Let's all remember that this happened in April - of 2013. So it's now 18 months old.
But the issue of moderators editing posts with the apparent goal of appeasing supporting vendors is an ongoing and relevant topic.
First, this thread was posted in the vendor's sub-forum, to which the vendor has moderator rights.
Maybe that was a bad move, or maybe it would not have affected the outcome.
But it amounts to crapping on the vendor's front porch, which may not have been a good idea.
Also, before we get too far down the path toward labeling the moderators as villians, the original post should be looked at again.
The way I read it, the moderator removed the content of the OP's first message, but left the "shell" of the post there, with a moderator comment in there. This could have been made clearer, but the moderator's literacy and usual apparent amount of effort must be kept in mind there. Anyway, it was the moderator basically saying "Let's stick to the facts" and "repost this again, with what went wrong".
So it was not absolute censorship. It was still clear (well, translucent anyway) that the OP had an issue to discuss, if he could discuss it in an acceptable manner.
Reading between the lines, what I think happened was that the OP wrote up a passionate rant, full of feelings and impressions, and it may have been possible to parse out the facts by reading that, but who wants to pick through a rotting pile of debris trying to get to the nuggets of truth? So the moderator wiped the crap out and invited the OP to try again.
And the OP did not try again. Either he did not have the patience to try again after cooling off, or he does not possess the ability to think/talk rationally and therefore was unable to repost with "just the facts". Instead, he launched another passionate rant about censorship and favoritism. That's not going to resolve anything.
I have no stake in either SuperATV or this forum financially, and have no obligation to either.
But looking at this thread out of idle curiosity, I support the forum's decision to do what was done.
If the OP had re-posted and started a level-headed discussion, it would have turned out much differently.
Someone else said that one should try to work it out with the vendor before going public, and this is true.
I suspect that the OP would say that he tried to do this, but I also suspect that a recording of that phone call would have painted a different picture.
This forum is not a charity, it's here to make money.
The vendors are also here to make money.
Both entities are also here to promote the sport, and the people participating in the sport, but they can't keep doing that if they have no money.
In order to keep the money coming, they have to maintain a good reputation, and sometimes that means censoring someone who goes off the chain and cannot work out an issue calmly.
I had an installation issue with a SuperATV product not long ago. I ended up working it out on my own, but contacted them afterward anyway. They were interested in my issue and willing to help, and I am sure that if the fault had been solely theirs, they would have made it right. But it was already "good enough" (my assessment) by the time I contacted them. I was mainly interested in providing product fitment feedback at that point.
