When does your opinion make you an asshole?

P

PHeller

Coast to Coast
I recently posted a comment on a BikeExif.com feature on a XS650 cafe. It was clean, meticulously clean, colored coded and just gleamed like a bike rolled out of an OCD owned shopped. It had all the right parts, and probably took lots of time and money to produce.


But I had seen it before. It was the same bike I'd seen others build. Local guys I knew, guys on this forum, on XS650.com, and on XS650Chopper. It was a bike that looked store bought.


This isn't to say that BikeExif, or Pipeburn, or any other motorcycle blog can't feature fine examples of the store bought bike, they do all the time. Rare Ducatis, Harley's or Aprilia, Nortons or Triumphs are all great to look at because its not too often you see one, unless your looking.


"Nothing new here. In the world of the XS650, its all been done before, and its very cool to see when it hasn't been done before. Beside the paint, this is all "off the shelf" stuff."

[font=helvetica, arial, verdana, sans-serif]I guess I'm just too critical. I guess when you spend hundred of hours and thousands of dollars on a bike, you only want the positive opinion. [/font]

[font=helvetica, arial, verdana, sans-serif]So does my negative opinion make me an asshole? [/font]

[font=helvetica, arial, verdana, sans-serif]If so, is [/font][font=helvetica, arial, verdana, sans-serif]criticism dead? Do we all need to be experts in order to share opinion? This is the internet (and the USA for most of us) so aren't we free to say whatever the hell we want and let the audience decide? [/font]



Or should I just stop reading motorcycle blogs?
 
Some folks need to grow thicker skin. An opinion on any subject matter only matters as much as the importance of the source of the said critique. My video over at CR.net was met with one fellow who thought that I shouldn't be using terms like "doing the Ton" because it made me a "hipster" among other things. The overview of the comments were not really constructive, but then, I couldn't really care less about what someone thinks and nor should anyone else for that matter. If the dude who built the bike likes it and gets a few looks, then why should it matter if someone else has seen a few other similar builds and remains unimpressed. Bigger things in life are worth getting your panties in a knot over.

My two cents.
 
BSA made a 250 that had the model no. C15. A popular bike at the time and long lived. There are still plenty of them around. Restored and modified. The usual saying is C15, seen'em all. The same thing applies to XS650s and many other bikes. There's plenty of them around in various guises. The owners usually want positive criticism. I have found its best to follow Benjamin Franklin's advice of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".

P.S. A bike that's homebuilt and looks store bought usually means you did a good job.
 
<< A bike that's homebuilt and looks store bought usually means you did a good job.>>

True dat...
 
Word canuck. Most people do need to grow some skin. I think the younger guys were coddled too much by mommy. We all have opinions, if you dont like my bike, then fuck you, i do.
 
With the way this world is going, there will be a collection of cards with appropiate answers that you can use. Anything else will get you in trouble.
 
My style and tastes are a little off the wall so I've had my fair share of criticism. You can ignore comments you don't agree with, argue against them, take them in stride or be a butt-hurt little girl about it.
The unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of butt-hurt little girls out there.
 
Hoofhearted said:
I have found its best to follow Benjamin Franklin's advice of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".
Click to expand...


Yes but Ben Franklin also was the type to sit back and calculate, wait for the right moment, and totally blast people. He was not an outspoken critic, but instead the voice of reason.


In my hobby, as well as in life, I don't want to sit by while good people don't get the credit they deserve, and the showmen get all the attention.
 
That's a funny thing because opinions are like assholes, most people have them, doesn't mean you have to like mine or I like yours.

An opinion is just a personal point on a topic or situation, I've learned to respect others opinions if they are willing to discuss them in a mature manner, If a person doesn't wish to discuss an opinion it is generally because of 2 reasons: A, their statement was an off the cuff stupid statement they wish was never said, or the opinion really isn't theirs but something someone else said and they are reusing.

anyways that's my opinion.

if it makes you happy &/or you like it do it

Aaron
 
I would agree with the Ben Franklin approach. But if you put a piece of work out there for review, ie. posting "Whatchya think?" on the internet, then you should be prepared for varying opinions.
I see nothing fundamentally wrong with your comment. It wasn't derogatory or ugly like the "You're a fuckwad copycat, and your bike looks like shit" type of comments you get out of some people.
 
Well today according to my wife I'm an asshole every time I open my mouth! But your comment , in my opinion is not an asshole, it just said, "you built a nice clean bike like a whole bunch of other people." not anything mean or nasty. Just not unique. It is hard to build a unique bike, dude should be fine if he wanted a bike that looked good, but like other bikes. If he was going for unique, he blew it. I can't build a totally unique bike, very few can. I can think of a few on this site that qualify as "Unique" most are just well built bikes that yes may look a little or a lot like another but WTF are we going to do? Most of us want a bike to look like another cool bike we saw. Anyway you comment was not bad, and dude needs to understand that if you build a Cafe, out of an XS650 and you bolt parts from Dime City, RocCity, Benjii, Carpy etc. there are 100's of others with the same parts, likely in the same place etc. and if that pisses you off, you built the wrong bike. And yes, it won't and shouldn't get people to fawn over it like a bike made of 80% custom one off hand made parts. And even some bikes made of all hand made parts are shit if they are not thought out and designed right.
 
I think Redbird's dead on, yeah class, politeness and etiquette are amendable and civilized, but if you post something online in a public forum, you are essentially asking people to critique it.
Aside from that, I prefer an honest asshole to an insidious praiser any day.
 
Yeah people should critique. Don't be an ass about it but if you don't like something on a bike there is nothing wrong with pointing it out. I haven't found too many people on here that like my bike but then again this is a cafe' racer forum and I have 6 inch over forks and I expect to get that criticism. I still come back here on a daily basis to read and learn and express my opinions on subjects.
 
To be honest, I wish I'd get a little more critique to what I'm attempting to do to my FJ, and the CB that is sitting in the back of my garage. There's a bit of me that really wants to fully document every good, or bad decision or modification I make along the way. i'd also like to be reminded when it appears I'm cutting corners or not giving due diligence to a task. Still the only critic I need listen to is me (or my GF, I guess). To that end, I also guilty of cringing when the "do the ton" talk starts up, and I know I have rolled my eyes when someone here, or on the show declares a "lifestyle".
 
When you tell a noob asking about the function of breather tube to sell his bike because he has no idea what he's doing.
You know who you are!
;) LOL ;)
 
There is a well defined line between critiquing and criticizing. One of the problems is most of us don't know where the line is. I have a couple of friends in Ireland. Upper crust posh type. They could tear your bike to pieces verbally but do it in such a manner that you'd say "Why thank you. Very kind of you". My favorite line was when we were looking at a nicely restored 1932 500 Ariel sidevalve single at a show. Andy said "A delightful machine. Best not to use one for a getaway in a bank robbery though".
 
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