MSE has closed the Money Saving Arms.

Sapphire

peachyprice said:

Pyxis said:

peachyprice said:

Ageing_Disgracefully said:

colinw said:

It is a bit shocking really to cut off a online community at this time especially, it might be the only contact some shielded people have with people

This is the big concern and I feel sorry for those who have suddenly lost the one bit of contact that have with others.

Sadly, there was one particular poster with more than one AE who was reporting every post that they didn't agree with and causing huge problems for the mods.  Ban one AE and another was added.  That person should be seriously ashamed of the harm that they have caused to a small number of people who it was clear relied on the forum.

I said, several times, that the aim of that member was to create discord and division in order to get the board closed altogether, and here we are.

That may be true, but if people refuse to rise to the bait, it wouldn't succeed in creating discord, would it?
A bit more biting of lip or shrugging of shoulder would have prevented the problem, but so many people seemed to feel they had to have the last word.

It was getting to the point where 'new' users were outnumbering regulars, posting nonsense thread after thread, making sure meaningful threads fell off the first page, which in turn due to a glitch meant they were inaccessible, leaving only the nonsense threads to comment on.

I had so many profiles on 'ignore' recently it made threads hard to follow with chunks of conversation missing. 

Yes, I agree. The threads were OK for a long while (even if people's opinions differed), but it seemed that recently newbies (or 'newbies) kept signing on with the sole intent of disrupting the threads with attempts at politically motivated propaganda, and that they deliberately set out to provoke people. It's only since the boards were redesigned that I noticed this, and it is only since then that I started putting people on ignore.

I agree that MSE had no choice but to close the Arms, even though there were some threads that were useful/fun. The Covid data threads were good (where they didn't degenerate into politically motivated sniping), as were a few threads about people's experiences during the crisis, and funny pictures of cats, Marisco (and others), etc. There's still a chance to post things like this on the third thread down when you open up the forum (so to speak, can't remember the title of the thread) … 😺

Sapphire

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Now the troublemakers have got their way and got the Arms closed what are they going to do with their spare time?

I can't see them wanting to stop making trouble somewhere, I'm sure that's how they get their kicks, so are they going to try and cause trouble on other boards on here or are thy going to migrate somewhere else?

Many are probably being paid to infest forums all over the place, and to spread their propaganda and cause disruption. That's why I won't join any other social media concern. I'll stick with MSE for information on financial matters, though – which is why I joined in the first place.

sweetsand

Sapphire said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Now the troublemakers have got their way and got the Arms closed what are they going to do with their spare time?

I can't see them wanting to stop making trouble somewhere, I'm sure that's how they get their kicks, so are they going to try and cause trouble on other boards on here or are thy going to migrate somewhere else?

Many are probably being paid to infest forums all over the place, and to spread their propaganda and cause disruption. That's why I won't join any other social media concern. I'll stick with MSE for information on financial matters, though – which is why I joined in the first place.

Quiet a nasty comments and one that lacks foundation no matter how you look at it. Are you saying that because you've been here longer than many but was not able to accept the fact of being corrected, pulled up etc? On the other hand, I know what you are going to say so forget it!

MSE is a fantastic forum for questions but you have to bite the bullet to get the answer as many will spoust rubbish EG "did you not goolgle, why not pay taxes, why not get a job, why not pay up, etc,etc"
The other day I posted a heads up re 3mobile fake texts asking people to click on a fraudulent link - the first poster posted totla rubbish. I did pull it up and it worked,  Why should someone that has been here for more than a few month feels it's ok to take serious threads OT or just post inane rubbish.

Sapphire

sweetsand said:

Sapphire said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Now the troublemakers have got their way and got the Arms closed what are they going to do with their spare time?

I can't see them wanting to stop making trouble somewhere, I'm sure that's how they get their kicks, so are they going to try and cause trouble on other boards on here or are thy going to migrate somewhere else?

Many are probably being paid to infest forums all over the place, and to spread their propaganda and cause disruption. That's why I won't join any other social media concern. I'll stick with MSE for information on financial matters, though – which is why I joined in the first place.

Quiet a nasty comments and one that lacks foundation no matter how you look at it. Are you saying that because you've been here longer than many but was not able to accept the fact of being corrected, pulled up etc? On the other hand, I know what you are going to say so forget it!

MSE is a fantastic forum for questions but you have to bite the bullet to get the answer as many will spoust rubbish EG "did you not goolgle, why not pay taxes, why not get a job, why not pay up, etc,etc"
The other day I posted a heads up re 3mobile fake texts asking people to click on a fraudulent link - the first poster posted totla rubbish. I did pull it up and it worked,  Why should someone that has been here for more than a few month feels it's ok to take serious threads OT or just post inane rubbish.

I don't know how it can be said that 'it lacks foundation', looking at how the nature and style of posts changed over quite a short period, which is very regrettable. If a comment sounds 'nasty', it reflects the annoyance I feel about how the Arms was hijacked by people clearly wishing to goad others.  And it isn't clear what a 'heads up' fraudulent post was (I wouldn't click on it anyway), so no idea what is meant by the statement relating to that. In fact, the rest of the post is rather unclear, too. It just sounds like another attempt to create friction.

