Oversane
05-29-2007, 09:13 PM
I started posting on this forum just after I received my Le Champion last year in late July.( I changed my user name from tsalconoci4891 because I got tired of typing it.) I was branded a "shill" immediately. How nice. Nice because I was a new member to a forum that generates money from advertising. When I, or anyone else, happens to click on one of the banner ads that appear on the main pages of this forum, a few cents move onto the RBR side of the ledger. More forum participants = potentially more $ for RBR. More page visits and RBR can negotiate a better deal with their advertisers. It's that simple.
So I was branded a shill. So what? The problem is that at the time there were several other posters here who also owned bikes purchased from BD. Some of them are long gone. They just couldn't take it anymore. And that's too bad. They had good info to share but they are no longer participating so their info is no longer available. So the tomb robbers drove them away. Wow. That is so cool.
What strikes me as odd is that this site lives and dies by ad revenues and when people quit visiting this site then those revenues decrease. It is like shooting oneself in the foot, which is foolish at best. But still the tomb robbers on troll have had their way. They swoop down and blast anyone who happens to like their BD bike. It makes no sense to me.
Then come the obvious shills. Maybe they come from BD central. Maybe not. They seem to be so obvious and transparent. Even I'm able to spot them, or so it seems. They ruin it for the rest of us who have a BD product. As soon as they appear, with no posting history, they get totally attacked. They get flamed until there ain't nothing left in the flame tank. Then they disappear. Maybe they were shills or maybe they were legit. That's not important. What's important is that they are driven out.
And they leave. And RBR loses a site visitor and potential ad clicker and the $ that goes along with them. It seems so self defeating because it is self defeating.
Earlier today, I posted some comments on another thread. Then I went for a 15 mile bike ride. This was a slow, recovery ride which followed an intense 95% 24 mile ride on Monday.(No, I didn't go 95% for 24 miles. Most of that was warm-up and cool down. 3 miles of that was 95% up a slight incline.) While I was out there riding, I got to thinking.
I was thinking about how it so happens that someone will all of a sudden appear on this forum and rave about their BD bike. Since BD bikes are basically entry-level bikes, I find it interesting that these "entry-level" riders seem to know so much. Their rave reviews just don't ring true. But no matter. As soon as they post, the tomb robbers show up and flame and bash them until they leave the site. Great. Another potential ad revenue generator for RBR is gone and will probably never return to this site. But the more I thought about it the more I wondered just who these "shills" might be. And here's what I concluded.
It is so easy to get a new username on this forum. I did it. Anyone can do it. And so can the tomb robbers. How convenient is it that a "so-called" BD shill should show up and then like locusts here come the tomb robbers to start the big flame war. Why...why it's almost as if the tomb robbers knew about the new shill post telepathically. Or maybe the tomb robbers knew about the "shill" post because it was one of the tomb robbers who created a new username and then posted the great shill review. They would then log out and log back on and then let the flames begin.
Maybe it's all just coincidence...and maybe not. Maybe it's a tomb robber sitting around with nothing to do and so he/she thinks, "Hey, let's stir up a hornets nest on the Moto thread. That's always fun." After watching this drama play out according to script too many times, I'm inclined to go with the latter.
And I will say ask this one more time: If BD is really so horrible, then why doesn't RBR end their association with them and slice this forum? I mean, if BD is so bad, then take down the BD banner ads so I don't have to be blinded by that ad that says "Ultegra 20/30 Sale $995." I mean really. Get in sync.
So I was branded a shill. So what? The problem is that at the time there were several other posters here who also owned bikes purchased from BD. Some of them are long gone. They just couldn't take it anymore. And that's too bad. They had good info to share but they are no longer participating so their info is no longer available. So the tomb robbers drove them away. Wow. That is so cool.
What strikes me as odd is that this site lives and dies by ad revenues and when people quit visiting this site then those revenues decrease. It is like shooting oneself in the foot, which is foolish at best. But still the tomb robbers on troll have had their way. They swoop down and blast anyone who happens to like their BD bike. It makes no sense to me.
Then come the obvious shills. Maybe they come from BD central. Maybe not. They seem to be so obvious and transparent. Even I'm able to spot them, or so it seems. They ruin it for the rest of us who have a BD product. As soon as they appear, with no posting history, they get totally attacked. They get flamed until there ain't nothing left in the flame tank. Then they disappear. Maybe they were shills or maybe they were legit. That's not important. What's important is that they are driven out.
And they leave. And RBR loses a site visitor and potential ad clicker and the $ that goes along with them. It seems so self defeating because it is self defeating.
Earlier today, I posted some comments on another thread. Then I went for a 15 mile bike ride. This was a slow, recovery ride which followed an intense 95% 24 mile ride on Monday.(No, I didn't go 95% for 24 miles. Most of that was warm-up and cool down. 3 miles of that was 95% up a slight incline.) While I was out there riding, I got to thinking.
I was thinking about how it so happens that someone will all of a sudden appear on this forum and rave about their BD bike. Since BD bikes are basically entry-level bikes, I find it interesting that these "entry-level" riders seem to know so much. Their rave reviews just don't ring true. But no matter. As soon as they post, the tomb robbers show up and flame and bash them until they leave the site. Great. Another potential ad revenue generator for RBR is gone and will probably never return to this site. But the more I thought about it the more I wondered just who these "shills" might be. And here's what I concluded.
It is so easy to get a new username on this forum. I did it. Anyone can do it. And so can the tomb robbers. How convenient is it that a "so-called" BD shill should show up and then like locusts here come the tomb robbers to start the big flame war. Why...why it's almost as if the tomb robbers knew about the new shill post telepathically. Or maybe the tomb robbers knew about the "shill" post because it was one of the tomb robbers who created a new username and then posted the great shill review. They would then log out and log back on and then let the flames begin.
Maybe it's all just coincidence...and maybe not. Maybe it's a tomb robber sitting around with nothing to do and so he/she thinks, "Hey, let's stir up a hornets nest on the Moto thread. That's always fun." After watching this drama play out according to script too many times, I'm inclined to go with the latter.
And I will say ask this one more time: If BD is really so horrible, then why doesn't RBR end their association with them and slice this forum? I mean, if BD is so bad, then take down the BD banner ads so I don't have to be blinded by that ad that says "Ultegra 20/30 Sale $995." I mean really. Get in sync.