The worm (screw) turns...
As you will recall from above, within minutes of the first posting I PM'd Frank with the words, "looks fun, would love to try it..."
He stated the following:
"Hey Sharkshark, We love your positive response. We would greatly appreciate it if you could post on the original thread your comment. There are some on this forum who are a bit critical and we could use some support.
Just send us your address and we will mail out a mount next week.
Thanks,
Frank"
Following that I did so - my response remains positive (in the general sense) that I welcome the opportunity to try this out and be ojective about it's possibilities. Sure, the video makes it look a bit awkward, but maybe different mounting position, for use as a backup camera, etc., there might be some real benefit. I look forward still for the opportunity to try it out, and give my opinion free from malice or agenda in exchange for the product, the way I do during my day job as a professional film critic.
When asking for a status update (especially given the promise of it being sent out some time ago), I received this PM from Frank. Now, normally I'd not share such messages, but given that I was the one that had wanted to keep things in the private realm, but was asked explicitly to make the comments known in this public side of the forum, I think it's only appropriate to continue along that path.
Frank wrote:
"I have been notified by the moderator that there too many complaints about my promotional products.There are not enough supporters on my behalf to counter all these complaints, although I thought it was a good idea. I guess there wasn't enough positive comments to support having this offer, instead the moderator focused on the majority of the negative complaints and took action. I am not sure what course to take at the moment , or if I will end up being banned from the site if the complaints continue.Lets see what happens, I have to lay low for a while. Perhaps this will get resolved I will try to contact the moderator later."
This, sir, is garbage.
You made a public (and private) promise to send out a product for review to those that responded. I responded, you took down my address, and made a specific indication that your design would be sent out to me for review. Either this is a giant scam, the product doesn't exist, and you're trolling for addresses, or that somehow you're simply adverse to those that are negatively commenting upon your product before they've even used it.
For the latter, I recommend a thicker skin. If it's the former, that this was all a way to generate interest in your product without ever having an intention to live up to what you have publicly and privately written, then I'd think the moderators of this site would be well in their rights to ban you from participating.
As far as I can see it, you should live up to the commitment that you made, and send out the product for review. Despite this silly back-and-forth, I assure to all on this thread that I will give as objective and impartial a review as possible. I shall try the product out in a variety of situations, from pools to open water, over a period of time. Heck, I'll even be happy to monitor the product over the course of an entire dive season.
What I won't be happy with is be to be played as a chump in a silly marketing ploy to get people to visit your site with promises of review products, only to have the offer rescinded for particularly egregious reasons.
Frank, I understand the challenges very much of running a small business, and I'm sure it's not nice to have some "negative" things said before anyone has had a chance to try it. Some words of advice:
Suck it up.
If you want to actually have any of us interested in your product, you should do what you promised, have actual divers, with actual opinions, give it a shot. If at any point these so-called "negative" comments about the products utility didn't come up on the design stage, then I fear that it's even more useless than some have claimed. If, instead, it's a well thought out product, than those of us willing to do work for you for free, presenting our opinions in this very public and very well trafficked site, will provide enough to this community in order for others to make an informed decision.
I ask you publicly to reconsider your rescinding of the offer. If the offer is permanently rescinded, I look forward to working with the moderators to see that such behaviour is not allowed to continue on this site, as it makes the entire community look bad.
I look forward to your own public response on the matter.