Curiouser

NeilD · Mar 24, 2007 6:17 am

I read the comments under the thread "Curious" and tried to add my two bob's worth, only to find the thread has been locked for some reason. I can understand that we might not be able to make comments about builders generally, for obvious reasons, but from Adrian's post it would seem that it is only M*******n that we are not allowed to comment about. I'd like to know if this is the case. I don't ever have comments to make about individual building companies as I don't have dealings with any of them, but I do question the situation here. Surely if people have the need to comment about a builder, it should be about ALL builders, not just a select few. What's the policy here and why?

perryr · Mar 24, 2007 8:33 am

I guess that perhaps there's a fine line between making a comment, and defamation.

Remember that the people who run this site do so for nothing, so threats of legal action are not welcome simple solution, is to blank out the name.

Try searching for the name though - you'll see that the name is actually stored corrected in the system - it's blanked out when displayed.

I was going to make a comment on the "Curious" thread also, and saw it was locked. No correspondence entered into. I do hope that we don't get to a situation where all names are blanked out, otherwise we will need to be creative when referring to companies such as Metr1con.

:-)

Perry

First_Timer_Ray · Mar 24, 2007 9:43 am

Hi all,

I'm the member of a certain large nappy brand forum (with a toddler) and they have certain words that their filters pick up when you post - such as "nappy" their "brand", swear words etc and most people know that so they just write hu&&ies or n@ppy etc. Then you don't get picked up (in this case they must be individually read and approved by their moderators before they will post your comments) and people can understand what you write.
I can understand that the company want to protect themself from looking bad (whether it was their fault or not) and I'm surprised that other building companies haven't asked for anything similar yet...

Ray.

NeilD · Mar 24, 2007 9:45 am

perryr

I guess that perhaps there's a fine line between making a comment, and defamation.

Remember that the people who run this site do so for nothing, so threats of legal action are not welcome simple solution, is to blank out the name.

Try searching for the name though - you'll see that the name is actually stored corrected in the system - it's blanked out when displayed.

I was going to make a comment on the "Curious" thread also, and saw it was locked. No correspondence entered into. I do hope that we don't get to a situation where all names are blanked out, otherwise we will need to be creative when referring to companies such as *****.

:-)

I fully understand the situation re the people who run this site and understand any nervousness on their part. I'd be worried too, in their shoes. I'm just asking for some sort of clarification on the issue. Was the topic locked for a good reason. Is there some sort of deal with M***** homes?? I've never been into conspiracy theories of any kind but in light of the fact that some companies are talked about and yet others can not be, one has to ask why. If it waddles, quacks, and has a mate called daffy...........masybe it's a duck

Perry

newhomebuilder · Mar 24, 2007 10:21 am

Hi Neil D,

I will contact our forum manger and get him to clarify this situation for you. I am unsure on this matter as well and to why the thread was locked, maybe the question was answered and there didn’t need to be a further discussion?

Sorry I couldn’t be of much help at this stage, but when I know more, we will let you know.

Cheers

Jamie- Homeone Moderator.

epiphany · Mar 24, 2007 12:09 pm

It does seem sort of odd & a little bit over the the top.

I completely understand that the forum owners would want to protect themselves from defamation.

But surely telling the truth is not defamation? Saying you had a bad/good/whatever experience with them isn't defamation...as long as it's the truth. Defamation is all about how you say something...not whether you mention a name or not. For example...saying "Brandxyz is disgusting" could be considered slander or libel (if printed)...but not if it's rephrased "I personally don't like the taste of Brandxyz."

Stopping the name from displaying isn't going to stop someone writing a defaming comment if they're going to do it anyway. And one could argue that because the name can still be searched & it's obvious who it refers to, blocking it like this might not hold up in court (BTW, I'm not a lawyer...so this is just theorising).

To be honest, it's really rather pathetic if it gets to a point that a building company is so insecure about what people might say on a message board that they can't stand to have their name displayed at all. Never mind any negative experiences people have had (which one could argue, others have a right to know about...& "duty to provide information" is a defence against slander)...what about anything good someone might want to say? That's not going to be accredited to that company either.

Silly, really...especially as we all know who it refers to anyway.

NeilD · Mar 24, 2007 5:46 pm

I guess I'm going to have to ask the question outright. Does this forum, or at least, the people who run it, have some kind of vested interest, or at least some connection with, the company that gets no adverse comment in here.
Why is it that only one company, that I know of, has to be blanked out whilst others can be named as being good, bad or whatever.
I've been under the impression that this is an impartial forum. Am I wrong?

Adrian B · Mar 27, 2007 12:24 am

NeilD

I guess I'm going to have to ask the question outright. Does this forum, or at least, the people who run it, have some kind of vested interest, or at least some connection with, the company that gets no adverse comment in here.
Why is it that only one company, that I know of, has to be blanked out whilst others can be named as being good, bad or whatever.
I've been under the impression that this is an impartial forum. Am I wrong?

To all members:

I have PM'd the Administrator of this site to see if he wants to justify the comments made by NeilD, if he or she choses to. Might I suggest that unhelpful comments be made to the administrator via PM rather than via a posting such as this. You might want to look at the home page and check out some of the wonderful companies that do advertise on this forum. You might find that the organisation in question does not. You might also want to check my posting AND NOW FOR A POSITIVE STORY in the building forum that talks about this same organisation in a very positive light, yet the name is also blanked out there. So yes it does work both ways.

ephinay wrote:

"To be honest, it's really rather pathetic if it gets to a point that a building company is so insecure about what people might say on a message board that they can't stand to have their name displayed at all"

To be honest, welcome to the new world of litigation. No I am not kidding, and yes I do see this in action on a weekly basis in my line of work. (I too am not a lawyer for the record!!) If you have heard of ambulance chasers, then you can imagine what a keyboard chaser is. Unfortunately this is the world we now live in, rightly or wrongly.

