bugs4me
Member of DD Central
Posts: 1,845
Likes: 1,477
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Post by bugs4me on Apr 23, 2018 11:38:58 GMT
Personally, I would like to see a KYC and if a small charge and the forum going private was the price to pay, I think it would be worth it. I have a feeling I'd be in the minority though. Maybe the existing active members could be surveyed? I'm certain you're in the minority as we all want something for nothing - that's human nature.
Speaking personally, if making a small charge was a way in stopping the forum from becoming a Facebook extension then I'm all for it. The P2PIP has changed from being a place where just factual information was posted to being more opinionated.
Alternatively, turn DDC into a paid for subscription model and leave the rest alone. Not sure whether this is practical or achievable.
Spending time not reading noise and getting to the facts then if a small charge achieved that then that would be a good move. Like yourself, I'm probably in the minority camp regarding this.
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debaura
Member of DD Central
Posts: 277 
Likes: 318
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Post by debaura on Apr 23, 2018 11:44:01 GMT
As many may be aware we recently put the Forum into Maintenance Mode due to widespread disruption from a group of forum members. Our staff team is currently depleted and we were unable to consult or act quickly on this occasion. It's with regret that we have taken the action to permanently ban several forum members. We have no intention of tolerating baiting/ bullying/trolling or whatever you want to call it in the future, it has no place here. With our thanks to the rest of you for bearing with us, we can only hope that we are not forced into this position again.
There was no intention of closing the forum permanently. If we should come to the point where the forum is unsustainable in the future and needs to close we would of course allow access for members to obtain copies of their posts and PMs. Thank you very much admin team!
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coogaruk
Hello everyone! Anyone remember me?
Posts: 706
Likes: 464
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Post by coogaruk on Apr 23, 2018 11:50:25 GMT
I was banned from the Zopa forum many moons ago. More recently I had also become an avid reader of FC's forum just before they knocked it on the head. I am pretty much out of both lending platforms now.
With mixed feelings on this sort of issue I have no desire to state an opinion one way or the other, preferring to leave others to draw their own conclusions.
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sl75
Posts: 2,092 
Likes: 1,245
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Post by sl75 on Apr 23, 2018 12:25:40 GMT
I didn't log on over the weekend... besides this thread, where can I find any traces of the "excitement" I missed?
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markyg61
Member of DD Central
Posts: 349
Likes: 247
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Post by markyg61 on Apr 23, 2018 12:52:54 GMT
I'm fairly new here and to the world of P2P.
I was recommended the forum as a valuable source of info and guidance.
From what I've seen so far the mods do a sterling job and seeing as its a time consuming, voluntary position they should be commended.
As forum users, we should all be aware of the T's & C's for usage.
If you do not tow the line, expect consequences.
Simples !
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star dust
Member of DD Central
Posts: 2,998
Likes: 3,531
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Post by star dust on Apr 23, 2018 16:09:27 GMT
Just a note on getting a copy of your own data on the Forum. As stated here There was no intention of closing the forum permanently. If we should come to the point where the forum is unsustainable in the future and needs to close we would of course allow access for members to obtain copies of their posts and PMs. We’ve got no intention at all of closing this forum without notice, and if I or any of the existing team are still staff members at the time, it would be shut in an orderly fashion over a period of time allowing users to download their own posts and /or PMs. However, for those that are unaware, forum members can request a copy of their own posts and PMs at any time. If you navigate to this url whilst logged in www.proboards.com/account/settingsYou will see a screen with your own data and about three rows up from the bottom an option Select this and follow the on-screen selection options, you will then get this message before submitting your request In my experience you will not receive an email, but if you check back at this location you will see a CSV downloadable file for your posts and /or PMs. I believe these disappear on downloading, or maybe after a time of sitting there. They take a while to arrive, but on the two occasions I have done this they were ready the next day. I suspect if there are a lot of requests at once they may take longer. |
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sl75
Posts: 2,092
Likes: 1,245
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Post by sl75 on Apr 24, 2018 7:23:43 GMT
I didn't log on over the weekend... besides this thread, where can I find any traces of the "excitement" I missed? Thanks for all the "likes". There was certainly a subtext on the side of that question to congratulate the mods on an excellent job of clearing up whatever mess there may have been, which I guess is what triggered those...! However, my main problem is that everyone who witnessed the "incident" will be well aware of who was involved, and knows where to tread carefully, and where they can simply continue discussions "as normal". I'm instead left fearful of replying to any of the hundreds of posts across dozens of threads that I've not yet read, lest this be seen as trying to re-ignite the argument because (unbeknownst to me) the relevant member has since been banned. Would appreciate if someone could PM me at least sufficient details for me to be able to readily identify where I need to "tread carefully", and where I can consider it "business as usual".
