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[TowerTalk] Orion

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Orion
From: k5uj@hotmail.com (Rob Atkinson, K5UJ)
Date: Wed Jul 23 22:54:09 2003
I don't have an Orion and have not even seen one in operation but if it is 
all it is cracked up to be it will survive a few bad reviews.

I don't mind bad reviews if they are factual and report someone's true 
experience.  When I'm considering a product I go out of my way to hunt for 
bad reviews and pay attention to what the writers have to say.  If they are 
reporting a true experience it should be there along with the good reviews.  
Generally speaking I have more of a problem with rave reviews in eham (I've 
given my share of 5s to things too) that go on about how great something is 
in a vague way without making any specific observations or citing any 
sources of information.  The eham review ratings are: 5 - Great!
4 - Good, 3 - OK, 2 - Needs help, 1 - Poor, 0 - Awful!  I think there's been 
a problem with rating inflation (remember, I'm commenting generally--not 
about Orion)--most products I see get 5s.  To me, there's nothing wrong with 
something being okay.  I own lots of gear that are okay.  Some good, a few 
that are great.  Now, if we take the Orion ratings literally, the K6 gave 
Orion a 1.  that means he said it was poor.  Not awful, but poor.  So, room 
for improvement there.  the WB4 gave it a 3 meaning it was okay.  I don't 
think there's anything wrong with being okay.  To me, ideally the vast 
majority of stuff that gets reviewed ought to be 3s.  5 should really be 
reserved for the rare item that's so good, it could almost be used 
professionally or be run in CCS in a rack.  Gaming the system by posting 
zillions of 5s to jack up the average just adds to the noise in the 
sig./noise ratio.

I think it is important for a company to get balanced feedback.  No one does 
a company any favors by consistently bashing their products, but also, a 
company does not benefit from nothing but high praise if they have 
manufactured a few duds.   What every company deserves is candid frank 
assessments.  If that's what the 3 and 1 reviews were then they may have 
done more good than you think.

73,
Rob Atkinson
K5UJ

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