NZ bikers freed from house arrest in Iran

[Bob]

A group of NZ bikers, calling themselves the 'Silkriders', has been let back on the road after being detained in Iran.

The group, who are travelling as official UNICEF Ambassadors, were stopped in the small town of Bubolsor after police said there was a problem with their visas, and were put under house arrest in they described as a "rat-infested" hotel and had their passports taken by police.

The NZ Foreign Office, I understand, got into action and ensured the release of the group. Mfat spokeswoman Emma Riley said "Apparently the Bubolsor police had given them a letter of introduction and the phone number of their police station in case they encountered any difficulties while they're in Iran."

The group are in Iran as part of a three-month effort to ride the old Silk Road from Italy to China on the 750th birthday of Marco Polo.

[Ms Piggy]

I saw them on the late night news on Wednesday night. Some great pics but it didn't explain much. Thanks Bob

I remember when I was away on my SI trip I met a group of riders and 1 of the guys was going to do that route - I wonder if he is part of this group, he was affiliated with Kiwi Rider.

[Pwalo]

Who in their right mind would wan't to willingly detain a pack of Kiwi bikers?

Good to see thing sorted for the moment anyway. Certainly would be nice to have the time/money to do a trip like that.

[bugjuice]

bit late on this news today, aren't we..??
freed days ago were they not?

[Bob]

bit late on this news today, aren't we..??
freed days ago were they not?

If this is SO late, then why didn't YOU report it then, when YOU heard about it?

But... not "cut and paste" (that breaks copyright law, which could mean KB being closed down and the owners fined into oblivion), but find the information, read it and then re-work it into a nice, tidy format, with the waffle and waste cut out. And then do the same, day in, day out, item after item after item...

Fancy the challenge?

(Not being my usual nice self today, suffering with a chest infection and my back is playing up as well, so sod politeness)

One last thing - when I found this, it had been reported there some ELEVEN hours earlier. Unless the world round there orbits a damn sight faster than it does in this hemisphere, that is hardly days, is it?

Bear in mind that an item on NZ bikers isn't exactly front page news round this side of the globe. I would imagine "Man runs over dog with bike in Runcorn" takes it's time to reach your side of the world, if indeed it ever gets there.

[Marknz]

W.T.F.....???

[Bob]

W.T.F.....???

I'm assuming this is in reference to my outburst, so here we go.

It irritates the hell out of me when I find something of interest, put it up, then someone says "Oh I knew about that days/weeks/months/years ago". Well if they did, then why didn't THEY report it then?

There is nothing, repeat NOTHING stopping anyone else putting news items in here. Criteria is that it is news involving biking. But it can't be a "cut and paste" job from another site. This is breaking the law and KB could get closed down if the original news source found out.

(I used to write for a racing site. And they were on the verge of having to take a certain major manufacturer to court for lifting reports, word for word - including our thanks (which we were NAMED) to everyone for such an enjoyable race! Copyright theft is copyright theft, pure and simple)

If someone finds a news item, then I would love to see them report it. But it has to be ORIGINAL WORDS. Yes, you read the item. But then you have to re-write it before posting it. I do this for EVERY item that appears here. I can do it quite quickly, as I've had a lot of practice.

I actually find news items for a UK publication - and get paid for it. Believe me, anything about a bunch of NZ bikers isn't going to make the news in the publication in question - so putting in the time to re-work it into a decent little article was, technically, costing me money.

But as I found it, I thought it might be of interest to you guys. So I put in the time to compile it as a tidy little news item.

And then I get "Oh well I knew about it days ago". WELL REPORT IT YOURSELF THEN!

Very, very easy to be negative and criticise. Not so easy to actually get off your butt and do something.

[Marknz]

I would imagine the "I knew about that days ago" was in reference to it having been posted on here one or two days ago. As it happens it's Friday night here, I've had a couple of ales and a vindaloo, and I can't be arsed going looking for the original article, but there you go.

Hey, if it's costing you money, don't do it.

And copyright shopyright... I copy and paste heaps of stuff into this forum, and as long as on quote the place where it comes from then I feel I have done my bit.

[Ghost Lemur]

To clarify...

Bugjuice is talking about the fact that they were under house arrest was posted days ago.

The fact that they were released was not. Until you did it (unless it's at the end of the thread and I missed it).

Bugger to hear you're having health issues there bob. Nothing serious I hope. Sounds like you could do with a holiday . Time to come sample our roads I think.

As for the effort you've consistantly put in to bringing us news. I can only speak for myself, but I've greatly appreciated it.

[Bob]

I assume you are referring to this thread:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=12236

Which doesn't mention their being freed, just that they were under house arrest. I didn't know this thread was around, so I reported the news of their release in... news. Which made sense to me at the time.

As for copyright: Quoting where it comes from helps on the copyright front (preferably with a link) - and a lot of time it is fine. But when it comes to news, it can be a risky thing, as the words are normally copyright (you can't copyright a subject, just the words that are used). Hence me re-working them.

The case I mentioned earlier though was a classic - a major manufacturer putting together their site, literally steals from another site (only this time without any links, or credits to the original source) - and gets found out. Their excuse was "We were in a rush". Not really legally up to much! They did take down the stolen reports eventually, but only after a lot of hassle and threats of court action.

[Bob]

To clarify...

Bugjuice is talking about the fact that they were under house arrest was posted days ago.

The fact that they were released was not. Until you did it (unless it's at the end of the thread and I missed it).

Bugger to hear you're having health issues there Bob. Nothing serious I hope. Sounds like you could do with a holiday . Time to come sample our roads I think.

As for the effort you've consistantly put in to bringing us news. I can only speak for myself, but I've greatly appreciated it.

Thanks for that. It is appreciated.

Chest infection is clearing up (now back on the bike, which I couldn't risk a few days ago in case I had a coughing fit strong enough to lose control!), but my back is currently 'giving me gip' (oddly enough, riding the bike doesn't give me any trouble).

Back trouble is a result of having a disc removed - and stress being put on other parts of the spine - a few years back after an idiot in a Nissan Sunny pulled out from a side road and I flew over the bonnet of the car! So every now and again, things slip a little and it gets kinda painful. Though hopefully it'll work back into place by itself - the osteopath is painful to the extreme - both to my back and my wallet!

[stevedee]

Bob I'm a fan of your news keep it up mate I always read your stuff. Stay strong.

[pritch]

Thanks for the news Bob. I did see on TV that they had been arrested but hadn't seen any mention of their release. (Of course not, the News is for bad news only.) One of the party is an economist who is used by one of the TV Channels here to provide background to whatever is happening to the economy at the time.