Does the email address in the “contact us” work?
Hi aron82e,
It works and I have received both of your emails (one yesterday evening and one today) 
It often takes me a number of days to reply to emails (unless they are more urgent) because there are many other priorities which are higher up the list (including my replies in the forum and many other ongoing activities that are part of running and growing this site) and my ability to reply to most emails and PM’s depends on how up to date I am with other higher priorities.
Unless for some reason they are not suitable for the forum … I send a “standard” reply to most of the emails or PM’s I receive which I’ve added after this post. I was just about caught up on my forum replies and was about to reply to some of my emails including yours when I noticed you had also posted here so I thought I’d reply here instead.
In the case of your emails … your question is perfectly acceptable for the forum and I’d be happy to point you to some of my forum replies when similar questions have been asked previously if you can add it to this thread.
Phoenix
Copy of my “standard” reply to emails and PM’s ,
Hi …,
I’d certainly love to help but it would help me a lot if you could post your questions on the forum. That way it can also help others with similar questions or in the same area and helps make the forum a more useful resource. It also of course saves me from having to answer similar questions many times on an individual or private basis and with the forum growing, my ongoing research and conversations with various outlets and manufacturers, and other tasks that are important to the ongoing development of the site taking up most of my remaining hours (besides sleeping), I am not able to provide any private consulting or replies to requests for help outside of the forum (unless of course a question is not appropriate for the forum).
Thanks for your understanding and I’m looking forward to helping in any way I can on the forum.
Phoenix
Phoenix-
I did not want to ask this question on the forum as I really appreciate the work you do and the information provided. I would like to ask if the companies you suggest on the forum do they give referral fee’s to you for business coming from the forum.
My intention is not to question motives but rather to understand if the companies recommended are done so solely on research or whether its a mixture of research and business arrangement.
Again the forum and the work you do is amazing I just know with the amount of time you spend working on the forum there HAS to be a monetary upside… and since there are no advertisements on the site it has to be some arrangement with the companies promoted…
Thank you.
Aron82e
Hi aron82e,
[quote]I did not want to ask this question on the forum as I really appreciate the work you do and the information provided. I would like to ask if the companies you suggest on the forum do they give referral fee’s to you for business coming from the forum.
My intention is not to question motives but rather to understand if the companies recommended are done so solely on research or whether its a mixture of research and business arrangement.
Again the forum and the work you do is amazing I just know with the amount of time you spend working on the forum there HAS to be a monetary upside… and since there are no advertisements on the site it has to be some arrangement with the companies promoted.[/quote]
Your questions have been asked on many occasions … and so they should be from time to time
The short version of the reply is in post #2 here. A longer version is in post #64 here and in post #37 here.
In addition to the first article on the front page of the site … you can read a little more about why I started the site in post #404 here and some of the history that led to it in post #4 here.
The site itself has always been transparent about the source of it’s income and it’s listed in the services link in the top menu (the one that says "how we survive)
There is also a “somewhat hidden” donation link and my comments about donations in the submenu link that I added because of many requests (see post #7 here)
There are currently 21 manufacturing or retail members of the site (and more on the way as soon as I finish some projects that I’ve been working on for a few months and need to be completed before I open up the site once again to new members). This is a very small percentage of the hundreds of manufacturers and retailers that are mentioned throughout the forum in various lists around the country but these members are the sole source of income for the site. I would guess that they represent about 10% or so of the mattresses that are purchased as a result of the information in the forum and on the site. in other words I point to value or even “possibilities” wherever I find it regardless of membership here.
One of the most important goals of the site has always been to be fact based and to promote full disclosure so that anyone can validate the information for themselves and not have to “just believe” anyone (including me).
Any project which has been a 12 - 16 hour a day project for over 2 years without a day off yet of course needs an income to survive and I’m grateful that the income is now at the point where basic survival is no longer an issue … even though it took some time (over 2 years) and the emotional and financial support of family members to get there.
So it was time once again for someone to ask the question and hopefully it’s been answered for you and others who may be curious. It’s nice to see that this time it was asked in a spirit of curiosity and a tone of respect instead of being part of a personal attack which has been the motive behind it on several previous occasions.
Phoenix
My main question was regarding transparency and you’ve answered that… The fact that you earn money by doing this is expected… my concern was “are the companies that you’re backing (sleepez) really that good or are they only good because you have an interest in them” but I’m comfortable in my understanding that the credibility and integrity of a company is more important than your personal gain and that’s why all the companies you recommend offer really good service.
Thank you.
I think the main achievement of this website is that it provides enough information so that you can make your own decision. If you decided it’s good (quality and value) based on what you learned, then you should be very happy with the end result in general.
Of course, if you decided to blindly trust any listing and recommendation posted here, then you have to trust your trust.
Hi whoever,
Bingo
The materials, layering, and design of a mattress is always more important than who puts it together! “Theory at a distance” in terms of knowing which mattress may match the specific needs and preferences of any particular person is always subject to confirmation based on actual experience because no matter what any “averages” may say … each person is unique in ways that may put them outside the range or “averages” of other people’s experience.
In the simplest of terms … each mattress needs to be evaluated in several ways.
- Overall feel which is subjective but can be tested.
- Pressure relief which is the major part of “comfort” for most (but not all) people. This can also be tested in person.
- Support/Alignment which is all about how well the design of a mattress keeps your spine and joints in neutral alignment in all your sleeping positions. This takes a little longer and more care to test in a showroom.
- Preferences which is all about things such as temperature regulation or motion separation which is not part of the essential needs of a person but can have a significant effect on how well a mattress “works” for each person or couple. Most of these can be tested as well although a few like ventilation and temperature regulation may require some knowledge of the materials in the mattress that can affect this to predict how it may perform over the course of the night.
- Quality which is all about the durability of the materials and identifying any potential weak links in a mattress which may lead to the loss of comfort and support over time. This requires more specific information about all the materials and layers in a mattress.
- Value … which has two parts. One of these is the “commodity value” of the materials in a mattress compared to other mattresses that use the same or similar materials in similar amounts. This needs to take into account all the materials and components including the cover which can be a significant part of the cost of a mattress. In some cases … a high quality quilted cover for example can be more costly than the entire cost of a cheap mattress. The second part to “value” is all the other objective, subjective, and intangible benefits that are part of any mattress purchase including the benefits of dealing with a particular retailer or manufacturer. These could include things like the ability to make changes and adjustments to the mattress after a purchase and any costs involved, delivery or shipping, the quality of the help and guidance you receive, the “risk” involved in any purchase, other products that are included in the purchase price (such as a foundation, bonus packages etc), or any other benefits that are important to each person and are part of the purchase itself including before, during, and after the sale.
All of these can be “quantified” to larger or smaller degrees and as you mentioned the goal of the site is not to take anyone else’s word for anything (nobody else can feel what you feel on a mattress or really know what is more or less important to you) but to have the information and means you need to evaluate all of these for yourself
Phoenix