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bugs4me
Member of DD Central
Posts: 1,845
Likes: 1,477
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Post by bugs4me on Apr 24, 2018 7:38:01 GMT
I didn't log on over the weekend... besides this thread, where can I find any traces of the "excitement" I missed? Thanks for all the "likes". There was certainly a subtext on the side of that question to congratulate the mods on an excellent job of clearing up whatever mess there may have been, which I guess is what triggered those...! However, my main problem is that everyone who witnessed the "incident" will be well aware of who was involved, and knows where to tread carefully, and where they can simply continue discussions "as normal". I'm instead left fearful of replying to any of the hundreds of posts across dozens of threads that I've not yet read, lest this be seen as trying to re-ignite the argument because (unbeknownst to me) the relevant member has since been banned. Would appreciate if someone could PM me at least sufficient details for me to be able to readily identify where I need to "tread carefully", and where I can consider it "business as usual". Don't think there was any 'excitement' - one moment the P2PIP was there and the next it was 'under maintenance'. My PC automatically has the forum open (in a tab) when the browser starts although I'm not necessarily around.
No doubt whatever the reasons were, it would have caused the admins/mods more than a couple of headaches. Must have been fairly serious stuff as I have been warned only once - I identified a borrower so it was a fair cop. It didn't lead to a temporary ban so whatever happened must have been far more serious.
There a several no-go areas with most of them being common sense IMO. There are plenty of posts where I disagree with the poster but they have every right to their opinion so would never go into 'attack' mode. What exactly happened though I have no idea - am more than comfortable to leave this to the discretion of the unpaid admin/mods.
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Post by samford71 on Apr 24, 2018 8:51:29 GMT
The admin/mods are understaffed. The've lost a many staff over the past 12 months and have not been able to replace them. In the background they always need to clear up the constant spam/adverts, then there is moderating the persistent offenders and finally there is pressure/attacks from platform reps. The workload must have gone a bit exponential in recent weeks with two more resignations. At some point, a sensible person will throw in the towel and just turn it off. Which they did. I'm surprised they didn't do it earlier. I know this because once upon a time I was a mod for this forum. Not a good one and only for around a year. I found myself involved in constant discussion on what to do about this platform rep or whether to tolerate this or that poster's behaviour. Quite time consuming. I received PMs from platforms offering incentives, then offering threats. I got PMs with diatribes and abuse against me for being in financial services, for voting remain, for being part of the "snowflake metrosexual London elite", followed with a pause of a few weeks, and then the same poster asking for investment advice! Frankly, there was precisely zero upside in the mod role and some clear downside from legal/regulatory risks.
Now that doesn't mean I think the staff are perfect. I'm not sure I ever really saw the reason for contention with the private forum (not a member, never invited). I'm not certain whether withholding the names of those banned over the weekend is correct. So I don't think their decisions are always right. This was best illustrated for the incident which caused me to leave to forum. I was personally attacked/slandered by another poster. Something that should have triggered an instant ban. Especially a this poster had a modus operandi that deliberately looked to test the boundary of the rules, being as nasty as possible to other posters (and larges swathes of the population) without getting banned. The other staff simply didn't act so I left (totally threw my toys out of the pram, deleted all posts etc). I felt the staff didn't act because they were concerned about how it would be perceived i.e. protecting a mod from a poster, not allowing "free speech". And to be fair when they finally did ban this poster (years too late in my view), guess what? They were baited by other posters about how could they possibly ban these people who were just expressing an opinion! Simply no upside.
