My response? Even a negative comment regarding a supplier or product demonstrates awareness and, hopefully an informed, opinion. I think that’s part of the point of the original post. You cannot avoid mistakes or make good decisions unless you’re aware of the market, good or bad. Suppliers do indeed get ruled out for all sorts of reasons, but hopefully there is indeed a reason rather than a just lack of knowledge. As for ‘overlooked’ vendors, well that’s just part of human nature. No one wants to be ‘Mr Irrelevant’. Though, as luck and Google would have it, see... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Stokes Only when people are aware of you can they form an opinion. And the opinion they form is largely down to execution - of marketing, of responsiveness, of product, of support. To quote the old adage “We’re all as good as our last piece of work”. And of course, I’m able to say this because I’m perfect... Not! As for having too much spare time ... if that were really the case then I’d join the ranks of the Anonymous Grandma and Spelling Police :-)