Proposed Forum Changes...

shelly

DoWhatULove-LoveWhatUDo wrote: »

I would heartily support this measure as well.

For automatic subscription to threads read tiptoe mouses post #125 on this thread. Once you have followed the steps you don't need to do them again as that sets up auto subscription to threads you post on.


HTH

ThinkingOfLinking

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Hi folks,

I have to say my current thinking is to do a trial split of the diaries into a sub board of DFW but not a DMP sub-board as i think once diaries are split out that'll give more breathing space to breath.

Im intending to call it

Debt Free Diaries: Trial Board

To start with to make it clear its not permanent, and to try it for a month.

As people will appreciate theres a rash of views on it - and either way someone will be unhappy. I hope you'll be ok to let us give it a try.

Martin

Hi Martin,
To be fair, I don't really use the DFW boards but my feeling is that once the changes have been in place for a month, nobody will remember anyway; I remember everyone on Facebook moaning over the new layout; I wasn't happy either; now I don't remember the old interface. So, I think it's more a reluctance to see change than anything. I think all your proposed changes will work out for the better eventually.;)

jamesd

# Pensions Move to the Work, Home & Play section

That concept is a blast from the past. Back in the days when everyone had final salary pensions and could ignore the investments it could have made some sense.

Today? Final salary pensions are dead and pensions are the biggest single set of investments most people can be expected to make, with their investment choices within the pension critical to obtaining a good pension income. The investments and how to manage them are largely unrelated to work, completely so for personal pensions not arranged through the workplace. The income after retirement is also unrelated to work and using income drawdown and staying invested while retired is rapidly increasing in popularity.

If they belong with anything it's the other substantial tool for retirement income planning, the stocks and shares ISA, with its advantages for tax free income and avoiding age allowance reduction.

Better to adjust in Pure Money to:

# ISAS, TOISAS, PEPS & TESSAS Renamed to Savings and Cash ISAs
# Pensions Renamed to Pensions, S&S ISAs and Other Investments

That puts the pieces with common properties together better. Short term with a focus on interest rates and security in one; long term, retirement and risk management for prudent investing and income generation in the other.

Bogof_Babe

Re. the House Buying, Selling and Renting board, this is a bit of a mishmash of totally different aspects. I agree with the poster who suggested splitting it into a board for Buying/Selling and another one for Renting.

Maybe a third separate board for Landlords would be useful too, as there seem to be quite a few on here and I'm sure they all have their own issues to discuss.

Also can we call whatever is decided "Home" buying etc., as not all homes are houses!

jamesd

Martin, your reply about moderators seems to be based on miscommunication. The request made does not seem to be for prior review of posts but for more people doing moderation after they have been posted. Perhaps this message board software calls its legally unsafe review or screening prior to posts becoming visible setting "moderation" or "moderated posts" and this is playing a role in the miscommunication?

That could also explain the odd "This forum isn't moderated" claim at the top of the pages. That's immediately followed by instructions on how to contact the abuse part of the moderation team, contradicting the claim that there's no moderation.

Lensman wrote: »

It takes far too long to deal with inappropriate posts as it is. This is only going to get worse as the boards get busier.

That's a request for faster handling of reports and more board guides who can handle things like spam removal, perhaps.

MSE_Martin wrote: »

And just to answer one request unrelated that came up "we need moderators". Im afraid that will never happen, legally if we moderate the forum then I become liable for everything everyone writes as we're deemed to have approved it.

While you have replied as if the request was for review of posts before they become public, something that's legally unsafe and also problematic due to just the volume of posts.

There's been no change in the legal situation here: the core principle on liability has been that a board operator isn't liable for what they haven't seen and recently that principle was upheld when a board operator who had unwisely turned on a prior review feature was found liable because they had seen and accepted a post. No surprise there; anyone who'd been following the legal decisions should have expected that result and it's clear that you're getting correct legal advice that review prior to post visibility must not be used.

Turning on a review before visibility setting would be unwise but increasing moderator counts seems entirely practical.

EdInvestor

More precisely, perhaps MSE should say it is not "pre-moderated", ie posts are not checked before they are published, but is subject to a certain amount of "post-moderation" where posts can be changed or deleted after they appear..

http://en.kioskea.net/contents/www/forum.php3

LandyAndy

skintchick wrote: »

I fully support splitting the diaries out. When I joined, I only ever posted in DFW and there were no diaries - I would spend hours posting on threads helping people and sharing ideas but as more and more diaries began I found them unhelpful, cumbersome, self-indulgent and a hindrance to helping people.

I wasn;t prepared to trawl through ten pages of chat to see if I could help someone in any way and I much preferred it when each question or milestone got its own thread.

People always prefer the status quo but hte reality is that DFW was less cliquey and served its purpose much better when there weren;t any diaries, so splitting them off will, IMO, make the board work much better for its real purpose, which is helping everyone, not just the regulars.

It's the newbies who suffer most from DFW being impenetrable and they are the people who most need the help usually.

I agree with this absolutely and it entirely mirrors my experience.

I almost never go to DFW now even though I have lots of experience of large debts and succesfully getting out of them.

surfsister

I'd like a recent posts section so we can quickly spot what's going on every day!

Savvy_Sue

surfsister wrote: »

I'd like a recent posts section so we can quickly spot what's going on every day!

You mean like the New Posts link at the top of each page?

I daren't go there, too absorbing ... :rotfl:

Triker

I would really like to see DFW boards with a sub board for diaries. Particularly apt at the present time due to increasing need for urgent support and advice for new people and some old.;)


I understand it's not popular with some but whether a MSE'r or DFW'r posts once or 1 million times it shouldn't detract from the boards primary function, to offer said advice and support at extremely stressful times. This, too often gets swamped very quickly by the number of diaries.

I agree a month would be a good amount of time to see what the reaction is. I only hope that those who are some of the more regular posters on DFW don't remove their valuable advice and support to those in need just because they don't agree with the split.


ETA I too, would return to DFW to offer what advice and support I can as I have to agree with other posters, my initial 'forum home' DFW has become too busy and it would be lovely to see some other 'old 'DFW stalwarts return.