As a further note to this one Hugh also sent and e-mail message directly to Axiom. From what I could interpret from his curt message it was basically threatening us to either remove this thread from our message board (which he found insulting) or there would be consequences brought to my company. Below is the response I sent to Hugh which hopefully brings some much needed balance to this situation. It is disheartening that Hugh hates Axiom so much but hopefully we can end up, at a minimum, with some form of mutual respect being applied to our differences.


Hugh,

I think I should start by clarifying that none of the people who have posted on this thread on our message board are Axiom employees. I would also appreciate it if you could tell me which post you find insulting; I read through them and could not find one. It is not the policy of Axiom to sensor our message board as we view this both counterproductive and less fun. Hence we are not willing to willy-nilly take down threads on our message board; but if you can point to some particularly egregious personal or profane comment we will consider removing it.

I think it would also be constructive if you took a moment and stepped back to look at what has happened here. This entire incident was started by your comment on your message board “Don’t waste the money on Axioms”. You made this comment to a person who owns and loves his Axiom products; do you see the antagonistic and underlying insulting nature of such a comment? Frankly I was quite surprised at how civil everyone was in response to your comment made in direct response to an Axiom owner.

Beyond technically insulting everyone who has purchased and loves their Axiom products it is also a direct attack at me. As someone who has spent 30 years researching the science of sound, spent 10 years directly involved in probably the most in-depth research project ever done into loudspeaker performance, has spent millions of dollars building a state of the art acoustical research and development laboratory, and has a deep personal desire to make every Axiom product the best it can possibly be; “Don’t waste the money on Axioms” is an insult. Beyond myself there is a very long term and dedicated staff here at Axiom that share in this passion. You have insulted them also.

It would seem from your comment “as I find the notion of affiliate marketing distasteful unless it is clearly identified” that your real problem with my company may lie in this program as opposed to the actual products. Affiliate programs are a very common thing among on-line companies. One of the pioneers of this program was Amazon. Our affiliate program was created mainly so we could participate in certain shopping sites and so our network of custom installers could make a commission for using our products in their installations. The actual number of people who are simply owners of our product that are affiliate members is extremely small and they are not the ones posting about your comments. I might add that in the world of marketing and selling products an affiliate program for people who own and love their products is quite benign if you consider what goes on in the retail environment (just look at the practice of spiffs for products that need to get moved out of the warehouse or are added by the manufacturers and distributors). Beyond all this you commented that “I do not carry Paradigm advertising”. Does this mean if you did carry Paradigm advertising you would have to stop recommending them? Does this mean that the products advertised on your site are only products you would not recommend? Clearly I do not share your distaste for our affiliate program and that may solely be due to the fact that I know how benign our affiliate program is; whereas you have to deduce its scope, and that may conjure up thoughts of huge pyramid schemes or the like.

In closing I would just like to say that I am truly saddened that two people in the same industry, both with a passion for that industry, cannot be at least a bit more constructive towards positive end goals. Certainly if you ever feel even a slight change of heart to learn more about Axiom the company, its products, its roots, its philosophy, and its people I would be delighted to put the current animosity into the past.

Sincerely,

Ian Colquhoun
President

Ian Colquhoun
President & Chief Engineer