This forum is the best out there IMO because it is a great mix of ham and cb users and the members here are some of the smartest around. No joke, I've been a member of just about every forum and I find that the members here are the perfect mix of brains, humor, and ...dare i say it....acceptance. Yes, the members here generally are very accepting of all opinions, all types of people (of which we get all types).
I used to be active on another popular CB site but was banned - the reason - someone asked a question about a product and I posted up a link to a place to buy it (not my own store). The forum was sponsored by a "tech/radio shop" who has a dubious reputation and I think the real reason I got booted was because I didn't jump on the bandwagon like everyone else bragging about how great his radios were (they aren't).
So as someone who has been banned from a forum (and I'm the least likely person in the world to get banned form a forum) I think open discussions are great. However, I think people and their misguided support of radio shops is ridiculous.
IMO 99% of people shouldn't be dealing with radio shops period. After owning hundreds of radios and seeing what shops do to them you're better off learning to do things yourself. Even the techs who people cream about all the time have their issues - back in the day I sent a radio to one of the famous 2510/Lincoln techs who was supposed to be the best for a chipswitch and tune and my radio came back with a 20W deadkey. There are a small group of amazing techs who do fantastic work and I've been truly impressed with - I would recommend them to anyone and we see their names posted on the forum regularly. But they also aren't the people making videos and charging people money to try to make radios do crazy amounts of power.
All that being said - I say let it roll, but if someone doesn't have the knowledge to back up their claim of why a shop is the best they better be ready for the storm that follows.
And if someone is spamming - kick them to the curb. A radio manufacturer recently spammed a ton of my videos on YouTube with stupid positive comments about why their radios are the best so I deleted them and sent them a warning.
I used to be active on another popular CB site but was banned - the reason - someone asked a question about a product and I posted up a link to a place to buy it (not my own store). The forum was sponsored by a "tech/radio shop" who has a dubious reputation and I think the real reason I got booted was because I didn't jump on the bandwagon like everyone else bragging about how great his radios were (they aren't).
So as someone who has been banned from a forum (and I'm the least likely person in the world to get banned form a forum) I think open discussions are great. However, I think people and their misguided support of radio shops is ridiculous.
IMO 99% of people shouldn't be dealing with radio shops period. After owning hundreds of radios and seeing what shops do to them you're better off learning to do things yourself. Even the techs who people cream about all the time have their issues - back in the day I sent a radio to one of the famous 2510/Lincoln techs who was supposed to be the best for a chipswitch and tune and my radio came back with a 20W deadkey. There are a small group of amazing techs who do fantastic work and I've been truly impressed with - I would recommend them to anyone and we see their names posted on the forum regularly. But they also aren't the people making videos and charging people money to try to make radios do crazy amounts of power.
All that being said - I say let it roll, but if someone doesn't have the knowledge to back up their claim of why a shop is the best they better be ready for the storm that follows.
And if someone is spamming - kick them to the curb. A radio manufacturer recently spammed a ton of my videos on YouTube with stupid positive comments about why their radios are the best so I deleted them and sent them a warning.