The staff do a very good job. If they need to change anything they need to worry less about how their decisions are perceived by the wider community. Just act. Move on. It's not as though they are being paid to do this ...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2018 9:37:02 GMT
At the risk of sticking my head above the parapet in an inflamed situation I would like to raise one point.
Please don't see it as baiting or something similar, that is in no way my intention. I try to orchestrate the amazing charitable work carried out on the forum and trust I can raise something which bothers me and not be removed and end this great work.
Firstly I admire the work which the mods have to do, it appears to be mostly thankless, time consuming and no doubt frustrating. I also suspect many who are banned deserve exactly that and I have no access to the material used to make decisions ... however
What is concerning me is I have seen an exact screen shot of the only post which I understand could have got @leopardcat banned, one of the first users to sign up to donating through KIVA, a poster with an exemplary track record of useful posts from what my research can tell. On one solitary occasion on armistice day she asked if those banned could be brought back and was chastised, perhaps this comment was still hanging over her. Still, to say I am shocked that this post caused a ban is an understatement! As I read it she defends herself against a statement that all those with 50+ votes who aren't in DDC shouldn't be trusted, she isn't rude and simply suggests comments like that should be removed. How the majority of mods could consider it worthy of instant banning is astounding. If anything it is a very civil and entirely sensible comment. I reiterate, an instant ban, no explanation, no recourse, simply a white screen on login stating "you have been banned"
To be clear I don't affiliate myself with any side of any intra-forum disagreements or personality clashes, I am here for the fantastic DD and info on the forum and to raise awareness of KIVA and the great work being done. I am open to the concept there is more I don't know and am happy to reconsider my opinion, but as it stands at the moment given all I have seen, I am concerned .....
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bugs4me
Member of DD Central
Posts: 1,845
Likes: 1,477
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Post by bugs4me on Apr 24, 2018 9:41:21 GMT
The admin/mods are understaffed. The've lost a many staff over the past 12 months and have not been able to replace them. In the background they always need to clear up the constant spam/adverts, then there is moderating the persistent offenders and finally there is pressure/attacks from platform reps. The workload must have gone a bit exponential in recent weeks with two more resignations. At some point, a sensible person will throw in the towel and just turn it off. Which they did. I'm surprised they didn't do it earlier. I know this because once upon a time I was a mod for this forum. Not a good one and only for around a year. I found myself involved in constant discussion on what to do about this platform rep or whether to tolerate this or that poster's behaviour. Quite time consuming. I received PMs from platforms offering incentives, then offering threats. I got PMs with diatribes and abuse against me for being in financial services, for voting remain, for being part of the "snowflake metrosexual London elite", followed with a pause of a few weeks, and then the same poster asking for investment advice! Frankly, there was precisely zero upside in the mod role and some clear downside from legal/regulatory risks. Now that doesn't mean I think the staff are perfect. I'm not sure I ever really saw the reason for contention with the private forum (not a member, never invited). I'm not certain whether withholding the names of those banned over the weekend is correct. So I don't think their decisions are always right. This was best illustrated for the incident which caused me to leave to forum. I was personally attacked/slandered by another poster. Something that should have triggered an instant ban. Especially a this poster had a modus operandi that deliberately looked to test the boundary of the rules, being as nasty as possible to other posters (and larges swathes of the population) without getting banned. The other staff simply didn't act so I left (totally threw my toys out of the pram, deleted all posts etc). I felt the staff didn't act because they were concerned about how it would be perceived i.e. protecting a mod from a poster, not allowing "free speech". And to be fair when they finally did ban this poster (years too late in my view), guess what? They were baited by other posters about how could they possibly ban these people who were just expressing an opinion! Simply no upside. The staff do a very good job. If they need to change anything they need to worry less about how their decisions are perceived by the wider community. Just act. Move on. It's not as though they are being paid to do this ... Things can easily get out of hand. I stopped/suspended posting on this forum for a while after receiving a couple of PM's requesting I release the DD notes I had carried out on a couple of platforms. I refused and suggested they carried out the DD themselves. The responses were anything but polite and I was accused of being selfish, having a hidden agenda and so on. So I can understand why some folks simply throw in the towel.
