t500hps

Your posting as a "protective" Father.....I'm relaying the SAME message as someone who has never met you or Heath.

I first bit(hed about Trick Marine a year ago. There had only been a couple dis-satisfied threads about them at the time......I got blasted for claiming there were issues at Trick. Even had a couple people send me PM's asking me to be quiet and stop comnplaining about Trick. No way in He!! Heath was going to come on here and tell anyone any differently 1 1/2 years ago!!! He did what was right....he left, his obligations go no further without putting himself in jepardy. If the "mob" had listened to the other dozen+ threads/posts from members claiming problems then this wouldn't have happened either...does that mean those dozen+ members are now liable too? Everybody wants something for free (or at least cheap). Someone already stated they figured they buy the parts cheap while he could still take advantage of below cost pricing! (I'm not claiming it is wrong, just that we already knew what was going on long ago)

plumbers crack

Heath is what 21 yrs old? The kid ended up moving away from everthing he knew and buy's a house thinking its the right thing to do,how many people have done that at his age? I would also have to think he had some pretty good parental guidance to get that far so soon.He's obviously smart enough to have understood the situation and then figured out a way to get out. Now we are going to lynch him?Get real people.

DaveP

Agree 1000%

All of the armchair quarterbacks on here have a pretty comfortable chair to call the shots from.

VetteLT193

I still don't think you've thought that scenario all the way through.

Let's say Heath left Trick, and right after posted exactly what he just did.

All Trick would have had to do is say that it was an ex-employee that is disgruntled, and Heath loses all credibility and the thread gets deleted.

It's been said many times that multiple threads were deleted regarding Trick. What I'd love to know is if OSO could pull them back. Usually forum databases have a delete flag, not a preferment delete.

Ryan8886

Agree 100%. From a newbie perspective, it's kinda disturbing to see how some folks on here pile it on others for voicing an opinion. I joined this site a couple months ago, but was lurking about for a couple months before that while I decided if I wanted to venture into this sport. When I decided to commit to it, I paid my dues to become a member. All of my posts to date have been seeking info/advice rather than providing, simply because I'm still learning.

One observation I've noted is that some on here get very emotionally invested in "X company" or "B company" to the point that any negative input is seen as a "personal" attack. People are human and loyalty to a vendor that has done you right is both natural and usually the result of a good business model. However one thing I've learned in my years in law enforcement is that if someone is too emotionally invested in a particular outcome, there is bias. Once there's bias, credibility begins to plummet.

To the mega-count posters: Don't forget that there are newbies wandering onto this site every day with little to no knowledge of this sport looking to learn. Free flow of information, provided it's accurate, relavant or at least provided in good faith, is the purpose of boards like this. I find it sad that so many people seem to have been screwed by someone they thought was a friend. I've been there and it burns. Somtimes pain teaches the best lessons.

The general consensus is that the storm clouds were on the horizon for quite some time but people were either too afraid to post it or got slammed/flamed for doing so. That type of of heavy-handed blind loyalty, if allowed to prosper in the future could eventually seriously impair the integrity of this forum, and THAT would really $uck.

Just a newbies .02 worth.....now let's see if I overstepped my bounds.

Frequency

Well, after all the dust settles I hope we can start a thread to lay out how we go on from here, thats the BIG issue. Using OSO as a business reference tool is about as useful as using last years Wall Street Journal to pick stocks. When I came to OSO I watched carefully for a while before spending my money. When it came time to throw down some cash I was taking a gamble and lost [My logic was interesting - I went against the OSO flow because most of the posters that knew the guy came across as complete a$$holes]. Many lessons learned since then too. I had trouble with Trick a year ago and posted as such in a thread that still exists.

My current method of investigating businesses in this industry is to go to all the boating websites I can find and search everywhere for info. If I see ANY negative posts I don't use that business. Will business that are reputable lose out? Maybe so.....

So I ask the question: Going FORWARD, how are we gonna fix this?

Back4More

Let's back up a minute here...
You mean to tell me that Posts were made on OSO by paying and non paying members about their dealings with Trick and they got deleted???
By whom?

jafo

I know Marc, as many of you do. I haven't met his son, but you surely must applaud Heath's adventuresome spirit at his age to do what he did, (compare that with many of today's youth).I would bet his dad was there through all of his ups and downs.
I've been through some incredibly bad employment situations, and let me assure you, in most cases you do not feel at liberty to speak up publicly about issues. This young man was a long way from home away from family, and going out onto an internet board about what was going on was probably the furthest thing from his mind.
This board put an awful lot of effort into defending Fred in the past. Maybe at this point it would it would be proper to channel some of the power of the OSO board towards defending Heath, his dad, and the good sense that was shown in getting out of a bad situation and back into what I'm sure is a better one back home in Michigan (except for the difference in weather, of course).

100-Plus

Things I have learned from this thread.

1. Post count, in and of itself, means nothing. Having 4,000 stupid opinions doesn't make you smart or wise.

2. Paying for a membership doesn't increase/decrease your credibility (From the home page: "When ready, you can register (FREE) and begin posting with thousands of other boaters.") Having $40 to spend doesn't make you intelligent or knowledgeable.

3. The majority isn't always right. When someone complained about Trick in the past, the majority jumped down that person's throat.

4. Even popular, well-loved people can fail miserably in business.

5. Going for the "lowest" price isn't always the best idea.

6. That even among a generally outstanding message board group there's alway one or two morons who will embarass themselves and suggest taking the law into their own hands.

VetteLT193

I suggested to OSO a while back to have a vendor ratings section. I tried to find the post/thread, but I didn't see it. It was the last time he asked about upgrades to OSO.

I think a site separate from OSO would do really well, as a general marine industry ratings site. I think it should be similar to what pricewatch.com uses to rate their vendors. What you see many times is the cheapest price isn't worth the hassle!