New member posts with crazy issues

[boaterva]

I used to be on several of those, depending on my time at the moment. AVSforums back when DVRs and HD TV was a major new thing... Macrumors (and still am) when the new iPhones come out...

Some of those things are more seasonal. We have the 'advantage' of having something that is ever-changing!

 

[boaterva]

A lot of negative posts I have been reading are about used vehicles/CPO where’s folks are expecting the full “Tesla experience” as the company grows that model is not really sustainable ...even for model 3s ....also doesn’t help that there are 100+ point checklists ...just enjoy the car !

Yeah, and they go to get their 3 and are pissed at the ten minutes allotted to their delivery.... I sympathize, a bit, but you can't go from 2K a week to 7K to 8K and have the same business model, sorry.

 

[Max*]

Some of those things are more seasonal.

I agree. I've been a member of AVSForums longer than i've been a member here. But I only have maybe 50 posts there.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

My vote is the vast majority are being truthful.

They don't have any history because they only came to this place when seeking answers or finding an audience to vent to.

This is likely especially true with unintended acceleration. It's not like we haven't seen unintended acceleration incidents quite a bit with Tesla vehicles. The combination of the sudden acceleration, and the silence are likely significant contributing factors.

Usually it happens to new owners, or fairly new owners.

I'm sure some paranoia is justified due to do the shorts, the intensity of anything Elon related, etc. But, I think most of them should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I was one of these people yesterday, but regarding a different product.

I received a SIPABOARD that I had ordered a couple weeks ago, and it didn't come with the battery. The battery is absolutely essential for everything it does. It's a self-propelled, self-inflating paddle board. So not having the battery kinda deflates the entire thing.

It also didn't come with a Paddle which I was alarmed by, but that one I realized was my mistake. I assumed it did since it was shown in the pictures, but it wasn't in the text.

Anyways I went looking for a forum/usergroup to find other people with the board to see what their experiences were. I felt a bit like I was a million miles from anyone with it. The only contact I have with the company that makes it is an email address, and it was usually days before they ever responded.

I was really regretting not getting it from REI. So I was pretty motivated to warn people not to order it directly. That they weren't going to save any money, and it was a massive hassle.

Luckily someone from the company replied to my email, and stated not to worry because the battery had to be shipped separately due to regulations. Then they gave me a tracking number for an unknown courier. So not entirely helpful, but at least it was something. They were going to get back to me on the courier.

 

[jddssc121]

Do you see first time posters being dismissed on TMC for the most part?

It was an appeal to not start

 

[Impala1ss]

Is it me Or am I just an uncaring, unfeeling jerkface with no compassion?
.

THIS . Unless you own this forum, no need for you to belittle others who may have concerns that you don't have. Can never understand those who have to be critical about everything they don't understand.

 

[commasign]

I think the majority of first-time-poster "My new Tesla is a disaster" posts are legit. The ones that aren't are pretty quickly roasted by all of us. But go on any forum for any car (or other complex product) and you'll find similar posts. Some cars are just lemons. That's why they have lemon laws. The 95% of new Tesla owners who aren't on the forums and who didn't have major issues with their new car don't post here.

The important thing is data. This is a slide from the most recent shareholder meeting. As long as the trend continues, I'm not worried. There will always be outlier cases of bad cars. A random post here or there about such cars doesn't necessarily mean trolling.

 

[Valence]

Shock value and rants. Help is but a call away (good or bad).

 

[fasteddie7]

THIS . Unless you own this forum, no need for you to belittle others who may have concerns that you don't have. Can never understand those who have to be critical about everything they don't understand.

If I'm reading this correctly your are missing the point. This is the perfect place for people to come who have questions and share the enthusiasm for the brand. But I hate wasting time on fake posts when there are legitimate people who have real questions. I was one once... And still am from time to time.

 

[ucmndd]

If I'm reading this correctly your are missing the point. This is the perfect place for people to come who have questions and share the enthusiasm for the brand. But I hate wasting time on fake posts when there are legitimate people who have real questions. I was one once... And still am from time to time.

The problem is you’re assuming a large percentage of these posts are “fake” without any real evidence to support that.

 

[fasteddie7]

The problem is you’re assuming a large percentage of these posts are “fake” without any real evidence to support that.

Assuming isn't the right word. Assumption implies that there isn't necessarily any evidence. Deduction might be a better term. I'd say the patterns are pretty clear.

