Good point, Edwin.

I've seen what you're talking about actually happen: Bad comments on a BBS causing the customer relationship to deteriorate.

I participate in a forum called the "Home Theater Spot" where the primary discussions are about Mitsubishi wide-screen projection television sets. The problem is that whenever something goes wrong with someone's set, they complain about it on the BBS and ask for help.

As a result, the BBS seems to be full of nothing but complaints. This scares away potential customers doing web research prior to purchase. The truth is that Mits makes great televisions, and the only problem is that Mits doesn't participate on the BBS to answer specific queries.

At this BBS, on the other hand, we have the developers of the product directly discussing any problems with us. That makes this BBS a selling point rather than a source of dissent. Mits would do well to learn a lesson from this BBS.

Unfortunately, they don't understand the power of web forums yet. As a result, they have threatened Home Theater Spot because they think it has been damaging them rather than helping them. The Spot has been posting information on how to repair and service the sets, as well as how to correct known defects in the sets, because Mits service centers have been generally poor in dealing with those particular problems. Mits feels that this information is proprietary, dangerous, and should not be revealed to the wrong persons. They have even gone so far as to "lock out" the adjustments of some of these features in their newer model sets. It is completely the wrong attitude.

All I'm saying is: be cautious about how you bash SonicBlue in this forum. That sort of thing can turn sour pretty fast. I've seen it happen.

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Tony Fabris