And that's the end of it. 

Just as well the Arms was closed.

Bisto_Kid

Sapphire said:

sweetsand said:

Sapphire said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Now the troublemakers have got their way and got the Arms closed what are they going to do with their spare time?

I can't see them wanting to stop making trouble somewhere, I'm sure that's how they get their kicks, so are they going to try and cause trouble on other boards on here or are thy going to migrate somewhere else?

Many are probably being paid to infest forums all over the place, and to spread their propaganda and cause disruption. That's why I won't join any other social media concern. I'll stick with MSE for information on financial matters, though – which is why I joined in the first place.

Quiet a nasty comments and one that lacks foundation no matter how you look at it. Are you saying that because you've been here longer than many but was not able to accept the fact of being corrected, pulled up etc? On the other hand, I know what you are going to say so forget it!

MSE is a fantastic forum for questions but you have to bite the bullet to get the answer as many will spoust rubbish EG "did you not goolgle, why not pay taxes, why not get a job, why not pay up, etc,etc"
The other day I posted a heads up re 3mobile fake texts asking people to click on a fraudulent link - the first poster posted totla rubbish. I did pull it up and it worked,  Why should someone that has been here for more than a few month feels it's ok to take serious threads OT or just post inane rubbish.

I don't know how it can be said that 'it lacks foundation', looking at how the nature and style of posts changed over quite a short period, which is very regrettable. If a comment sounds 'nasty', it reflects the annoyance I feel about how the Arms was hijacked by people clearly wishing to goad others.  And it isn't clear what a 'heads up' fraudulent post was (I wouldn't click on it anyway), so no idea what is meant by the statement relating to that. In fact, the rest of the post is rather unclear, too. It just sounds like another attempt to create friction.

And that's the end of it. 

Just as well the Arms was closed.

People were asked not to post on there "unless necessary" a few months back by the Forum Team, and from memory, the request was largely ignored (even a pirate with a patch over both eyes could hardly have missed it)!

We were warned.
We didn't listen.
Now we have to pay the price.
Let's therefore blame 'us' not MSE.

As has been mentioned, this is primarily a "money saving" site and was the reason for joining.
The social side was / is a nice add-on, but never to my knowledge an indefeasible right ....

peachyprice

Bisto_Kid said:

Sapphire said:

sweetsand said:

Sapphire said:

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Now the troublemakers have got their way and got the Arms closed what are they going to do with their spare time?

I can't see them wanting to stop making trouble somewhere, I'm sure that's how they get their kicks, so are they going to try and cause trouble on other boards on here or are thy going to migrate somewhere else?

Many are probably being paid to infest forums all over the place, and to spread their propaganda and cause disruption. That's why I won't join any other social media concern. I'll stick with MSE for information on financial matters, though – which is why I joined in the first place.

Quiet a nasty comments and one that lacks foundation no matter how you look at it. Are you saying that because you've been here longer than many but was not able to accept the fact of being corrected, pulled up etc? On the other hand, I know what you are going to say so forget it!

MSE is a fantastic forum for questions but you have to bite the bullet to get the answer as many will spoust rubbish EG "did you not goolgle, why not pay taxes, why not get a job, why not pay up, etc,etc"
The other day I posted a heads up re 3mobile fake texts asking people to click on a fraudulent link - the first poster posted totla rubbish. I did pull it up and it worked,  Why should someone that has been here for more than a few month feels it's ok to take serious threads OT or just post inane rubbish.

I don't know how it can be said that 'it lacks foundation', looking at how the nature and style of posts changed over quite a short period, which is very regrettable. If a comment sounds 'nasty', it reflects the annoyance I feel about how the Arms was hijacked by people clearly wishing to goad others.  And it isn't clear what a 'heads up' fraudulent post was (I wouldn't click on it anyway), so no idea what is meant by the statement relating to that. In fact, the rest of the post is rather unclear, too. It just sounds like another attempt to create friction.

And that's the end of it. 

Just as well the Arms was closed.

People were asked not to post on there "unless necessary" a few months back by the Forum Team, and from memory, the request was largely ignored (even a pirate with a patch over both eyes could hardly have missed it)!

We were warned.
We didn't listen.
Now we have to pay the price.
Let's therefore blame 'us' not MSE.

As has been mentioned, this is primarily a "money saving" site and was the reason for joining.
The social side was / is a nice add-on, but never to my knowledge an indefeasible right ....

That was the problem though, it wasn't 'us' who ruined it, it was one or two disgruntled banned members coming back time and time again, posting nonsense/offensive/divisive the reads with the sole purpose of forcing MSE's hand into closing the Arms. The worst thing MSE did was post that threat, it was taken as a challenge. 

