Hi windyshores,
I just realized I forgot to include the link to Tuft and Needle in my original reply to your question – sorry about that. They were members previously but asked to be removed from the site membership list in 2015. I think this completely answers your question.
Actually, it seems this is exactly what you are implying. But this is not the case. Threads are started by members asking about specific products and as you stated they are not guided toward one brand or another, and if you take the time to do a cursory search on the forum you’ll see many people who have purchased Tuft and Needle, as well as other brands, in various threads. As I mentioned previously in my reply (and the links contained within), the large majority of mattress purchases made by people visiting this site are for brands outside of the site membership.
You’re assuming (incorrectly) that the only sales that result from people visiting this thread (and the various others on the forum) are the ones who take the time to post here, which of course would not be accurate. As I mentioned previously in my reply, the large majority of mattress purchases made by people visiting this site are for brands outside of the site membership.
What is stated as a “review” on Amazon or any other site would be the least reliable many in which to make an informed mattress purchase, as I can point to a myriad of memory foam mattresses on sites like that with “5-star” rating that use some incredible low quality materials. These “reviews” are generated generally in the short-term by a populace unqualified to render an educated analysis about a product. While most reviewers are certainly well meaning … because most reviews aren’t relevant to anyone but the reviewer and can be “influenced” so easily and in so many ways … for the most part (with only few exceptions) mattress reviews are a classic example of garbage in / garbage out even though the “garbage” may be well meaning and true to the experience of the person writing the review. Of course, you’re welcome to put as much emphasis into whatever information you read as suits your personal preferences and beliefs. I just wouldn’t agree with using sites like Amazon as guidance for a mattress purchase, either pro or con.
If a reader were to feel that they can’t trust this site because they feel they are entitled to complete information about businesses that may or may not have been contacted for site membership and the processes involved, even though the qualifications for membership are transparent and posted prominently throughout the site (see here and here ), to me this would speak more to that person’s personal biases, and even cynicism, than any lack of transparency of this site. It is repeated here and in other areas of the site that membership of this site is not a reason to make a purchase.
Membership is generally a side effect of my ongoing conversations with retailers and manufacturers and I don’t actively “seek” new members. In other words, the process is more “organic”. In most cases I wait for them to ask and some of them haven’t even been to the site enough to realize that membership is even an option. In some cases, I have talked with them for several years and the idea hasn’t even been discussed. The Objective Criteria I use includes the knowledge, experience, and service of the manufacturer or retailer and looking at their mattresses to make sure they meet the quality and durability guidelines here and that the information on their site is relatively accurate and factual. Some of the more subjective or “best judgement” criteria I use include asking myself what I would say on the forum about a manufacturer or retailer and the mattresses they make and how they compete with others that I would consider to be among the “best in the industry” based on all the parts of each person’s personal value equation that may be most important to them.
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). While I certainly have my own preferences (and latex for example is one of these), and my own biases (quality componentry and construction), my first loyalty is to information about anything connected to mattresses that can be validated or at least agrees with the “preponderance of the evidence” when black and white answers aren’t available so that people can make up their own minds about what they may need and prefer, regardless of who else it may agree with.
This site has always been about providing information about “how” to choose a mattress that provides the tools and information that will make the quality and value of a purchase self-evident, regardless of brand, so that each person has the knowledge and information to be able to assess the suitability, quality/durability, and value of a mattress purchase for themselves based on their own unique needs and preferences and criteria regardless of what anyone else may prefer or recommend and without having to “believe” anyone. It’s the difference between helping the members here learn “how” to choose vs telling them “what” to choose based on preferences or criteria that may not be relevant or meaningful to them or in many cases may not be in their best interests (or the difference between giving someone a fish or teaching them how to fish).
Even the logo of the site (Borromean rings and a mobius strip around them) is meant to represent the three “ideals” of the site (listed in the about us page here ) which is to connect educated consumers, with high quality and value manufacturers and retailers that provide exceptional service. Like Borromean rings … if one of these links breaks … they will all fall apart and like the mobius strip that surrounds them … these types of manufacturers, retailers, and consumers are all on the same side no matter where they start.
Membership only recognizes the quality, service, and value that already exists and there are many great options that are listed in many of the lists across the country that may not be a member for years or in some cases may not even realize that a site called The Mattress Underground exists (although that’s unlikely if people found them through the forum lists). My goal in other words has always been to point to value wherever I find it regardless of membership and let the membership be a side effect of ongoing conversations that looks after itself as more manufacturers and retailers become more aware of the goals and ideals of the site. There are many others that are “among” the best value in the country that are not members here and that you will find in my lists and comments in dozens or even hundreds of posts around the forum that I also think highly of.
In the end of course, what someone believes about anyone else, this site, or a particular manufacturer or brand, is always up to each person and each of us is always free to use any evidence (selectively or otherwise) that we choose to justify our beliefs, but it makes sense to me to give someone the benefit of the doubt when their history goes back many years and points to the kind of integrity that is incredibly rare in the industry today.
You’re certainly free to take the information presented (and not presented here) and weigh it according to your own personal scale of importance, and through the fact of omission discount any brand that is not a member here of the site (which I think would be a mistake), or discount any member here of the site for which you don’t have a complete explanation of everything involved in them becoming a member (which I also believe would be a mistake), or you could simply use the guidelines presented in the mattress shopping tutorial to objectively analyze the componentry within any mattress you’re considering and make your decision in that manner (which I strongly suggest). The information is here for you to use (or not) as you please, and as some say, worth the price you pay 
.
Phoenix