Mattress Forum

Catch anything?

Phoenix

Not sure? lol

Am I missing something?

-James

Nothing except the (now removed) links that were being "sprayed" around the forum like a cat ... that all led to the same place.

At least they didn't remove your entire posts.

Phoenix

That is pretty funny.

After several hours of my time being spent here reading threads before signing up, what I found was links, by users, to sites that sell mattresses all over the world. In a rather short amount of time, I found a easy dozen from you promoting the exact products and links (often to your friend's store), yet you say that I am spraying the site like a cat.! It is pretty funny, really. 

I THOUGHT that was what we did here....talk about our personal sleep products, what they are, where we bought them, and the overall experience with the whole process of finding and purchasing them. And after reading the stickied FAQ/rules, I understood them to say that "no self promotion by store owners" and "no linking by retailers/manufacturers" WHICH I AM NEITHER, yet you seem to be.

Further, I am by no means here to "take your perch as the top cat, or any cat for that matter, I was simply trying to give back to the site by joining and following along with the heard by posting my experiences as a consumer buying sleep products for the first time in a long while. And I was rewarding the store that gave me a most excellent buying experience. 

This post is not meant to start an issue with you, but I do take note of your position with me. Why not send me a private message and help me understand where I am in error as a new member versus calling my cat in heat? You seem to be helpful in posts to some members when talking about your products?

Best wishes bud.

This forum, like most forums, is about discussion and information ... and not self promotion. It is also about sharing information and opinions that may help others. There are often people who come here and attempt to use the forum for their own purposes by linking to their store or business in as many threads as they can find a "reason" to post in. Recently we had a Chinese manufacturer do just that and there have been many more. Sometimes these are from places or people that have had "less than flattering" comments posted about their business or product. They typically follow a pattern very similar to yours which is posting the same link in multiple places and for different "reasons" and adding comments about a specific mattress with very little research or even facts to support their comments. There is also typically a certain "tone" to these posts which sound "promotional" and "pseudo knowledgeable" rather than factual as yours also did. Finally they usually come to this forum after they have "bought" a matress instead of the more usual pattern of coming here to ask questions and gather information and ideas before they have made a purchase.

One of the requirements of the forum (in the TOS) is self disclosure for those who are involved in the industry and there are and have been many here who contribute their knowledge and experience who have disclosed their involvement in the industry for many years ... without crossing the line into self promotion. Their opinions and knowledge are among the most valuable here and I only wish that more of them who have posted in the past were still posting now.

I understand that your posts may have genuinely been from an overzealous new purchaser that got a little carried away and wanted other people to like the mattress they had bought, or was an attempt to reward the store you bought it from ... which is why I didn't post any comments about the mattress itself, unlike another recent poster who joined a day before you and was "contributing" complete misinformation. I even suspect(ed) that the two of you were the same person. Often the moderators here remove these posts completely but they gave you the benefit of the doubt by only removing your links.

There are no top cats, bottom dogs, birds on a perch, or (hopefully) sheep here. Maybe a few elephants in the room though. I still find it strange that both of you seem to have read at least some of my posts and then say you believe that I am somehow trying to promote a specific product or outlet. If I was it would be a little strange for me to post links to practically every competitor I had that I could find in North America don't you think? These too are usually the words and tactics of someone in the industry who is trying to discredit the person rather than respond to the information or comment itself.

In any case, regardless of your involvement or non involvement in the industry, if you look honestly at what and where you posted you will understand how it was so easy to suspect you were simply a retailer looking for some business.

If you aren't then I apologize if I misread your intentions no matter what they looked like and hopefully we will both have learned something.

Phoenix

However, I think moderators should be the ones to ascertain who spammers/fakes are versus another user such as yourself. Unless I am missing the point that you are, in fact, a modrator here...I feel you have overstepped your postion and IF it is something you do often, it could be the casue of certain quality people not posting here anymore. We all have endless places to spend time at online, and with this type of biased treatment, whereas you can have hundreds of links to your places, yet, I myself, am deemed a spraying cat because I fit "your profile" of a spammer.

Further, when I signed up, I completely filled out my profile and did not use a general email address, like google or hotmail, but one to my personal site, so the moderators did know EXACTLY who I am when I signed up, along with the ability to compare my profile location with my IP address to once again show I am a person, a consumer, a shopper - all with valid points to add to this forum. I have now removed my personal info from my profile, as I do not feel so comfortable here anymore. I see you have a stripped down profile too. 

Why am I here after buying a mattress already? Becasue I have lots of family and friends that lean on me for shopping help and I like to be an informed shopper! And I will be buying another one shorty for rental property.

Should I be allowed to be happy with my mattress? YOU BET.

Should I be allowed to be thrilled with my local mattress retailer adn speak of them JUST LIKE everyone else here? YOU BET!

