When I see '...sucks', I assume it is a statement of opinion, as facts are not usually couched in such language.

Opinions can often stink. When these opininions are put forward as fact, they can be libelous. Even putting 'I think' or 'In my opinion' does not absolve anyone (poster or site owner) of responsibility. E.G. I post a message, 'In my opinion Tom Thumb the pipers son should be draged from his home and hung from the nearest tree, before his house is burned down'. Next thing, Tom Thumb is lynched and his house torched, am I responsible?. One reason why the human flesh search engine scares the crap out of me, feed the mob not the truth. Extreme example I know.

There is no absolute right to free speech, not even in the good old USA. Certainly not in China. If you think the internet is a portal for free speech then look at those who have been prosecuted for diseminating hate messages on the net, or on twitter recently.

I believe a light hand in moderation is better than a heavy hand. But I also know that what is moderate moderation is subjective.

"Kunming food sucks" is an opinion. My bad. The declarative quality of the statement threw me off.

"Kunming food definitely and absolutely and undeniably sucks donkey balls". It's a scientific FACT. It's been proven with Quantum Physics. It's on Wikipedia. It's in the Bible.

I think, the right of reply is one of the element that ought to be present before deleting posts or locking threads. If the owner of the restaurant concerned does not take the right of reply available then it would seem to me that the moderator is trying to deny both, the reviewer and the owner, natural justice if the moderator resort to deletion without giving adequate explanation in public. The point being, there are people already consumed the review before deletion.

I do not understand this forum frankly. What started this was a person posting to a forum that was almost 4 years old and i frankly thought what a stupid post when the business that the original forum was about has totally changed how it does business. Secondly he made a review on a restaurant based on the pictures in the menu and having ordered a coke and took one bite of his friends food. Was it a fair review hell no. Lastly is the overall quality of food in Kunming good of course not, but their are some really good places in Kunming who work hard and try to give us a good product. I am really tired of hearing people pissing and moaning about the cost of food in the better places. Have any of those people went to the supermarkets and paid for western products here. It cost 2X or more than in the usa so i am amazed they can deliver a decent product to us for less or even the same price in the USA. Those who say all of kunmings food sucks need to get around because there are some decent places to dine here at a reasonable price and i found those by reading the honest reviews from people who actually had eaten the food at those establishments. I also have eaten two meals at Cacao and thought the place was lovely but because they were holiday meals and not there normal fare i did not feel it was fair to give them a review. I normally eat at a place 2-3 times before giving them a review knowing that all places have really good days and sometimes off days. I have also lived in several chinese cities were we honestly rated Mcdonalds as our best western food option.

So many men talking to each other about sucking around here

@rejected_goods: As you can see BillDan's zero star review of Cacao still stands. We only delete reviews when we believe they are fake. The forum guidelines, however, are different.

Of course, zero star ratings should be reserved for those places one believes to the worst possible venues one could possibly imagine. Such reviews I imagine would include consideration of service level and quality of products and decoration, depending on what type of venue it is. Finally, as all things are relative, it would make sense to rate these different aspects based on the local contextual environment and not on one that most other site users are not familiar with.

Translation: BillDan's 0 star review sucks.

There was review on Trip Advisor that was a few years old where someone gave a low rating to a restaurant in China because their Mapo Tofu made their tongue feel numb.

i believe msg may have that effect on some people.