Post by Greenwood2 on Aug 22, 2019 20:37:17 GMT
Whilst some of this will resonate with the rest of the forum team, these comments are my personal views.
The disillusionment caused by the lack of respect that the very small moderation team get from certain forum members that disagree with moderation decisions is profound. This was of course the root cause of the split in the forum community c. 18 months ago, when we banned quite a number of forum members that continually challenged the moderation decisions .... and the subsequent creation of their own forum.
The forum receives around 5000 new posts a month, and yet is moderated by an incredibly small team of volunteers. Stating the obvious, the forum receives zero income. In my view the forum can only continue to exist if moderation decisions are accepted, and not challenged on, and on and on.
This week has seen repeated challenges to the team from the Loanpad rep to both the moderation of this thread, and the separate removal of the thread on their affiliate links promotion. The later was removed as such threads generate an excessive burden on the moderation team given how the forum rules are framed to disallow the use of the forum for personal gain.
The choice is simple, either disagreements on moderation policy are raised and then allowed to rest, or the forum team has to take some action to cope. Loanpad aren't the first platform to disagree with moderation decisions, but most do understand the continuing existence of the forum is a fine balance, and that on the whole they derive benefit from it.
Whilst the policy of "encouraging" those forum members that disagree with this forum's moderation to seek out alternative forums has allowed the forum to continue post the May 2018 shutdown, it is of course regrettable that such action was ever necessary as it has fractured the discussion and prevented some knowledgeable people from posting here.
But where do we go when a platform feels it is acceptable to repeatedly challenge the way this Independent forum is moderated ? I've felt the various PM's from loanpad during this week have been heavy handed, and not at all sensitive to the fact the forum is staffed by volunteers. Yes, the link to the pdf did need redacting (for the reason bracknellboy outlined above) but there the matter should have rested.
Similarly my explanation as to why the affiliate links thread was removed should have been sufficient, with out further challenges.
Surely we don't want to reach a point where a platform is banned from being discussed on this forum ?
Disclosure: I have c. £16,500 in LP which I'm seriously considering withdrawing, simply due to the tone of the PM's I've received this week.
