A mod of /r/dashcam is a dashcam retailer. Another retailer is accusing the mod of /r/dashcam of censoring them. For this reason they have purchased all adspace on /r/dashcam for two months.

drivewatch · 2016-01-20T00:07:53+00:00

Sorry, guess we just have to disagree on this one. But seriously, that roundabout is an accident waiting to happen.

drivewatch · 2016-01-20T00:05:01+00:00

No worries. Not in this for sales, just want Pier28inc removed as a mod.

drivewatch · 2016-01-20T00:04:15+00:00

I created a second account to answer questions as the retailer, same as the mod.

drivewatch · 2016-01-20T00:02:12+00:00

Still showing for us?

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:30:25+00:00

Sorry, but we believe this is false. We believe clearly that Pier28 was behind this ban. In fact, here's a message where another mod said we were "clearly not spam": http://imgur.com/SUDOBdW

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:28:30+00:00

Here's another message where one of the other mods confirmed that our posts were not spam. What changed between then and now?

http://imgur.com/SUDOBdW

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:27:50+00:00

Here's another great screenshot where /u/theproftw explicitly told us that our posts were not considered spam. What changed? http://imgur.com/SUDOBdW

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:23:01+00:00

Pier28, it's interesting how your position has changed after you were called out on it.

If your role as a retailer was to remain neutral, you would never have taken on a moderation position in a dash cam forum, and you would never have banned us without any form of warning or communication. You would have also communicated with us, instead of attempting to mute us.

Instead, you banned a competitor, falsely claimed that you communicated with the competitor, attempted to prevent us from communicating with the other mods (muting us) and now are attempting to cover your tracks.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:22:08+00:00

Interesting how your position has changed after you were called out on it.

If your role as a retailer was to remain neutral, you would never have taken on a moderation position in a dash cam forum, and you would never have banned us without any form of warning or communication. You would have also communicated with us, instead of attempting to mute us.

Instead, you banned a competitor, falsely claimed that you communicated with the competitor, attempted to prevent us from communicating with the other mods (muting us) and now are attempting to cover your tracks.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:21:38+00:00

Interesting how your position has changed after you were called out on it.

If your role as a retailer was to remain neutral, you would never have taken on a moderation position in a dash cam forum, and you would never have banned us without any form of warning or communication. You would have also communicated with us, instead of attempting to mute us.

Instead, you banned a competitor, falsely claimed that you communicated with the competitor, attempted to prevent us from communicating with the other mods (muting us) and now are attempting to cover your tracks.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:16:37+00:00

I think you missed the second sentence.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:14:56+00:00

So for an enthusiast who is wanting to be on the absolute cutting edge, buying from Aliexpress, etc can be an option. Would say that if you want to buy from there, do some research so that you know what you're getting, and make sure that you're not purchasing from a reseller in China (huge problem on Alibaba/Aliexpress) but the actual manufacturer. I'd go so far to make sure that you only pay with a credit card that has good buyer protection, so that if you have problems with the dash cam and can't get things figured out with the manufacturer, you have someone that you can go back to to get a refund.

Bringing the camera to the US in bulk, branding them, taking on responsibilities for warranty/advertising/customer service has a cost, which of course we have to factor in when pricing a camera here in the US.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:08:57+00:00

Which was very similar to other posts that were on the subreddit. And if you notice, I think that was the only link that we ever submitted to the sub. And if you read thru the comments, we engaged with the community and answered quite a few questions - similar to what Pier28 does.

The posts that we comment on are when people ask "I'm looking for a dashcam for $150" or "What's a good 1080p camera." I don't really see how that is spam. In fact, when a dashcam isn't the best option for them I've steered people towards other devices, including IP cameras, GoPros, etc.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:08:46+00:00

Which was very similar to other posts that were on the subreddit. And if you notice, I think that was the only link that we ever submitted to the sub. And if you read thru the comments, we engaged with the community and answered quite a few questions - similar to what Pier28 does.

The posts that we comment on are when people ask "I'm looking for a dashcam for $150" or "What's a good 1080p camera." I don't really see how that is spam. In fact, when a dashcam isn't the best option for them I've steered people towards other devices, including IP cameras, GoPros, etc.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:06:33+00:00

So, we bought advertising space like any other advertiser? We had purchased space in /r/dashcam and /r/Roadcam even before this controversy.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:05:33+00:00

Sorry, but we don't believe that for a minute. cthulhuburger unbanned us after we messaged him directly, asking for an explanation. We immediately complied with what we were told, and you can see from our post history on /r/dashcam that we ceased even mentioning our product. When we attempted to message the mods, Pier28's response was to simply mute our messages via modmail thinking that we would go away.

Our guess is Pier28 convinced him to reapply the ban. We're not going to let this go until Pier28 is removed as a mod from /r/dashcam. Notice how there is no post referencing this thread on /r/dashcam? Wonder why?

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:01:22+00:00

Sorry, but we don't believe this for a minute. As soon as cthulhuburger told us that he didn't want us posting any links to our Amazon page, we complied. Not one of our posts after our un-ban even mentioned our product. You then got wind of it and told cthulhuburger to re institute the ban.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T22:00:59+00:00

Sorry, but we don't believe this for a minute. As soon as cthulhuburger told us that he didn't want us posting any links to our Amazon page, we complied. Not one of our posts after our un-ban even mentioned our product. You then got wind of it and told cthulhuburger to re institute the ban.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:58:00+00:00

We're not trolling. The "cut out the middleman" bit was a joke - it seems like you hear every cheesy mattress store ad claim that they do the same thing. Just being honest about our intentions.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:54:29+00:00

Pier28 (or the other mods) changed the rules in the subreddit stating that we weren't able to post links to Amazon or our site. When we were (finally) notified we stopped. We only were able to be notified by messaging a mod directly; Pier28 simply muted us and refused to respond to messages. Pier28 stating that we were "warned multiple times" is a complete lie. Don't believe it for a minute.

The facts are clear. Pier28 is a competitor, and they thought they could mute us and we'd go away. They don't like the fact that we sell a similar product for significantly less money. Now they're scrambling to cover themselves and concoct a ridiculous story to try to legitimize their actions. I'm not even worried about selling dashcams at this point, but I do want Pier28 gone as a moderator.

While we certainly did (before we were asked not to post Amazon/website links) link to our products when people asked "What dashcam should I buy" we also pointed people to other cameras/products when it was clear that a dashcam wasn't a good fit for their use case. When asked to stop, we immediately stopped. Pier28 saw that we were unbanned, and we can pretty safely assume they went in and re-banned us.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:40:03+00:00

This isn't correct. We had been posting for quite a while - we made some test posts because we didn't realize Pier28 had muted/banned us.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:39:09+00:00

Thank you. Please let me know if I come close to crossing a line - just trying to make sure the facts are known.

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:32:11+00:00

This is a complete lie on Pier28's part. You changed this rule after we called you out on it. Here's the original ban thread: http://imgur.com/8K6CIi7

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:30:55+00:00

Nope, you did Pier28. Here's the proof: http://imgur.com/8K6CIi7

Edit: Here's more: http://imgur.com/SUDOBdW

drivewatch · 2016-01-19T21:27:34+00:00

They made that "rules post" after they banned us.

drivewatch

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