Dedicated site with storefront pictures exposing rip off dealers!
 

Some of these images will make you think twice before giving out that credit card number.

www.panix.com/~donwiss/pictures/BrooklynStores/

Wow, I almost bought a Canon GL2 from Abes of Maine (the 2nd one down) Thank god they said it was in the warehouse and they wouldn't be able to get to it for a week. Funny, I don't see a warehouse anywhere! So I cancelled my order and got it from somewhere else.

Broadway Photo's setup looks classier than I thought ;-)

The most unwanted list
 

Broadway on this unwanted list of storefront pictures of suspected shady businesses. It is the 17th picture down on the list.


http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=16931

The above post
 

The above post was supposed to go in the following thread but for some reason the thread was closed.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=17735

It's closed because I always reserve the right to have the last word on the "where to buy" question. I try to steer folks away from those shady operations, and toward our authorized DV Info Net sponsors. That pretty much says it all, and since it would be unfair to our sponsors and to our readers to continue discussing other dealers, the thread is locked at that point. I've stated this policy several times in the past, but it's been awhile since the last time so it's good to bring it up again. Hope this helps,

I remember this from DV I do thank you for info as many have been ripped off.

Closed Thread
 

I totally understand Chris. You and the wranglers do a great job managing this board. I had just never seen a closed thread before. Neato!

Chris, I love your forum. And it is YOUR forum. But couldn't this road get curvy? As companies begin to recognize the number of professionals who frequent this site and the quality of discussion found here, you will likely get offers from sponsors like pinnacle or panasonic. Ending discussions about "what I shoot on" and "what I edit on" will probably end the love affair many of us have with your site.

Besides the thread was helping to publicize some dealers who don't have the credibility of stand up shops like B and H.

This site is a fantastic idea and you've done it well, just my .02 cents.

Thanks for your input, Martin -- much appreciated. It can be a somewhat curvy road, but we're very careful drivers. Basically what it boils down to is, there's a big difference between those sponsors who are manufacturers, such as Pinnacle or Panasonic, or Canon who actually is advertising here, and those sponsors who are dealers, such as ZGC, B&H etc.

To this date, the *only* discussions I end are the "where to buy" questions, as that is business, but it's business with the best interests of our readers carefully held foremost in mind. You can believe that "what I shoot on, edit on" etc. will *never* fall into that sort of discrimination. For instance, just because Canon is advertising here doesn't mean we can't talk about any other camera -- as can be seen by our dedicated Sony, Panasonic and JVC discussion boards.

In short, manufacturers and dealers are two completely separate types of advertisers here. Although we're just as choosy about which manufacturers we'll allow to advertise on dvinfo.net, the discussions which follow them aren't related to the "WHERE to buy" question, which is a very sensitive issue here -- instead, they consitute a "WHAT to buy" question, a very different thing which is a type of discussion that's wholeheartedly encouraged and is in fact one of the primary reasons behind the creation of these boards.

I hope I made that distinction clear enough -- thanks again,

Yowza! Some of these places are about as appealing as Saddam Hussein's mug shot video! :-)

While I haven't tried all of Chris' sponsors, I have had the good fortune of doing many transactions with B&H, I swear by them. Actually I liked them before they became a sponsor! ...kind of like that old song "I was country when country asn't cool" :-)