Ummmm....banned ??

[smudger1956]

last post 9mths ago, maybe its a conspiracy of silence

:d:d:d:d

 

[GaRRy]

Firstly, the dealer's comment was removed along with a whole host of others from the those that have been banned.

Yes but we all know what was said and has the dealer (thought it was actually a representative of Stork) also been at least reminded of their conduct as well ?.

Pretty certain it would not take me long to find comments on other bikes that are just as (if not more) defamatory then those allegedly against Storck and never seen any hints that they should be removed.

As I said when original comment was made by Storck representative it really was not the way to deal with criticism and IMHO they have now just dug a bigger hole for themselves and dragged even more of us into the quagmire.

 

[Jeremy]

As someone who's been intimately involved with the law for many years, I can say with absolute certainty that fear of breaking the law is frequently misused as an excuse for taking action on internet fora.

The law is clear, in fact, as a consequence of a couple of recent examples (none of which truly set case law) we should all be reasonably aware of what is and is not legally OK. The best advice I can give is to use the "tabloid test". Would what is being posted be OK in the tabloid press? If the answer is, "yes, I've read far worse in the press", then it's almost certainly legal.

Let's be absolutely honest here. No one on this forum has ever come close to the sort of comment or insults one reads every single day in the tabloid press. To suggest that things like copying an email on to a forum is somehow illegal just shows a lamentable lack of understanding of the law of libel, and is, I very strongly suspect, merely a cover for taking action for an entirely different reason.

 

[rsscott]

Yes but we all know what was said and has the dealer (thought it was actually a representative of Stork) also been at least reminded of their conduct as well ?.

Yes they have been told.

 

[wissy]

so traders can be banned..?? How many warnings do you need before being banned and it isn't very transparent is it? You should have an appeals procedure hey or how about a poll!!!!?? I vote we ban a trader.. Throw a die and let's see whi it should be. i say we ban admin for a week for being a naughty boy!

bring back the boys!!!!!! ring back free wanton technical advice that assists members of the pulic make nformed choices!!

For admin:
If I called you a muppet would I get a warning or be banned?

 

[jazper53]

As someone who's been intimately involved with the law for many years, I can say with absolute certainty that fear of breaking the law is frequently misused as an excuse for taking action on internet fora.

The law is clear, in fact, as a consequence of a couple of recent examples (none of which truly set case law) we should all be reasonably aware of what is and is not legally OK. The best advice I can give is to use the "tabloid test". Would what is being posted be OK in the tabloid press? If the answer is, "yes, I've read far worse in the press", then it's almost certainly legal.

Let's be absolutely honest here. No one on this forum has ever come close to the sort of comment or insults one reads every single day in the tabloid press. To suggest that things like copying an email on to a forum is somehow illegal just shows a lamentable lack of understanding of the law of libel, and is, I very strongly suspect, merely a cover for taking action for an entirely different reason.

I am not aware of all the circumstances but a private email made public needs permission of the sender, is that correct and is it illegal to post ?

 

[amigafan2003]

so traders can be banned..?? How many warnings do you need before being banned and it isn't very transparent is it? You should have an appeals procedure hey or how about a poll!!!!?? I vote we ban a trader.. Throw a die and let's see whi it should be. i say we ban admin for a week for being a naughty boy!

bring back the boys!!!!!! ring back free wanton technical advice that assists members of the pulic make nformed choices!!

Why does it need to be transparent?

You don't have to use this forum you know.

 

[GaRRy]

I am not aware of all the circumstances but a private email made public needs permission of the sender, is that correct and is it illegal to post ?

Not sure on the legal position but it was already in the public domain on another forum and just repeated here so horse bolted springs to mind (especially if had been on other forum for some time without complaint).

 

[wissy]

Ref amigam

Because I have an opinion!

Am I getting closer to being banned now for having an opinion?

 

[Old_Dave]

For admin:
If I called you a muppet would I get a warning or be banned?

Only one way to find out






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[funkylyn]

so traders can be banned..?? How many warnings do you need before being banned and it isn't very transparent is it? You should have an appeals procedure hey or how about a poll!!!!?? I vote we ban a trader.. Throw a die and let's see whi it should be. i say we ban admin for a week for being a naughty boy!

bring back the boys!!!!!! ring back free wanton technical advice that assists members of the pulic make nformed choices!!

For admin:
If I called you a muppet would I get a warning or be banned?

Im sorry wissy but, with all due respect, you are not in possession of all the facts.

The men involved had been warned many times for various things that its not constructive to bring up again now. I dont know exactly everything that has been said by them this time....and nor do I want to.

This is a good forum that has occasional spats that sometimes have gone too far, there is a wealth of knowledge on here and plenty of technical advice freely available and given by many members who are not traders.......and by many who ARE......so, no need to bring it back....its still here

You yourself have seen, in the short time you have been here, how much advice has been given by forum members to try to help you make an informed choice.

As members of this forum we have to abide by the forum rules, there have been times, I admit, that I have been frustrated at a perceived lack of moderation.............and at times been relieved at it

The good far outweighs the bad in my opinion, there are some amazing people on here who give up hours of their time to help newcomers and anyone else who has a query, and I have been, and still am, grateful for what I have learnt and am still learning.

I hope you manage to test ride some bikes very soon and let us know how you get on.

Lynda

 

[rsscott]

Well, a complete thread for a start................

AFAICS, there was nothing in that thread that could possibly have got you, as site owner, into any sort of legal hot water whatsoever, and there was nothing in it that was offensive. Sure it was critical of what many have seen as an overly heavy-handed bit of one-sided censorship and moderation, but is disagreeing with the views of the web site owner a valid reason for total censorship? Not in my book, and not something that would be entertained on Endless Sphere, even by the most severe of the moderation team there.

