Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Fake Aston Ad

I understand fully and appreciate the stand that has to be taken on this excellent forum guys and girls, but hey was there one man that saw and didn't want an owed one even if they are not a David Brown fan

I will try and find a picture that was taken when I had a post-show night out (many years ago). The gorgeous lady wrapped around me (and now happily married to a well known bike racer) gave me the nickname of The Budster. . . you have her to blame! (ps She made Miss Tissot look like an ironing board!)

As for the lLB, I think Boshers comment, when he met her, at Le Mans sums it up?

"Cor, what are you doing with an ugly old git like him?"

GWS Boshers

Bud

_________
2003 - 4/4

Simon, I wasn't going to post this, but on reflection...

IMHO it is equally, if not more, inappropriate to be on TM "at work"... if you are at work you are there to work not waste time on the Internet. Further more, if others are then offended by what you are viewing because they are impolite enough to be viewing over your shoulder, then hey ho, they need to get a life!

I can sense the ground swell of complaints to this old fashioned view in the modern world of smart phones and connectivity everywhere. But when I was working, it used to infuriate me if staff were checking personal e-mails, or on the net for personal shopping etc. Nowadays with Facebook, Twitter, etc. etc. the potential for time wasting must be massive

I'm in danger of being on the wrong thread... end of mini-rant

Oh! BTW... I'm another Tissot fan Bud

Monte, whilst I think your statement is very noble, it simply isn't the reality. As you said, this is another topic for another thread, especially as the arguments for and against are diverse and equally debatable. However, I will summarise by saying that you can spend vast time and expenses trying to limit Internet use at work and therefore, my policy is simply to explain what is acceptable and empower the members of staff to make the right decision. If they do not, it is fairly obvious and becomes a disciplinary matter, which can be dealt with using various parts of their employment contract, namely the Internet and Email Use Policy.

If someone chooses to sit at their desk and read BBC News, Talk Morgan, Sports News, etc, etc, on their work PC during their lunch break, I have no problem with that at all.

The point is, during those acceptable times, all it takes is someone to look over their shoulder and take offence for the matter of Internet use to take on a completely different issue. As I said, the Aston ad was borderline but not the focus of this thread. What is important to remember is that in our current employment climate, it is not the way something is said, or meant (or in this case seen) but how it is perceived or believe to be intended for an employee to have a case against the other employee and indirectly the employer.

I have raised two issues before but this seems an appropriate place to post again:

1. Whilst everyone's sense of humour is different there have been two occasions recently where I have seen blatant racism in the 'jokes' thread. I am not talking about the type that people moan about 'the world becoming PC', simply 'I hate Muslims/foreigners/people of a different race' masquerading as 'humour'.

I find it staggering that people think it's acceptable to post this on a public forum, especially one which consists of many international members or people with diverse family backgrounds. It also drags the forum down and unfortunately it has soured my viewing here and my perception of some Morgan owners. People have worked hard to move away from negative stereotypes and this is from the dark ages.

In advance, to those that know who they are, please don't bother remonstrating with me, I grew up in the most multi-cultural city in the UK and wouldn't change it for the world.

2. People have posted verbatim quotes of various news stories without linking to the original source. While this on the face of it is completely innocuous this is breach of copyright. I have been on a forum that had no choice but to pay compensation after being legally challenged over exactly this. The alternative would have been expensive and ultimately pointless legal action. If you're going to post something, please fully reference it, because the legal responsibility is with the site owner not the person who posts.

I tend to regard Forums as something akin to your local pub... Pop in for a chat, listen to interesting debates, ask a question, tell a joke.

Some pubs are more genteel than others. This is one of them. I've yet to see anything even faintly offensive.

Nick, regarding your points:

Point 1, I agree entirely and anything posted on this site, that contravenes the site rules, which everyone agrees to when they join, will be treated as a breech of these and the appropriate steps taken. Nevertheless, and as has been noted, this site survives on very low moderation. What we do rely on is members to point us toward threads that are not in the spirit of the forum break the rules of use. I have not been made aware of any posts that do so and if there is one, one of us should be made aware. I have to admit, I do not read the joke thread, in fact I have to skim over much of the site because I simply do not have the time to delve into every post, as well as answer emails from site users, do the admin and all the other elements (which includes dealing with posts like this).

Point 2, I agree and that should be done. I would also argue that unless TM is profiting from posted information - which it clearly does not - then I would imagine the process would be: owner of said post notify us to take the information down, we remove it, no problem. The issue would begin if we were posting information that was not our own and charging to access to it, or using it to attract people to a site which sold a product or service. I believe it highly unlikely that any reasonable person or company would seek compensation from TM when it could be proven the site is actually run at a significant loss. That is before we get into the element of the terms of use of the site and the fact your views are your own and unmoderated. If we were asked to take down an individuals post and were given clear and good reason, we would. The views of those posted are those and not of the site.

With all of that said, it is important to reference all sources.

The hypothetical situation you describe is exactly what happened on a previous forum I was on (which was even smaller than this and relied on a smilar modding policy).

A quote was posted from a product review article (as in, 'hey, look at this' - not even masqeurading as something else), sans source, and the company that owned the copyright took direct legal action. It was a non-profit forum, with all costs absorbed by the owner - membership was open to anyone and there were no adverts, absolutely zero revenue stream. Despite asking if removal would settle the matter the copyright owner went ahead with legal action. The site owner had to settle with his own savings, which was very difficult.

I know this is the extreme end of the scale but some people are aggressive with any copyright violation unfortunately so I do a sharp intake of breath when I see things posted without appropriate reference as this one incident basically ruined the community. Unsurprisingly the owner decided it wasn't worth the bother running it after that episode.

I would be interested in knowing which forum this was, what the article was and who the company was. Drop me a PM please.

Important also to remember that opinions and tolerances vary and it's difficult to gauge the 'happy medium' and therefore can't please everyone all the time.

Having said that, the only times I have ever had to raise an 'issue' and notified the posters they were more than extremely reasonable and understanding; and I genuinely feel that applies to this community in spades.

Oh, and my comment to The Budster at LMC was completely justified