Colombia Forum on full moderation

[Casa Medellin]

I guess I owe an apology to some of the members of ISG. A couple members have told me privately that some of the comments I made about "No Money Guys" seemed insulting to everyone. I did not mean for those statements to be directed at everyone. I was describing certain characterizes of the few members who persistently flame my business for absolutely no reason. I meant for my comments to be directed at them and not to everyone. Some of the members here who have not been following the forum may not have realized why I was making certain statements and therefore felt I was also talking about them. To those members I apologize for not being clearer in my postings.

I never intended to promote my hotel on ISG because I feel some of the members here assert too much negativity towards anyone who is making money renting rooms to others on the board. I have seen this hostility directed to other hotels owners in the past and knew that if I entered this forum I too would be attacked by certain members.

However, a short while ago I discovered 4 members of ISG posting negative reviews of my hotel. None of these members had ever stayed at my hotel or even entered the property. The original poster had only contacted me once in the past to enquire if I would allow three children of a prostitute to sleep in the room with him and her. These children where all under the age of eight so my answer was no since the hotel has a policy that all guests must be over the age of eighteen. I am sure any reasonable member of ISG would understand clearly why hotels do not allow prostitutes to bring over their children and sleep in the bed with their clients.

This person’s response to not being allowed to bring children into the hotel was to post a negative report on ISG about my hotel and to copy my private email to the forum. At that time I created the user "Casa Medellin" simply to defend my business. I did not join ISG with the intention of spamming the board or prompting my business.

Needless to say several other people then started flaming me. The largest complaint seems to be from one user who thinks $80. 00 is too much for a hotel in Poblado even though all amenities such as Internet, long distance calls, laundry and breakfast are included with that price. He claims that no hotels in Poblado charge this much although some hotels here charge well over $250. 00 a night for the same services. Medellin has a wide variety of hotel options from as little as $10. 00 a night to several hundred dollars in some of the high-end suites. I can assure everyone that no hotel charging $80. 00 is "ripping off" gringos weather it is my place of the other hotels that have memberships here.

I felt I had to defend myself against statements that I considered slanderous and completely untrue. I was probably too aggressive in doing this as some people interpreted it as spamming or advertising. It was not my intention to spam the forum. I just felt the need to defend my business against allegations that were made by people who have never seen it.

Building a business in Colombia is much more complicated than most people on this forum can imagine. All the people on this forum who own hotels have to put up with a lot of bullshit on a daily bases. Fortunately there are a lot of good guys who come down and support our businesses which makes it fun to live down here. However, there are also a small number of parasites that try their best to destroy what the entrepreneurs are creating. They have their own motives and objectives for attacking anyone who is making a living in a place where they cannot.

I have dumped over a million dollars into this business and spent a long time building it. I try my best to provide the highest quality service that I can. If there are mistakes I try my best to rectify them. Sometimes things cannot be as perfect as they are in the United States simply because we are not in the United States. I also think the other gringo owners of hotels on this forum are doing their best to provide good service.

Perhaps I over reacted in some of my posts. I wish I had just ignored the flamers and never posted anything at all. It can just get really frustrating listing to these guys. I think they are just unhappy people who have failed in life and want everyone else to be just like them.

I hope the normal people on ISG understand I was not referring to them with my reference to "No Money Guys" but only to the people who were complaining about something they never saw or could not afford. The fact of the matter is I do not want these people in the hotel even if they paid double. They bring with them so much negativity that they make the other guests feel uncomfortable. I am trying to build an environment that is fun, where gringos can meet other gringos and enjoy one another’s company in additional to the hotel.

I hope this can be my last post on ISG. I am tired of confronting these people. As long as people are not posting bullshit reviews to a place they have never been, then I will stop posting on ISG. I had hoped to provide a lot of information for others who were interested in living in Colombia in the "Buying Property in Colombia" forum but it seems that wherever I post the same flamers appear.

Good bye.

http://www.LaCasaMedellin.com

[Ezinho]

There really are only a few who need the extra care.

With all due respect, there are more than just a few who need the "extra care". Just check out the Troublemakers in Colombia thread, I counted at least seven members who are a drain on the ISG.

There have been some great reports posted, but they get lost in the useless chit chat, whether it be politics bs, real estate tips, etc. Especially from regular members who have their posts moderated by Jackson, so their postings are delayed; ISG member Cornbread is a good example of this. He posted an excellent trip report on his time in Medellin, but it was buried a couple of pages back underneath flaming and real estate chit chat. Luckily, Jackson cleaned up the thread.

Col Bog 1 is another member who's reports and photos I enjoy, but I must go searching for them because they get pushed back because of off-topic chit chat.

There are plenty of other sites on the web, and threads here on the ISG, that are geared specifically to real estate in Latin America; same with Politics. Those member that like to talk about these topic can do it on the appropriate sites/threads.

Jackson is doing the right thing here, and I think we will start seeing more trip reports because of it.

===============================================

Hi Ezinho,

The ROD thread is intended to provide a place to post links to the forum's premier reports. If Forum members would use it and post links to the Forum's best reports, then these premier reports you describe wouldn't get lost, and in fact they would be accessable and reviewed for a long time.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Senor Amable]

Thanks Jackson,

Now we can move on and get back to what we're really here for.

[MJG Dogs]

Close the silly troublemakers thread. I am sorry I even made a comment.

[Belldude2]

hi there. i for one, think that this is a great idea. i have just stopped posting on another site because they allow assholes to flame anyone for any reason in the name of freedom of speech. i am happy that this site upholds respect. this is an information site, not a site for being rude to contributors.

thank you

[Malodr]

This will make Colombia ISG great!

Lets get back to reporting!

[Tom 33]

It's your site, but I would think about moderating those who need moderating. As new trolls appear, you can add them to the list.

There really are only a few who need the extra care. Frankly it wouldn't bother me if you just left them all alone. The ignore feature works great. I used it on Surfer.

[Sailor2006]

Exactly what did we say to [CodeWord140] you off so?

[Admin]

Greetings everyone,

Just to make my position clear to those who would protest this new policy:

1. I would consider the new policy a complete success if it resulted in a 90% decrease in contributions to the Colombia Forum, but the remaining 10% were actually contributing information.

2. To those who are concerned that Full Moderation will drive some high-volume contributors away from The Forum, I can tell you from my experience in managing forums that with the exodus of problematic "contributors" there will an influx of new contributions by new or previously silent forum members. I've seen this phenomenon happen every time I crack down on any forum that is being dominated by a small number of overbearing "contributors".

Thanks,

Jackson