Perhaps this is why I stopped frequenting these forums. I've been here before, that wasn't my first PSW post, just the first since the reformat. I'm anonymous because I don't want my gear ripped off, and because one hate's having one's online life haunting one's actual professional career. Ask Mixerman about that sometime.
There are two sides to this - it's great to have forums be not purely be about pimping, but these forums can also allow a hell of a lot more of useful information to flow from the designer to the end user than most ad material can. I had asked one of the mods about a new piece of gear, appearing in several mags and on the mfg's website, but with the most bare information accompanying. I see no harm in factually answering a point blank question about a piece of hardware regarding objective features, and I do not see that as a slippery slope to the PSW Pimp of the Year paegent. I suppose that's foolish to expect a person to give a straight answer when asked a question - weird thing, not getting the straight answer is more what I would expect from a pimp. I don't know the mod's motivations. I don't really give a rat's ass. If I don't have good info on a product, I don't buy it, and I'll move on to an alternate product where good info has been made available, one way or another.
If anyone wants to crucify me further for reiterating the element of commerce, fine. Talk to some of the mods sometime about why they left another recording forum site. Yes, we are all being purely altruistic here. Who wants to sing a round of "Kumbaya"? Damn commies.
Bear