Unhappy with moderation and personal attacks?

Bullying, harassment, arbitrary moderation & why some regular contributors leave

I know in the recent past several well respected contributors to TMC have left this forum, stopped contributing, or decided to take a break from the forum and I wanted to share some feedback based on an experience I had recently where I was personally attacked and called an animal by another forum member.

My apparent crime and justification for this personal attack is that I suggested to someone who was considering spending about $105K for a P85+ that they might want to consider paying just a little bit more for a P85D. That suggestion was enough for a forum member to engage in a personal attack and what disappointed me more than the personal attack was how a moderator stepped in and made the situation worse.

I am perfectly capable of defending myself, respectfully. However in this case when a moderator stepped in, rather than admonish the TMC forum member who personally attacked me and remove the post where I was attacked, the moderator instead surgically edited the post where I was attacked and left the rest of the post by the person who attacked me. Then the moderator censored and removed my responding post in its entirety though I did not personally attack anyone and I was respectful in addressing the person who personally attacked me. So from this incidence what I gather is that personal attacks on TMC are tolerated but what is not tolerated is someone respectfully standing up for themselves when attacked.

So what is the TMC policy on harassment and personal attacks? Is it tolerated as was the case when I was attacked where such posts are surgically edited, sanitized and basically left alone? If a respectful post in response to a personal attack is going to be censored and removed in its entirety should the same not be done to the actual post where a forum member was attacked?

Recently a well respected forum member shared the atrocious story of how personal attacks against him on TMC made their way to the real world to a point where he started receiving threatening phone calls and messages and for this reason he is going to take a break from contributing to TMC. If you tolerate and appease people who engage in personal attacks you can expect more of such atrocious behavior in the future.

What also surprised me is how right after a forum member personally attacked me, another forum member used that opportunity to pile on me with all sorts of bizarre accusations in a personal message to me. The diatribe against me on the personal message I received had to do with the thoughts I shared on the thread below and apparently his take on it was that I was "crapping on Tesla" because I took the time to share a few areas where Tesla policies can be improved to better serve their customers.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...Tesla-Warranty-CPO-Service-and-Other-Policies

I do want to make a note of the fact that since these issues on the above referenced thread were brought up, we now know that Tesla will share the service records of CPO cars when requested and they have also started selling "used" cars that do not meet their CPO criteria. I am in no way taking credit for this but both these policies better serve Tesla customers and better represent the Tesla brand. Such discussions will help Tesla be a stronger company and this is what Elon himself had to say about feedback and criticism. Some TMC forum members here who feel compelled to attack other forum members should pay attention to what Elon has to say on this topic...


Unfortunately TMC is sometimes seems more of a Tesla Fanclub than a forum for Tesla enthusiasts to share information. I feel TMC is sometimes is more for Tesla the company than for Tesla enthusiasts, owners, or future customers. Any suggestions for areas where Tesla can improve the product and services they offer are merely tolerated only up to a certain point before anyone sharing such thoughts are attacked. Is this the community that the moderators and the power that be want to build here?

What is ironic is that though the Tesla Motors Corporation forum has essentially no moderation, I would have been felt more comfortable on there in a similar situation because at least I would have had the option of standing up to a bully who would personally attack me and not have my respectful reply removed by a moderator.

I will continue to contribute here and contrary to what some may believe, I am a huge proponent of Tesla but I happen to think there are some areas and policies that they should improve on as they go more mainstream to be more competitive. I will continue to share my opinions and views on matters. If I say something factually incorrect, please present your own facts and disagree with me. On a public forum, you don't necessarily have to like and agree with everything you hear. For those who feel an urge to want to personally attack those you disagree with, learn to agree to disagree respectfully when you are on a public forum. And while I am wishing for things, I hope moderation becomes more evenhanded in dealing with those who attack at least as much as towards those who are attacked.

HankLloydRight said:

Obviously this message did not belong in a public thread, which is why I sent it as a PM. But is this an attack? Are these "bizarre accusations"? I honestly do not think they are, as I was trying to provide you some honest feedback and criticism to you, as Elon described people should do in the video you posted. And given you've been publicly supportive of me and the web apps I've created for the community (thank you), my PM to you was meant to be friendly in nature and not an attack at all but rather a set of honest observations.

But if the mods and/or forum members think differently and that I did attack you, then I publicly apologize.

Click to expand...

The point is when I was bullied by someone by being personally attacked and called an animal, you decided to pick that moment to pile on me by sending me a bizarre diatribe of insinuations and accusations. There can be no moral justification for someone being bullied or personally attacked. It is wrong.

---- Your PM to me ---


---- Your PM to me ---

Who are you to question my motives and to accuse me of being "short on Tesla?" Are you seriously making the accusation that my grand scheme here is to point out in detail a few policies where Tesla can be more reasonable to their customers or provide better service and that somehow will bring me a financial windfall? Go read my posts going back months and you'll see that I have been respectful in my discourse with other forum members and I have pointed out what I feel is fair and what is not fair. There are times that I have been on Tesla's side (like when the discussion about Autopilot delays came up) and there have been times where I have been on the side of a Tesla owner (such as with the situation that came up with Cyclone's CPO car).

Your accusation that I am "short on Tesla" and that I "crap on everything" is indeed a bizarre accusation. It's all the more distressing when considering the fact that you are essentially stating that this is the reason and justification that I was personally attacked as if to excuse the personal attack. Such an attitude is precisely what I am talking about that is wrong with the present culture of this forum. This is precisely why several forum members who have been immensely valuable to the community here have left. On a public forum, forum members should be able to share their thoughts, both positive and negative, without being bullied, personally attacked, or unfair accusations lobbed against them.

If you keep this up where those who might have a different opinion are attacked, TMC will become a nice eco chamber and I doubt that's what anyone wants.