I am posting this here as initial response elsewhere seem not to get the point, not sure I do either but bear with me...

Having just read today's Fi Choice, a certain article caught my interest. Internet Geeks.

The point that got me reading was with regard to internet opinion on computer audio, this initial interest was quickly eroded by what I felt was a general opinion/assumption of public forum members and their misguided opinions.

Now I do not claim to know everything, nor do I agree on everything I read on forums (or magazines for that matter), but I did find it slightly belittleing as a forum member to read the opinions of this articles author regarding forum members.

I think the avid magazine reader has came under a lot of flack in recent years for "believing" what is written in magazines, many forum members are completely intolerant of any magazine derived opinion because of exactly the same facts, figures, science, pseudo science, surmising and opinion based reviews many magazine reviewers have given over the years, there always seems to be someone on a forum who can discredit a review or piece of kit and belittle the forum member who mentioned the article. These days there seems to be a lot more forum members willing to slander reviews and their readers than there is anyone backing up review and magazine articles with robust evidence.

Hence my opinion that most of the (claimed by the author of said article) half a brain lunatic bigoted argumentative forum members who spout what may be apparently rubbish are the end result of misinformed and skewed magazine articles which never get defended or have their claims backed up with robust evidence, or seem to have misplaced any common sense and reasons why five years previous such an item may have been detrimental to the system.

So far the only evidence getting any sort of airplay within forums is by people willing to provide what seems like conclusive robust evidence to discredit every forum member (or indeed magazine reviewer) who has made a purchase or fell for the apparent "Foo" claimed in an audio magazine.

I myself feel I am labelled a "Foo" believer on one side of the fence, and a half a brain dimwitted lunatic on the other side, leaving me straddled on an uncomfortable wire fence. I am sure other forum members do.

Until robust evidence is provided and technology sufficiently explained to the average audio purchaser and magazine reader which holds up against argument with technical merit, we will always have dreaded geeks with opinion of no merit due to magazines and AES articles and other engineer based opinion.

How does any regular member of the public defend himself within a public forum with regards to his choice of speaker cable or mains cable when so much foo seems to be abundant, and no clear technical debate is instilled by any subjective magazine review of such, until magazines change their approach what else can we expect to see other than the virulent forum debate spawned by the industries actions.
Of course it is not possible or in the magazines interest to lay bare the truths about any item such as say a cable and it's performance or origins, nor ensure the customer makes the best evaluated choice. ( I guess it is a bit like the way the government lies about the average wage and cost of living to keep a divide between classes)
Magazines and the audio industry should take some of the responsibility, cables and audio supports would be a good start for an area to clean up some of the bull and balance the scales of debate.

Here is one, are all the claims and adverts and reviews of Chord Co Signature speaker cable nothing but hype with no technical merit, and is it true the cable cost pennies from an outsourced supplier? Are customers being ripped off by purchasing 5m pairs of cable for £1200 when it can be sourced elsewhere for £5 per metre?

What about big name companies offering DVD players at ridiculous prices just because of a nice case and badge, with no change at all to the electronics and such?

When ARE the customers interests going to be looked after? With the word Critic in the title I guess some truths had been wrongly expected? I cannot imagine a restaurant reviewer only discussing the good food, pretty sure if something is rubbish or from a packet they are forthcoming with such opinion, is it unfair to expect the same in an audio journal? If no action is taken how can one make complaint against what their own industry has helped create?

Steve