Do I find this type of required validation to you (another user with a lot of push to your vendors), versus admins or moderators? NOT SO MUCH!

Whether I spend more of my time here after this is yet to be seen. Why? Because of your treatment, I am suspect as to whether this is a legit site that allows consumers to speak of their personal experiences or is it a 'cloaked marketing gimmick' to push consumers to buy products from XYZ resources instead of truly offering unbiased education and help.

-James, the spraying cat.

Part of the value of this forum is that when people appear to abuse it's purpose ... they are questioned and challenged and the members here don't need to wait for a moderator to do so. There are many here who are just as grateful as I am that a no BS forum like this exists where there is enough factual information and enough high quality members without an agenda that it really is possible to get beyond the smokescreens, misinformation, and shady practices that are out there. They are also generally "annoyed" when someone tries to use the forum to promote an agenda or push ideas that contribute to the very problems that most of us here are trying to solve.

You don't have to like or agree with what is being said ... but the norm is that the people who have the greatest problems with what is said here are the people who rely on misperception, innuendo, and misinformation to make a living in the mattress world. Accurate information is a threat to them and you will often see them come here to "challenge" the person that presents it ... usually using the same type of innuendo that you are using in this post.

Specifically to  your points:

However, I think moderators should be the ones to ascertain who spammers/fakes are versus another user such as yourself.

I don't believe this for a second. If someone comes here and does what you did ... intentionally or otherwise ... I hope the members will challenge their agenda ... and they often do. The "certain people" who won't post here anymore are usually more interested in promoting than they are in learning anyway.

Your reference to an IP check telling anything about who you are or what you do for a living is a really strange argument.

Of course you would have valid points to post here ... and I hope you do. There has been no attempt to stop you to my knowledge. But I would also hope that if you post in ways that indicate you may have an agenda (which you did), and if your points seem to defend those who are providing you with misinformation more than they seek the truth (which they do), and if you take "personal offence" at a reasonable challenge (which you did), and if you promote a specific place of business or mattress completely out of context in many threads (which you did) ... then I would hope that all of this would be questioned and challenged (which it was). If you go back to 4 of your first 5 posts and read them honestly as I asked you to ... you will realize that they sound like scripted ads more than anything else. They are still there to confirm this.

You say "Should I be allowed to be happy with my mattress? YOU BET." as if anyone was saying anything about your happiness with your mattress. This is called a "red herring" Does your happiness make it OK to post links out of context to the threads that they were posted in and backed with incorrect information without being questioned ..... I would say no.

Should you be allowed to be thrilled with your local mattress retailer ... of course. That's why people start new threads with specific examples about why they are thrilled. They usually include comparative information about their search and results. Again, 4 of your first 5 posts in this forum were more like blatant advertising than they were about why you were happy with your mattress or retailer.

You say "Do I find this type of required validation to you (another user with a lot of push to your vendors), versus admins or moderators? NOT SO MUCH!" Of course not ... but expect to be asked some pointed quesions when what you post warrants it. This is the nature of the forum and part of its value.

And repeating your previous "accusations" about "another user with a lot of push to your vendors" is simply more innuendo.

And now you say that these legitimate and pointed questions and information may "cause you to leave" because you have been "mistreated". I would think that the only people who would leave for this reason in the face of our conversation would be those looking for an "escape route".

You also say "I am suspect as to whether this is a legit site that allows consumers to speak of their personal experiences or is it a 'cloaked marketing gimmick' to push consumers to buy products from XYZ resources instead of truly offering unbiased education and help." This forum and its predecessor has a history going back over 10 years. I think it's "independence" and value and the almost overwhelming amount of quality information it contains is self evident to anyone who takes even the smallest peek. I would think that in the face of such overwhelming evidence that only those who have a specific reason to believe otherwise or have others believe otherwise would say something so "strange" and obviously incorrect.

All in all ... I continue to believe that the weight of ongoing evidence and your unwillingness to deal with specifics shows me that there is more to why you came here than you are willing to acknowledge. I realize this can never be proven and I also realize that I may be completely out to lunch and wrong but I would rather tell you straight up that I don't believe you than beat around the bush.

Phoenix

I think you will definitely start to see the true colors of a mattress in just a couple weeks.  If things are going badly, I've given up at about 4 weeks.

So, if things aren't starting to look good by four weeks, perhaps they never will.

The idea of 'adjusting' to a mattress that is just wrong for you is preposterous.  The only way to adjust then is by getting something else.

lemme tell you .... trying to sell a slightly used mattress is not something you want to do.  I've got an iComfort on Craigslist for 15% of original cost .... not one phone call.  Sure, it's a twin XL, but still.

And remember, usually if you exchange to another mattress, that one will be yours for keeps.  I got toasted by that one.