Legal fund for Reviewers/Erin?

[Palladium]

Fine. Yet, what kind of "art" is that ?
View attachment 362110

Reminds me this...

There's a zillion tweeters in case you need a homing beacon for bats.

 

[amirm]

Continued progress.... wanted to share this one line from Erin's email:

"Thank you again for your support. Both of you. And, Amir, please express my sincere gratitude to your audience."

 

[dtaylo1066]

Indeed. We live in a world where arrogant, aggressive and bullying behaviours are usually seen as confident and strong. To make the matter worse, subjectivists will see this as Tekton stands up to objective non sense.

Sigh. Which is why we need to support Erin

I doubt that. I think you play the subjective vs objective card and division too strongly.

Few if any audio companies have aggressively gone after reviewers over the years. Most cannot afford anything but a bluff in a letter. PS Audio does not do any better because of ASRs mostly negative reviews. Like any brand they have their loyalists and they get some good reviews in other arenas, and merchandise those.

Schiit has paid some attention to ASR reviews and consequently has improved some of their products, and they seem to be doing fine without being antagonistic.

And even PS Audio's speaker designer has been active of late on this forum.

Tekton has taken the rare aggressive move to try and muzzle a reviewer. It will only be to their detriment in the long run. And I doubt they are a very large or profitable company to begin with.

 

[TemploAztlan]

Having been on the receiving end of a $25 million defamation suit, I can offer the following to Erin. First, your homeowner's insurance includes liability coverage and it's likely your insurance company will assign an attorney to your case. However, if you were operating your review site as an income-generating business, then your insurance may not cover you.

Second, what damages is the guy claiming? He's going to have to prove his financial loss in court. When my case went to 'discovery', and the plaintiff was ordered to open his business's books to show how this email I sent caused him to lose $25 million, he suddenly decided to settle the case for $0.00 and a heartfelt non-apology from me.

Third, you will be overwhelmed and heartened by the support you receive from the community.

 

[CedarX]

Having been on the receiving end of a $25 million defamation suit, I can offer the following to Erin. First, your homeowner's insurance includes liability coverage and it's likely your insurance company will assign an attorney to your case. However, if you were operating your review site as an income-generating business, then your insurance may not cover you.

Second, what damages is the guy claiming? He's going to have to prove his financial loss in court. When my case went to 'discovery', and the plaintiff was ordered to open his business's books to show how this email I sent caused him to lose $25 million, he suddenly decided to settle the case for $0.00 and a heartfelt non-apology from me.

Third, you will be overwhelmed and heartened by the support you receive from the community.

Would pulling the said speakers out of its store count as a proof of financial loss?
If Tekton “missed” the sale of 2 or 3 pairs of speakers and can assign it to Erin’s review, that’s still a lot of money Erin could be liable for (I assume…).
Now, nobody forced Tekton to stop selling these speakers. I don’t think the review uncovered any danger or health risk for the users, so Tekton cannot invoke a precautionary action in pulling the speakers out of their lineup.

 

[HorizonsEdge]

I made it to page 5 so if I an posting something already said, apologies.

After talking to my sister the lawyer I have her feedback:
1. This was inevitable
2. It is common practice (e.g. restaurant's sue over bad reviews on seamless)
3. Find an industry advocacy group ( do they even exist) and see if they would take the case?
4. Barring that, seek out a free speech advocacy group and see if they will take the case?

 

[CleanSound]

I made it to page 5 so if I an posting something already said, apologies.

After talking to my sister the lawyer I have her feedback:
1. This was inevitable
2. It is common practice (e.g. restaurant's sue over bad reviews on seamless)
3. Find an industry advocacy group ( do they even exist) and see if they would take the case?
4. Barring that, seek out a free speech advocacy group and see if they will take the case?

Amir pledge $10k of his own money to support Erin's legal defense before two very generous ASR members, practicing attorney, offered their service to Erin in which Amir brokered the conversation. Erin sends his deepest gratitude to the ASR community.

Should legal fund be needed, I presume a GoFundMe will be started. If so, my wallet is eagerly waiting to join the fight against bullying con-artists and for consumer rights and for the name of science and data.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'd be happy to throw a few bucks at a GoFundMe if it's needed.

Not that I have a lot to add after 28 pages, but:

1) This is a great example of how not to market your brand. Not that I was in the market for Tekton stuff to begin with, but they've foreclosed any possibility of my buying their speakers, ever, no matter how good a review they get from Erin or anyone else. They could put out an LS60-killer for $800 and I wouldn't touch it.

Look at Ascend by contrast. They got a less-than-glowing review from a NFS-wielding reviewer, bought an NFS, and are now getting recognition for making some of the most technically accomplished speakers on the market, especially for the money.

Which of these two companies deserves our money, let alone the dozens of others that don't threaten people?

2) Who drills holes all the way through the MDF? Makes me think they must get the panels from the cheapest CNC service around, or they lack common sense, or both.

