Follow up to my "Frustration with Smash City" post

Discussion in 'Smash City Badminton Club - CLOSED' started by tobler, Mar 6, 2008.

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  1. tobler

    tobler New Member

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    Firstly, I understand a forum administrator/owner is a no thank job, it
    is hard to make everyone happy and I respect this position A LOT.

    Secondly, when I decided to post my review of this club, I believed this
    is the forum for people to share their personal experience with anything
    badminton related -- rackets, clothings, skills and FACILTIES, just like
    www.yelp.com or amazon.com products reviews. It is an open forum for
    badminton community to share their thoughts. I was curious about what other people think about this facility, do they have the same experience as me? Am I alone? What suggestions do they have? Boy, I couldn't be more wrong, I got flamed for giving a review, being called lier, being mock for not paying admission, etc. For a second I thought I posted a review at www.smashcityfanclub.com and not an open forum. If I knew the members of BC can be so defensive and close-mind about a personal review, I won't bother posting in the first place. There is clearly no room for critics in this forum other than self-promotional posts. The other post that got locked in this section is when a member complaint about the concrete floor at Smashcity being too hard and his knee hurts, it got locked again. http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38167

    Thirdly, I had the choice to private message the owner directly but I didn't. Because I am sharing my experience with the community, that is what I assume this forum is all about! When forum members "oldhand" share his negative review with the new Yonex ArcSaber 10 racket, he does not private message Yonex directly http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51911&page=20. It is his experience and whether other members should take his words as a grain of sand or rules written in stone is their choice. But oldhand is sharing his experience so other members can hear a direct opinion outside of Yonex advertisement. Same as other reviews/critics about shoes, strings etc. They do not pick up the phone and call the manufacturer directly. This is the purpose of an internet forum, to share knowledge, at least to my own interpretation.

    Lastly, I have a lot of respect for a forum administrator/owner, you not only pay the bills to keep this forum running, you also put your heart and soul to monitor the posts. All non copyright contents on this forum belong to you. You are welcome to edit, lock and delete this post if you see fit, no hard feeling at all.

    ps. visit www.yelp.com before you try out a new restaurant next time, you can read some honest feedbacks or post a review afterward, I promise you won't get flamed.
     
  2. Qidong

    Qidong Regular Member

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    Actually only 2 people were defensive in your thread. We all know who the first one is. The second one is kind of suspicious. The account was created right after you started the thread, and all her posts were response to your thread. So don't feel bad.
     
  3. silentheart

    silentheart Regular Member

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    Hi Tobler,

    This is an open forum. We have the right to disagree here. Even I have never been to Smashing City, I do feel your pain. Hard to get court time and not enough courts due to training classes and lessen. I support your right to air your frustration. I also totally agree that scheduling and court time should be open and transparent. However, I feel you should have given the management another chance before.

    I am not picking side here.

    Good luck on finding another place to play and meet more people there.
     
  4. Oldhand

    Oldhand Moderator

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    I've never played at Smash City.
    I'm also on the other side of the world.
    These being so, I shouldn't and won't comment on its charms or failings.

    Allthesame, this post seeks to correct three misconceptions relating to how this forum is moderated:

    1. Happiness Quotient
    This forum doesn't have a policy on individual happiness.
    No post, thread or item has ever been either edited or deleted to make or keep any individual or interest group happy.
    However, over the years, many many posts and threads have been deleted to maintain decorum, preserve sanity and keep the badminton community happy.

    2. Endorsements
    This forum has no commercial intent.
    No product or brand or manufacturer has ever been offered or provided endorsements by the forum as an entity. Doubtless, individual members have affiliations with various suppliers but such relationships haven't been allowed to lead either the discussions or the debates within the forum.

    3. Locking Threads
    A thread gets locked when the content has irreparably deviated from the subject or purpose of the thread. Where the subject can be returned to focus, the thread remains open. And, mark this, locked threads are locked only to further posts... they remain open to reading and review/search.

    (You will have noticed, I hope, that your post in that locked thread has neither disappeared nor been hidden.)

    The simple fact that twg's 2006 post (and harrycoomer's 2005 post) about 'Smash City's concrete floor being hard on the knees' remains accessible to everyone even today should explain what this forum's position on 'unfavourable' views is. (It's the same with another rather alarming post on Smash City - try googling for 'radiation Smash City' or 'danger Smash city' and you can see what turns up first - and where.)

