While an interesting suggestion Sam & a good one, sadly it won't help at all with those hijacking threads to spam their product or the infighting so common amongst vendors.
While the ideas have merit, polls alone don't distinguish between a customer irate at the poor quality of some products (rarely the vendor's fault if they simply retail) and being outright extorted & scammed by that vendor. While obviously that's what the suggested "thread for each dealer/vendor" is for - we already have that ability and in fact it's used frequently, the only difference is we don't strictly enforce staying on topic.
We've tried to be more relaxed than locked polls and the strict censorship such review threads would entail, suggestions and product development are often tangents we enjoy and encourage, the open two-way exchange of ideas one of the primary reasons for this site. The only real problem is that some see this as an opportunity to exploit, a chance to get some free advertising with little to no interest in the subject at hand.
The difficulty with such polls & threads that you've suggested is that we'd be essentially curtailing the member's ability to express themselves when it's obvious we're having a problem with the vendors.
I will say that the staff here in general is becoming sick of the excessive and inappropriate self promotion and the continuing strife and infighting associated with some vendors. You may have noticed that as a whole staff vary rarely if ever make recommendations anymore. This and the drama associated does not go unnoticed by the member base - it confounds me that the vendors themselves never seem to notice that any public dispute hurts the reputation of all involved and makes them look untrustworthy - regardless of if it's warranted or not.
My advice would be to simply report any inappropriate posts, we'll clean it up and make a note of it by sending off a PM. Vendors known for repeatedly ignoring such warnings will incur further punitive action, up to and including temporary or even permanent bans. This includes the chatbox, you'll simply need to copy and paste the (entire) exchange and forward it to any/all staff for review.
What constitutes excessive marketing and/or promotion is at the staff's discretion and may be moved/edited/deleted as necessary, forum sponsor or not - this holds true for all.
http://motorbicycling.com/f21/please-read-these-simple-rules-2.html
I would like to point out that not all vendors are that unscrupulous, few have any interest in conflict with one another. We
greatly value those that would simply share product development in particular, those that join our forum expressly to assist members that have purchased their products and are having difficulty, or to simply garner feedback as to improve their products. There really isn't much better than to be able to discuss the complexities of a product with the individual whom invented it, it is after all one of the reasons
I joined this forum - I'm sure I'm not the only one.
While the difference between such sincerely concerned, constructive interaction and spamming like a used car salesman is often obvious - we do rely on member feedback to help determine it's suitability even desirability in any thread, particularly by the individual whom started the topic. So if you see something you think inappropriate - report it. It's confidential and is certainly not considered "tattling" - far from it, you're in actuality assisting us greatly by providing us with the member's perspective, keeping the forum an unbiased source of helpful information.
