Bob, Mike & all; it's an interesting question. Personally, I guess the easy, and maybe best, answer is to say it's a gray area. I too have had from time to time that same odd feeling Bob mentions. In the instant case, a $360 guitar doesn't seem to be a competitor to Alembic. However, some instruments discussed in our forum are competitors. And while most of the regular members of this forum clearly prefer Alembics over other instruments, if a web surfer happens to land here and starts reading a thread that appears to favorably compare another company's instrument to Alembic, then perhaps we are doing a disservice to our hosts. But that doesn't tend to happen often.
Another thought on this topic. Let's say you've just acquired an instrument that isn't an Alembic, and that you're pretty excited about this instrument and you want to share your excitement with, and provide a review for, those of your closest friends who would appreciate such an acquisition, those of your friends who know something about quality instruments. Well for a lot us, those friends are right here. Another example; you see a listing for a rare Brand X bass on Ebay at a great price and you know several of your friends in the club really like those rare Brand X basses.
On the other hand, I don't think it's a good idea, considering that we are guests here of Alembic, for someone to come on this board and proclaim that some other maker is superior to Alembic. Clearly Alembic has provided this space as a service to those who own, or are considering purchasing, Alembic instruments; it is a bulletin board for the Alembic community. There are other boards on the web that may be more suitable for such a proclamation (as misinformed as it may be ).
So, it's a gray area. Overall I tend to think the balance here has been good, and that the members here tend to use good judgement when discussing instruments other than Alembics.
