I've received a number of private emails today taking me to task over my
post yesterday (below). It appears that the "reviews" in question are no
longer available on the eHam site... which, of course, leads some to believe
either I was mistaken or making the whole thing up. I've had two people
demand I apologize to NA4M, the Product Reviews Manager, for implying that
he did something wrong.
*sigh*
That's what I get for trying not to bite the hand that feeds us... since
this reflector is part of contesting.com, which is the sister site of
eham.net. But since I'm getting blasted for it anyway, just to set the
record straight:
The "reviews" in question were posted by eHam Co-Founder Bill Fisher W4AN.
They were about Ham Radio Insurance Associates, Inc., in Cannonsburg PA,
which is owned & operated by Bill Hill W3WH. And the content of both
reviews explicitly stated that Mr. Fisher did not use HRIA Insurance & that
they had nothing to do with the product itself, but he alleged that HRIA
owed him $300 for an eHam advertising bill & that Mr. Hill had yet to pay
it.
I also know what Mr. Hill's response is, but since it was told to me
privately, it would be inappropriate to repeat it. However, the fact that
the "reviews" disappeared sometime today, well, that should speak for
itself.
Needless, I am disappointed that W4AN used eHam to attempt embarrass a close
friend of mine by airing his dirty laundry over an Accounts Receivable
issue. I feel that W4AN owes W3WH a public apology, which I suspect he's
not going to receive (why else would the reviews simply disappear? Reviews?
What reviews?). And most importantly, this demonstrates a lack of
credibility in any of the reviews in the manner in which this was handled.
I won't belabor the obvious on this.
Finally, knowing how this reflector tends to work, I expect that 4 or 5
people at least will now forward this email to W4AN, and I will shortly
thereafter be kicked off the reflector in response. So, it was nice knowing
you.
73, ron wn3vaw
"And they give you cash,
which is just as good as money!"
Yogi Berra, AFLAC Commercial, 2002
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Notarius WN3VAW <wn3vaw@fyi.net>
To: Ten Tec Reflector <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2002 12:14 PM
Subject: Oopsie
During the recent discussion here about the eHam "0" review of the
Centurion, I was one of many people who gave the eHam editors the benefit of
the doubt as to their motives for moving the review out of the Product
Reviews section.
A post made earlier today to the eHam Product Reviews now leads me to
believe that I was in error to take this position. In fact, I am now
wondering if comments made that implied that eHam did this on behalf of
TenTec on the basis of TT being a major advertiser may have been closer to
the mark than I first thought (and let me add, if they did this for that
reason, did so on their own without any interaction made by Scott or
TenTec).
The post I am referring to, assuming it is still there, refers to a product
sold by a close friend of mine (and incidently someone who ordered an
Argonaut V at Dayton). It assigns a poor review score to this product, but
if you read it, you discover that the issue is an Accounts Receivable issue
with eHam itself and has absolutely nothing to do with the product in
question. Also, a previous post from this same individual was revived, also
adding a poor score to this product.
Now, I don't know what the business problem between these two is. But it
strikes me that the eHam reviews is a most inappropriate place to discuss
this, and has the potential to do a lot of damage to this product's
reputation. (And I have already made my friend aware of the problem). And
it also strikes to the very heart of any credibility for Product Review
posts. If I have to wonder if the real reason behind a negative review is a
billing question, how likely am I to put any credence in that review?
In any event, as I said at the beginning, it appears that my earlier stance
was incorrect, and as such, I wish to etract it and apologize for being
wrong.
73, ron wn3vaw
"And they give you cash,
which is just as good as money!"
Yogi Berra, AFLAC Commercial, 2002
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