I am very ambivalent about the commercial ads that are allowed
on this Endurance list. I find ads from people like Roger Rittenhouse
to be marginally acceptable because I believe Roger is honestly trying
to find and keep the distance riding world apprised of the
best products for its needs. Though I am dubious of any claim
that is coming from somebody who has that product for sale,
Roger does try to tell us scientific or at least rational reasons
*why* something is an effective product.
One manufacturer, like Ortho-Flex, used this as a forum to answer
criticisms of their products, to engage their customer's publically
voiced concerns in a public manner. I think that's healthy--the
customer gets to say what's wrong, and the manufacturer gets
to answer.
But this sound-bite from EasyBoot's Marketing and Sales Director is
just empty self-promotion. It co-opts Karen's entertaining piece
into sounding like nothing more than an EasyBoot testimonial,
which it definitely wasn't.
The entire commercial world is trying to figure out how to use
the Internet for sales and marketing. I think it should follow
the higher road that has already been pioneered--that of using
its presence to provide solid, *real* information when it is
requested--and not corrupt informative vehicles like Ridecamp
with this kind of vacuous plug.
Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA