I'll defer to
@Hubert, but here's my view...
It's all about how one phrases things. Your response to Jeff was pretty brutal, claiming that his statements were motivated by free dinners. Even now you accuse him of being paid to make such comments, which we don't really know, right?
Agreed, it is up to Hubert.
I will respond to your comment, to explain my feelings though. Jeff volunteered that he was invited to the dinner. No whilst I didn鈥檛 explicitly ask the question, my assumption was that this was a free dinner. Posting comments on various platforms extolling this a success and a sell out, in exchange for said dinner, is known as payment. Posting comments like this is a success and a sell out, when we all know that it is still available, would be naughty coming from someone like me outside the industry but coming from a well respected journalist when the question wasn鈥檛 actually asked is unprofessional in my view. That鈥檚 opinion, coming from me, but read as fact coming from someone widely believed to have the facts before publishing.
Now there may be actual payment involved here, a free watch perhaps, or just said (potentially free) dinner and drinks. Who knows? I won鈥檛 be explicitly asking and I don鈥檛 expect Jeff to answer either.
What I will say is that I will profusely apologise to Jeff if I was wrong in my assumption that the dinners and associated drinks were not fully paid for by Hodinkee/TAG Heuer, there was no suggestion of any future invites, no free watches were ever received now or previously, etc. No expectation here btw, but just saying that I can wholly admit if I was wrong with my assumption that Jeff hasn鈥檛 benefitted from said hype post.
Let鈥檚 just accept that journalists used to give an honest and balanced view based on their genuine opinion on a product or brand, but these days all we hear is the hype before they move on to the next thing in their list which they are plugged to hype, however payment is received. This is my opinion and this last paragraph is across the board and not aimed explicitly at Jeff.
I am well aware that this forum, like many others, is a closed shop when it comes to the various connections on here. If you don鈥檛 fit then that鈥檚 that. I can accept that, but I at least thought that if someone posts something suggesting it鈥檚 fact, then we were all able to challenge that just like any journalist would do themselves?