UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums General Off Topic Legal advice needed - forum-software.org

On this site:
http://www.forum-software.org/vbulletin4/user-opinion#comment-1817

I am being called a spammer and a liar for supporting UBB.threads. I have the LEGAL RIGHT to support UBB.threads, and because of this, I probably need to seek legal advice to prevent my rights from being violated. I tried to contact the site's owner, but my email triggers the site's spam filter.

Could Rick or anyone help me here?

Freedom of speech on a forum / blog / equivalent doesn't really exist.

it's up to the forum owner to allow what he/she deems 'ok'

maybe unfair, but reality

Well, reading the thread I can see why people might think that you are spamming.

In my opinion you should have made the first post to put you point across and then left it at that. The way the thread progresses, your answer to each post is to return with suggesting people should just use UBB which is going to get annoying.

If you make one post with valid comments that is constructive and informative, people will remember it for the right reasons. If you continue to try and brainwash people in to changing to UBB you're going to get a spam label which unfortunately is what has happened in this instance.

The best posters on my site make their point in one post.

Sirdude is correct. When you post on pretty much any forum you play by their rules and if they don't want you pushing a product they have the right to,in effect, censor you. Or call you a spammer for repeated posts. At the very least you were off topic, since the discussion was label vBulletin 4. Which I do agree, is a piece of crap.

Replies here pretty much sum it up. You've always been a heavy UBB advocate Pink, but like everyone says, it's best to sum up your thoughts in a single post and then if someone responds to that post directly then you can expound from there.

One reason why it looks like spamming, is there are companies that do exactly what you're doing for a fee. They are hired to look for anything where they can plug a product and do so over and over again. It's getting pretty rampant, and it tends to do the company more harm than good.

A key point to be aware of when talking about freedom of speech is that it does NOT grant anyone the right to have a media outlet publish something on demand.

An example would be to send an article about a favored topic to the New York Times and demand they publish it on the front page above the fold. You'd not even get a response from them. Much less your article printed. It is their paper and they get to chose what gets published.

It's the same with online forums. Someone owns the outlet and they get to chose what stays or does not. This in no way violates anyone's right to free speech.

Want to say something online? Create your own web site and spout off all you want about anything you like. That is your free speech right.

It is great that you are a loyal customer and feel strongly about the UBBThreads product. Please consider the potential disservice to the product via negative attitudes some might develop from the perception of spamming.

As Rick said, there is a cottage industry where companies will spam forums for a product. It's called "Shilling" and is generally frowned upon to put it mildly. To be perceived as a shill for a company is to make people think the company stoops to such business practices.

I for one do not support such companies and will not purchase their products. Not all I am sure, but others feel and act the same.