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Damn, Threads get closed down quickly these days!


Dicky DQ

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Having lost interest in the Hub, i only returned to look for a 2nd hand bike then also browsed around again.  Honestly it seems that all threads that are not sales related should be prevented form being started. Just to save time you know, seeing as they get locked so quickly.

Anyway, now I know it is a sale forum for sure.

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1 hour ago, TDFN said:

Having lost interest in the Hub, i only returned to look for a 2nd hand bike then also browsed around again.  Honestly it seems that all threads that are not sales related should be prevented form being started. Just to save time you know, seeing as they get locked so quickly.

Anyway, now I know it is a sale forum for sure.

So, you lost interest in the community aspect before the most recent changes started it towards a marketplace focused site, then returned to use the site for it's stated purpose, and complained about the changes....?

There is still plenty of scope to discuss cycling related content here, and we are occasionally also indulged in pitchfork brigades....

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2 hours ago, TDFN said:

Having lost interest in the Hub, i only returned to look for a 2nd hand bike then also browsed around again.  Honestly it seems that all threads that are not sales related should be prevented form being started. Just to save time you know, seeing as they get locked so quickly.

Anyway, now I know it is a sale forum for sure.


What is a "sales related" thread? I think our latest moderation action was closing one of these.
 

2 hours ago, King_Crispy said:

It's just another way Matt gets to stay autocratic. Another way he gets to enforce his blind trajectory of: it's my site, my rules.

Basically it's unconstitutional. Disallowing freedom of expression.

 

 

Flame away haters


We are freely expressing through our autocratic rule that we don't want the moderated comments on Bike Hub.

More seriously, no. We are not illegally infringing on your right to expression by moderating the forums.

You might be getting confused with the equality clause (s9) which specifically states that individuals cannot discriminate against each other and is what usually makes the newspaper headlines. Section 16 (Expression) does not have the same. But interpreting Section 8 of the Bill of Rights to have a more direct horizontal application than the courts currently apply is a long standing debate. Some would show a bit of sympathy to your claims.

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One or two threads close before I can read them…

My only concern sofar is loosing some members which inputs and outlook on life, I enjoyed. 

I do keep coming back, since I love bikes and all cycling related, but definitaly less and reading more on international sites and bike builds.

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image.png.e05629e327f53078b7682b71a648569d.png

Apparently unrelated banter is a reason to close a thread too? ????‍♂️ If memory serves, there was nothing nasty or out of order in those 3 - 4 pages of banter, only jokes and silly comments. Apparently, no politics, religion, current affairs, or unrelated banter is allowed on this site. 

And of the other 3 reasons for closing the thread in question, apparently we can only discuss transactions that originate on BikeHub, and if the people involved in that transaction are banned, then the thread gets closed too. I assume if @TDFN gets banned, this thread will get closed too (it'll probably get closed in any case though). I understand why the buyer and seller were banned, but that's not necessarily a reason to close thread in my opinion. Seen as the admins were happy to share that the guys were banned, they could have just let everyone posting on the thread that the guys were banned and left the thread open and allow it to fizzle, rather than basically saying "we won't allow you talk about this anymore". 

I wasn't able to ask questions of Matt before the thread asking why threads are closed, was also closed. Apparently that's also not allowed. 





 

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6 hours ago, TDFN said:

Having lost interest in the Hub, i only returned to look for a 2nd hand bike then also browsed around again.  Honestly it seems that all threads that are not sales related should be prevented form being started. Just to save time you know, seeing as they get locked so quickly.

Anyway, now I know it is a sale forum for sure.

If you take a step back I'd say this is a touch on the melodramatic side. In the last 2-3 weeks I think two threads have been closed. One was a "sale thread", the other a suspected scam which was removed entirely. Most discussion that takes place is not related to sales or the marketplace, but are cycling related. And we still have a non-cycling section.

I'll stand by what I said when we announced the changes to the scope of off-topic discussions. If Bike Hub loses its appeal because we no longer want to play host to controversial or sensationalist topics that are unrelated to our reason for being (cycling), then perhaps you've been hanging around for the wrong reasons. That may come across harsh and will be a bitter pill to swallow for some long time members who's cycling interest/input has waned over the years. 
 

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4 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

They come back and some even stay despite 'hating the site a little more every day' apparently ...

