Neon wrote:There are new rules coming! We have been noticing a trend regarding the use of this section of the forum that we are going to address. It is apparent that some users are registering, and posting messages with the sole purpose of harming competitive companies.
This section is to provide information (good or bad) about companies that you have worked with. It is NOT a personal forum to vent, slander, or whine!
Stay tune for changes...
PLEASE NOTE: Wholesale411 does not sell product, nor do we know who is reputable (or who is not reputable). So, if a post is deleted, moved or edited...it is because we feel if is not adding useful content to the forum.
Neon,
I am somewhat concerned about the deleting of posts which purport to harm competitive companies. Whenever someone acts solely as the information filter on these forums, they lose their unbiased nature, and become a "who knows who" to get airtime or a dictator type censoring occurs. You have been very fair and honest in letting people speak the truth within these threads, and I think that this is the beauty of Wholesale411, eventually the truth comes out through information.
I understand the dilemma which you face concerning individuals attempting to merely "vent, slander or whine", but the answer should be counter-information rather than more scrutiny on what may or may not be posted. I won't get into speech issues which tend to break down into legal jargon, however, this is ultimately a speech issue in that you, or your moderators ultimately control what is written and whether it remains. When you and your moderators come together to make judgment decisions on what is valuable speech and what is not, you must take into account the ramifications of making ANY decision on what is valuable and what is not. As previously mentioned, the beauty of this forum is in its lack of censorship rather than its control of information. I could go on to explain what courts think the value of speech is, be it commercial, political, or otherwise, but suffice to say, that all speech has some value and those threads that you delete may be more worthwhile than you or your moderators know or feel. I only ask that if you do make rules regarding posts, those rules, and those who are given the power to enforce them, are made very clear to the forum members.
If it were up to me, I would allow the information to be posted, with hopes that the free market of information would counter any false accusations which are made. In the alternative, perhaps a disclaimer banner could be added to the threads in this forum to suggest that the opinions or viewpoints expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the forum or its moderators.
I'm interested to read others viewpoint on this censorship issue because ultimately that's what this amounts to is censorship.
Dean
SDAttorney@gmail.com[/quote]
However, I'm still not quite sure what the policy is for removing posts, I know you rarely do it, but please let us know who has discretion, on what basis these posts are removed, and what are the key words, or language that will result in automatic removal? 