 

[ohmman]

It’s also possible that new posters with complaints find the responses to their issues to be unsupportive and belittling. I’ve seen some of these threads and I doubt I’d come back for help after the first page of responses, either.

Note that this isn’t always the case, but it’s not unusual either. It certainly was less common a few years ago.

 

[ucmndd]

Assuming isn't the right word. Assumption implies that there isn't necessarily any evidence. Deduction might be a better term. I'd say the patterns are pretty clear.

You’re still attributing that “pattern” to malfeasance and I still maintain there’s very little if any evidence to support that on any broad scale.

The pattern you’re observing is pretty typical human nature.

1) Reach your wits’ end on a problem that is bugging you
2) Seek an outlet for your frustration
3) Recount your frustration in great cathartic detail
4) maybe engage, maybe move on and never really think about it again. It really doesn’t matter because the whole point of the exercise was step 3.

I’ve spent over 15 years around automotive forums, even owned one for 5 years that averaged ~500 posts a day. This is not a new or unique phenomenon. It’s just how it works.

 

[fasteddie7]

It’s also possible that new posters with complaints find the responses to their issues to be unsupportive and belittling. I’ve seen some of these threads and I doubt I’d come back for help after the first page of responses, either.

Note that this isn’t always the case, but it’s not unusual either. It certainly was less common a few years ago.

I certainly don't believe in belittling anyone. I just wish there were better tools for filtering ill intention folks out, but such is the internet I suppose.

 

[Joe F]

The problem is you’re assuming a large percentage of these posts are “fake” without any real evidence to support that.

Many issues are exasperated by those with probably good intentions “assuming” too many things.

Take for example your stating the above. If you go back and reread what was written, you might want to restate the above quoted text. I didn’t read where anyone assumed a large percentage of posts are “fake.” Instead, the first post said “a lot” which is not a large percentage of posts on TMC.

 

[Ken7]

This is basically how car forums (and the internet) have worked since the dawn of time. You have a core set of enthusiasts that make up a bulk of the content and a fringe of people that are only driven to post due to frustration with negative experiences.

I see very little reason to believe that the new negative posters are actually part of a conspiracy to take down Tesla. Sure, there are probably a few that are fake. But one doesn’t need to look very far to find legit accounts of Tesla screwing up badly.

Considering the amount of money that the short sellers have riding on Tesla’s downfall, I see lots of reasons.

 

[ucmndd]

Considering the amount of money that the short sellers have riding on Tesla’s downfall, I see lots of reasons.

If the exact same behavior didn’t exist on countless Internet forums for years and years in more or less equal measure, that correlation might be worth taking more seriously.

 

[ucmndd]

Take for example your stating the above. If you go back and reread what was written, you might want to restate the above quoted text. I didn’t read where anyone assumed a large percentage of posts are “fake.” Instead, the first post said “a lot” which is not a large percentage of posts on TMC.

He’s clearly suggesting that “a lot” of the posts by new members complaining of issues are fake. That was the entire point of the thread.

I’m not sure what value comes from discussing whether “a lot” is functionally equivalent to “a large percentage”. They’re clearly referring to the same thing in roughly the same equal measure.

 

[fasteddie7]

Perhaps if it is looked at as “a lot” of seemingly well articulated posts with verbiage that is Tesla “jargon” are from “new members” and not new members having a lot of “fake” posts. I was simply saying some of these posts are super specific and hit all the right “buttons” and they always so happen to be from people who joined that day. I know if I had a massive issue day one like pulling out and stopping on the freeway, My post would not be so articulate and full of facts, cuss words perhaps....

 

[ricebucket]

@fasteddie7 are you seriously saying that you've never had a problem with a product and then went online to look for the answer? If you found it on a webpage, you might have read the page (or even left a comment) and never returned to the site. If you found it on a forum, you might have posted to ask about it, but didn't realize people have replied or have no interest in looking at the rest of the site/forum.

I've certainly done this for other products I've owned. There was one time where I posted a question and to my chagrin, didn't realize that people replied until months later. By the time I returned, I figured people have already moved on so I didn't bother resurfacing the thread with a response.

People on forums are either bored people or people with something to complain about. I don't fundamentally think there's anything wrong with either. And the people who complain might not be the ones you should be criticizing --- They might only be complaining because they cared/liked the product enough to post about it.

As for the short seller explanation, I honestly don't think trolling an enthusiast forum would have much of an effect on the stock price. They can get much better exposure through the media or the courts.