ElJamoquio

Why was a thread of mine deleted yesterday?

Brian

Could you be a bit more specific?

ElJamoquio

It was started and deleted yesterday. It was about a Motobecane.

monogodo

What forum did you post it in?
When did you start it?
When did you notice it missing?

East Hill

My guess is 'Road Bike Racing' or 'Road Cycling' .

East Hill

Brian

Your thread quickly turned into a bashing of one of our sponsors, so it was moved to Trash. While I found the auction amusing, we shouldn't bite the hand that feeds the forums.

ElJamoquio

As just about everyone on Road forum is aware, I actually *own* a Motobecane.

When I bought the bike, I had just moved to Michigan. I went into two local bike shops, and both gave me a bunch of BS, had limited inventory, and high prices. Bikesdirect was like a dream; I didn't have to build a rapport with condescending bike employees, I didn't have to sit around waiting for a half hour to be acknowledged, I didn't have to convince them that what I wanted to buy was actually what I should buy, and I didn't have to haggle to get a good price.

Since then, I've been in on many, many Moto threads. The only time I've ever recommended against buying a BD bikes was when the buyer was obviously new to cycling, and as such could probably benefit from a competent, attentive bike shop. Hell, as I write this, I have about 5500 ads up on this site for Motobecane. I like to think that it has more than one meaning.

At the same time, I've also poked fun at my own Motobecane and others. Personally, I find it amusing when others convince themselves that their expensive bikes actually make a difference, so I chuckle to myself and move on.

I appreciate that this site is a for-profit enterprise. I appreciate all that BikesDirect has done, both for this site and for cycling as a whole. But you're treading on a dangerous path. A forum without open participation is far more at risk than a forum that loses a sponsor. As soon as participants start to feel censored against giving their opinion, you'll see a backlash. And there are other bike forums.

Brian

I can't stop people from leaving if they feel that this is some sort of censorship. But if it's the very same people that want to bash one of our sponsors, then I guess I won't be sorry to see them go. Likewise, if a thread turned into one big bash on Giant (or Trek, Specialized, etc.) I would probably put an end to it, as threads like that do nothing to promote our sport.

On that same note, I get a few emails each month from people that either stopped posting, or decided not to join, simply because of the amount of abuse that is heaped on noobs or members that don't ride the latest and greatest. And that's just the people that take the time to contact me. I'm quite sure that we lose more viewers/participants to some of the negativity that goes on here than we do to the actions of the moderation staff.

Roody

I can't disagree with your reasoning. But I'm curious about the implications. If a big advertiser did something bad or wrong, would you be willing to permit posts pointing this out? For example, if Specialized suddenly started building bikes of which 1 % had cracked frames, would you allow some Specialized "bashing"? For that matter, if Kryptonite locks were discovered to be easily jimmied by a coathanger, say, whould you feel good about publicising that fact? I'm well aware of the pivotal role played by BF in the Bic/ulock expose. Could something like that happen again, or would you consider it to be advertiser bashing and nip it in the bud?

Brian

Currently, there are active threads bashing two of our sponsors. But in both cases, the members that started them have legitimate complaints. One has been addressed by the company owner. The other one, I just sent an email to my contact at that company to please respond. In any case where a member has a valid complaint, or question, I have contacted that company and asked them to respond. But I cannot allow baseless attacks on a company, sponsor or not. It's not good for the forums, and it's not good for cycling.