I'm boycotting the Edmunds forums

[ElectricTroy]

A fellow asked for technical information & driving tips for his new Honda Civic. I told him that it was too much information to squeeze into one message, and referred him to greenhybrid.com & insightcentral.net's encyclopedia, so he could review their excellent archives.

Edmunds deleted my message. They also revoked my posting privileges & demanded that I must agree to stop posting links to other sites, or my posting would no longer be allowed.

I pointed out greenhybrid/insightcentral were non-profit.

Edmunds replied that it doesn't matter. They don't want to lose money, when the guy asking the question leaves their forum. They want the guy to stay in their forum, so they can boost their ad revenue. In other words, they are putting profit above being helpful.

I don't want to associate with that kind of greed.

So I'm boycotting edmunds' forums.

troy

[lars-ss]

It's just business, Troy - don't take it personally. I too have been warned about "placing an ad" when all I did was mention that I have a friend selling a used Prius. I have also been warned about "cross-posting" other websites. The hosts are merely following their orders and trying to protect the franchise - just doing their jobs. Business is business - all those Edmunds employees have families and kids and mortgages and car payments like most of us do. I don't see it as greed, just as "business as usual." I respect your decision to boycott them, although I will not do so because I completely understand the big picture behind their actions.

[Jason]

Troy,

They actually told you that as their reason? Surprising. I don't want to mislead, however. This site is not nonprofit. I don't put 100% of revenue back into the site.

I've never really liked Edmunds, but this is just one more reason to find a community to fit in with If anyone is curious as to my position on external linking, I don't mind as long as it has relevant information. After all, I post an external link with each Hybrid News post!

[edit]Lars, yepp it's business. Sometimes I have to make decisions with GreenHybrid that a member won't like, but I do what I have to do. I hope I've found a happy medium between business and community.[/edit]

[kcy]

Troy,
Thanks for sharing that info with us! Shame on Edmunds (which is severely lacking when it comes to the truly useful info we find here) to treat you like that! I don't blame you for your boycott and I wont send any more links to anyone regarding their forum.

Have a great day!! :o)

[ElectricTroy]

I don't mind edmunds profiting from their website ads. Better the advertisers support the internet, then I have to shell out $200 a month....

...but do I mind that they are shutting off access to other sites..... even non-profit, car owner sites like insightcentral.net. That's an *extremely* useful resource for Honda IMA drivers, and edmunds is forbidding me from sharing it w/ a new Civic owner that needs the info.

Stupid. Greedy.

troy

[Hot_Georgia_2004]

You may have guessed that my alias there is "Misterme".
I've also been frustrated mainly by some members there that not only dislike hybrid vehicles but also dislike hypermilers and spread false rumours.
A couple of months ago I posted a few tips for improving MPG, things like keep momentum, keep a good buffer to the car ahead, etc. Nobody took any of the mild tips to heart that I know of, and instead blindly called me a rude, unfriendly driver and dangerous to others.
Because of that I refuse any more tips over there, I don't need the hastle.

It's kind of sad that I can't help anyone at that site who may wish to improve their habits, and not be able to post any hint of a reference to any other forum site, and especially greenhybrid.
I'll still post there once in a while but really turned off to it.

Simlarly,
I no longer visit or post over at hybridcars.com as it has been hijacked by some environmental nuts who will gladly threaten you and your family with a shooting spree if you disagree with them. I mentioned the problems I have with Kyoto and immediately was stamped & labeled as a pro-Bush, Righ-wing hateful stupid crazy person by quite a few members there.
I asked the administrator there to remove the threatening posts and he did, but didn't even offer an apology that it happened, or that it might (or might not be) against the site policy or anything.


I'm thankful for the respectable community here at greenhybrid regarding all views, instead of taking an extreme political position on either side and forcing it.

Greenhybrid has the "cream of the crop" of hybrid enthusiasts and I think is a real threat to other associated forums.

[ElectricTroy]

Originally Posted by Hot_Georgia_2004

A couple of months ago I posted a few tips for improving MPG, things like keep momentum, keep a good buffer to the car ahead, etc. Nobody took any of the mild tips to heart that I know of, and instead blindly called me a rude, unfriendly driver and dangerous to others.

Yeah I saw that. Stupid. There's nothing "rude" about driving slow if you're on a multilane highway, and all the way to the right.

Nor is there anything "rude" about leaving space in front of you. You're *supposed* to do that.

Dumb.

troy

[tdmsu]

I have been visiting all the sites mentioned since I became interested in buying a hybrid, and I agree that greenybrid.com is the best. The people here seem genuinely friendly and interested in helping each other. I now visit this site almost every day, and the others much less frequently, if ever.

Thanks to everyone for creating such a welcoming community! I can't wait to "officially" join when I purchase a hybrid - in a few weeks, hopefully!

pt

[Jason]

I could be sneaky and replace all instances of "Edmunds" in the forums to something else, like "some random site that will not be mentioned." But I won't...

[tbaleno]

LOL That would be funny actualy. Just replace the link text and leave the link itself so people could still click on it to get to edmonds. like replace www.edmonds.com with "some random site that will not be mentioned" or something.

If nothing else it would be a funny inside joke.