I notice that the thread (Africa Twin) where I contributed my very disappointing periods of ownership experiences with my BMW :embarrassed: and Ducati :embarrassed: motorbikes has disappeared. Was there some rude or derogatory comments towards another member of the forum or are threads now moderated if we publish a poor ownership experience of another make of bike that some members here now own!! :nono:
As far as I'm aware this is a GTR forum and sharing experiences good or bad of the GTR and other makes should be encouraged to allow the members or people thinking of purchasing a GTR or a similar bike from a competitor to have somewhere to gain information. :grin: After all it's thoughts and comments on forums that help an awful lot of people to buy a certain model or make of motorbike. The comments on here assisted my choice to buy a GTR. :cool:
Of course if our thoughts and sometimes ridicule of the poor competition isn't allowed on here then I won't bother contributing to further discussions. After all what do I know I've only owned about 60 bikes in the last 45 years and currently only own 5 bikes.
Moderation of a forum isn't about you and your thoughts and likes or dislikes, it's about the forum members and any moderation should be impartial.
I will personally never buy own or bother with a :censored: BMW or :censored: Ducati bike again as my own personal experience with the two makes was :censored: I do have a very good friend who is a sales manager for BMW and have the opportunity to ride any of their models at any time on extended 3-4 day test rides, I now choose not too due to my own experience of the marque.
:agree: :agree:
Quote from: Robbieben on February 14, 2019, 08:28:02 AM
I notice that the thread (Africa Twin) where I contributed my very disappointing periods of ownership experiences with my BMW :embarrassed: and Ducati :embarrassed: motorbikes has disappeared. Was there some rude or derogatory comments towards another member of the forum or are threads now moderated if we publish a poor ownership experience of another make of bike that some members here now own!! :nono:
As far as I'm aware this is a GTR forum and sharing experiences good or bad of the GTR and other makes should be encouraged to allow the members or people thinking of purchasing a GTR or a similar bike from a competitor to have somewhere to gain information. :grin: After all it's thoughts and comments on forums that help an awful lot of people to buy a certain model or make of motorbike. The comments on here assisted my choice to buy a GTR. :cool:
Of course if our thoughts and sometimes ridicule of the poor competition isn't allowed on here then I won't bother contributing to further discussions. After all what do I know I've only owned about 60 bikes in the last 45 years and currently only own 5 bikes.
Moderation of a forum isn't about you and your thoughts and likes or dislikes, it's about the forum members and any moderation should be impartial.
I will personally never buy own or bother with a :censored: BMW or :censored: Ducati bike again as my own personal experience with the two makes was :censored: I do have a very good friend who is a sales manager for BMW and have the opportunity to ride any of their models at any time on extended 3-4 day test rides, I now choose not too due to my own experience of the marque.
Your points are well made and fair IMHO.
This is a Kawasaki GTR forum, and I hope it will remain as such,. It is inevitable that other brands of bikes will appear on here as points of discussion. I do not feel that such discussion has ever overstepped any margins, albeit it had become somewhat tiresome to be frequently reminded of the apparent virtues of some other brands of bikes.
I was a member and administrator of the previous Kawasaki GTR forum (2011/2012 I think) which was run by Silverfox (Max) and it was a happy place to visit and enjoy friendly exchanges, in fact Max asked me to take over the forum when he decided that he was relinquishing his involvement for personal reasons, he was, and probably still is, a very nice chap.
As for any over zealous moderating on this forum, well, we all have, and are entitled to, our own opinions in this regard.
Robbie, your post is a valid one and I understand and respect your comments.
Those who I anticipated would respond to it have done so and whilst I loathe having to get involved in posts such as the one you refer to as 99.9% of the time this forum runs very smoothly, regrettably very occasionally some individuals, one in particular displays no boundaries and this has a negative impact on persons wishing to remain members of the forum and continuing to visit it.
The purpose of any online platform such as this having a moderator is that they oversee matters and ensure everyone plays nicely and when they don't my role is to intervene and restore calm.
It is unfortunately the minority who continue to damage things for the majority.
