[NOT A TA]

I also think having a section of the forum for feedback would be a bad idea. All hell would break loose. It would start with the big things being revealed and slowly work it's way down becoming more and more loaded with people bitching about the tiniest little things as more and more people got comfortable with it. More people would post complaints than would post good experiences, thats just the way people are. If everything goes well they just move along but if they're upset or waiting for parts and have free time to type they'll be posting up a storm.

This hobby is loaded with small parts manufacturers who have low volume production runs. The industry is plagued with backorders and unavailability, parts brought to market quickly, and unrealistic delivery dates for services rendered. Compound this with a customer base that expects the timely delivery of exceptionally high quality products and services at the lowest prices they can get and naturally there's going to be dissatisfaction at some level. Right now it doesn't get aired unless someone is really upset but with a forum section people will start to use it to their advantage with the "squeeky wheel gets the grease" theory. Posting that they're waiting on parts so theirs get shipped first or their car gets painted next etc.

People who aren't members may join the forum just to get a quick shot at discrediting vendors for various reasons, whether they were dissatisfied long ago, fired former employees, direct competitors, or whatever. It would be very hard to control.

Members will stop coming to the forum when they wrongly call someone out and are embarrased to be found wrong themselves or will stop coming if they aren't satisfied with the outcome of their post. At the same time some advertisers will be upset by comments made or the way things are handled and will pull their ads.

The way it is now the people who have small to medium complaints don't post because they know there will be 5 people who will immediately defend the vendor or service provider. In the long run, are the small/med grievences things we all need to know about? Probably not. Someones part got lost in shipping or damaged because of poor packing. Someones car wasn't ready for the big show. Someones part didn't fit as well as they hoped it would. Someones paint or other finish wasn't quite the color it looked like on a sample chip. Do these things really matter all that much in the grand scheme? There's a lot that goes on behind the face of the forum that isn't going to benefit anyone or the forum itself being public knowledge. A few cases have been aired and we've seen what happens.

Glowing endorsements are often given about certain shops or vendors by favored customers, people with influential positions in the industry or media, and friends who all may be getting preferred treatment or discounts etc. from the business so how much faith would we have that the general public is going to recieve the same level of service they get?