tompoland wrote:It seems that to a few, my thread read like click bait and to others, my being a marketer by profession raised red flags. Stereotypes and cognitive biases abound unfortunately. I do wish that people would not rush to judgement and it's a shame that those who did failed to scratch under the surface but then again the reaction of those few is perfectly understandable given the covert nature of many marketing attempts in the Coffee world.

Your post read like a click-bait advert because it employed exactly the same teasing presentation...you mention this amazing grinder suggesting some of its amazing attributes that your readers might be interested in knowing more about without actually coming right out and with specifics (like the name of the thing)...which is the approach of nearly all of the garbage "news stories" that pop up on my smart phone browser that when you click on them they take you down a rabbit hole of pages requiring endless clicks on "next" to get to the point of the story...while at each step bombarding you with advertizing of some sort.

As I wrote earlier, I quickly learned not to waste my time pursuing such garbage. I suppose that sort of learning can be called stereotyping, cognitive bias formation, or the development of reflexive "rush to judgement." I view this sort of learning as beneficial and having great survival value (protecting against potentially harmful effects of advertising).

BTW, I take you at your word that your intentions were quite sincere and altruistic and I suspect you just presented your post in the manner that you, as a marketing expert, have learned...essentially your own "cognitive bias." Unfortunately that doesn't work on everyone.

I've read more than I care to about Tom here.

Me too yakster. Nothing to see here. Let's all move on.

tompoland wrote:Thanks to those who know me and vouched for me and my apologies to those for whom my post triggered suspicions. I wasn't aware of the policy of not posting simultaneously across different platforms but it makes sense.

It's in the site's terms of service, but a lot of people click "I agree" without reading (I'm guilty of it, too). Anyway, as long as you agree to the site's rules and are willing to dial back your [inadvertent] marketing tactics, you're welcome to share your review of this "mystery grinder" on HB.

The site policy makes sense. I appreciate you taking the time to post Dan.