Break out a slice of that humble pie, I'm ready to take a bite. Last Friday I reported on a story about Circuit City forums being hacked. In that news item I made an offhand quote:

"It's a good excuse to have better taste in forums."

Comments by members of the HomeTheaterShack suggested I was being an elitist snob. So, I created an account on that forum (GarbgeDog, named after my own dog who just loves the garbage) and put forth an argument.

My contention was that a forum hosted by a retail outlet cannot possibly give you what other forums can, namely an unbiased viewpoint. Part of me felt the shack forum had the opinion of kids wearing MTV T-Shirts with AT&T baseball caps who were going to go home and watch Bowflex infomercials recorded on their PVR.

When advertising becomes a substitute for communication it erodes community.

I've also been aware of a movement where corporations use the web as a tool for organic outreach. Companies are trying to put on a human face with measures like the CEO blogging. Noted author, blogger and PR guru Seth Godin says when companies choose to "walk the talk" they better be ready to "talk the talk" too.

Certain that Circuit City was choosing to merely "walk the talk" through a moderated community I created an account to test it. Using my GarbageDog alias I dispensed morsels of advice to a (potential) Circuit City customer named Wes. I included a few telltale barbs at Circuit City without being nasty or crossing the flame line.

When Dave Romero, Circuit City forums Admin challenged some of my anti-big box assertions I thought, okay, here we go. This is where I get banned and will write a blog post crooning about the Circuit City forum Gestapo ready to squelch the truth.

To my surprise the opposite was true. Dave and I exchanged a few PMs and he actually said he appreciates my opinions. While the CC forums don't exist to host pure anti-Circuit City posts from disgruntled customers (no forum wants flame baiting) he welcomed any opinion to the forum even if it's pro mom and pop shop and less big box. Dave's contention seemed to be that any criticism I cite toward the Circuit City customer experience lets them know how they can get better. It seems Dave sincerely wants to help people with questions (and surely CC sees it as win/win sales opportunity) about new Home Theater technologies.

So, I was wrong! Especially if I'm trolling the CC forums you're likely to get balanced opinions and there is no forum Gestapo ready to pounce on a post that doesn't use the correct corporate newspeak.