Flex is right in his assessment. Robert Maicks stated point blank that Sistrum has an advertising agreement with audiogon. And if you do not read Twl's second paragraph as an ad here is another:
"Try some Audiopoints under it...
Disclaimer: I work for a company that manufactures vibration control devices. 1-800-307-0728"
They are not rare, and the content of the rest of Twl's posts in which these ads are inserted is not relevant.
I think how past audiogoners would have reacted is hard to say, but I would guess there would be more peer pressure against the ads. They didn't react kindly to Robert's shills; that is all I really know. Not that I would be a real loss, I would move to AA, no problem, but after four years I do not like the idea of being displaced by people like Twl and I am not keen on re-familiarizing myself.
"Simply because there are a couple of posters here who seemingly can't stand to have anything said about products or companies that they don't like"
Please give names of posters and companies, so I can know better. Because all I see is posters not liking your company, not because your products buck the establishment or any bullshit like that, its because you and your company are behave unethically. You have been in narcissistic wonderment about that reason all along.
"They are not moderators, nor do they have any power to determine what is said here..."
Audiogon has taken action from poster pressure in the past and nobody survives in a community that shuns them.
"...any more than I do."
I have not forgotten Sistrum's deal with audiogon.
***In ethics one question to ask if everybody did the same thing, how would that affect the community?***
PS - "Certainly, we understand that some have difficulty understanding our technology"
Not "understanding", "believing". Don't tell us Warren has the technical incites Sean does. Plus you had to defer to your engineers because as a salesman, you couldn't handle the technical debate. Its all either upstairs or deleted.