I'm dissapointed KS, that you would misinterpret my candor as animus. But surely, you will notice that I'm not the only person on the planet (esp not on the NGs) that has noticed the oddity of your relationship with SlikStik. But hey, as long as they're willing to dish out to you, good for you!
You failed to mention the oddity of my relationship to Kelsey, either...I've reviewed his products as well. Was I too glowing in my review of them, or is he immune from "tainting" me as a reviewer?
Anyway, since you seem to be curious, let me give you a full history of me and SlikStik (abbreviated just to clarify things):
I ordered a SlikStik from them. It took over 8-weeks to arrive, and I hounded them with emails during that time (polite but persistant is my motto ;-) After I finally got my SlikStik, I ran into several problems (see my review). I spent a good month or so going back and forth with Christian, working out solutions to the problems I was having. He was great in helping, and we finally tracked down and fixed everything.
After the problems were fixed, I grew to really appreciate the SlikStik CP and the design work that went into it. However, after being accused of being a SlikStik shill (can't I say anything positive without being a shill?) I wrote my review of the SlikStik Classic to document my long road to customer satisfaction.
One of my comments in the review was about the lack of a manual. SlikStik contacted me about the review, and I mentioned that, as a freelance tech writer (and owner of Steele Writing Services), I could solve at least one of the problems I saw with the SlikStik. I ended up writing a user manual for them (now included in PDF format on an installation CD, something else I suggested to them.)
Since then Christian has emailed me with news of his new products. He's extremely proud of his products (overly so, sometimes, unfortunately!) I've kept my word about not disclosing upcoming products (mostly
), and he's used me as a sounding board about the new products.
I will be writing the installation manual for the new SlikStik DIY cabinet, and our settled fee is that I get to keep the cab.
They have given me a Tornado spinner, a skirted aluminum knob, and two stainless steel joystick handles for reviews. That is the extent of my "dishing out."
That, in an nutshell, are all my links to SlikStik.
The SlikStik badge on my site is a favor of mine, a temporary "thank you" to them for the first few weeks while I am setting up the site - they originally offered to sponsor the site and supply me with web hosting services, but I declined because I wanted to remain unbeholden and wanted to keep my site independent.
Christian has treated me well as a customer, and (used-car salesman excitement aside) has been nothing but forthright in my dealings with him.
Enough candor?