Manufacturers and critical consumers

[Lone Starr]

It's an old story, photographers always nag about their films, chemistry, cameras, lenses, bags... that's normal, we always want the best (analog) tools.

Today, raising a critical voice in a forum is simple, and manufacturers can not hush up the words of pundits so easily. Forum means: free speech in public.

I heard it through the grapevine: now one manufacturer starts threatening critics. Forum users receive private messages telling them that they will be sued for damages.

IMHO, such a behaviour is completely unfounded, and an impudence.

What's your opinion?

 

[Ray Nalley]

Suing anonymous posters in forums would seem to be counterproductive.

 

[cosmonot]

Which manufacturer? Sounds like I'd like to try and avoid their products, if these claims could be substantiated.

 

[sepiareverb]

Uh, this isn't free speech. There are rules.

 

[Al Patterson]

It's an old story, photographers always nag about their films, chemistry, cameras, lenses, bags... that's normal, we always want the best (analog) tools.

Today, raising a critical voice in a forum is simple, and manufacturers can not hush up the words of pundits so easily. Forum means: free speech in public.

I heard it through the grapevine: now one manufacturer starts threatening critics. Forum users receive private messages telling them that they will be sued for damages.

IMHO, such a behaviour is completely unfounded, and an impudence.

What's your opinion?

Good luck finding them if the forum owner doesn't co-operate. While I'd be pretty easy to find, many people post under fairly obscure handles. By yours I'll assume you might be in Texas. That is a pretty large state...

Now were you able to prove that a certain manufacturer was doing this, and to whom on which fora, I might be interested.

 

[sepiareverb]

Seems trollish eh?

 

[Al Patterson]

Seems trollish eh?

Sure, but I don't have much better to do today anyway.

I wonder who threatened to sue him?

 

[sepiareverb]

My exceptionally high quality Neopan 400 films are washing, I'm not too busy either.

But he's lurking...

 

[photogdave]

Total B.S.

 

[Lone Starr]

Sorry, I was just asking in general, but if you prefer the full story I will provide some details next week. Stay tuned... breaking news is coming, CNN exclusive...promise.

 

[majid]

FYI, many states such as California have so-called SLAPP laws (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) that allow a judge to throw out a lawsuit that was clearly brought in big a big-pocketed corporation to intimidate critics, and force them to pay their victim's legal fees.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I heard it through the grapevine: now one manufacturer starts threatening critics. Forum users receive private messages telling them that they will be sued for damages.

IF it's happening -- which I find hard to believe -- the solution is to post the e-mail in question on a public forum...

Besides which, barring actual libel -- which is actionable anyway -- I can't see how they could argue that they had incurred damage. Differing opinions are no grounds for legal action.

Cheers,

R.

 

[usagisakana]

I know that on a forum I frequent, hosted here in Australia, the forum owner had a lawsuit brought upon him by a company whose services had been talked unfavourably about within the forum by other members. Henceforth there has been a "no vendor verdicts" rule. Don't know how this applies in this case though.

 

[Ronald_H]

Seem trollish and counterproductive. I'd daresay criticism on forums is a good thing although can (and will) get out of hand sometimes.

Thanks to the forums on dpreview (yes, even those) Nikon had to acknowledge the Blinking Green Led of Death on the D70. Other examples that got much attention were that Canon's flagship had focus problems, and the Leica M8 had/has mangenta casts.