Where is Eddie?

Hi guys,

 

Where has eddieo got to?

I notice his profile says 'banned'?..

 

Regards

Martin

Currently in a sunny place

I heard he was terrorizing forum members over on Endless Sphere

He unfortunately got himself banned and expelled from the forum, something which many of us were unhappy with, but I remain in touch with him. He lives not far from me anyway.

He unfortunately got himself banned and expelled from the forum, something which many of us were unhappy with, but I remain in touch with him. He lives not far from me anyway.

 

Thanks flecc, that pretty much sums it up I think! Wondered why I hadn't seen him on here lately..

 

Martin

I notice Indalo is absent / banned also. Are the bans temporary or permanent? I hope only a temporary ban as they both add alot to the forums imho.......

I understand that Eddie's is a permanent ban, I wasn't sure about Indalo, but since he's no longer in the member listing, he must be also.

 

I agree, I'd prefer to see them still in here. I agree with banning destructive internet trolls, but think aggressively advanced opinions are perfectly ok, just reflecting the attitudes of society at large.

"Eddie's not with us any more - he bit the big one."

I miss eddie as well. He has thoroughly insulted me a few times (I've no time debates that turn into ad hominem fallacies to be honest) but most of the time his posts were worthwhile reads.

Yup, the forum's definitely got too "nicey nicey* without Eddieo.

 

I miss the fiery threads that his blunt and often humorous posts instigated.

 

Plus he kept the Trade members on their toes. :-)

Trial reinstatement for both banned members if both parties were agreeable ?

 

I'm sure the majority of forum members ( with a few exceptions) miss them both .

Edited March 17, 201313 yr by GORDONAL

Trial reinstatement for both banned members if both parties were agreeable ?

 

I'm sure the majority of forum members ( with a few exceptions) miss them both .

 

The probable reason why the administrators are reluctant to do this is that both Eddie and Indalo were banned once before and later reprieved, only to get banned again.

 

I'm still in favour of them returning though.

.

Edited March 17, 201313 yr by flecc

I remember Eddieo & Indalo having short term bans before. I don't have any insight into the reasons why it has happened on this occasion, so it wouldn't be fair for me to pass comment on that. But they both seem to add a great deal to the forums from what I've seen & certainly other forums that I belong too can get far more feisty than anything I've seen on here, so I hope this can be ammicably resolved and they can return before long.

Like it or not, this website is a commercial operation. The owners/administrators make their money from advertising.

 

I'm guessing that there were commercial implications to what Eddie and Indalo did. You might have noticed that there's no longer a Storck banner on the left. It disappeared at the same time as Eddieo and Indalo, so the two things might be connected. It wouldn't have surprised me if some of the other advertisers were getting a bit nervous after what happened during those events, and they could have easily had a quiet word with the administrators, so things might not be as straight forward as a bit of name calling. Unfortunately, they'd both been previously banned and re-instated. I think that there were then further transgressions and warnings, so they were their own worst enemies, and were in a very precarious position, if they did anything that had commercial implications for the administrators.

I wonder if Eddie's now incognito on ES, and quietly fuming about 1, 2 and 4kW machines being ridden in perfect legality in some states.

I always found Eddie a straight forward speaking person.

As per the spat with Storck , who cares.

Most of the ebike sponsors on here are just trying to make a living.

If someone removes their sponsorship over a few crappy emails, they should not be in the retail business.

Like it or not, this website is a commercial operation.

 

That is the whole point and you need look no further for your answers as to why eddieo and Indalo were banned.

 

I have been following this forum for years and I am aware of eddieo, Indalo, their history and the nature of the contributions which they have made. eddieo always came across as a straightforward sort of person with strong opinions. Unfortunately for eddieo, some of these opinions were not in the best interests of the organisations who pay for a presence on the forum. Rather than entering into a debate, these organisations have sought the removal of the source of criticism from the forum. And this has been met with some success, particularly in the case of eddieo.

