Legal fund for Reviewers/Erin?

[kemmler3D]

This just goes away, like most such threats. Can you imagine either side settling or going to trial? The appearance of an NDA (review taken down or changed to the positive) would arguably be more damaging to the company. Alternatively, how can they prove cause-effect damages? An increase in CPI or a bear market is likely to be more impactful. Plus, it will cost them a truck-load of DACs to prosecute (well, maybe a pallet).

However, having been a brick/mortar/online business owner in the past (with absolutely everything on the line) I can absolutely understand how emotions may compell a business owner to want to go for the throat.

Can confirm that it takes a lot of discipline to take negative reviews in stride. I give a lot of flack to the brands who threaten to sue, but when you get a bad review, and you're in a small business like that, it can feel as though you've been served an eviction notice from your life as you know it. You don't know how much that review is going to cost you in sales, but for a moment you feel like it might cost you all of them.

I know the feeling, it can seem a LOT worse on the other side.

That's really no excuse, you have to take a deep breath and be rational about it. What's really blameworthy is not being able to put the brakes on your irrational impulses even over the course of weeks or months.

What these folks should do is take the common advice: Write the angry email where you threaten to sue and burn their house down and all of that... then delete it and move on with your life.

 

[tmtomh]

Can confirm that it takes a lot of discipline to take negative reviews in stride. I give a lot of flack to the brands who threaten to sue, but when you get a bad review, and you're in a small business like that, it can feel as though you've been served an eviction notice from your life as you know it. You don't know how much that review is going to cost you in sales, but for a moment you feel like it might cost you all of them.

I know the feeling, it can seem a LOT worse on the other side.

That's really no excuse, you have to take a deep breath and be rational about it. What's really blameworthy is not being able to put the brakes on your irrational impulses even over the course of weeks or months.

What these folks should do is take the common advice: Write the angry email where you threaten to sue and burn their house down and all of that... then delete it and move on with your life.

I agree with your perspective here and with your advice in the final sentence - very wise!

Understanding that the awful feeling from a negative review can make one very emotional, there's still a difference between being in the heat of the moment and writing a scathing letter on the one hand... and writing a scathing letter that threatens a lawsuit on the other hand.

Again, I get it, heat of the moment means one is not thinking entirely clearly. But one is not entirely in one's lizard brain flight-or-fight mode either.

Finally, I think the challenge with someone like Eric Alexander of Tekton is akin to what I've been told by a couple of attorneys over the years: you don't really fear a smart, aggressive plaintiff or lawyer. They present a challenge, but they behave in predictable, professional ways. What you fear is the dumb or erratic plaintiff or lawyer, because they're going to act in unpredictable ways, including ways that are against their own interest but can also cause major, unforeseen headaches and problems for you in the meantime.

 

[Sal1950]

What these folks should do is take the common advice: Write the angry email where you threaten to sue and burn their house down and all of that... then delete it and move on with your life.

+ million LOL

Can confirm that it takes a lot of discipline to take negative reviews in stride.

Definitely I'm sure. It takes a lot of discipline to hold back from saying a few things here on occasion. LOL

The thing that bothered me the most was the shot at Erin for what was in general a very good review.. It actually showed me
he had more an agenda to pursue rather that just wanting to debate the details of a review with inaccurate/negative info posted. Things have been getting a little more than crazy in the "high end world", they appear to be getting a bit paranoid for some reason.

 

[kemmler3D]

you don't really fear a smart, aggressive plaintiff or lawyer. They present a challenge, but they behave in predictable, professional ways. What you fear is the dumb or erratic plaintiff or lawyer, because they're going to act in unpredictable ways, including ways that are against their own interest but can also cause major, unforeseen headaches and problems for you in the meantime.

There is an interesting parallel here between experienced poker players and newbies. It's kind of the same thing. They don't know what they're doing so you can't figure out what they're doing, either.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Sorry, I haven't read all 82 pages of this thread. I read about the original threat to Erin, but I would appreciate it if someone could provide just a capsule summary of how this situation ended.

My take is different than @tmtomh’s, but this may be because I mainly read Erin’s posted reviews (which let’s Tekton off easy imo). If you want to get a fuller picture, suggest you watch Erin’s youtube review. Would not waste any time chasing Tekton’s owner. He tried to bully his way around and the real measure is whether he stands behind his products. When it comes down to it, the reviewed speaker is no longer available. So if someone shops at Tekton’s site, they will not be able to find speakers with poor reviews and less likely they discover the owner’s toxicity.

 

[kemmler3D]

Things have been getting a little more than crazy in the "high end world", they appear to be getting a bit paranoid for some reason.

Weird, people are figuring out that $10K doesn't buy you 100x more performance than the $100 DAC?

This is off topic and I'll leave it at this:

What these brands CAN do, and SHOULD do IMO (if anyone is reading this thread looking for advice on product strategy) is lean on quality beyond sound quality. dCS for example could spin up a lower-tier line of DACs that's merely 10x instead of 100x the price of an equivalent SINAD Topping, and justify it with real things like build quality, reliability, warranty, domestic service, loaner units, etc.

