It is the nature of the beast that Bangood’s ChenDongLing uses freeme and several others for marketing to people on flashlight forums
here is part of one of freemes links:
campaign= freeme &utm_content= chendongling &cur_warehouse=CN
that coding means that freeme gets a comission on sales, and so does chendonglin, his sales manager
there are 5 freeme posts on the first page of recent posts today:
I agree it seems excessive, to me
what I do to not have to see them is click on:
or, dont use the recent posts links at all, and just go to a particular forum that interests you, then you wont be looking at bangood’s/freeme’s spam, which is technically in the correct commercial forum:
The only reason we see so many of the commercial sales posts, is because we look at the recent posts link, instead of sticking to individual discussion forums.
I hope this helps you find posts more tuned in to your interest
but ultimately, flashlight forums generate Sales, so one way or another, participating here is a form of consumerism, in which we try to figure out what to buy…
user reviews is another aspect of flashlight marketing that vendors use, at times in ways I find abusive, such as when 6 people get the same light to review, coordinated by the vendor so all the reviews come out on the same day, and it becomes a marketing blitz…
or more recently, when vendors send out private messages to people, like me, who post a lot, and offer them the opportunity to review off brand lights such as Zanflare, Thorfire, and Sofirn, all of whom have sent me emails asking me to buy a light of theirs on Amazon, and then offer to refund my purchase IF I write a positive review, that they get to edit before I post it… This lets them claim a review is from a “verified purchase”, when in fact it was a totally manipulated review. I decline all offers to post reviews on Amazon.
I recently started getting review samples from Olight. I actually like their lights, and have only reviewed models I was actually interested in. For example, I declined the invitation to review their new AA and AAA 2 mode lights…
sooo… enjoy the forum, but dont kid yourself, this is an area where buyers congregate, and vendors circle the tank to figure out how to snag buyers… Its all part of a Social Media Marketing Strategy.