The value to your advertisers, as you know far better than I, comes from the honest opinions given here, and the exposure they get to a community that is a focus for their potential customer base. Bias, even if only perceived bias, will undermine that value, particularly if people go to other, far bigger and more influential ebike forums and reveal what seems (from the perspective of some ordinary members) to be going on here.

Jeremy,

That thread was created with the sole intention of inflaming this situation. As I've already said to you, you are not in sight of the full facts. That's really all I can say.

 

[wissy]

i may be accused if not having all the facts but who really does?

i still disagree with banning people who are being EXTREMELY useful in this forum and my 'newness' should not diminish my opinion on matters now should it? Is there a rating now for opinion values correlating to time spent here? perhaps the argument should apply or be slanted towards 'newbies' who are likely not to be biased in any way from having made friendships or foes in disagreements in a forum over times.

My sit in continues. I have now got a flag (a proper one ie a Welsh one ) and am starting my boycott now.

 

[RobF]

Wissy,

Funkylyn (above) is spot on.

You've had a good say on this topic, so maybe it's time to sit back and relax.

And don't go calling the admin Muppets - Kermit might sue you for defamation.

 

[wissy]

i am sitting .. I am doing a sit in.

Ps I disagree with you.

 

[Jeremy]

I am not aware of all the circumstances but a private email made public needs permission of the sender, is that correct and is it illegal to post ?

No, not at all. Once you've sent a correspondence to someone, either by letter, email or whatever, then it is out in the open, unless you specifically enter into a contract (i.e. a non-disclosure agreement) with the recipient.

There is a mass of precedent to prove this, private letters were often bound and sold as books, for example. What's more, email is unencrypted and free to be read by anyone, so is regarded, in law, as public, not private, correspondence. You may have noticed that companies often include a disclaimer as an email footer pointing out that email is insecure and can easily be misdirected.

 

[jerrysimon]

Sending an email is like putting a post card in a royal mail post box

PS Never a dull moment on this forum lmao

Jerry

 

[funkylyn]

i may be accused if not having all the facts but who really does?

i still disagree with banning people who are being EXTREMELY useful in this forum and my 'newness' should not diminish my opinion on matters now should it? Is there a rating now for opinion values correlating to time spent here? perhaps the argument should apply or be slanted towards 'newbies' who are likely not to be biased in any way from having made friendships or foes in disagreements in a forum over times.

My sit in continues. I have now got a flag (a proper one ie a Welsh one ) and am starting my boycott now.

Well, wissy, while you are enjoying your sit in and boycott (of what ? ) might I suggest that you use your time constructively and start reading through posts starting on here from, ooh, lets say, maybe 17 or so months ago and then maybe you might start to see how "EXTREMELY useful" certain, now banned, people have been on this forum in the past.

Thats not to say that they havent been useful, helpful and indeed amusing, at times, but when I said you dont have all the facts, I mean you dont know the history behind all this.

Though I still think your time could be used better by test riding bikes to find one that suits you......that is, after all, why you joined.

Have fun

Lynda

 

[Jeremy]

Jeremy,

That thread was created with the sole intention of inflaming this situation. As I've already said to you, you are not in sight of the full facts. That's really all I can say.

Whether that is true or not only the originator, and perhaps yourself, can know. However, many other forum members contributed to it, and had their contributions censored, so my comment stands, I'm afraid. If you wanted to suppress discussion on this topic, then censoring that thread was probably a counter-productive action, as the comment has switched to this thread. If this thread is similarly deleted then I strongly suspect someone will start another.

I don't think anyone objects to sensible and even-handed moderation after people have been publicly warned that they were over-stepping the mark. On the other hand, it seems that quite a lot of people object rather vociferously when censorship seems to be applied out of the blue, as seems to be the case here to many of us.

Some of this comes down to trust and belief. We have your word, and that of Helen J (whoever she is) that your actions are justified. However, as far as the majority of readers of this forum can see, there appears to have been swift and decisive action to remove two long-standing members from this forum for no apparent reason and with no visible form of warning.

Is it then surprising that some form the view that the sudden deletion of two long standing members was made for some other reason?

Sadly, this action has reflected badly on the ebike company at the centre of this, and has undoubtedly damaged their reputation in the minds of many who read this forum far more than a few comments about exaggerated performance figures.

 

[wissy]

Well, wissy, while you are enjoying your sit in and boycott (of what ? ) might I suggest that you use your time constructively and start reading through posts starting on here from, ooh, lets say, maybe 17 or so months ago and then maybe you might start to see how "EXTREMELY useful" certain, now banned, people have been on this forum in the past.

Thats not to say that they havent been useful, helpful and indeed amusing, at times, but when I said you dont have all the facts, I mean you dont know the history behind all this.

Though I still think your time could be used by test riding bikes to find one that suits you......that is, after all, why you joined.

Have fun

Lynda

You may be interested to know that I only joined this forum after reading threads contributed to by eddieo which I found enlightening. One of the first things I did when My moderation queuing ceased to be here after spending several hours on weekend (ok all of my weekend I think sad muppet that I am! ). was to send eddieo a PM asking him for his specific advice.

I do find it interesting you are very keen on educating me

Ps I am boycotting cricket
Pps I am not really literally having a sit in although I am sitting so please do not worry
Ppps I think it is unrealistic for you to decide what is better use of my time and perhaps discourteous to be honest? Oh and my very first job for three years was time and motion actually
Pppps I have nomintention of test riding a bike .. I did say thatnin my first thad. call me reckless or a mauppet i care not.