Ted has a great reputation as a stand-up guy. It comes from the hundreds of online testimonials to his products, his services, and the way he responds to customers. His speakers are a super product at a great price, and his kits and parts allow guys to get into amp building for relatively small money. His forum has been a service to many builders and buyers, and he's never stopped anyone from recommending his competitors products. That's because, unlike some of the 18watt crowd, he understands that the person who buys from his competitor today will buy from him tomorrow. When he offered an 18 watt kit, he made it clear that it was not an authentic version, and put up a link to GDS. Pretty classy, I'd say.
In this case, what was posted on the 18watt forum was so nasty that it called for action. If you read the current message at 18watt.com
Quote:
1. All banners will be removed.
2. All commercial members avatars will be removed.
3. All commercial member signatures will have to be removed.
4. Although we strongly encourage and believe in freedom of speech, the admins may remove potentially offending posts for any reason they see fit.
5. As silly as it seems to have to put this in writing, no one who sells a product may bash the products of a potential competitor. Politeness is not optional, it is just good business sense
the moderator is not saying anything about the issues being discussed in this thread. The problems being dealt with above come from members who post to sell products on the forum. Ted does not sell his products on the forum, so clearly, he is not the target. The problem was within the forum, not from outside.
I used to check the forum regularly for amp building info, until it started getting filled with guys pimping their own products. That's when I moved to ax84 and stayed. Good luck with your boycott - I'll be putting an order in pretty soon, and I'm sure I'll buy many more products for many years. Get a grip.