So I posted this to the Lelit Facebook forum and had it removed. I was told in the message that I would be told why. The only thing I can think of is that it could be perceived I was pushing a product which I am not, I am pushing an idea instead. So below is a copy and paste of the posting. Note: I don't want to get into an argument with the Lelit Facebook group, I'm really figuring out if this is the kind of thing you can post here. So the good news is I am not double posting, you can't find this post in the Lelit group:

For those of us without a double boiler or heat exchanger Lelit machine, realize you can add an independent steamer to your set up for the few times your 20 friends come over and you want to make them cappuccinos. I realize many subscribers are aware of this but for newcomers who wish they had faster steaming capabilities, you just need to add an independent steamer heated on a stove to steam your milk. Meanwhile your machine is left set up solely for espresso with no reliance on the machine steam wand. The price tag on this steam unit at roughly $100 is much cheaper than a double boiler:

The problem is that the video you are sharing leads with a very hard sell of the channel's merchadise:

MorganDrinksCoffee wrote:I'm wearing something slightly different than what I usually wear and there's some information to that. This is a merch design that I am releasing very very soon. It's been in the works for a while. I'm very excited about it. You have, of course, the beautiful like stippled tulip design on the pocket area, you have these beautiful coffee plants running down both the sleeves, and you also have the MDC logo on the back.

She goes on to explain sizes and so forth. If this was posted by a "day 1" member, I'd be inclined to delete it as spam. Sadly, there's a lot of "influencer adjacent" people on the Internet who are paid to post their client's videos on any platform they can find. Popular forums and user groups are among their favorite targets.

In your particular case, you've been a member for merely 13 days and have 3 prior posts. Because of this short site history, moderators are inclined to treat posts that whiff of soft-spam with skepticism.

My general recommendation for new members is to avoid sharing links and videos with clear promotional overtones. This particular video above trumpets its sales pitch straight out of the gate, which puts it directly in the crosshairs of moderators on the lookout for spam. I'm sure the thinking of the Facebook group moderators went along the same lines as my initial thoughts.

Also, you're just repeating stuff that has been coming up occasionally for years. If you have a question, ask it, if you're a really new member posting stuff like that IMHO it also makes you look like you're trying to impress us, something that will turn many of the more senior members off. Try search to see if you're telling us something new.

I was going to let this drop until the second post.

Forums I have belonged too, sail boat (a couple), power boat (a couple), bicycling, motorcycle, photo (several), model railroad (three), cars (several) and was a moderator in one for roughly 5 years. So I thinks its safe to say I have an idea of what goes on in forums. And you will notice I was polite and asked this question in a lesser used forum so as not to stir up the pot so to speak. I have been a forum member of one or more forums for close to 25 years.

But here are some generalities true of all forums, topics recycle continually, newbies when joining just don't know information (why they are joining), idiots who tell newbies to search the topic in the forum then get upset when an old topic is responded to by the newbie that may be five or ten years old (this happens a lot in dpreview - photography), basically I'm saying there is nothing new under the sun. And newbies come because they want the experience of members on a forum. So the same question over and over again, what camera, what grinder, what boat, what car, what bike, what motorcycle, what video editing software, what N or HO or garden or z scale engines and rolling stock, what .... ?

And if you re-read my post you will see I was specifically addressing newbies and I felt the demo in the video was good because it basically showed you got the same results from a $100 thing as from a double boiler many thousands of dollar thing when wanding milk. And just because some one is new to a forum doesn't mean they are new to the interest whether espresso or classic wooden boats.

So lets take apart the second post:

ira wrote:Also, you're just repeating stuff that has been coming up occasionally for years

Show me a forum where repetition doesn't happen. Want to guess how many times - best way to varnish - appears in the classic wooden boat forum? How about - should I get a Nikon, Canon or Sony camera (at dpreview)? There is no such thing as a forum that doesn't have repetition, lots of it.

And here is my first espresso machine, proudly bought this less than adequate machine at Starbucks when they used to carry machines not made by them. I believe I bought it in 1995. I am not the one who produced the video below, can't remember if there is advertising in it. Grinders were crap back then by the way: [If you watch till the end, you'll discover that machine was pretty bad]

ira wrote:if you're a really new member posting stuff like that IMHO it also makes you look like you're trying to impress us, something that will turn many of the more senior members off.