It's much harder to quantify the value of those things, you can't dispute the value of those things easily, they can definitely deliver on them, and they're much harder for the low-cost brands to compete away.

A business built on subjective impressions that are actually imaginary is not exactly a rock solid business. But look at RME... their numbers are competitive but people will pay 5-10x for those units because of other tangibles and assurances they get. Not because of high SINAD or subjective listening impressions.

 

[antcollinet]

Definitely I'm sure. It takes a lot of discipline to hold back from saying a few things here on occasion. LOL

Then you say "fuckit" and post anyway.

 

[SIY]

It's impossible to prove a negative, but I wonder how many reviews and threads have never been written nor posted because the person who had previously been planning to do so decided that it's more trouble than it's worth. I.e., even a 0.000008% chance of legal threats has caused a drop off in challenging content.

Obviously no way to know, but I can assure you that the possibility of legal threats deters me not even a little bit from valid criticism, either on line or in my published reviews. I can't imagine that I'm the only audio writer/reviewer who feels this way.

 

[teched58]

Obviously no way to know, but I can assure you that the possibility of legal threats deters me not even a little bit from valid criticism, either on line or in my published reviews. I can't imagine that I'm the only audio writer/reviewer who feels this way.

I don't think anyone's thinking of suing audioXpress.

 

[Doodski]

Obviously no way to know, but I can assure you that the possibility of legal threats deters me not even a little bit from valid criticism, either on line or in my published reviews. I can't imagine that I'm the only audio writer/reviewer who feels this way.

Interesting note:
I was in court for a civil litigation with me as the person suing the defendant. Anyway... The judge needed expert opinion on some electrical and electronic theory so I asked if I may speak. The judge let me speak and I asked if I could be his expert. He asked how and why? I explained my education and experience and he was happy to let me provide electrical theory, safety procedure and advice for what happens when the ground on a 240VAC powered device is disconnected. He took my expert opinion and made a decision partially based on that and I won the case after a hour or so. So I can see you actually doing something similar because frankly you are one of the most knowledgeable people that I know.

 

[kemmler3D]

Obviously no way to know, but I can assure you that the possibility of legal threats deters me not even a little bit from valid criticism, either on line or in my published reviews. I can't imagine that I'm the only audio writer/reviewer who feels this way.

I think your stance is a good and correct one, but consider that many, probably most audio reviewers do not have the benefit of your experience in this area or in general. A lot of people (based on a lot of replies in these threads, it might be most people) have no clue about their legal rights or remedies and take anything on legal letterhead at face value.

Those people are easily deterred, that's where the chilling effect comes from.

 

[Emlin]

I think your stance is a good and correct one, but consider that many, probably most audio reviewers do not have the benefit of your experience in this area or in general. A lot of people (based on a lot of replies in these threads, it might be most people) have no clue about their legal rights or remedies and take anything on legal letterhead at face value.

Those people are easily deterred, that's where the chilling effect comes from.

And the very reason why there needs to be support, easily findable, for honest reviewers who find themselves in such a situation. And not just in the audio sphere.

 

[SIY]

I don't think anyone's thinking of suing audioXpress.

Or me personally.

Again, this is a total nothingburger.

 

[Salt]

And the very reason why there needs to be support, easily findable, for honest reviewers who find themselves in such a situation. And not just in the audio sphere.

And so this thread should return to OP's question.

 

[amirm]

Again, this is a total nothingburger.

With what all we did, it turned into that. But could have gone another way as someone post about another DCS (Deep Cycle Systems):

 

[markrubin]

^
Will your legal fund help?

 

[SIY]

With what all we did, it turned into that. But could have gone another way as someone post about another DCS (Deep Cycle Systems):

Different market with about two orders of magnitude more money involved. Of course, if the suit is meritless, Australia (AFAIK) is a "loser pays" system, so he does not face the risk that you or I would.

 

[Doodski]

In Canada providing the details and information is accurate and opinions are just that then a court case would not happen. It would be filtered out at the discovery stage or whatever it is called in The Court of King's Bench. (We have a king now and not a queen as the figurehead.) I imagine Australia has similar but subtle differences that make a big difference in some areas of case law.

 

[617]

^
Will your legal fund help?

Sorry I spent the legal fund on an expensive DAC, it will last a lifetime though.

 

[617]

I don't think I am better than anyone, but I do make my money doing work which I personally consider very ethical. Most people would probably agree. Nothing remarkable, but I help people who do good things for society in my own little way.

Making expensive artless products which require deceptive marketing to sell is not evil, but it is not great, either. Reviewing them and pretending to hear things which don't exist is not much better. At best it is a waste of time.

There are a lot of legal but compromising ways to make money in the world, I would encourage anyone to sacrifice a little money to not have to deal with the world of people who need to deceive others to take care of themselves or their loved ones.