    Comment is sacred but not when it's wrapped in malice. Across internet forums, irreparable damage has been done to individuals, institutions and causes by online malice. In this particular case, had the discussion remained polite and constructive as well as fair and objective, the thread wouldn't have been locked.

    Free speech, whether in the real or virtual world, is fundamental to all of us.
    Yes, I might not defend what you say, but I will defend your right to say it.
    However, freedom doesn't lie in trashing someone or something.
    Freedom lies in the ability to choose a better alternative.

    If you are unhappy about the facility, tell them.
    If they still don't see your point, go elsewhere.
    That works... always.
    Even in this forum ;)
     
  5. wood_22_chuck

    wood_22_chuck Regular Member

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    tobler, I do feel sorry for your experience at Smash City. Your post remains open to anyone to read about it.

    More evidence, i.e. more complaints from many other different sources about Smash City will warrant a closer look at the facility.

    When it's just you, your presentation is very important. I don't agree with the follow-up posts suggesting you or your friends didn't pay, and the next poster with her (his?) child getting coaching at Smash City. However, it could just be the language barrier there.

    Escalating this issue now will just have the opposite effect, i.e., of tarnishing your own "karma," here on BadmintonCentral.

    -dave
     
    #5 wood_22_chuck, Mar 6, 2008
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2008
  6. mazinkaiser

    mazinkaiser Regular Member

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    To Tibler's point, we are not complaining about lack of court time due to training/court reservation. We are complaining about the lack of court queueing system. If Smash City thinks their system is the best system, where their staff can change the court reservation time on the fly for training, or the way to play the next game is simply by calling out "I am next", so be it. Its a competitive business, there are other clubs available. I am just curious whether Smash City management will listen to people's suggestion and change for the better.
     
  7. SuperKaren

    SuperKaren Regular Member

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    I still agree with you on this one Tobler. I think it's wrong to close the thread, there aren't any defensive words on the thread. I understand you can close the thread if the words like "f" or "n" or whatever curse words are being used. However, it is open to customers and badminton players to critics. They open for business and have to be prepared for these type of situation. The only thing I don't get is why don't they have a waiting system to help people out a lot better. Honestly, when i think of Smash City I'm kind of labeling them with the term " Capitolism". I think so because it seems to me like everytime I play there, it seems like the strongest survive and conquer the courts. Folks like me would never or hardly have playing time.. Well, of course. That was in the past after i visit Apac and GGBC. My other statement about this thread was being "technical". Once again, there are so many gyms out there, of course we can find the right one for us. :).
     
  8. crosscourt

    crosscourt Regular Member

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    I think wood_22_chuck is absolutely right. Your review, tobler, still exists and can be read by anyone who visits this site. The post was not deleted but rather the thread was locked because there was nothing more that could be said.

    If I lived near smashcity I wouldn't be interested in reading posts about your post but rather other reviews by people with experience of smashcity to see if your bad experience was a one-off or indicative of general bad practice. It's always nice to have a balanced debate!
     
  9. TrunkZ69

    TrunkZ69 Regular Member

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    That is exactly the reason why i play at Smash City. I prefer that type of mentality and it brings more of the higher level players in. I do agree that if you can't hang with people, then you'll get very little court time. But like you said, it's all about finding the right gym for you. We have half a dozen in the area now and you can easily find the right gym for you.
     
  10. krantikt

    krantikt Regular Member

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    Wow, quite a thread. Started by someone, who refuses to approach management/owners who are willing to listen to issues when approached and with only 4 posts to his credit (all in this thread), I dont understand how that makes the originator of the thread any less suspicious :rolleyes:.

    I know the owners of smashcity and they are very approachable and down to earth people. While opinions can be posted as you wish, it appears more to purposefully creative negative advertisement than really solve the problem.
     
  11. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    tobler, you mentioned yelp, in case you don't know, yelp do moderate their user reviews and someone try to start a fight, they will moderate like we do.

    if you intention is to have your voice heard and the issued resolved, there is no better way than to contact the owners directly. in fact, i am interested in what the management will do if you do make a formal complaint/suggestion.

    however, if you intention is to start a fight here, then unfortunately, it will be moderated.

    to make a post here is a priviledge and not a right.

    and close it is.
     
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