I'm not against anyone's choice of bike, I've ridden plenty of bikes in my life, some would likely be seen as strange choices :shit: and laughed at :mfr_lol: but finances and necessity has made me make choices of bike that were not what I'd have bought if driven by my heart alone.
That said everyone should be entitled to "their" opinion as long as it's neither derogatory to a forum member or just plain rude.
I will always speak as I find. As I said earlier I've owned lots of bikes of various marques and IMO there are now certain bikes I won't buy due to my own reasons, to me reliability matters and when I've had 3 holidays affected by 2 marques it gets so it sticks in your throat a bit, hence my comments on the last thread. I'm an Engineer by trade and TBH expected better from the bikes I chose, having owned older models from both which were very good and enjoyable to ride, however I personally feel that the bikes are now built to a price and profit comes before the customer where these particular bikes are concerned. IMO The good name that BMW, Ducati brands had won't last when they are having the problems that they are unless they improve dramatically on many fronts.
I don't see anywhere as many gripes about the GTR and my bike is great for what I bought it for, I expect many years of service from it and believe it to be the best of what is currently available in the big touring bike market at present and very likely to hold it's value well until I need something a bit lighter for my senior years. Perhaps the wife will stay at home then and I can have the H2 SX SE that I'd very much like to own but can't quite justify at present.
Robbie, I loved my GTR's, they were my first proper touring bikes and I toured Scotland on them repeatedly and enjoyed it immensely. It was the only bike I ever managed big mileage on, 550 in a day, Girvan and back via Portpatrick which was pretty good going for me.
I have literally hundreds of photos of my travels on it and I cherish those memories as they are important to me.
In contrast, when I had my K1600 I found it lacked a certain quality and although it performed well I found it dull compared with the GTR.
If we were all the same what a boring life that would be don't you think?
Hopefully normal service will be resumed amongst the rebels shortly when the weather improves and then instead of stirring up trouble on here they can get out on their bikes, whatever bikes they may own! 😁
And who exactly do you consider to be "the rebels" and why ?
Quote from: O.C. on February 14, 2019, 08:55:37 PM
And who exactly do you consider to be "the rebels" and why ?
We're all rebels, it's what we rebel over and when and how we choose to rebel that matters. :grin:
Quote from: O.C. on February 14, 2019, 08:55:37 PM
And who exactly do you consider to be "the rebels" and why ?
Not you so don't panic!
Quote from: Lonewolf on February 14, 2019, 10:32:56 PM
Not you so don't panic!
Me, "panic", nah, I can assure you that that just isn't going to happen :no:
I'm still intrigued as to who does fall into the 'rebel' category :whistling:
I'm rebelling!
What are you rebelling against?
What ya got?
:mfr_lol:
I have noticed this is a very black and white forum.
Opposing views are often rubbished and points of view put forward as unassailable facts.
Having said that the good bits make it worth a look and as Lonewolf says, boring world if we were all the same.
If you want my opinion, the wife will give it to you.
We have tried numerous times to find a replacement bike which is as good or better than our 2009 GTR (within reasonable cost limits of course). The only bike my wife likes more than the GTR is the new 650 Enfield (because in her words it looks like a "proper" motor bike and the Ducati Multistrada 1250s (which is beyond my budget). Never mind, stuck with the GTR for another year or so and of course the company of the people on this forum, (as long as the wife allows it).
I like keeping it simple so feel that, when a moderator removes either a comment or an entire thread they should leave at least the title and put up something that says
I removed.......... because it was offensive /bullying etc.
That way we know who removed it and why.
Nobody wants to see something disappear without explanation
As a moderator on a completely unrelated forum, that's been my approach.
Fair, surely?
Was the thing removed a picture of Charlie747 in his pants 😱at The belfry.
Just asking :whistling:
Quote from: pross on February 17, 2019, 09:51:20 AM
Was the thing removed a picture of Charlie747 in his pants 😱at The belfry.
Just asking :whistling:
no :mfr_lol:
I seem to have missed something ! :eek:
Quote from: Rusty on February 17, 2019, 10:30:20 PM
I seem to have missed something ! :eek:
Just a pic of PRD taking a crap on a BMW badge,..... not :mfr_lol:
Ok ... looks like I shall leave this one well alone ! :smiley: