Brexit discussions

evenasus

avogadro wrote: »

It's a money saving website, not a free speech forum. The discussion boards are a courtesy and not something the forum team wish to spend a lot of time and resources on.

I agree it might be better to just get rid of them altogether.

Noooooo.

The only other board I use, or rather used to use, is Savings & Investments.
The savings rates are so dire at the moment, I only visit when an ISA or fixed savings is about to mature.

davidwood681

Guess what happens when someone offends you........ nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo

Muttleythefrog

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Please help my team out by being considerate of other forum members and not reporting posts simply because you disagree with what's being said.

Thank you

To be honest Andrea... I think admin have made a rod for their own back. There will always be people who whinge as a response to genuine debate... but because Admin seem to give credence to such it encourages more of it. It is frustrating trying to give an informed opinion and spending half an hour doing so only to click the post button and find the thread no longer exists. And clearly many have similar experience... the result is you get less well informed opinions... and more of the sorts of comments which will generate reports of complaint. I am of the view DT should be just shut down.. it clearly can't be moderated with any consistency... and the quality of debate is poor and repetitive. Much of the posting is from repeatedly banned offenders under new names and despite having never being pulled for my opinions... bizarrely I've been targeted for giving honest stories or trying to lighten the mood with humour. It seems the more you put into this part of the site to make it an enjoyable place then the more you risk being punished for doing so. It's a waste of everyone's time I would propose... let staff do something more constructive... the site has some great money saving advice... I came to it for benefit related advice and stayed because it was useful in that regard. There are plenty places online for debates that are moderated with that context in mind.

Anyway.. my honest opinion... but if a massive issue like Brexit can't be discussed.. then i think you have to say it's not working.

System

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

I am of the view DT should be just shut down.. it clearly can't be moderated with any consistency... and the quality of debate is poor and repetitive. Much of the posting is from repeatedly banned offenders under new names

Can't disagree with any of the above, though I suspect the reason DT remains is to try and keep controversial discussion in one place and away from other boards which are visible to the general public and non-members. Its continued existence and lack of adequate and reliable moderation does, however, provide a platform for a number of unpleasant individuals to air their views, often under multiple concurrent accounts.

[Deleted User]

davidwood681 wrote: »

Guess what happens when someone offends you........ nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo

Thanks for that... great stuff. Many a true word spoken in jest! :rotfl:

That clip should be required viewing for anyone who thinks they should sit in judgment over anyone else's statements, and for anyone who claims "I'm offended" and expects to be taken seriously.....

I particularly liked the bit about ".... and the comedian said something about the Lord and I was offended .... and when I woke up in the morning I had leprosy".

:rotfl:

WR

EachPenny

We may as well give up and get rid of DT completely, it is only a matter of time before the machines make us redundant anyway:-

IBM's machine argues, pretty convincingly, with humans
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44531132

Seriously though, I agree with nearly everything in Muttley's post apart from shutting DT down. It is frustrating that posters who go to the time and trouble to make a good case either get reported (or have their efforts wasted) by posters who use the site to abuse others or just want to have an argument for the sake of it.

walesrob

I always say when debating, deal with the message. Shooting the messenger will not alter the message.

Ted_Bloke

Muttleythefrog wrote: »

. It is frustrating trying to give an informed opinion and spending half an hour doing so only to click the post button and find the thread no longer exists. And clearly many have similar experience... the result is you get less well informed opinions... and more of the sorts of comments which will generate reports of complaint.

:T Well said. Muttley makes or attempts serious arguments and so do I, we just think this is normal, and are often derided for that, so maybe we're in the wrong place.

I'm glad it has now come out how some people are using the reporting tool to bump posters whose views they don't like off the forum, succeeding with the flimsiest pretexts, they'll probably succeed with me soon.

kpwll

If we all thought and acted in the same way, all had the same viewpoint and opinion, then you really could do away with DT.


The joy and frustration of DT is how many viewpoints there are, even on the same side. I enjoy the friendly banter, the sarcastic remarks, the jokes and even the extreme political dogma.




Maybe we could all self-police the posts, if we see someone going too far personally or offensively, then call them on it publicly before reporting them. Be adult about it. Use the 'report' button as a last resort and not the first.


My world would be a sadder place without DT.

EachPenny

kpwll wrote: »

Maybe we could all self-police the posts, if we see someone going too far personally or offensively, then call them on it publicly before reporting them. Be adult about it. Use the 'report' button as a last resort and not the first.

I was wondering something similar - whether posts could be automatically self-moderated using an upvoting/downvoting system - if a post gets too high a proportion of downvotes then it is taken out.

However, the problems I can already see with this are it being open to other forms of abuse, and also requiring (expensive) system changes. So I don't think that is going to work either.