BarnFinds Rant

[Alphasud40]

I frequent another automotive site as many of the members do on this site. I subscribed to BarnFinds several years ago because I enjoy seeing what others discover and write about. I have also used their platform to sell a couple of my cars that were barn finds to use the term loosely. In both cases a buyer was found. Buyers flew in from others states and drove the cars home. So in general I’m satisfied as a paying member.

The other day I was browsing the site and I noticed one of my posted comments received zero feedback which I find odd because it seems my comments which are kept constructive and factual to the best of my ability usually receive feedback. In fact I have been noticing my feedback had been going down as of the past couple months. No biggie because I’m probably getting boring to the other members on the site. What really took me back a comment I made on a car that was removed. To the best of my knowledge it fell within community guidelines and the comments were not derogatory but rather factual pointing out the vehicle recently sold on BaT. Then I discovered I was viewing the page offline so when I logged back in my comment reappeared.

This is where I seek guidance form this forum because it really torqued me! I now have a level of distrust because how many other posts were getting censored without my knowledge. Not even a email from the site administrator telling me in the future please refrain from posting another website or whatever the offense might be. To further compound my frustration I sent a email 2 days ago kindly pointing out my observations and asking where I went wrong. One thing I can say is the site administrator(s) really don’t effectively manage the site. I have brought up issues as well as other members and not once have any chan been made even when acknowledged. It just makes me appreciate this site even more for how well it is moderated. I will continue to thank you for making this one of the best run sites I frequent.

 

[gsxr]

I have a similar rant about Cars & Bids. I've found several of my comments deleted (like, completely removed) within minutes after posting. The most recent occurrence (here) was a simple congratulations to the winner with a link to a document on my website with more info about the chassis they just purchased. Why would that get deleted? A question @C&B was ignored but I may have used the wrong @-mention. Interestingly, reposting with a URL shortener (shorturl.at) was NOT deleted. So is the W124performance website banned from C&B for some reason? I dunno. But anyway, from watching other C&B auctions it appears that it takes very few public flags to 'hide' a comment. Overall their algorithm seems to lean strongly towards censorship. I've stopped watching most anything on C&B unless it's an E500E or another unique 124 like the 1-year-only 300D linked above.

BaHaT (Bring a Hearst a Trailer) has similar issues where they may not post a comment, or delete it, or moderate it. Again, sometimes the URL shortener is a workaround if a verboten domain / website is being linked to (i.e., 500Eboard).

Meanwhile, actual trolls can run rampant at both sites. The mind boggles.