Modern Vespa

Is a petty tyrant championing the virtues of democracy? LOL... please dont't give me negative karma, I like my neutral status.

Not arguing that several people found it offensive ... nor do I think the disemvoweller is a bad thing. I just happen to feel it didn't warrant such a strong rebuke and chose to do what I can (in some small way) to level out the score for Scooterhenry. Positive karma is the only way I can make my own position known. Right?

I doubt the disemvoweler operates in reverse - but at least the OP's karma may become more balanced.

I'm a little surprised that it kicked in for that post. When I first read it, I thought it came off as just a bit stereotype-y, but I didn't think it would get a lot of negative ratings. I guess I was wrong. That's correct. If you're just trying to offset someone else's negative rating by up-rating a post that isn't actually helpful, though, you're kind of subverting the intent of the system.

Was it helpful or not? If you feel it was, then go ahead and rate it positive.

The disemvowelling operation is, in fact, reversible.

'cuz I'm clever like that.

"Whats with" in the title that is causing all the problem.


This is what I mean

Whats with the COP's?

Whats with the boss?

Whats with that sales man.

You see it just sounds negitive from the start. Like I said I don't think he ment anything by it. just a poor choice of words. well all do it.

No, I didn't think it was a helpful post, but Scooterhenry was just making an observation. As I said, I didn't think it warranted such a strong rebuke, so I gave him some positive Karma in an effort to show him that not all of us feel it was intended to be offensive.

I had no intention of subverting the system. However, the system does not allow for "moderation". By that I mean there is no "maximum" placed on the number of negative votes one can accumulate as the result of one single post.

"Helpful" or "not helpful" is a good way to judge posts. However, I believe there should be some method for determining just how unhelpful a post really is. You used the word obnoxious and I used the word offensive. There is a difference! Where does "helpful" or "not helpful" come into play?

I did not find the post helpful, unhelpful, obnoxious or offensive. To my mind, it was simply an observation and I felt he got unfairly slammed for it. I read it, didn't find it interesting or useful and moved on. But the fact of the matter is that the system doesn't allow for a "middle ground". Not every post is either helpful or unhelpful which means many people are using different parameters (than those intended) to cast their votes!

So offsetting all the negative Karma votes with my one meager positive Karma vote is simply my way of saying, I didn't think there was anything so bad in his post. Subversion was not and is not my intent.

There is no such thing as race.

+1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve

What kind of scooter did she like?

Cultural Competence, you must be joking?
it is individuals they are poking.
learn to laugh or be aware
racial wars *you* are stoking!

She seems old school, I say vintage.

its easy just read fourm rules that should end this nonsence.

I think what the negative voters are taking issue with is the result of the generalization fallacy that the OP is falling prey to. It appears he/she is drawing a conclusion (in this case about "Asians") based on a couple of reactions that happened in short order and happened to be from, well, Asians, I guess.

Several Asians made comments about Vespa in a row - so the conclusion is "What's with Asians and Vespa?"

For people who complain about an overly PC world or say what's the problem? I'd say to imagine that on several occasions over a couple of two days several "white" people happened to comment on your Vespa. Would that prompt someone to post a topic "What's with white people and Vespas?"

I owned my Scooter almost 2 month with 480 Miles. The first week I owned my Vespa I went into a Pizza shop and a caucasion guy said" Wow is that a Vespa" ME: "Yes" " There the Lamberginis of Scooter"

Today I went to the Hardware store. When I was about to pull off an caucasion employee screems "Is that a Vespa" "How much did you pay for that?" ME: 8'000 dollars" I'll be right out" Took to long to come out and saw him when I was at the light. Had to go back to the hardware store and saw him again. " Thats a Vespa?" ME"Yes" "8,000 is a lot of money" "I just never saw a Vespa like that"

Coming home from the store again today at a light 2 caucasion people in a car say soimething to me. I could not understand them. The driver keeps looking at the Vespa then talking to his friend then back at the Vespa again.

What's with caucasions and Vespas anyway?

Well written, reads like a passage that would have been used in a human resources diversity training program...

Well, I am white, of French and Scots heritage. Do you have any idea how many potshots and off the cuff remarks are taken at Canadians and the French on this forum, on TV and elsewhere? For heaven's sake, there is such a thing as being overly sensitive.

I live in a place where 95% of the people are black, West Indians and I am regularly identified by folks as "de white laydee ovah deh"? Now if they were to identify me as "de honky laydee ovah deh", I might take exception ... but they don't!

I find that many people actually look for reasons to pick fights/arguments ... and one of the most overused ... is racism! Trust me, I have intimate knowledge on the subject!

