Hey Guys!
Sponsors play an integral part in allowing forums like this to be well used. Without them we can’t have these great piscatorial discussions and learn new ideas. I enjoy using a range of fishing forums on the web and most of the people here are subscribed to more than one.
In recent times on certain forums there has been a quiet and subtle increase in posts and entire threads simply vanishing if certain sponsors don’t like the discussions of their products. Now, I’m not just talking about major criticisms, I’m talking about minor inadvertent discussions which don’t go in the sponsors favour.
This is only one example but earlier this year I started a discussion of a ‘how much do you spend between Shimano and Daiwa’ on a different forum. I started by saying that I had spent $400 on a Shimano Stradic combo, but by page 3 of the thread Daiwa was substantially in the lead. Then vanish. Not blocked, no warning, entire thread vanished and nobody will be able to trace it. It would not come as a surprise that Shimano was a sponsor.
Interested, I started setting up accounts and testing others and was amazed at the amount of deleted, blocked and vanishing threads and posts. Even if you have an unbiased structural criticism they can disappear. The hardest part is that it is difficult for anybody else to know other than the person posting. And most interesting Shimano seems to be the biggest culprit.
You turn on the T.V and see Shimano has controlled most of the market. You see them in the Magazines which have become over commercialised. And now it seems they are permeating onto online fishing forums. It is important to note though, it is not just Shimano.
Now I’m not debating Sponsors presence vs. their absence, rather bringing to attention the incremental increase in the deletion of posts and threads, not because they are anti, but quite simply because they don’t portray the sponsors product in a particular manner how that the sponsor would like. If I feel a particular reel is way overpriced for its performance, then I should not have my thread completely vanish. In some forums it's becoming the theatre of absurd.
Australia is a great democracy, and we proud ourselves with being able to speak freely. Please to everyone listening including the members, sponsors and moderators. Please keep the removal of posts due to sponsors within the bounds, because on other forums they have passed the threshold leaving a sobering assessment of our direction.
I should also note this is not just a problem that I’ve noticed, talking to others who use various online forums it has come to their attention too. And this is by no means a criticism of Ausfish, I am referring to the wider fishing forums in general. I bring this to everones attention becasue a lot of people don't realise it's happening.
I am interested in what other people think.
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