commenting and answering your questions in sequence, Lee:
-- "and that isn't a cheap shot?"
yes... it was. One good turn, as they say. You crying foul is about as ironic as the second man in a hockey fight getting penalized
Both of us are answering queries late tonight and at least one of us is tired/less patient. Speaking for myself, that is.
-- "I assume you don't drive a car to save gas and the environment?"
In fact... I have driven less than 3K miles annually for over ten years now. In large part because I make a concerted effort to live as gently on this planet as possible.
I carpool when I can... mailorder and then recyle the boxes... I save the plastic bags I get form local merchants and bring them (with food donations) to the local food pantry... I save all mail and envelopes with unprinted sides or blank spaces for use in taking notes... leave the caps off of bottles that cannot be recylced so they collapse and take up less space in land fills, and recycle all other bottles/materials that I can... etc.
heehee... I could go on for quite a while here. But, point is that I do practice what I preach. I am considerate of all my actions, and respond to inefficiencies pointed out to me
With that said... can we agree to both pass on making jabs in future posts, now? At least for this thread.
-- "Seachem has to sell, like you do."
actually... I don't "sell" as it is/would be commonly defined. The staggering majority of my considerable time spent on this hobby we both love so much... is volunteer. The majority of my articles are given freely and reprinted/shared freely. As are my images (with permissiongranted/photo credits given). Re: my book writing... guess what? We spent just under 100K to produce the first two pressings of "Reef Invertebrates" and my total return to date has been... $5K
if you add up the 2 years it took to write it... the 2 years since spent promoting the information to hobbyists, etc... and divide that into $5K, I'm wondering if who would consider that profitable?
Not a lot of people would float that kind of cash and wait that long for such a small return.
You can fault me for vanity... desirous of pride in accomplishment, etc... etc., but a sales analogy does not stick here.
I'm answering queries and sharing opinions with other folks for the exact same price you paid me
I do appreciate your recognition of a good organization like Seachem above other less illustrious competitors. And... indeed, I appreciate the fact that they too have failed or flawed products.
I just regret to see unchecked criticisms of otherwise quality merchants/businesses. Too many uninformed people take what they read on the Internet as fact or endorsement.
-- "Oops! Looks like you're not infallible either. "
Yikes! Quite so. My bad/apologies!
Yet it still supports my argument that they favor DI. They sell RO as well as DI yet make it clear that they recommend DI over RO. And they do not specify that they are talking about their brand units (as mfgs will commonly do in such product literature)... but rather they are speaking generically. A reader like myself can presume that they mean that most or enough RO units used by hobbyists are inferior to DI to even make the statement.
It is the very crux of my point all along.
-- "But. . .do you want this to be a Seachem thread? Cheap shot thread? or a thread on water"
I would like it to be productive and polite above all. In continuing the thread, my post above cited a specific, reputable company... and a specific product that anyone could verify.
Your statement was a vague and unqualified remark about a mfg that I took umbrage with. It did not seem productive at least, and was unfair at worst IMO.
No more... no less.