It's not difficult to work out who these people are, it doesn't take long for them to revert to their normal writing style once they're in, halfway through a thread there's that light bulb moment of 'I know who you are'.  One even boasted that as they were using a VPN there was nothing MSE could do to stop them. It was sabotage pure and simple and the same disrupters will now follow MSE members over to attempt to do the same on Digital Spy. Hopefully DS has more robust protocols. 

[Deleted User]

peachyprice said:

That was the problem though, it wasn't 'us' who ruined it, it was one or two disgruntled banned members coming back time and time again, posting nonsense/offensive/divisive the reads with the sole purpose of forcing MSE's hand into closing the Arms. The worst thing MSE did was post that threat, it was taken as a challenge. 

It's not difficult to work out who these people are, it doesn't take long for them to revert to their normal writing style once they're in. One even boasted that as they were using a VPN there was nothing MSE could do to stop them. It was sabotage pure and simple and the same disrupters will now follow MSE members over to attempt to do the same on Digital Spy. Hopefully DS has more robust protocols. 

 They may well have been banned members posting those threads but many other regular posters joined in the nonsense, offensive threads when they could've ignored them. 

203846930

_shel said:

peachyprice said:

That was the problem though, it wasn't 'us' who ruined it, it was one or two disgruntled banned members coming back time and time again, posting nonsense/offensive/divisive the reads with the sole purpose of forcing MSE's hand into closing the Arms. The worst thing MSE did was post that threat, it was taken as a challenge. 

It's not difficult to work out who these people are, it doesn't take long for them to revert to their normal writing style once they're in. One even boasted that as they were using a VPN there was nothing MSE could do to stop them. It was sabotage pure and simple and the same disrupters will now follow MSE members over to attempt to do the same on Digital Spy. Hopefully DS has more robust protocols. 

 They may well have been banned members posting those threads but many other regular posters joined in the nonsense, offensive threads when they could've ignored them. 

Very much this^^^^
It was not how returning AE's behaved and posted, it was how the regulars interacted with them.
I was guilty of getting drawn in to daft conversations and paid the price so then just ignored any thread started by a suspected AE, if only others had done the same.

peachyprice

duncanthedog said:

_shel said:

peachyprice said:

That was the problem though, it wasn't 'us' who ruined it, it was one or two disgruntled banned members coming back time and time again, posting nonsense/offensive/divisive the reads with the sole purpose of forcing MSE's hand into closing the Arms. The worst thing MSE did was post that threat, it was taken as a challenge. 

It's not difficult to work out who these people are, it doesn't take long for them to revert to their normal writing style once they're in. One even boasted that as they were using a VPN there was nothing MSE could do to stop them. It was sabotage pure and simple and the same disrupters will now follow MSE members over to attempt to do the same on Digital Spy. Hopefully DS has more robust protocols. 

 They may well have been banned members posting those threads but many other regular posters joined in the nonsense, offensive threads when they could've ignored them. 

Very much this^^^^
It was not how returning AE's behaved and posted, it was how the regulars interacted with them.
I was guilty of getting drawn in to daft conversations and paid the price so then just ignored any thread started by a suspected AE, if only others had done the same.

Very true, more than once I replied to a thread then deleted it when I realised it had been posted by a 'newbie',  to find later on that it had descended into a bun fight. 

naee_shuruaat

Stop blaming "newbies" and accept that many of you are responsible for parts of the forum closing yourselves.


Some newbies might only be trying to see on these forums what the little groups that report and ban try so desperately to stop them from seeing just because they disagree.
From what I have seen some people get banned just because a group doesn't like their opinions, & that is just as wrong in my eyes as closing threads or parts of the forum. 
Should they really accept the ruling of an unjust decision when the persecutors go unchallenged?
I've not posted for a while ( over a month in fact ) because the reporting was getting silly - and the Forum Team haven't got the time to decide what is fair and what is not so if a report is made it pretty much equates to being banned, and on my last visit over a month ago quite a few regular longtime posters were complaining about being reported & given warnings for things that really didn't deserve a mention far less a warning.Should they really accept the ruling of an unjust decision when the persecutors go unchallenged?
It looked like the place was occupied by trolls - and IMHO these often aren't the newer posters either.

I know it doesn't apply equally across the board but even the innocents here surely can't have failed to see the degeneration, despite the repeated warnings from the forum.
 As a forum you were warned and yet the nastiness, the trolling and the reporting - far from easing - continued and IMHO got even worse and the simple act of responding to the nonsense made those of you that did so complicit.
It's a shame it has gone but I'm not surprised - well only that it took MSE so long to close it.

I'm not going to be surprised if this post gets reported because of the very same people that seem to have got the Arms closed and I'm also not surprised to see the attempt at a new home try to rise like a phoenix. While I wish it well I don't hold out much hope because all that will happen is that the problem will move homes, though I hope I'm wrong.

I hope MSE continues and that the genuinely disenfranchised find what they desire.
Personally I will do as I have done this past month and peek at MSE informally every now and then, otherwise I will enjoy my time doing something more productive and generally far less confrontational that what all too often amounted to little more than online bickering.

Whoever you are, I wish you all well.