Talk:Free Souls Motorcycle Club

Free Souls Motorcycle Club or simply Free Souls?

I think this page should be titled Free Souls rather than Free Souls MC because thatsa the common name. Same goes for every page unless there is already a page with that name. Only in that case should Motorcycle Club or MC be added. - WölffReik (talk) 15:22, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

While it is true that three of the four sources listed in the article say "Free Souls" in the headline (for brevity), all four of them say "Free Souls Motorcycle Club" in the first paragraph. The phrase "free soul" is a common idiom used in many contexts, and a search of the term turns up a wide variety of hits, only some of which are for the motorcycle club. On top of that their official name is the Free Souls Motorcycle Club. The main thing is the sources, however. The article lists four sources, and all four say "Free Souls Motorcycle Club" so to me that puts the weight in favor of the full name.
I will support 100% changing it to "Free Souls" if I see evidence that that is what the sources say (and I don't count headlines too much because obviously they are trying to abbreviate). --Dbratland (talk) 18:46, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

@WölffReik When I look at the articles for other MCs, almost all of the titles include "Motorcycle Club", the only exception I could find being the Hells Angels. That's probably because everyone knows that the Hells Angels are a MC, but the level of public awareness drops sharply even for the next three biggest clubs-- Outlaws, Pagans, and Bandidos-- the titles for all of which include "Motorcycle Club".

I've lived in Eugene going on six years but hadn't heard of the FSMC until yesterday when I saw an article about them in the Eugene Weekly. In all the time I've been here I've never seen any member flying the colors. Pithecanthropus4152 (talk) 19:23, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

this is NOT a one percenter club. This is NOT a gang. This is a fraternal organization. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.100.20.25 (talk) 04:39, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

@184.100.20.25 The Wiki article says they're an outlaw club but that must be an error. I don't see any "1%" patches in the Eugene Weekly photos of members, and I'd think any member of an outlaw club would proudly display that on the front of their cut.

Not all MCs are outlaw. The San Francisco MC and the Yonkers MC, both founded at the beginning of the last century, are examples. They follow the same general organizational procedures of accepting new members and operating the clubs, but they aren't outlaw or 1%. The Boozefighters, a famous old MC from the early postwar days, are another example. Pithecanthropus4152 (talk) 21:41, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

I concur, they do not qualify as a one percenter club although they have apparently some record of illegal activity and association with one percenter clubs. The leadership varies chapter by chapter and some chapter leaders have attempted to take a page from the "Hells Angels Reformation" and present themselves as a motorcycle themed fraternal organization.

Historically, they had a conflict with the Hells Angels in California back in the 1970s and at one time were considered a rival club, however an agreement was brokered in which the Free Souls would not operate a club charter in California, and the Hells Angels would not operate a Charter or fly colors in Oregon, although several Hells Angels members and associates have lived in Oregon and according to some news reports associated with the Free Souls from time to time years after the 1970s turf agreement. It was that turf agreement on more or less respectful terms with the Hells Angels that had gotten the Free Souls a reputation as a "1 percenter club", and some Free Souls members are rumored to actually be members of "1 percenter clubs" who had to leave those clubs for one reason or another, or associate with the Free Souls as a "tryout club" for those seeking membership into more exclusive clubs. It is also traditional that not all members of a club known to have "1%er" values or membership qualify to wear the 1%er patch, although that gets into the nuances of biker culture. The Free Souls Motorcycle Club does not strictly follow the "code" generally accepted among "1%er" clubs. Specifically, members and associates frequently communicate with and utilize law enforcement resources to protect their various interests although that value has apparently shifted over the years as motorcycle clubs in the Pacific Northwest engage in courtroom based conflicts including the pursuit of civil rights lawsuits against businesses and municipalities when in the past, the "code" called for such conflicts to be settled with violence. Many known associates will openly associate with members of law enforcement and have acted as criminal informants, an activity strictly forbidden under the original "1 percenter" code although club leadership people probably do follow that code in order to retain credibility with other clubs. While this is not something one can readily cite with normal online resources to the point of going in the main article, it is not particularly hidden among some of the outlying chapters, such as the one in Coos Bay Oregon. The short phrase "Free Souls" is used locally, also "the Souls" simply because there is no other organization using a similar name in Oregon. The Free Souls MC will not openly promote a member or associate of law enforcement beyond the level of being an associate, IE, a cop can never wear the patch, but may be welcome at club functions. Other clubs in Oregon, specifically the Iron Order, openly allow membership by people in law enforcement. The Iron Order by contrast, will promote members of law enforcement to full patch membership.

http://www.ironordermc.com/

The Free Souls shares turf with several other clubs in the Portland area under a loose agreement among the clubs not to engage in open conflict in Oregon. A series of incidents in the 2005-2007 time period between members and associates of the Free Souls Motorcycle Club and some other outlaw clubs was determined by club leadership to have been instigated by the BATF. Several members of the clubs posted videos on Youtube along with blogs explaining their sides of the story. One such video showed members of the Free Souls Club "bar hopping" on their motorcycles with members of other clubs which had been reported in the media as "at war" with them. The instigation of the conflict was traced to a BATF agent named Jimmy Packard. The article below reflects the same events from the mainstream news standpoint, commentary below reflects what was published in some club related blogs and video commentary.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1208571924253070.xml&coll=7

Agent Packard had approached members of clubs he thought would be "rivals" with information regarding other clubs, conflicts, and armament recovered at traffic stops, using the phrase with one group of bikers "these guys are hunting you" then indicated the location of a gathering of the rival bikers. These groups being Gypsy Jokers and Mongols, both known to be "1%er" clubs. The "rival" club members quickly confronted each other, engaged in some posturing and questioning, then determined that the BATF had been attempting to instigate a conflict. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.193.222.193 (talk) 04:55, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

That's all very interesting - but on Wikipedia the truth is trumped by verifiability. What you need to do is provide clear references that show this is not an outlaw club. That will be a tough task though as two of the references already on the article clearly show that the club is outlaw. --Biker Biker (talk) 06:48, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

@71.193.222.193 The Hells Angels themselves will probably tell you they're a fraternal club of motorcycle enthusiasts, and on a certain level that's probably true.

The author of this article may have assumed that only one-percenter clubs can use the MC qualifier but that isn't true. Pithecanthropus4152 (talk) 21:48, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

Wrong

I dont know where you get your information but i do know you should research things better, if you are going to post things as FACTS at least try to be accurate and if you cannot be dont just make shit up as you have done here. FSMC Member 40 plus years 174.31.241.105 (talk) 02:28, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Wondering why this article is so brief

The Free Souls have a long history here in western Oregon, where I've always lived. There's no mention of the Free Souls being offered free admission to the iconic Country Fair <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Country_Fair> in exchange for them causing no problems there, but everyone knows there's extensive motorcycle parking historically established for them out front, so they can avoid the crowds and come and go as they please. Leishalynn (talk) 03:38, 2 November 2024 (UTC)

Well, if you can find reliable sources that have reported on such, then feel free to add the information to the article with the source(s) cited! There's an entire policy dedicated to encouraging editors to be bold when adding information, so if you think you have something useful to add to the article, then go ahead and add it! By the way, even though it's Wikipedia policy for editors to always add the sources they get their information from, it's overall better to have true information on the page with a {{citation needed}} tag than to not have that information at all. The lesser of two evils, if you will. Sirocco745 (talk) 04:10, 2 November 2024 (UTC)