Censorship? - London Bridge Accident Thread

spen666

Why has this thread been apparently removed?

I can understand the locking of the thread given the way it was going, but why has the same been removed.

There were some good posts on there and the victim ( cyclist) had taken the time to post.

Why was thread removed?
Why was it done by stealth- ie no mention of it being removed?

Agent57

Aye, normally one would expect a moderator to post a warning to keep things civil if degenerating too far -- but there are, and have been, more heated threads on this forum which are allowed to exist.

Jamey

Could be legal reasons, if a case is being put together against anyone and there's a risk of prejudice from the thread then potentially Bikeradar might be held in contempt of court if one or more of the parties involved in the accident is talking about it.

Ah, memories of McNae's Essential Law for Journalists.

always_tyred

Perhaps it was because there was rife speculation about a recent potentially fatal accident, in an information vacuum, with little or no regard to the sensibilities of the people involved?

Agent57

True enough, given the amount of blame being apportioned without any actual facts.

spen666

Jamey wrote:

Could be legal reasons, if a case is being put together against anyone and there's a risk of prejudice from the thread then potentially Bikeradar might be held in contempt of court if one or more of the parties involved in the accident is talking about it.

Ah, memories of McNae's Essential Law for Journalists.

Think its too early for contempt of court- no one has been charged with any offence yet.

I am more interested in it being deleted in a stealthy manner. If it was thought it would be contempt of court issues ( not that I think there are) - then surely a sticky from the moderators saying it had been deleted for that reason would be preferable to just trying to erase history

Jamey

Agreed, was just trying to think of a reason, that's all.

Sounds like it was probably removed at someone's request to me... Probably someone involved or close to those that were.

spen666

Jamey wrote:

Agreed, was just trying to think of a reason, that's all.

Sounds like it was probably removed at someone's request to me... Probably someone involved or close to those that were.

Come on moderators- give us a reason. A simple 1 liner would do

whyamihere

A simple one liner you say?

A man walks into a bar and says "Ouch".

I was alerted to what was happening i the thread (finger pointing at the biker without hard evidence, insulting language etc, you know what was there. I made a decision to delete the thread, as a lock would still have left all of the content on the site forever, which wasn't a good way to leave it in my opinion.

the_hundredth_idiot

My guess would be the threats of physical violence which were starting to be thrown around - that'll usually get mods a bit worried? Such threats might be a little unlikely to be carried out given a) probably just bluff and bluster and b) the internet is pretty anonymous. OTOH, there are enough threads about social activities so if the person making the threats really was a complete loon, they probably could track down a couple of forumers in the real world. Just look at some of the info turned up on weadmire in the RLJ thread.

Wallace1492

whyamihere wrote:

I made a decision to delete the thread, as a lock would still have left all of the content on the site forever, which wasn't a good way to leave it in my opinion.

Here here!! Good move.

timelimit

just a last update on the biker....

He is now out of his coma, although the doctors arent sure if there will be any lasting affects, as at present he cannot move/feel anything below the waist. Also has 3 broken ribs and something else that i cant quite pronounce (sounded pelvisy). The doctors are hopeful though that he may recover. although at the moment he is still disorientated.

so good news that he is concious again, here's hoping for a recovery!

MattFT

timelimit wrote:

just a last update on the biker....

He is now out of his coma, although the doctors arent sure if there will be any lasting affects, as at present he cannot move/feel anything below the waist. Also has 3 broken ribs and something else that i cant quite pronounce (sounded pelvisy). The doctors are hopeful though that he may recover. although at the moment he is still disorientated.

so good news that he is concious again, here's hoping for a recovery!

Glad to hear he's on the mend!

Agent57

Good news; hope he makes a full recovery. Fingers crossed.

dilemna

spen666 wrote:

Jamey wrote:

Could be legal reasons, if a case is being put together against anyone and there's a risk of prejudice from the thread then potentially Bikeradar might be held in contempt of court if one or more of the parties involved in the accident is talking about it.

Ah, memories of McNae's Essential Law for Journalists.

Think its too early for contempt of court- no one has been charged with any offence yet.

I am more interested in it being deleted in a stealthy manner. If it was thought it would be contempt of court issues ( not that I think there are) - then surely a sticky from the moderators saying it had been deleted for that reason would be preferable to just trying to erase history

+1. Just because people found views unpalatable that did not suit their own view this is not a reason for taking a post down. Perhaps the threats and general animosity were good reason from people who have little history of posting on here.

However I did subsequently have concerns of the validity of those posting and any possible relationship or association to any party, the bus driver or particularly the injured motorcyclist, given that others claiming to be witnesses had posted their accounts of what they had seen. It is not difficult to forsee a situation where by this might hamper any investigation by the police if witnesses then came forward who had not witnessed the crash with differing versions to counter any charges actual or pending.

I'm glad the cyclist was not seriously injured.

biondino

Dilemna and everyone:

Future are not accountable to any of its posters for the material posted. They can remove material without warning at their discretion. There is no reason or justification for anyone on here to decry any moderation that goes on.

Terms and Conditions wrote:

Future may (but shall not be obliged to) delete, edit, lock, move or remove any Content without notice and for any reason and/or to record the IP address from which any Content is posted, uploaded and/or displayed without notice and for any reason, including, without limitation, Content which, in our sole discretion, violates these Terms or is or may be irrelevant, out of date, inappropriate or objectionable in any way whatsoever, or in respect of which Future receives any complaint (whether justified or not).

whyamihere

I'm locking this now to stop the arguments resurfacing.