Conflict of Interest

[El Cid]

Jon should be commended for starting this thread. It shows the kind of transparency that will be necessary to handle what will be an increasingly delicate issue. I've been getting private communications from forum members or watchers who are lamenting the long-term impacts of this potential conflict of interest, yet they have feared to say anything publicly -- perhaps because they don't want you all to hate them, or they don't want to be banned, or who knows what. (If someone could tell me why the heck they write me, I'd love to know; I think it's sorta odd.)

The fact that Jon is opening up a public space for such comment is absolutely commendable and honorable -- whether folks choose to take advantage of it or not.

Oh yes, and Jon I would not worry at all about being both a vendor and Moderator. Jon has as much integerity as anyone I know. I trust that he will always do the right thing.

I, too, think Jon has a lot of integrity. No question there.

At the risk of sounding like Chicken Little, however, I think it is wrong to say that he shouldn't worry about being both a vendor and moderator. No offense to any saints out there, but I don't trust anybody to always do the right thing. At best, I trust a few folks (and I suspect Jon is one of them) to consistently do what they think is the right thing to do ... but which may or may not actually be the right thing to do. That's just life.

I happen to think Jon was absolutely wrong, for instance, in deleting the sequence of posts referred to above that could have put him and his business in a bad light; at the same time, I think he was absolutely right in undeleting those posts after I raised the issue of a double-standard at work. Jon did the right thing in the end, to his great credit, but he didn't do so instinctively. In other words, I think he does need to worry about the issue.

While I know one response is to say "If you don't like it, go home," I hope you can see that this is not a sound mentality for the long-term health of what has been a fantastic forum. The best solution is to bring any issues out into the open, as Jon is here doing, in order to confront them and deal with them. That's how strong ties are forged.

Speaking of being open, the more I think about it the more I'm not totally sure that it's a good idea for Jon to have the two names. On the plus side, it can help delineate the businessman/hobbyist aspects of Jon's role, but on the down side it can hide the fact of who's who. I'm just not sure what's best there ... not that it's my call to make, of course, but I wonder what others think?

I do want to put some more context on this issue, just to give examples of how this has been or can be a problem -- if nothing else to serve as examples for the moderators -- but it'll take me a bit to figure out the best way to do that. In the meantime, I hope folks can understand that I'm only pointing out these issues because I very much want to see this forum succeed -- and because other folks seem reluctant to talk about it.

[Matt]

As far as the "two names" is concerned.... I think the two names are somewhat necessary. BUT, especially for the sake of new members, I think he should post primarily under the SA name. Its very confusing when he switches names mid-thread.

The knappster name should be used only in the "site comments/suggestions forum" where you would expect to receive feedback from an "administrator" OR in other forums when the topic pertains to site related issues. $.02


..... think of it this way, should vendors be allowed to have a non-vendor name to post under as well? I don't think so, otherwise they could post bias "reviews" for their products and the members would think its a "user" review which is a bit deceptive.

Edit: not saying that Jon would be deceptive on purpose. But as we've learned there are already members who didn't know he was the same person on both names. .... so up until now, his posts under the knappster name look like a forum regular promoting a business they like, not an owner promoting his own business.