I was wondering why you thought that we disagreed on that point, but I looked back at what I wrote and see why. I meant to say that random schmucks shouldn't have any political pressure, in contrast to the "professional" reviewer, whether the skylab types or the headphony.com types. I agree with you and think that keeping the pipeline open is a huge incentive to find positive things to say.
BTW, Complin, John was rather polite in his response, but where exactly do you get off correcting him on what he "meant"? Also, a manufacturer cannot sue a random schmuck for posting their opinions or comments about a product on an internet forum.