3) Not that they are terribly likely to pick it up, but Tekton's legal threat should become actual news in the tech / audio blog universe, not just in a dramatic forum thread or two. Engadget, Ars Technica or Gizmodo might even pick it up, although it's a long shot. This is bad behavior and it deserves to get a lot of attention. Apparently the owner is known as a big A-hole already, let's show him that there are consequences for that.

4 I hope Erin lives in an Anti-SLAPP state.

 

[kemmler3D]

Likely it’s merely bluster from that party, and a storm in a teacup.

Indeed, if I got such a spurious letter, I would turn into a know-it-all and tell them to get stuffed, opinion isn't subject to libel / defamation anyway, etc. But I tend to get more indignant than might be called for in situations like this.

I had some idiot neighbor of mine threaten to sue me. He did this by leaving a packet of printed out emails between himself and attorneys, at my door. I immediately noticed that all of the email threads ended as soon as the attorneys mentioned their fees. So I ignored it entirely.

Moral of the story: Idiot bullies are typically bluffing.

 

[Jim Taylor]

I hope Erin lives in an Anti-SLAPP state.

Why was the Sills lawsuit filed in Alabama? – Baptist News Global

Why was this suit filed in Alabama, when none of the major parties reside there and none of the alleged misdeeds happened there?

baptistnews.com

Erin lives in Alabama. Please note the second paragraph.

Jim

 

[CleanSound]

Look at Ascend by contrast. They got a less-than-glowing review from a NFS-wielding reviewer, bought an NFS, and are now getting recognition for making some of the most technically accomplished speakers on the market, especially for the money.

Dave is the man (I want to tag him, but don't want to drag him into this thread). I am a proud owner of a pair of Ascend Acoustics LX and will be looking to upgrade to the ELX later this year or early next. Dave is the PERFECT example of how to act, carry yourself and run a successful business. Any Ascend's customers will tell you how amazing it is to work with Dave and his impeccable, storied company. Eric Alexander has a lot to learn from someone like Dave.

 

[kemmler3D]

Why was the Sills lawsuit filed in Alabama? – Baptist News Global

Why was this suit filed in Alabama, when none of the major parties reside there and none of the alleged misdeeds happened there?

baptistnews.com

Erin lives in Alabama. Please note the second paragraph.

Jim

Too bad... I wonder if Mr. Tekton knew that and was emboldened by it.

 

[doug s.]

While agree with you on logic, a person who buys a cable for hundreds of dollars believing that it will increase soundstage don't go by logic.

i spent a couple hundred dollars on a pair of interconnects once - it was an 8m run from my preamp in the corner of my large room to the active x-over serving the amps, which are set up between the speakers. i believe in quality wire, but only up to a point. i usually buy used, or from hobbyists who roll their own from pure silver or copper, w/decent connectors, and sell them on ebay. i do think decent wire is better than lamp cord, but maybe it's not?

regarding people who spend hundreds (or thousands) on wire, i think they mostly do it so they can brag about how much it cost. these folks wouldn't care less about tekton one way or the other, for the most part. i think most folk, regardless of whether or not they're into "woo-woo", don't like people who act like... well, i don't want to get banned...

doug s.

 

[CleanSound]

i do think decent wire is better than lamp cord, but maybe it's not?

So long you don't claim that your wife/partner can hear the difference from the kitchen, then I'm good.

 

[Bruce Morgen]

i do think decent wire is better than lamp cord, but maybe it's not?

Electrically it's not, but durability and appearance are factors for some of us. More here: Speaker Wire

 

[Ron Texas]

Continued progress.... wanted to share this one line from Erin's email:

"Thank you again for your support. Both of you. And, Amir, please express my sincere gratitude to your audience."

I've been meaning to upgrade to forum donor for a while, but your support for Erin and free speech pushed me across the line this evening. Perhaps some other members will get the same idea.

 

[Ron Texas]

So long you don't claim that your wife/partner can hear the difference from the kitchen, then I'm good.

The kitchen is 2 floors away and on the other end of the house at my place. Nobody can hear what's playing in my listening room.

 

[AdamG]

So long you don't claim that your wife/partner can hear the difference from the kitchen, then I'm good.

But if I can smell her cooking from the other room. Clearly she can hear the difference between cable lifters or no cables at all? Like she can tell when my Subs are on from the garden in the front yard. Apparently she has the hearing of a Hawkdolphin. I will admit maybe, she can sense the widows rattling? What was the subject again?

 

[coonmanx]

Sorry, I didn't want to have to go through all 28 pages... But has anyone posted this yet? I was just on the Tekton page and saw it...

 

[Katzz]

Sorry, I didn't want to have to go through all 28 pages... But has anyone posted this yet? I was just on the Tekton page and saw it...
View attachment 362172

Yes, it has been posted before and there still some speculation on what the exact purpose of pulling both models from his page, the most popular theory is that he want to claim monetary losses in a future legal action, though I dont understand how he would be able to claim that with this self made action
Just a recomendations but it would be probably helpful to include in the main post some of the things that Eric had said/done in relation to the reviews, so people understand more about his behavior without needing to search from dozens of comments pages unless they want to confirm or search for more context