 

Contrast the above behaviour of a private individual, banned for publicly criticising a commercial product, with the behaviour of an commercial individual who pays for a presence on the forum. The, "paid for" commercial individual poses as a private member by opening a second user account with the intention of deceiving the membership. They then post, under the guise of a member of the public, comments which are favourable to the products which they sell. Not only that, they publicly attack rival products and traders.

 

So, we have two sets of behaviour, eddieo, a punter with no commercial interests. He is simply vocal about his thoughts as an end user of ebikes. Then we have Mr £ of Brand X. He pays to be here. But Mr £ also has a dual identity, he also pretends to be just like us, a punter. Under the cover of this dual identity, which is calculated to deceive, Mr £ then tells us just how wonderful the bikes sold by Brand X are and how inferior rival machines can be. Not content, Mr £ then levels some pretty nasty and damaging accusations at his commercial rivals.

 

Who receives the ban here? eddieo for candidly voicing his opinions, or Mr £ for voicing his equally strong opinions, but in a most deceitful and untruthful way? Well we all know the answer.

 

The forum administrators usually end up locking or removing content whilst simultaneously vomiting the usual hollow words regarding an investigation, but this is simply a stalling tactic to allow the matter to blow over. It does indeed seem to be the case that if the price is right, our morals can be parked for the good of goddess coin.

Edited March 18, 201313 yr by 50 Hertz

You have to remember that everything is supposition. We don't know for certain what the facts are, but you could be right; however, in Eddieo's case, if he wanted to make the sh!t fly, he needed to put his umbrella up first. Instead, he put a big target on his back and a sign that said shoot me here.

 

For me, I'm sad that's he's gone, but I can see why, and I'm pretty sure that I'd have done the same if I was an administrator. I don't know what happened with Indalo, other than that he attached himself to Eddieo. Indalo seemed pretty harmless.

I too noticed the scrimmage prior to joining the forum. Yes it’s necessary to have opposing views without which this forum would be worthless but… there’s a limit.

 

For example, I’ve learnt something of the pros (and there obviously are many, vocally expressed!) of Tonaros, but also have an idea of some of the cons thanks to informed counter-opinion. My own bike may be marvellous (yes it is!) but there are other good bikes out there; and it has disadvantages as they all do. We need people to say so. In any case, pros and cons are always relative to our own needs and means.

 

But a forum can be overwhelmed by the reiterated expression of a few people’s strongly held views. I did rather get the impression that that was what happened. It all seemed to start with a well written contributor review indicating that whereas a Storck model had many strengths, it might also have some weaknesses relative to the use being made of it. Well there’s a surprise! But the subsequent debate degenerated. One can make one’s point once or twice but enough is enough.

 

There are people here who have strongly held views on quite a number of subjects. They express them now and then and that’s great. But they also seem to know when to shut up. After all, doing so does tend to strengthen the point of what eventually we do say.

 

Another thing I noticed about the forum is the presence of the sponsors. On the French site, they’re strictly consigned to their specific section; here not. Personally I welcome their presence here. Whereas their natural enthusiasm for their products needs occasional reining-in, by and large they are restrained and informative. Moreover, they display (no doubt with the odd grinding of teeth!) a considerable degree of co-operation, which surely is essential to develop the e-bike market as a whole.

 

Free speech is such a valuable thing that maybe ‘the Banned’ should be offered the opportunity of return; as long as they display an understanding that freedom of speech has a limit, which if not self-imposed will be applied from elsewhere. Does it not all remind you of another, much greater debate taking place right now?

Edited March 18, 201313 yr by AlMel

 

But a forum can be overwhelmed by the reiterated expression of a few people’s strongly held views. I did rather get the impression that that was what happened. It all seemed to start with a well written contributor review indicating that whereas a Storck model had many strengths, it might also have some weaknesses relative to the use being made of it. Well there’s a surprise! But the subsequent debate degenerated.

 

Yes, Eddie frequently got up my nose & often didn't seem to know when enough was a bucketful - but, in this case, let's be quite clear: It was mr. Storck that got his ar$e in his hand & belittled the opinions of forum members.

 

I reckon he got what he deserved - ridicule; but commercial clout, unfortunately, held sway.

Edited March 18, 201313 yr by jackhandy