Censorship on Skiboards.com

[jjue]

So it looks like the heavy hand of censorship is coming down at skiboards.com .. Recently a post by Roussell linking to vids of his Bolton Valley edit , skiboarding in glades and trees , as well as my Buddy, Wendell's post on the Sherpa were deleted !

Thank you G ! You are a good man and are not afraid to allow us to talk about other manufacturers products and even praise them ... you understand that guys like myself and Ed (Brklyncarver) who ride Summit products and have good things to say about them also ride Revel 8 and Spruce products and care deeply about Skiboarding and have positive things to say about all skiboarding products and that is not bad .......

I must say that I am very disturbed that Doc went along with Remington II and has laid down a very heavy hand with censoring posts .. I do not think this is good at all ...

[taimos]

mmmm facism in skiboarding...goes against every single thing i beleive skiboarding represents...freedom, enjoyment, differance, being chilled, spreading the word, pushing for better and better boards, improvement etc etc.

tut tut tut.

[SkaFreak]

That seriously is sad. If you're concerned about competition, you don't just try to remove their existence. You let everyone know every aspect about both boards and make sure that yours is the better board. G doesn't even bother saying that his boards are always better. There are applications where spruce boards are better than Revel8, and I don't see G telling anyone anyways. I don't know enough of what went on behind this, but I'm curious if this might have something to do with the Lacroix boards and with Spruce deciding to make SBOL it's exclusive US dealer. Anyways, this site has always given a better vibe off to me, so I couldn't care less about the censorship over there.

[zapmeister64]

I originally came across skiboards.com first before here and I tried to get involved in those forums, but there was not enough activity going on over there.

Personally, I love this forum and SBOL because of the people and the constant stream of new threads and of new people asking questions.

[Ian.cap]

Competition is a good thing. So is conversation. As I said in the sherpa post, open discussion and healthy competition have kept this sport alive the past few years. If not for that dialogue, companies would not know what customers want. If you have a good product and service to back it up, there is plenty of room. By closing the doors to that you're only hurting yourself in the long run. One negative post will have more weight than several positive ones. And now it’s spilling into here. I’m guessing we’re going to see forum membership/use grow even more now over here.

It really is sad. We need more unity in our sport at this point if we want the growth to continue. Rise Above the Hate!

And JJUE/Val – We miss you when you visit over there so I’m glad you’ll be here more!

[Roussel]

althought the videos i posted did have some clear shots of revel8 skiboards, they were not advertisments or promotion for revel8 in anyway.

[jjue]

What bothers me so much about this , is that the deleted posts were not by folks blatantly trying to sell or promote competitiors products but rather from two long term posters on skiboards.com who have had a long history of suporting skiboarding . As everyone knows Roussel has been very even handed with his Skiboard magazine and has posted product information and advertisements for Summit products on his site and has been a strong supporter for an inclusive view of skiboarding to involve all products and not just riders who are tied to a particular brand . Roussel was a regular poster on Skiboards.com long before I went to that website and is well known to Doc . The purpose of Roussel's post was merely to show the fact that park rats now have things in common with those of us over at Skiboards.com who frequent deep pow and the glades . His vids demonstarted that very well , and is somethiing that Valmorel and I commented on and posted postive things about .. . Neither of us in anyway felt that Roussel's post was an advertisement for Revel 8 ... In fact Roussell even anticipated some flack and even said right off that his post was in not in any way an advertisment and that he didn't want to offend anyone because product names were apparent on some shots.

My buddy , Wendell , has bought more stuff from Skiboards.com then any person I know , he has bought 10+ boards from Doc over the years , only posted there , and referred all his friends to buy things from Skiboards.com . He has been one of the very strongest supporters of Skiboards.com over the years , also long before I got there. I was very shocked to see both of these guys posts suddenly deleted with no explanation ...


I understand that business survival is important , but COMMUNITY is important as well . Roussel and Wendell have been long term members of a COMMUNITY over at Skiboards.com and have suddenly been censored with their posts deleted. It certainly does destroy the idea of an online COMMUNITY and RESPECT within a community for its members who have contributed much over the years. doesn't it ? This is something we really do not need in this small part of the wintersport world.

[tyberesk]

Originally posted by Roussel
althought the videos i posted did have some clear shots of revel8 skiboards, they were not advertisments or promotion for revel8 in anyway.

weird part is...i realized he left the sbu edits up there.

[adeehr]

I don't get how talking about a competitor on a forum could hurt business that much. Especially since you figure how many people buy from sites without ever even going to the forum, in fact the forum is quiet far down on the side bar and isn't the easiest thing to see.

If nothing else hurts that board it's the lack of posters that go there. It's no knock on Doc or his business, it's just a fact. This community is much more open and youth orientated, and those are the people utilizing the forums.

I guess I am with Jack here in that I don't understand how you can suddenly sensor two of your long time customers and supporters. I know they have boasted on that site before that they sell 10 times as many skiboards as any other company in the country, but things like this make me wonder if that is a true statement, they certainly aren't acting like a leader in the industry. They are acting more like the ticked off kid who just got his video game turned off by his mom right before he beat the final boss.

[airdonut41]

I know this is a little bit different, but it kind of reminds me of skier only ski resorts. It's straight up discrimination and if they want to do that kind of stuff, so be it. Hitler, Stalin, and many others tried propaganda and we all know how those worked out (not to compare doc or anyone to Hitler, but I think you get the idea). Sooner or later it will come back to bite them. I know I personally feel like this forum is soooo friendly; I haven't even met half you guys and I'd trust you with my boards. Kudos on such a well constructed COMMUNITY (good point jjue) Greco.

Dan

[SkaFreak]

Not gonna lie, there are some things that a skier only mountain keep. We Taos here in New Mexico that was at least one of the last 2, if not the last ski resort in the US to ban snowboarding. It was the founder's wish that snowboarders never be let in, and in all honesty the mountain just has a skier's feel to it. Most of the difficult terrain (other than the famous ridge that has to be hiked) is moguled, and they don't have many particularly easy runs. For snowboarders, the sole reason to go would be either great blue runs, or to ride the ridge for a day. At $63 bucks a ticket, it doesn't seem worth it to ride at a place that the only worthwhile terrain is only accessible by hiking (no lift, snowcats, or snowmobile tows). This year they're opening up to snowboarders at the end of the season. I have nothing against snowboarders, I just fear that the number of people will go way up, and they don't have the lift capacity to handle that. There's also a fair chance that it will go from being an epic mountain to becoming just another resort town.

[Roussel]

Mad River Glenn in vermont is another ski-only resort. and to be honest, it doesnt look like its even worth going there on skis.

[Roussel]

i wonder if any of the ski-only resorts have a terrain park. it would be interesting to see what a "skier-only" terrain park would look like.

[SkaFreak]

3 big smooth hits each with 2 lips at different lengths, a few rails, a couple of boxes, a rainbow box, a quaterpipe, and a wallride. I only ever hit one of the boxes, and it wasn't the best I had been on by any means. The hits, quaterpipe, and wallride were all really nice, and I couldn't comment on the rails yet.

[taimos]

some snowboard company are/were running a thing where they're encouraging snowboarders to go to ski only areas and snowboard, the video is well funny, they get dragged kicking and screaming off the runs, its proper wierd.

ill try find it and post a link.