On many other forums, businesses can only advocate their presence and
products under dedicated subforums. This usually involves paying or
sponsoring the site where the said advertizing takes place.
On these subforums, only the business owners have the right to post messages.
Airing dealer or vendor grievances should be discouraged or outright
prohibited because their usefulness or trustworthness can be argued and they
tend to escalate into he said-she said arguments that can damage the
community if permitted to go on.
Some people confuse vendor grievances for "reviews". A review cannot be
criticism-only, since there must be an upside to everything. Even the darkest
cloud can have a silver lining. Reviews should be much more thorough and
adhere to principles of decent fairness. We should always assume good faith
even if something has gone against our expectations. We should give vendors a
chance to rectify and amend their shortcomings.
