OK. I'm glad we've gotten the definition of "free speech" and "human rights" out of our systems, out into the open, and hope that we can move on... Semantics aside, Urwolf, though regrettably invoking a term or two that are not perhaps applicable here, has posted about an issue that is pertinent and important and should be discussed:
Hostility and intolerance toward the mere mention of a competitor's product or toward a whiff of criticism toward the product being discussed, while well within the rights of the person/people/organisation paying for the forum, are hardly tactics that invite open discussion and a warm cuddly feeling of loyalty toward the product. Further (and more importantly), it sets up an environment in which bugs go unreported, novel feature suggestions go un-suggested and no one dares mention that the latest version of a competitor's product just introduced a killer new feature and wouldn't it be great if it could be included in JRiver, etc.
Well, really! WTF is the point of a users' forum if not to raise these kinds of issues? Sounds like the developers have just created a "love-in" for their product and are not interested in improving it or, for that matter, developing it. Yawn.
I, in turn, am not interested in using applications for which my participation in the development process is actually discouraged.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, urlwolf!