my own dog who just loves the garbage) and put forth an argument.

My contention was that a forum hosted by a retail outlet cannot possibly give you what other forums can, namely an unbiased viewpoint. Part of me felt the Shack forum had the opinion of kids wearing MTV T-Shirts with AT&T baseball caps who were going to go home and watch Bowflex infomercials recorded on their PVR.

When advertising becomes a substitute for communication it erodes community.

I've also been aware of a movement where corporations use the web as a tool for organic outreach. Companies are trying to put on a human face with measures like the CEO blogging. Noted author, blogger and PR guru Seth Godin says when companies choose to "walk the talk" they better be ready to "talk the talk" too.

Certain that Circuit City was choosing to merely "walk the talk" through a moderated community I created an account to test it. Using my GarbageDog alias I dispensed morsels of advice to a (potential) Circuit City customer named Wes. I included a few telltale barbs at Circuit City without being nasty or crossing the flame line.

When Dave Romero, Circuit City forums Admin challenged some of my anti-big box assertions I thought, okay here we go. This is where I get banned and will write a blog post crooning about the Circuit City forum Gestapo ready to squelch the truth.

To my surprise the opposite was true. Dave and I exchanged a few PMs and he actually said he appreciates my opinions. While the CC forums don't exist to host pure anti-Circuit City posts from disgruntled customers (no forum wants flame baiting) he welcomed any opinion to the forum even if it's pro mom and pop shop and less big box. Dave's contention seemed to be that any criticism I cite toward the Circuit City customer experience lets them know how they can get better. It seems Dave sincerely wants to help people with questions (and surely CC sees it as win/win sales opportunity) about new Home Theater technologies.

So, I was wrong! Especially if I'm trolling the CC forums you're likely to get balanced opinions and there is no forum Gestapo ready to pounce on a post that doesn't use the correct corporate newspeak.

Link To Original Article

[toecheese]

I'm glad to hear of it, but in general, I shy away from 'reviews' on any corporate site. There have been proven allegations of reviews only showing postive ones for products, negative ones removed.

From personal experience, I've been told not to post certain things on forums I'm a member of because the sponsors read them and wouldn't want to think the forum was being used to push a competitor's product. Actually, it really yanked-my-chain (was: slashes me off)- gave a glowing review of a product and got blasted by the site owner not because I gave a negative review of a sponsor product, but because I even mentioned a product that could compete with a sponsor's product.

In a way, I'm a little worried about these forums for the same reason- I see advertising on this site...

[Sonnie]

I know exactly what you are talking about and there are no worries here. Advertisers or not... we will have reviews... good and not so good.

We will not bash any manufacturer, but we will allow honest reviews. A review of a product might not be so great and you can write it up without bashing the manufacturer.

For the record... if an advertiser of ours asked that a fair and honest review be taken down because it gives compliments to a competitor... or if they ask that a fair and honest review of their product be taken down because it is not so favorable, then we really don't need that advertiser.

If the same person is constantly reviewing the same product from a manufacturer and it is consistently bad, while there are other quality reviews out there that are good, then I would be suspect of the former reviewer.

Also... reviews without proper testing tools may more subjective than anything else becuase it becomes a matter of opinion. Reviewer A may like the sound while reviewer B may not. Not everyone likes the same exact sound.

Finally, I don't see how you can expect to have a home theater forum and not have a wide range of reviews on various products from several different manufacturers.

[Tommy]

Bring on the reviews, I want to see them....

Now!