As some have noticed, today, the forum took an action that rarely happens. We banned a longtime member.
I want to give some background on this as many will be curious, and a few furious.
We don't take banning forum members, especially product owners, lightly. In over 5 years, other than spammers, we've banned fewer than 5 legitimate members across a base of 8,000. So this is truly a rare occurrence.
The user that we banned today was "geeksrus". A little bit of background on this product owner… They own a Bighorn and they had issues with their coach suspension among other items. Heartland and our suppliers stepped in and took care of the issues. Not to the owner's liking the first time around and still not to their liking after we really dug into it and did more.
The bottom line on the issues and the attempts to resolve them is that Heartland and our suppliers did our best to make this customer happy. In the end, we failed to make them happy. And for that, we are truly sorry. As in any business with a very large, very diverse customer base, there will be times, although few, where nothing we do is acceptable. It is regrettable, and try as we may, it is a reality.
In this case, the customer used this forum and other, larger public forums to be very critical of Heartland and our suppliers. The problem I had with it on this forum is that I saw it as a running diatribe, a plan or campaign if you will, to discredit us at nearly any opportunity.
Let me say this as plainly as I can, as some may misconstrue my meaning of what is and is not allowed. You, as a Heartland product owner, may use the Heartland Owners Forum to voice your displeasure with your product. It is okay. We want to know what you don't care for. How else can we make a better product? We do ask that you do so in a constructive manner. The difference, and where some run into trouble is a never ending stream of duplicate/similar posts with the same criticism. This is not needed, is not helpful to anyone and is in violation of forum rules.
Geeksrus did try to balance what I saw as an ongoing diatribe of discontent with a genuine interest to help others with various items. But in the end, I was unable to reconcile the good with the continued forum rule violations. In fairness, I did work with geeksrus, in writing, kindly asking for a change and warning of the rule violation.
Please do not take this as any sort of warning. This is meant to be informative as a good many will be pressuring me to explain my action. If any current forum member were on the line, you would have already heard from myself or a moderator, genuinely trying to work with you.
Please don't admonish geeksrus on this forum. He was doing what he felt was right.
Jim Beletti
Admin, Heartland Owners Forum
I want to give some background on this as many will be curious, and a few furious.
We don't take banning forum members, especially product owners, lightly. In over 5 years, other than spammers, we've banned fewer than 5 legitimate members across a base of 8,000. So this is truly a rare occurrence.
The user that we banned today was "geeksrus". A little bit of background on this product owner… They own a Bighorn and they had issues with their coach suspension among other items. Heartland and our suppliers stepped in and took care of the issues. Not to the owner's liking the first time around and still not to their liking after we really dug into it and did more.
The bottom line on the issues and the attempts to resolve them is that Heartland and our suppliers did our best to make this customer happy. In the end, we failed to make them happy. And for that, we are truly sorry. As in any business with a very large, very diverse customer base, there will be times, although few, where nothing we do is acceptable. It is regrettable, and try as we may, it is a reality.
In this case, the customer used this forum and other, larger public forums to be very critical of Heartland and our suppliers. The problem I had with it on this forum is that I saw it as a running diatribe, a plan or campaign if you will, to discredit us at nearly any opportunity.
Let me say this as plainly as I can, as some may misconstrue my meaning of what is and is not allowed. You, as a Heartland product owner, may use the Heartland Owners Forum to voice your displeasure with your product. It is okay. We want to know what you don't care for. How else can we make a better product? We do ask that you do so in a constructive manner. The difference, and where some run into trouble is a never ending stream of duplicate/similar posts with the same criticism. This is not needed, is not helpful to anyone and is in violation of forum rules.
Geeksrus did try to balance what I saw as an ongoing diatribe of discontent with a genuine interest to help others with various items. But in the end, I was unable to reconcile the good with the continued forum rule violations. In fairness, I did work with geeksrus, in writing, kindly asking for a change and warning of the rule violation.
Please do not take this as any sort of warning. This is meant to be informative as a good many will be pressuring me to explain my action. If any current forum member were on the line, you would have already heard from myself or a moderator, genuinely trying to work with you.
Please don't admonish geeksrus on this forum. He was doing what he felt was right.
Jim Beletti
Admin, Heartland Owners Forum