And I am 74 years old, stopped worrying about impressing others a long time ago.

rsn4534 wrote:Show me a forum where repetition doesn't happen.

That's true, but if a new member wants to add to the conversation, they do a bit of research. There's more than a dozen threads on this subject. For a more nuanced discussion of topic repetition, see What to do about newbie noise.

FWIW, I didn't watch Morgan's 15 minute long video on the Bellman Steamer as it was already trying my patience after 2 minutes. But if there's points she's raised that are beyond what's been discussed in the threads above, a "thoughtful new member" would summarize her points, cite prior discussions, and elaborate on personal experience, if applicable. Of course, the problem remains that Morgan's specific video above comes off as heavily promotional, so a new member calling attention to it might be treated with suspicion for the reasons I already outlined.

I think, maybe it was being perceived as putting forth an accurate post of milk steaming comparisons when it is not and so the moderator made a judgement call on some misinformation.. .. and I realize that Morgan is a US Barista champion.. I'm not a big fan of her videos.. I've been steaming for about 4 years now (and really I can't even begin to compare myself to what her knowledge must be .. but I do know about these 2 products..).. and I would agree that the steamer can give slightly higher quality art than the nanofoamer.. but.. she has no idea how to use the nanofoamer and it gives the reader a bad balance .. Having had the nanofoamer for quite a while.. it requires great batteries (rechargeable are best) and you can absolutely do rosettas with it. She shows her technique with the bellman, but doesn't show anything about how she used the Nanofoamer (pretty sure that's what she used there..)

Having had the bellman as well, many people are generally scared it will blow up.. I have one friend who still jumps with the pressure relief goes off. Her technique with the bellman is not one that most people have evolved over times.. Also there is a bellman (at least here in canada) with that exact unit with a pressure gauge that is light years better to indicate when you have enough pressure. You need to bleed off some of the wet steam first before using the unit and I'm going to guess that she used a bunch of takes in making the video and so you aren't getting an accurate assessment of *how* she actually used it.

Sometimes these experts (even James Hoffman) only use a product for a brief time. As someone who owned one of the HX machines James reviewed, he really missed some key things with it.. so they can't all be experts in products they don't use often. I think she gave a very bad impression on the Nanofoamer when I can show much better pictures of my latte art with it.. (its even in some posts here).

So maybe they took it down for accuracy. There are some really good threads here on HB on the Bellman.. and the Nanofoamer.. Maybe you should have lead with .. "is this video accurate from the experience of users on this forum?".. then you would have gotten some good stuff.. grin..

I didn't used to be a fan but overtime I've come to appreciate her. She isn't well off, I suspect Hoffman is, and so she gears a lot of what she reviews based on the "common person." She does take inspiration from James and acknowledges it on some of her offerings. So for example I have halted mid video of her review of coffee from Ikea, again taking inspiration from James video reviewing everything Ikea coffee (all gadgets, widgets, etc. and not coffee) while I respond here. The next video I will be watching is her review of espresso makers under $75 American, I know she is doing this for folks who want to try out espresso and don't want to spend a lot of money and for folks who are on a tight budget for whatever reason. I respect this approach.

Secondly she is not only the US barista champion for 2022 but is also the American representative at the International competition this September in Australia. I will probably post some of those videos here when they come out in Sept-Oct, the faint of heart afraid of advertising don't have to watch them.

But I thought I would post two of her championship videos. The first one is off the actual finally for who is number one and the third is the recipe she used to win the championship: [By the way, my personal opinion is she is the new female James Hoffman]

Her winning the championship (long video)(not been checked for advertising, if advertising easily offends you - don't watch - but I have stripped out external advertising, if you look at the address of the video you will see "no cookie" in it). Jump to the 20 minute mark for her presentation to begin:

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ ... g=1&start=

Now here's James winning presentation, I think you'll agree Morgan's presentation is excellent: (I stripped out external advertising)

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ ... g=1&start=

Here is the drink she presented in the championship: (external advertising stripped out, might be some internal stuff)

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ ... g=1&start=

PS: Bluenoser, my son's partner is from Wolfville. She, they are living in Victoria now.