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[gasdive]

We're such small fry it seems impossible that anyone would spend any money trying to spoil our fun, But...

Has anyone else noticed that every time a story appears in the motorcycle press that allows comments, most are positive but there is always sprinkled through them a scattering of misinformation.  People are posting very specific information that's completely wrong.  My previous experience with the internet is that I've disagreed (sometimes very strongly) with people and people are sometimes very selective about the facts they quote or place very different interpretations to me but it's rare to see people just lying.  I can't think of any actual examples of bare faced lies apart from these threads which are full of them. 

=:)

[teddillard]

Sorry I haven't been too active here, but I noticed this post.  I just did a post on my blog dealing with the press and how to work with them to promote what we do: http://evmc2.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/a-little-rant-on-the-press/

After going back and forth with a few people this post rubbed the wrong way, I came to a simple conclusion about it.  People do what's easy.  Basically, it's easier to complain, than it is to do something to help fix the situation...  and that's what a lot of people tend to do. 

I'd encourage you to send authors emails with corrections, if you see errors, or make them in the comments.  I do it frequently, and am always thanked.  There will always be trolls making snipes at EVs, because it's easier for them to do that, than to actually learn about them and say something intelligent.  You don't need to feed the trolls, they pretty much show themselves for what they are.  But as for some organized campaign?  Nah, that would be giving them too much credit.   

[Richard230]

One problem is that the general media doesn't really understand science, much less the science behind electric vehicles, or what is going on in the industry. It is just too complicated for them, plus it takes more than a few seconds to describe what is going on, so they just homogenize what they have heard from the expert that they interviewed into a few mushy thoughts - which are usually wrong, or at least mixed up and confused. TV reporters are the worst, followed by radio talking heads.

However, there are a few members of the press who understand what is going on and can explain it, but they have to either write a book, or find space in a long article in a newspaper to give the general reader the full scoop. Locally, there is one person who writes in the business section of my newspaper who seems to give the straight scoop on electric vehicles. She is Dana Hull. But her articles are few and far between as she fights for space with writers of other subjects.

Electric vehicles are just not mainstream yet and so the general press doesn't really feel that the public is all that interested in the subject. They go for "teasers" and leave the facts on the cutting room floor.

[gasdive]

Ted, that was an interesting blog post! 

I see what you mean but I'm not talking about the bloggers who may get minor details wrong or the order of events (generally stuff like who was first to market with what).  I mean the comments sections where you see people with few posts or one post and no links to their own website or any other info.  They say stuff like "[whatever bike is being blogged about] weighs more than [some horrible ICE that everyone hates]"  When in reality it's 1/3 of the weight.  Or "No-one can wait around 12 hours for this thing to recharge" when there is clear info, often in the blog post, that it takes some much lower time to recharge"  Or "Typical ebike weighs 500+ pounds" when the the three currently available registerable ebikes weigh 221,  270 and 324 pounds. or "range is much shorter at night with the lights on" for bikes that have their headlights hardwired on all the time.  (of course even if they weren't headlights hardly make any difference to range)

The comments have clear checkable "facts" in them that are simply made up out of thin air.  That's what's concerning me.

It could just be one person who's frightened that if EV becomes available then they'll be mandated.  There's actually reasonable basis for that fear as two stroke bikes are significantly better than four strokes for motorcycles but they've been banned in a lot of places.  So there's a history of preventing people from using the better (cheaper, faster, lighter, more reliable) 2 strokes for pollution reasons.

=:)

[Brammofan]

I think it's more that we live in a world filled with people who are either afraid of change or ignorant or want people to think they're funny (e.g. The card in the spokes, or the long extension cord...) or just need to bitch about something.  Or a combination of all of those.