NeilD for the record, I do NOT have any dealings, financial or other professional, with the organisation in question, apart from being a ex-customer of theirs, and am pretty disgusted at the insinuation. I would not compromise this board by doing so, and I believe that Homeone would not allow this to happen. I joined this forum like many people to learn about the building game. I am NOT paid by Homeone. I have put this comment here, rather than via PM, to prove this point to all who have read your posting. If you have any other questions about my impartiality, please PM me off the board.

I look forward to NOT having to lock or delete this topic, but will do so in the interests of the site. The site owner may delete the entire post or the entire comment or the entire topic; it is their site, I ask that you all respect this. I stand by my previous post in the original Curious topic.

Members, before you post any comment, please remember that this forum is a free service to you all, and that it is hoped that you enjoy it and benefit from it. But also remember that it is someone’s business, someone's livelihood, and that they have the right to protect their livelihood from anything that might harm it. I ask that you respect their livelihood, and their decisions.

If you have any questions or feel you have issues with this, I ask that you PM the moderators.

Enough said.

Adrian B

NeilD · Mar 27, 2007 7:26 am

Adrian B

NeilD

I guess I'm going to have to ask the question outright. Does this forum, or at least, the people who run it, have some kind of vested interest, or at least some connection with, the company that gets no adverse comment in here.
Why is it that only one company, that I know of, has to be blanked out whilst others can be named as being good, bad or whatever.
I've been under the impression that this is an impartial forum. Am I wrong?

To all members:

I have PM'd the Administrator of this site to see if he wants to justify the comments made by NeilD, if he or she choses to. Might I suggest that unhelpful comments be made to the administrator via PM rather than via a posting such as this. You might want to look at the home page and check out some of the wonderful companies that do advertise on this forum. You might find that the organisation in question does not. You might also want to check my posting AND NOW FOR A POSITIVE STORY in the building forum that talks about this same organisation in a very positive light, yet the name is also blanked out there. So yes it does work both ways.

ephinay wrote:

"To be honest, it's really rather pathetic if it gets to a point that a building company is so insecure about what people might say on a message board that they can't stand to have their name displayed at all"

To be honest, welcome to the new world of litigation. No I am not kidding, and yes I do see this in action on a weekly basis in my line of work. (I too am not a lawyer for the record!!) If you have heard of ambulance chasers, then you can imagine what a keyboard chaser is. Unfortunately this is the world we now live in, rightly or wrongly.

I was going to answer this in a PM as it's not my wish for this to turn into a slanging match via forum, however as you have chosen to answer in this way publicly, in the interests of fairness, so shall I. There WAS NO insinuation, just several pertinent questions. I realise that it's hard to convey emphases in writing and, taken out of context, my questions may well have seemed accusatory, but they were not, they were questions leading from an unexplained incident.
If you care to read the whole of my posts you will read of my agreement on this whole topic of litigation. Without going back to it, I think I said something along the lines of not wanting to be in your shoes.

NeilD for the record, I do NOT have any dealings, financial or other professional, with the organisation in question, apart from being a ex-customer of theirs, and am pretty disgusted at the insinuation. I would not compromise this board by doing so, and I believe that Homeone would not allow this to happen. I joined this forum like many people to learn about the building game. I am NOT paid by Homeone. I have put this comment here, rather than via PM, to prove this point to all who have read your posting. If you have any other questions about my impartiality, please PM me off the board.

Thank you for answering that. It was really all that was required. In future I will PM you if I have questions of the nature. If my questioning has offended you in any way, you have my unreserved and sincere apologies. I did not however suggest in ANY way that you were being paid by anyone.

I look forward to NOT having to lock or delete this topic, but will do so in the interests of the site. The site owner may delete the entire post or the entire comment or the entire topic; it is their site, I ask that you all respect this. I stand by my previous post in the original Curious topic.

I would certainly hope that it wouldn't be locked before I had the chance of reply. I think everyone has respect for this site. That does not mean however that any of us are not open to questions. One of the questions most asked on here is "What do you think of "XYZ company. Are they any good". Surely if we are open and honest about advising one another on good and bad oreganisations, then we, and the forum, should be open and honest too.

Members, before you post any comment, please remember that this forum is a free service to you all, and that it is hoped that you enjoy it and benefit from it. But also remember that it is someone’s business, someone's livelihood, and that they have the right to protect their livelihood from anything that might harm it. I ask that you respect their livelihood, and their decisions.

The enjoyment and benefit is without question, as is the respect for people's businesses and livelihoods. I'm sure everyone on here has nothing but praise and thanks for the job being done by the forum admins. Perhaps I am being a bit thin skinned here, but in no way did I threaten any of those things. As I said earlier, due to the inability of the written word to convey emphases or stress, the wrong impression has been conveyed by either my question, or your reply. I repeat, there was NO insinuation of any kind in my question.

Adrian, I apologise again if my questions have offended you in any way. I will say however, that should similar circumstances arise, I wiould feel compelled to ask again. I do ask though that you look at those questions in context and in the interests of openness, and not as a personal attack. I would never do that in such a forum.

If you have any questions or feel you have issues with this, I ask that you PM the moderators.

I will indeed do that.

Enough said.

Adrian B

NeilD · Mar 27, 2007 7:31 am

Adrian, I have tried to answer your post question by question in the previous post, but it has appeared on the page as one long post. I'm sure you'll work out what I've tried to say, just my lack of computer/forum skills.