Matt Broze wrote: > > Ralph wrote (and I snipped some): > > My beef with the reviewers part of the writeup is not in the reviewers > > themselves but rather in their being anonymous > > > I think the original reason for using only initials was to keep us > manufacturers from knowing who to bribe. For instance know that I just found > out Kevin is a Sea Kayaker tester I'd better start treating him better. Hmmm, interesting. If that original reasoning is the case, and I hope it is not, it says a lot about what the editors think about the companies that advertise in the publication and the corruptability of the reviewers. Maybe, I am just more trusting by nature (we New Yorkers are, BTW, despite our reputation for cynicism), certainly regarding individuals who take on a task such as reviewing something for the common good of a community they belong to. Most people are not going to betray such a trust certainly in a small community such as ours where transgressions will be spotted easily and their reputations soiled. I still say, take a chance on bribes, and identify the people and give them more coherent longer statements about the boats rather than the snippet/sound bites. > Sea kayaker appears to be making an attempt to find expert paddlers with > wide experience and then insulate them from the advertisers (but I think > I've figured out about 1/2 of them from the initials, sex and sizes given, > its kind of a game with me, but I hadn't suspected KW until he gave himself > away on this list--maybe they should have given them all code names and > forbidden them to paddle with any manufacturer or dealer when they are > testing a kayak). Since you know a good number of them and, I don't believe travel to all corners of this country, I get the impression that most of the reviewers are in your Northwest, which is certainly logical given where the editorial offices are headquartered. From what I have seen, paddling styles, skills and expectations vary widely throughout the land. There are certain regional preferences in boats and paddling waters. Would be interesting to see how a Chesapeake expert paddler would react to a certain kayak or a Maine paddler or a Great Lakes paddler. This is another good reason for IDing the testers so we know where they paddle and what "school" or "paddling religion" they belong to. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Aug 16 2000 - 07:03:52 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:30 PDT