Re: Thanks for all the replies folks, a few more questions...

["David" <this@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Jim" <alarminex@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1162962369.295719.36520@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

> From your response to my comment it's perhaps apparent that you may
> not have considered that some of your comments tended to belittle
> products that others have used with great success. I'd guess that you
> haven't used every product that you commented on to the degree
> necessary to be considered an expert on them. ... In other words
> you could be killing a sale for an installer who would quote on a
> system using some of the products that you have little or no
> experience with...
>
> Over a long time in ASA, it's sort of understood by most, that every
> installer has his "favorite" best product, panel, device, or method and
> when the subject comes up, those that choose to respond will usually
> offer the benefits of their particular favorite and try not to deride
> another product unless it is quite obvious that the product is
> decidedly bad.

Anytime anyone makes a relatively negative or relatively positive comment
about any product or practice they run the risk of costing someone money.
Would people, or even just yourself, be better off if everyone refused to
make such comments?  Or is it just the relatively negative ones?  Would
you for instance prefer that doctors refrain from speaking frankly about
different prescription drugs or surgical procedures?  Should they not make
qualitative comments on those that don't fall neatly into what they feel are
the "decidedly good" or "decidedly bad" categories? Should they agree to
only make positive comments about the things they personally prescribe?
It would be quite a stretch to say that doctors are experts on all of the
drugs they use.  Most play no direct role in drug design, development, or
formal testing.  They form limited, imperfect impressions based on the
baseline knowledge they have, through reading product information and
papers, word of mouth reports, and mostly simple trial and error. One
might expect the opinions of a highly experienced doctor to be the most
correct, but that is by no means guaranteed.  Any inexperienced doctor
could experience a situation that gives him/her unique insight into the
merits of a product or treatment, or simply acquire quality information
from a reliable authoritative source.  Similar things could be said about
any profession, including alarm installation and all the others that you
must rely on.  It isn't just consumers who benefit from frank discussions
about products and practices, it is also others in the profession.  So if
anyone is undecided about participating in such an "ASA code", they
might want to consider the bigger picture and the question of double
standards.  Might I suggest genuine debate and addressing points head
on rather than attempts to squelch free expression.