That's actually a good point, well said.
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As has been discussed, asserted, reinforced, and repeated time and time again, the vendor subforms have nothing to do with any implicit or explicit promotion, support, or endorsement by Hammockforums.net in any way. They are simply an organizational tool, a way to keep all information and threads about a specific topic bundled together neatly in one spot.
Having a subforum does not mean that Hammockforums considers that vendor to be good, bad, or anything else. It simply means that at one time there were deemed enough threads about them or discussing them that it was decided to create an folder to sort all of those threads into.
Likewise not having a subforum does not mean that Hammockforums thinks the vendor is not good enough, or not worth mentioning, nor is there any system by which vendors can pay to have their own subforum (as has been suggested before). It simply means that a subjective critical mass of threads pertaining to that vendor has not been reached, causing the admins to create an area to better organize and sort them.
There are just over 250 threads in the OES subforum. That's more than DD Hammocks, Ripstop By The Roll, Treklight Gear, Speer, Whoopieslings.com, Molly Mac, BIAS, Hammeck, or Claytor. That's why they have a subforum - plain and simple. Doing away with it now would mean that all of those threads, spanning over 8 years of history, would either get dumped into the "other vendor" area, or have to be sorted into other subforms throughout the forums. That's a lot of work that someone would have to do, and there's really no point to it.
All the information is there to be seen - the good, the bad, and the ugly. The sticky telling people to beware, the countless threads talking about the horrible customer service experiences, lack of communication, etc. Right next to the threads praising the quality, telling about their quick ship times, etc. All laid out neatly for people to look at, and research, before they choose to order. If forum members want to order from OES, they do so clearly and plainly at their own risk.
I agree with the sentiments above, in that I don't understand why people still take the gamble considering how much is out there suggesting it's a risky proposition - however let's not continue to perpetuate the myth and incorrect idea that having a subforum = Hammockforums supporting or endorsing something.
Exactly what silentorpheus ^^^ said. Nothing more, nothing less.
In fact the below statement is at the top of the vendor section in nice bold letters!!!
Forum: Hammock Gear - Manufacturers and Services
These forums are not a seal of approval by Hammock Forums. The sub-forums are simply for organizational purposes
I never said nor do i think that them being on the vendors list is an endorsement i simply stated that newer members might see it that way.
But i have to agree with you that everyone should do thier own homework and make thier own choice's.
It does baffle me why some still take the chance of ordering from him when the majority of his posts are soo negative?
I just really dont like seeing good people getting treated and disrespected the way he does to most of his customers.It just isn't right!
while I don't disagree with any of the feedback given here, I am going to close this thread. I believe the OP has gotten good feedback on how we all think this should be handled. Continue to pile on is really not needed in this case. Everyone needs to actually do their own homework on any vendor and OES has plenty of feedback in this forum to do that with.