ThreePutt said:
The brand bashing on this board is surprising to me and what's funny is other brand bashing isn't tolerated on the BMW sites.
Now that's funny to hear...
Back when I had one of my BMW's I frequented several BMW forums, and on *ALL* of them there was a ton of non-BMW brand bashing. Sure, the posted rules *said* there would be no brand bashing of any kind, but it seemed all that was taken with a bit of a *wink, wink* attitude. The only times I ever saw a moderator step in was whenever anyone bashed BMW! ::025::
Funny, too... On one of those sites -
http://www.r1150r.net/ - often the worst of the non-BMW brand bashing came from the owner of the board himself! He also despised the discussion of any other brand bikes except for BMW, to the point that at one time there was a mass exodus of paying members because the owner/moderator and his other mods started taking a stance of silently and arbitrarily deleting the posts of members posting about other brands, and all without reason or explanation. The posts would just disappear - *POOF!* Members were even banned for posting anythng about a Honda, Yamaha, etc. All of that caused quite a bit of discord and literally all at once over half the membership of the board voluntarily left. It was pretty interesting.
On another BMW board the non-BMW brand bashing got so common and so prevalent that some folks left there in a group, too.
Honestly, I don't see near the BMW, or other brand bashing, here on this forum as much as I see it elsewhere. In fact, it seems the vast majority of folks who have anything at all negative to say about BMW's are those who have previously owned them and had bad experiences. While I don't like to see brand-bashing of any kind just for it's own sake, I don't have any problem with folks sharing their bad experiences with *ANY* brand, whether it be BMW, Yamaha, or anyone else... Certainly we've seen plenty of people here on this board complain about one thing or another when it comes to Yamaha corporate, Yamaha USA, other Yamaha distributors, certain Yamaha dealers, and even their own Super Tenere's. Why should other brands be exempt?
Sure, you're gonna' see a lot of positive comments about Yamaha here... It's a friggin' Yamaha web forum, after all. But you're also going to see people "bash" Yamaha, too. Why should other brands be spared the same treatment?
Seems to me the only ones most often bothered by a few non-complimentary comments from time to time about BMW are folks who are currently BMW owners. Sensitivity can run both ways. Some here seem to think some Super Tenere owners are too quick to defend their chosen mounts, but yet those are the same ones who leap headlong to BMW's defense any time there is a mere mention that any BMW might be subject to any defect or problem... They will overlook the massive multitude of posts internet-wide about BMW final drive failures, electrical issues, lack of warranty consideration, etc., etc., etc., all while posting elsewhere on a Yamaha forum how great BMW's switchgear is, how wonderful BMW's gear indicator is, how much better they think BMW's fuel mapping is, and basically how much more spectacular BMW is than anything else, etc., etc., etc., and yet how lousy Yamaha's same items are, ad infinitum... So, in a sense, those folks are *bashing* Yamaha freely and loudly, yet they get a bit miffed if anyone says so much as a nano-whisper of derogatory comment about Der BMW!!! ::025::
Sorry, but methinks many doth protest too much about the supposed "brand bashing" here!
)
Dallara
~