I think bearing in mind the work that the admins/mods do there should be some sort of annual honorarium payment made. I know that suggestion won't earn me any brownie points but the amount of information freely made available which often determines whether to invest or not is invaluable IMO. As well as xx members there are usually three times as many guests lurking so somewhere down the line I cannot see how this forum can continue to operate on a free of charge basis.
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dandy
Posts: 427
Likes: 341
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Post by dandy on Apr 24, 2018 9:58:41 GMT
Things can easily get out of hand. I stopped/suspended posting on this forum for a while after receiving a couple of PM's requesting I release the DD notes I had carried out on a couple of platforms. I refused and suggested they carried out the DD themselves. The responses were anything but polite and I was accused of being selfish, having a hidden agenda and so on. So I can understand why some folks simply throw in the towel.
I think bearing in mind the work that the admins/mods do there should be some sort of annual honorarium payment made. I know that suggestion won't earn me any brownie points but the amount of information freely made available which often determines whether to invest or not is invaluable IMO. As well as xx members there are usually three times as many guests lurking so somewhere down the line I cannot see how this forum can continue to operate on a free of charge basis.
I agree that there should be a charge. But I think it should be the platforms that pay it. £1,000 annually per platform is not going to break the bank and would give the mods a wholly deserved salary for their management - the platforms benefit immensely from this forum too and from our continued awareness of their existence and offerings I would happily pay a few bob every year to be a member but charging readers could be far more difficult and costly for reasons already stated
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Post by Badly Drawn Stickman on Apr 24, 2018 9:58:42 GMT
I think bearing in mind the work that the admins/mods do there should be some sort of annual honorarium payment made. I know that suggestion won't earn me any brownie points but the amount of information freely made available which often determines whether to invest or not is invaluable IMO. As well as xx members there are usually three times as many guests lurking so somewhere down the line I cannot see how this forum can continue to operate on a free of charge basis.
There is a potential revenue source available. Referral incentives from platforms (apologies to you rapid PM senders currently benefiting). Not sure how it could best be applied but links from the platform, and platform cooperation seem the obvious starting point.
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Post by chris on Apr 24, 2018 10:41:02 GMT
I agree that there should be a charge. But I think it should be the platforms that pay it. £1,000 annually per platform is not going to break the bank and would give the mods a wholly deserved salary for their management - the platforms benefit immensely from this forum too and from our continued awareness of their existence and offerings I would happily pay a few bob every year to be a member but charging readers could be far more difficult and costly for reasons already stated Whilst AC wouldn't have any issues making a financial contribution to the forum in order to keep it running, as we do feel it is a valuable public resource, there would have to be a solution to the problem (real or imagined) of conflict of interest. A financial contribution could be construed as endorsement of forum policy, could be perceived as giving influence over an "independent" forum, etc. There may be other less direct solutions or ways in which we can help and I'm sure those will be investigated.
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dandy
Posts: 427
Likes: 341
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Post by dandy on Apr 24, 2018 10:45:06 GMT
I agree that there should be a charge. But I think it should be the platforms that pay it. £1,000 annually per platform is not going to break the bank and would give the mods a wholly deserved salary for their management - the platforms benefit immensely from this forum too and from our continued awareness of their existence and offerings I would happily pay a few bob every year to be a member but charging readers could be far more difficult and costly for reasons already stated Whilst AC wouldn't have any issues making a financial contribution to the forum in order to keep it running, as we do feel it is a valuable public resource, there would have to be a solution to the problem (real or imagined) of conflict of interest. A financial contribution could be construed as endorsement of forum policy, could be perceived as giving influence over an "independent" forum, etc. There may be other less direct solutions or ways in which we can help and I'm sure those will be investigated. It would not be a contribution allowing platforms to buy favour by paying more. It should be a fixed annual fee to have a board on the forum. Platforms would not have to pay it if they did not want a board on the forum. Simples! 
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