Wootton Bassett Bikers - You're ANNOYING

I notice those links now point to 404 'Page not Found' errors...

lol

[TimTucker]

You've joined a Facebook group asking for a journalist to be sacked because he wrote something you disagreed with? Isn't that a little ... puerile?

I'm with Red on this. Everyone is entitled to their opinion; if you happen to disagree with it, you're entitled to that as well. It's not a sacking offence to write something people that annoys people, even if it's written badly. Not everyone is an expert on everything. People write things that stick to, or reinforce, well-worn stereotypes. The standards of journalism aren't always quite what you expect them to be, especially when it comes to blogs rather than print.

I can't believe that every single man, woman and child living in Wootton Bassett was in favour of Sunday's demonstration. I seem to recall that one of the things the residents have complained about is the focus that has been put on their village as a result of what originally arose as a spontaneous mark of respect for the fallen soldiers whose bodies passed through from the airbase.

This was mentioned when the Islam4UK march was proposed. The spokesperson was clear to point out that he wasn't saying that the group shouldn't demonstrate, but that the villages didn't feel that Wootton Bassett was the place for such a demonstration. Perhaps there are a residents who didn't want last Sunday's march and agreed with the journalist's comments. The "hairy bikers" quote came not the author.

Agreed, I don't really care about what he said. He can write whatever he wants to.

I do find it a bit off that the offending article has been removed however...

Either leave it up and stick to your guns, or apologise in a followup article.

Removing it just seems a bit... dishonest.

Originally Posted by Red Herring

I try to pick the points out of the article and consider them rather than flame the individual because I don't like what he is saying. In essence all he is doing is questioning the principal of holding such an event to raise money, and in fairness he has some sound argument. The event apparently raised 100,000 towards a very worthwhile cause, and it took 10,000 bikers to get together to do it. His comparison with marathons etc is wasted because generally there people get sponsored to take part, here individuals paid (I believe) to participate but never the less it works out about £10 per rider. Now I'm wiling to wager that most riders that took part probably did more than another £10 in petrol, and quite a few had a night away, plus eating out etc, in fact i suspect that most of the riders that took part in this event paid out over £50 to be there. If we were really serious about raising money for this cause we would all have stayed at home, "given up" something we all enjoy doing for the day, and raised five times as much money for our cause. When you take out the cost of actually organizing (and policing) such an event I don't think you would have had much change from your £100,000.

I do appreciate that events such as this are not just about economics, but then few things rarely are.

Funny enough I had the same thought...

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

I try to pick the points out of the article and consider them rather than flame the individual because I don't like what he is saying. In essence all he is doing is questioning the principal of holding such an event to raise money, and in fairness he has some sound argument. The event apparently raised 100,000 towards a very worthwhile cause, and it took 10,000 bikers to get together to do it. His comparison with marathons etc is wasted because generally there people get sponsored to take part, here individuals paid (I believe) to participate but never the less it works out about £10 per rider. Now I'm wiling to wager that most riders that took part probably did more than another £10 in petrol, and quite a few had a night away, plus eating out etc, in fact i suspect that most of the riders that took part in this event paid out over £50 to be there. If we were really serious about raising money for this cause we would all have stayed at home, "given up" something we all enjoy doing for the day, and raised five times as much money for our cause. When you take out the cost of actually organizing (and policing) such an event I don't think you would have had much change from your £100,000.

I do appreciate that events such as this are not just about economics, but then few things rarely are.

I thought the event was much more a show of support for both troops overseas and residents of WB. the raising of money was secondary. Hence the need to attend, not stay home & send money

Originally Posted by speedplay

... I do feel sorry for the people of WB having somewhere around 15000 bikers trawling through their village horns blazing.

Not sure if this was just a figure of speech (so no criticism intended of Speedplay), but for anyone who went, did people use their horns much? If I lived in WB and people rode through the village, horns going, I think I'd be pretty annoyed.

I know a lot of people like loud exhausts (I don't), but creating a load of noise isn't going to endear bikers to anyone other than other inconsiderates.

Originally Posted by rpwoodman

Not sure if this was just a figure of speech (so no criticism intended of Speedplay), but for anyone who went, did people use their horns much? If I lived in WB and people rode through the village, horns going, I think I'd be pretty annoyed.

I know a lot of people like loud exhausts (I don't), but creating a load of noise isn't going to endear bikers to anyone other than other inconsiderates.

No, in the rider briefing we were told not to use horns or excessive noise, no wheelies or anything that would be frowned upon. Saying that there were banners saying "Beep For Heroes" so was rude not too. Not sure the people who "just turned up" knew about the briefing cos there was some noise coming from the odd few around us.

[Grant66]

Removing it just seems a bit... dishonest.

Totally agree. Removing an article with so many -ve comments shows utter contept for the people his views offended.

raising of money was secondary

raising awareness and a show of support is probably more important than the actual cash. If it was all about cash then they would be shaking tins outside tesco.