Here on The Art of Sound, we actively encourage members to post reviews of any item of audio equipment they feel will be of interest to the membership. However in any forum review, the author must state at the beginning whether the product(s) in question have been purchased yet or not. Note: 'purchased', in that sense, means at the end of any trial period. Paying up front for goods, in order to obtain them for a loan period, does not count as a 'purchase'.

Reviews must later be updated accordingly, if or when the product(s) in question have been bought at the end of an initial trial period. This lets everyone know what the position is, in that respect, and enables people to judge reviews posted on that basis. After all, the ultimate test of the efficacy of any product is whether or not it was good enough to buy!

Just to clarify... It is not mandatory for products reviewed to have been purchased first by the reviewer. However, it is mandatory to state what the position is (i.e. if items are simply on trial or have been loaned by the seller, at your volition) before a review is posted. Furthermore:

ALL products discussed or reviewed on the forum MUST be instigated by the user/potential buyer, NOT the seller. Therefore in future there will be no 'premeditated promotional selling' allowed by manufacturers or dealers, in an attempt to generate artificial publicity for their company and/or products, such as on the lines of: 'Here, try X and let everyone know how wonderful it is'...

There will be no exaggerated hyping-up of products, any secrets or 'mystery wonders'. Prices and full details of products must be provided up front at the start of any review, or when any comments are made about them on the forum. If such information for any reason is unavailable, then comments or reviews must wait, and only be posted when said information becomes available.

The intention of this new ruling is to help protect sellers and buyers of audio-related products from any accusations of impropriety and to provide greater clarity into the purpose behind any reviews. Therefore, I would ask that everyone respects the constructive reasons for introducing these measures and abides by the new ruling.

Thanks in advance, folks!

Marco.