It's such a crap situation for me (assuming you're quoting me). I want to be part of the community of BikeHub, but hate how the community is being "managed" and controlled and told what they can and can't do, and how the desires of the actual "community members" are completely overlooked and ignored. Look at the "Petition to bring back comments on the classifieds" thread. Clearly, the community wants comments, but a decision was made against that. Look at the "End of non-cycling related content" thread - I think many threads were deleted that many many people would have preferred were left open, but that didn't matter. Look at all the threads that have been closed or deleted lately - it definitely wasn't at the request of the community. 

But there isn't really an complete alternative. The discord chat is way better in my opinion (and strangely doesn't have moderators), but the classifieds here make me reluctantly come back cos I'm looking for a few things, and discord doesn't have a classifieds, and it's unlikely to find a frame or whatever on OLX. But if there was a alternative to the classifieds, I'd gladly use that, and discord, and not come back here.  

(This isn't a sarcastic post, this is my honest feelings about my interactions with the site)

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6 minutes ago, Matt said:

If you take a step back I'd say this is a touch on the melodramatic side. In the last 2-3 weeks I think two threads have been closed. One was a "sale thread", the other a suspected scam which was removed entirely. Most discussion that takes place is not related to sales or the marketplace, but are cycling related. And we still have a non-cycling section.

I'll stand by what I said when we announced the changes to the scope of off-topic discussions. If Bike Hub loses its appeal because we no longer want to play host to controversial or sensationalist topics that are unrelated to our reason for being (cycling), then perhaps you've been hanging around for the wrong reasons. That may come across harsh and will be a bitter pill to swallow for some long time members who's cycling interest/input has waned over the years. 
 

Mate 2 threads were closed yesterday, let alone the last 2 - 3 weeks. 
 

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

image.png.e05629e327f53078b7682b71a648569d.png

Apparently unrelated banter is a reason to close a thread too? ????‍♂️ If memory serves, there was nothing nasty or out of order in those 3 - 4 pages of banter, only jokes and silly comments. Apparently, no politics, religion, current affairs, or unrelated banter is allowed on this site. 

And of the other 3 reasons for closing the thread in question, apparently we can only discuss transactions that originate on BikeHub, and if the people involved in that transaction are banned, then the thread gets closed too. I assume if @TDFN gets banned, this thread will get closed too (it'll probably get closed in any case though). I understand why the buyer and seller were banned, but that's not necessarily a reason to close thread in my opinion. Seen as the admins were happy to share that the guys were banned, they could have just let everyone posting on the thread that the guys were banned and left the thread open and allow it to fizzle, rather than basically saying "we won't allow you talk about this anymore". 

I wasn't able to ask questions of Matt before the thread asking why threads are closed, was also closed. Apparently that's also not allowed. 





 

Thread derailment (unrelated banter) is actually a common reason for the locking of threads in the history of Bike Hub, particularly ones of a more serious nature. We tend to let less serious threads run away in this sense without the level of harsh moderation you might expect from the likes of North Korea. Perhaps this has created the impression that derailment is okay in any context.

The transaction not taking place on Bike Hub is relevant in context of the reviews that were placed on Bike Hub more so than the thread, but worth noting nonetheless. This is a violation of our T&Cs as we cannot assess the validity of claims regarding to transactions that occurred on an entirely different platform. 

If you've got questions fire away or pop me a DM. We do typically close threads related to threads that were closed, particularly in a situation like this where neither party is available to participate and conversation around such issues tends to spiral into a speculative rabbit hole that isn't constructive. 

 

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6 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

Mate 2 threads were closed yesterday, let alone the last 2 - 3 weeks. 
 

 

 

Forgive me, I treated those as one since they were directly related.

I do hear you on not liking the way the site is run. Unfortunately most decisions we make risk upsetting users on the site. It's the nature of trying to wrangle such a diverse and large platform (within our small South African cycling eco-system). Contrary to what you might think we consider all feedback and requests deeply. But that doesn't mean we'll act on every request or at least in the way every member wants us to.

What we at HQ love (and sometimes hate) about Bike Hub is that we know we'll be held to account by our members. Be it a sub-par content piece, ill considered feature or something we simply overlooked we know we'll get an earful about it and quite often rightly so. 

A lot of attention is placed on the few decisions we've made that a vocal minority dislike. Yet daily we're quietly making decisions and taking action of all magnitudes in the interests of this community. Ensuring the systems run smoothly, improving and adding features, fending off scammers and spammers, and dealing with the occasional dispute or moderation issue. 
 

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