Touring the U.S. Male

[Xrayted]

One more try to post this...



Hmmm. I'm not sure I understand your, for lack of a better word, preoccupation with these young men. To take a video of someone, obviously without their knowledge or consent, is disturbing. Then you made debasing comments and posted it on a public forum for anyone to see. (Don't fool yourself, we aren't the only ones here, ya know. There are more lurkers than registered users here at any given point of the day.) You have already exposed this young man and the others once and you have no idea what some in the great big "www" may have already done with the video. This is the one of the most irresponsible and reprehensible things I've ever seen on this forum. So what is being done about it? You are going back for seconds.

Believe me, I understand you aren't doing this out of any malice or negative intentions, but this is simply not the place. By your own words, it should be put to rest. And yet... you persist. I don't get it. I've held my tongue on a few of your posts that I found mildly degrading or intrusive about those you spoke of or quoted whole conversations about. Although I would consider you a good writer, you have a way of being lightly condescending to your human subjects without being obvious about it. I assumed this to just be your writing style and moved on. This one is where I have to draw the line, because you showed the person(s) in enough detail to be recognized and made some personal observations (hints) that were inappropriate and uncalled for. Thankfully, the others you've written about are still publicly unidentifiable.

I apologize to you and anyone else who see this as an attack. I feel you, Pardes, to be a nice, creative and highly intelligent person, although a bit misguided in the displaying of your artistic endeavors this time. This is a biking forum and although we do encourage open communication on "other" subjects regularly, in my opinion, your medium of choice (and the way you obtained it) in this situation simply doesn't belong here.

I encourage you to let those young people know what you have done and what you may have exposed them to without their knowledge. But, please don't post any more videos like that again without first getting the correct permission. At times we have all been guilty of forgetting that this isn't just our forum. In reality, it is owned by a woman (her company) who could be associated with what we put on here. As such, she (and all those who work for her) can be directly and negatively affected by what is posted and how it is perceived. She has been wonderful in the fact that she leaves us pretty well unchecked and uncensored. She trusts that we will have enough personal maturity to do it amongst ourselves.

Please lay this to rest as you promised you would, at least on here. And please, by all means, continue to be a presence here. TE is a unique entity on the web and is treasured by the many who frequent it, as are the people who contribute to this community. There aren't any I'd like to lose because the contributions of each and every one of us makes it the wonderful place it is.

Thank you and ride safe. Peace.


~X

[jobob]

Please lay this to rest as you promised you would, at least on here.

But she did ! Her last posts have had nothing to do with the video!

Why is this dead horse still being beaten? She removed that video (which I saw & thought was very funny, personally).

And the fact that you chose to make your comments here rather than in a private email does make this seem to me to be personal attack.

[Xrayted]

Thanks for the response Jobob. I do appreciate it. I had decided to stay quiet on this one because to speak up gives it more weight than it truly deserves. But, when I read that she is going back to take more video... I tried to get my thoughts across without offending and just kindly ask that it not be posted here. I guess I failed.

I respect everyone's opinions, not just the ones that agree with mine. If it's not bad in the first place, then why hide what we are talking about? This is, after all, a forum. It's not personal unless we make it that way or invoke hurt feelings in others. What makes you think that by airing the video, she didn't cause harm? These guys were just hanging out, chatting and minding their own business. What about the situation screamed the need to video that moment and make fun of them without their knowledge? As far as I can tell, they did nothing to provoke it. Yes, I agree it is a very bland video and as such should have only registered a 1.2 on the richter scale. It's not the content as much as it's the public showing of it without permission. Period.

They will probably laugh it off in the end when she tells them what she did, but what if they don't? We all use aliases on here for a reason and many won't post pics of their children or themselves for privacy. Yet it seems okay to expose others publicly for our own amusement. Sad.

Okay, I'm done. Just don't take my pic and post it without my permission. (just in case I have to expressly spell that one out for y'all.) Thanks.

~X

[Blueberry]

I'm going to the MS ride this weekend, people take pictures - I'll be in some of them (at least I was last year). There's no official photographer, and yet the pictures end up all over the web. I didn't sign a form granting them permission (and they're not "official" anyway).

Should we shut down the MS ride photography too?

(Not trying to be confrontational - just trying to point out that photos do get taken and posted all the time, and that for the most part it's legal to do so).

Disclaimer: I never saw the video. It was gone before I opened this thread - Just trying to make sure I understand what folks are arguing for here.

CA

[Flur]

I never saw the video, but I did see the picture of the boy at the bus stop. He was NOT identifiable.

Pardes said that she got a release from everyone except the one young man that she was going back to get a release from. So as far as I can tell she's following the law. Whether a given person likes what she's doing is somewhat irrelevant - art is subjective. Some people will like it, some won't.

If you find her posts objectionable, I suggest you don't read them. That's the great thing about message boards - if you don't want to read something you don't have to.

I, personally, will continue to read them as I really enjoy her stories, pics and videos.