Where I come from (Toronto, Canada), little children who tend to clamber all over trees and other obstacles are referred to as "little monkeys". I nearly lost a (volunteer) job here because of a furor over me telling a three year old (West Indian boy) in my swimming class to "get down from there, you little monkey" as he hung by the knees, upside down (over a cement pool deck) on the rung of a ladder to the 3 meter diving board. Someone actually had to explain the racial inference to me because I was gobsmacked by the amount of resentment and furor my comment caused!

I think all of us should try to be more tolerant of one another. We are all from different places with very different life experiences. What some of you find to be offensive, others do not. Some people are downright offensive on a regular basis on this forum, but you don't see their posts being nailed with negative Karma all over the place!

I think we need to take a deep breath and lighten up. If the "intent" to be offensive isn't there ... then just move on. Life's too short to turn a forum about scooters into something it isn't.

I don't think Scooter Henry is bigot or racist honestly.
My response was more a "oh brother...*sigh" type of response.

From his post, it sounds like he might be a non-native North American.
(now who is generalizing based on syntax) who might not live in a culturally diverse place.

my point was that...

I'm just a man who loves me some vespa.

I lived in some places like upstate NY and maryland where I was the "Asian guy." This kinda thing gets old and is so limiting.

It might not be a big deal but its super lame to be designated as that ____ guy sans a name or personality.

I love the peeps on modern vespa.

I just saw the post and went WTF?

Don't hate on this guy.

I'll be his first asian friend. okay.

Everyone just give him a thumbs up to get him back to neutral or stuff his vowels back into his cavity.

Okay.

Very cool process!... I like that a lot

But I'm a little mystified as to why the OP was bad enough to trigger it
I wouldn't consider it anything like "Helpful",
but it seemed well-meaning and kinda harmless

If the negative karma is mostly from Asians who were offended, this is totally fair...
but perhaps this negative karma thing might be getting overused?

Nice!

Not liking a post is not the same as hating the writer.

This is an excellent point. Just because the post was poorly rated doesn't necessarily mean the OP is a bad guy, or that people hate him. Just that they found it sufficiently obnoxious to warrant rating that particular post negative.

Lived 10 years in Silver spring Maryland near Washington DC.
Moved to Miami Florida for 4 years.
Live in Baltimore Maryland 1 year
Moved back to Silver Spring Maryland near Washington DC for the last 9 years.

While this is technically correct, one of the intended side effects of disemvowelling a poorly-rated post was to limit the subsequent negative ratings that the post would garner. The thinking is that by making it hard to read the post, less people will bother reading it, and thus less people will rate it negatively. Then you really shouldn't rate the post. I'm serious -- the middle ground is simply no vote. Anything else is subverting the system on philosophical grounds. I certainly can't stop you from using the system that way, but I hold it as self-evident that the system will work better if people vote their conscience and not try to offset someone else's vote.

There are actually some posts that deserve to be down-rated. Just because you don't happen to think the post is obnoxious doesn't mean that someone else doesn't, or shouldn't. You have no more right to be the judge of someone else's opinion than I do.

Can someone help me identify the psychological/cognitive process that makes me:

a) read pages upon pages of comments about circular topics/arguments (such as this thread and other topics such as FF/OF helmets)

b) desire to post a response to said circular comments

I can't put my finger on it. It's like the urge you get to stare at an accident on the side of the road. You know you shouldn't but you just can't look away.

Is there an official name for this compulsion? I think I've coined the term "social rubbernecking"

Henry, to add a little more local detail to some of the answers, specific to the DC area... you live near one of the largest populations of displaced Vietnamese in the States. In fact, it is the third largest population of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam (Dallas and Orange County, CA being 2nd & 1st). And yes, many Vietnamese folks--usually older--have approached me as well, admiring my scoot, and asking about its engine, how big it is, and how fast it goes, and sharing their 2-stroke memories. As someone else mentioned...if you'd stepped foot in Saigon for 20 seconds, any time of day or night, you'd know why; to say that scooters are everywhere is putting it mildly. Of course...the folks who came up to you could very well have come from practically any other Asian country too, since the scooter culture was pretty big in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, etc. Back in the day (well...even today, for that matter) if you were on a Vespa...you must have been from a fairly well-off family, or you worked your ass off, bcs it always was considered quite a nice ride. Anyone who'd ridden one back then was probably pretty proud to be able to pick up his college sweetheart on a Vespa.

A couple other nameplates would also bring up some pretty fond memories from the same crowd...the ol' russian Minsk, the beemer airhead, and of course...the honda cub, and more recently...the honda dream...all good rides.

I love scooter henry and his native a$$. I love me the moderators and the egalitarian karma system. I love texans who read circular argued posts. I love asians who love vespa.

I love modern vespa.

I hope nobody ever posts another comment after this one. Hint, hint.
The Asian guy says so...

What is it with these asian guys and all their lovin?

Time to lock this thread P L E A S E