Free speech, what is it

Im not a big poster on here or any other forum really but when something goes wrong bike related I try and sort it out. Pretty simple you may think.
I am/was a reasonably ordinary contributing occasionally member on another Triumph Forum. I had a couple of problems with my 400 which weren’t sorted to my satisfaction. The manufacturer caused me a bit of grief which I passed on in a couple of posts on said forum. Woahhhh says the man who reads everything , you can’t blame the manufacturer on this forum and you can’t promote negativity. :thinking:Hmmm I was trying to show that I had a rough time trying to sort out my problems. I was threatened with being banned for my comments. I was pi$$ed off so I didn’t post for a month or so, but this week I started a post called “Fed up”. I was questioned why I was and gave the reasons. A couple replied to this post, but I noticed the the topic was deleted next day. So I posted another topic “Says it all” . For this posting I received the following reply
”Free Speech does not include remarks that could be inflammatory. We do not need this forum going negative or argumentative. I hope you find that answer acceptable"
I said I dint agree with the reply and am now banned for a month. I will not be returning to said forum
Just goes to show…Free speech doesn’t really exist. I have not hidden any defamatory replies. I just put my experiences down. .
Just wanted to get it off my chest. I hope it’s ok

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Free speech is a concept, not a reality… very ill defined boundaries change from place to place. If you feel restricted by one groups opinions, you gravitate to another group more aligned to your own. We’re a small group here, but I’m happy that we seem to compliment each other…

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Infrequent posters are as welcome and a part of the community just like everyone else so, good to hear from you.

Let me take the opportunity to say how it works on this forum.

Firstly, everyone here is an adult (no, really. :wink:) and gets treated as such. Secondly, free speech is a right but also a privilege. Members have it by default but shouldn’t abuse it. Intelligent discourse it what we want. There is almost never any aggravation on this forum, and that’s without the need for overbearing moderation.

Things do go wrong sometimes and no dealer, manufacturer, company etc. has a 100% perfect track record, as every review site on the internet will show. It’s perfectly reasonable to post about a poor experience and you won’t be censored for it if you feel you’ve been provided a sub-standard service.

It’s important to bear in mind that the tone of the post does need to be “this was my experience and I’m a dissatisfied customer” and not “they pissed me off and I’m going to bitch about them on the internet”. Absolutely express yourself, just make sure it’s clear what the problem is. Aim for constructive criticism that may be helpful to other members, or perhaps they can offer some useful advice.

Lastly, most people will not have had the same experience with the same dealer/manufacturer so there’s probably going to be some “well I’ve never had a problem…” Well, good for them - it doesn’t negate your experience.

I hope that helps.

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Those replies just made me feel a whole lot better. Thank you. I have felt almost like a criminal for the past 48 hours. As they say a problem shared is a problem halved. Thanks once again :+1:

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I’ve made a few comments on various forums about my disappointment in the 400… maybe I better watch what I say!! :shushing_face:

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Burn him! With fire! :joy:

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Hi Alex, nice to see you again! :grin:. As you said …just beware!

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Did the bike problems get sorted in the end? The 400’s seem to have been a great success for Triumph. I have a 400X and am very happy with it.

Hi Neal, the problem wasn’t really the bike (Manufacturer put an incorrect version of software in and promised heated grips for May, which still haven’t arrived. It was the manufacturer who weren’t forthcoming with a version of the truth that I could understand). The other forum administrator decided that my comments were argumentive and negative. Their loss, as I felt I contributed and gave good ideas. I won’t go back there now.

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I see a new topic on a certain other forum asking about DisappearingThreads… you’re deleted comments, I assume! :thinking:

Alex, I told them I’m not returning and asked politely if they could delete all my threads and replies.

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No, that was me. Despite being largely the rantings of a Trump fanboy, l was a lttle disheartened to see his congratulatory thread seemingly get wiped away. Not sure people should be silenced in that manner…

I would like to call time on this thread now if possible.