Buttonhole McGee writes:

http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/lexicon.html#moenslaw-bicycles

Moen's Law of Bicycles

"Good customers make for good products". This is my explanation for
why an ignorant customer base causes merchandise quality to decline,
on account of unhealthy market dynamics, e.g., in retail computer
hardware and software. In the mid-1970s, bicycles suddenly became very
popular in the USA. The masses suddenly entered the market, few
knowing anything about bicycles. Many could distinguish poorly if at
all between good equipment and bad; good customer service and bad.
Consequently, poorly made bicycles (which cost less to make) undercut
well made ones (and poor customer service out-earned the good
variety), because their superior value ceased to be perceived. Over
time, overall quality of available bicycles declined considerably,
almost entirely because of this dynamic with customers, recovering
only after the fad ended, years later.

Quality thrives only when people can tell the difference. When they
haven't a clue about products and how they work, schlock merchandise
prevails. One can see this process at work in retail computing gear
and softwa People who know least about computing always insist most
on achieving bottom dollar. In a way, this is understandable: You want
to exercise control over the process, and, if you're dirt-ignorant
about computing, the only place to exercise control is over price.
Gradually, this effect tends to drive good merchandise out of the
market entirely, leaving a generous selection of cheap crud.


*My house does have exterior stucco, but it's not a salmon hue. Instead,
it's a nasty blue/gray, perhaps left over from the mothball fleet or one
Keeter's router tables. The nasty gray/blue (mostly) covers nasty yellow,
which is probably not the original paint color, either, based on the other
homes in this late '50s subdivision. Oh, and I've only got basic cable, so
no TLC, and unfortunately, also no Woodwright's Shop. The two local PBS
stations seem to be too busy trying to help us throw "Idea Parties." Maybe
some of us need a Clue Party.

Yes, with a proviso. Someone, somewhere needs to take the responsibility for
educating the general run of customers in any particular area. The only way
you get guaranteed access in such a situation is to be either a manufacturer,
distributor or retailer. Unfortunately, not many start-up woodworkers
(bicyclers, computer users, HDTV users, whatever the hell) even seem able to
get the concept of spending some time in their local library or visually
grazing through a local bookstore/magazine shop.

In an area about which I know little (primarily because I don't give a large
rodent's tuchus), I found a couple funny articles on HDTV and home theater
systems in the local (Raanoke, VA) newspaper this morning. One guy posed
proudly in front of his seven remotes.

Astounding.

Charlie Self
"Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of
nothing."
Redd Foxx