Quote: (Originally Posted by
RonMicjan)
my .02 on the various points folks are making...
Most manufacturers have a person or two on RBW, posting "the company viewpoint", either like a lightning rod, or a white house press secretary, depending on the Post.
Jurgensen has Joe Radomski, Jetsam has Phi Le, Prism has Stefan, ISC has myself, not sure who does this for APV, cause i typically dont read from the inspio posts, but you get the idea. I know that Kim Smith reads RBW, so do Leon and Steve, KJ occasionally posts here to clear some things up, so its not a complete vacuum from the manufacturers viewpoint, they are paying attention, silly for them not to.
Not quite, but close.
For most part I respond because I happen to know both the PRISM and SMI pretty well. And they're friends. Same with Divematics, or OTS.
Shas lurks frequently and does read posts to Pete. On occasion she replies, after running 'politically fairly correct' and 'diplomatic' filters sometimes Pete's comments.
Tracy Robinette tries to have a look when he can find the time.
Martin Parker has also made quite a few posts here on the board.
Jordan is the company connection to Dive Rite.
So all in all RBW has most of the manufacturers reading and, though not all that often, responding. Which I think is great.
Quote:
Jumping into the middle of a slag fest is probably the wrong way to approach the situation, however.
So we (the lightening rods) tend to answer questions, draw the criticism and keep the "bosses" up to date on what folks are speculating on.
Remembering some of the nasty verbal slug fests in the past, on the nw or tech diver lists before the boards, I can understand that
no one wants to repeat that. Including Stuart and the rest of us mods and admins. The same is likely true for the manufacturers. The ones I know have grown tired and leery of those battles, and with the much broader audience the boards have, they'd be exponentially worse.