And I tell you what, people who have a good experience tell 1-3 friends...bad experience?? 10 friends. That's what the boss always said when I was in restaurants/bars. I guarantee there are noobs out there afraid to post in this thread right now, because they are afraid of the flaming.
It is very likely that anyone who comes on a board as a 1st time poster, raging up and down about a certain source, has an agenda. I don't agree with that and never will. If someone has something to say, they should say it with their own regular screen name and come right out and say it.
Yeah, I suppose some cynicism would go a long way towards keeping everyone safe. As all the older guys keep telling me.....can't be too careful.
Guys, I can understand all the doubt and lack of trust. I can't speak for anyone else...I can only say what I have seen/heard and experienced...and what I believe...that's it.
Its that simple. If people knowledgeable about Z's past behavior do not speak up, this board will have threads devoted to how great Z is on a daily basis. This is how these guys work, and how its always worked.
If we don't speak up, the Z talk will continue but nothing bad will ever be said.
You can look at the "happy noobs" profiles just like I can....... You REALLY think these guys are just giving their honest opinion?
If I thought there was even a 1% chance of that I'd shut up immediately, but that's not how these guys work.
Before I was a REP I would have been right there with you guys flaming all these one post noobs. But after seeing it from the other side, my opinion has changed.
I mean repo, is almost surely being compensated. But most of the others I believe are being truthful. Maybe you're right and I'm naive....
Do you Kamala believe that 100% of these first post guys are shills?
Do you believe the resend campaign isnt happening?
When I set up this subforum, I envisioned it being used by actual customers. Customers who had positive experiences could share and discuss. Customers who had negative experiences could share and discuss.
Quite honestly, it hasn't turned out that way.
Instead, it's been mostly members who have never ordered from a source debating each other.
On the one hand, members, who have never ordered from the source, are warning newbies to avoid the source and often for good reason. According to this contingent, it is inconceivable that any real customer could possibly have a positive experience with the source. They must have an agenda.
On the other hand you have reps, who get all there stuff for free, telling newbies how great the source is. According to this contingent, the source can do no wrong and anyone who says anything negative couldn't possible be a real customer; they must be a competitor or paid by a competitor. In other words, they must have an agenda.
Obviously, the truth is somewhere in between these two extremes.
The subforum has failed at arriving at the entire truth.
I will admit, it has succeeded at discouraging many people from choosing bad sources. It has done an excellent job at "outing" disingenuous and deceptive reps posing as customers in what has become popularly known as "shills" by many members.
Accusing EVERYONE who says anything remotely positive as being a "shill" creates a climate of fear and paranoia. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in an internet subculture where participants often forget that they are involving themselves in a criminal activity with serious legal risks.
But this has come at a cost. Whereas 9 out 10 times, members that accuse a new member of being a "shill" will be correct. There is a false positive rate of 10%.
For every 1000 accusations, you will have 100 real customers who were unfairly accused.
Is this an acceptable false positive rate? If not, what is? How much benefit of a doubt should we give new members?
What are the consequences of this?
Instead of facilitating free, open and honest discussion, there is the real risk that it has actually restricted discussion.
MESO could gain a reputation as a place that is not interested in the honest, truthful contributions from newbies - a reputation of not being interested in real feedback from real customers.
There is no easy solution to accurately differentiating real customers from fake customers.
But one can only be wrong so many times without credibility suffering.