The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread

Bridlington1

On ``thank you posts":

I'd say it depends on the context though, if it's simply a ``thank you" on its own then yes, the post seems a bit pointless, in fact one of my pet peeves at work is when people reply to my emails with just ``thank you" to the point where with some colleagues if I send them an email and I'm busy I just delete the first email they send as a reply without reading it as I know it's most likely going to be a pointless email.

If on the other hand someone replies with ``thank you" and then gives a bit more info then it's a different matter and it is nice to get those messages of appreciation sometimes. I'd say a good compromise would be as @Hattie627 suggests, where you send a private message to the person you're thanking instead, which is what some do already to be fair.

It's one of those though that's virtually unenforceable, as with other things, and adding too many rules has drawbacks in of itself. Moreover if you did add a rule which says ``no thank you posts" then I suspect it may actually generate more posts as many people probably shan't stop posting them but some users would reply to the thank you posts telling them not to post them as it clutters up the thread.

A reflection on the discussion overall:

Regardless though I hope the last however many pages have demonstrated one thing though, which is that no matter what decision I take there shall always be some who aren't happy with it, and at all times there remains a faction that would be quite content for this thread to not exist in its current form and for the forum to become more like reddit in its structure, but if that happened there'd be a different group of posters who'd be up in arms about it.

The job of maintaining these threads isn't always as easy as it may first appear though, I often feel as though I've got different people and factions trying to pull me in different directions on any given issue, it's a difficult one to balance sometimes. The threads themselves are continuously evolving, getting tweaked slightly here and there, I doubt they'll ever stop changing. Pretty much every detail, right down to seemingly trivial points such as the titles of the threads, exact thresholds for inclusion, have careful consideration and time behind them, often requiring more time than some would realise, all done on a voluntary basis.

Ultimately though I can only maintain these threads with the consent of a large enough proportion of the community as a whole, the same is true of other long-running threads on this forum maintained by other users. Personally I wouldn't want to lose these long running threads and feel they offer something that no other corner of the internet offers.

Kim_13

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066551#Comment_82066551

The thanks button is the better way if you have nothing else to say, but if you have a follow up question or something to discuss/report about another Regular Saver then there is no harm in saying thank you personally and confirming that the advice worked at the beginning of the post.

clairec666

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066643#Comment_82066643

Re. the "thanks" button

Generally agree. I always wrote a "thank you" comment because I thought it was the best way of showing appreciation to the person who had taken their time to answer my query. If you are replying to say that their advice worked, then that's a very valid contribution to the thread.

Happy to use the "thank you" button instead if that's what the general consensus is, but I see no harm in writing a thank you comment, and it doesn't really "clog up" the thread, the usual "scroll past if you're not interested" advice applies.

It's a bit different from the situation that @Bridlington1 mentioned - I realise now it's annoying to customer service staff to receive a pointless thank you message, and I was rather guilty of doing that until you brought it to my attention. But this forum is different, it's not our workplace, and people are giving their own time for free to answer other people's queries. So I feel a thank you is appropriate here. That's my opinion, anyway.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066581#Comment_82066581

It's one of those though that's virtually unenforceable, as with other things, and adding too many rules has drawbacks in of itself. Moreover if you did add a rule which says ``no thank you posts" then I suspect it may actually generate more posts as many people probably shan't stop posting them but some users would reply to the thank you posts telling them not to post them as it clutters up the thread.

^This.

If someone goes the extra mile to provide a comprehensive answer to a specific question then I think that should be publicly acknowledged if the poster feels it appropriate, although if all they can think to say is "thanks" then it probably isn't appropriate. We should be mindful that the forum is also used by new members, and some who never post. I believe an occasional deviation from the pure hard RS facts is valuable as a reminder the people posting here are human (and mostly friendly) and may serve to encourage new/silent members to contribute more to the forum. In which case seeing an occasional post saying "Thank you… +++" is probably more impactful than hitting the 'Thanks' button (which newbies may not understand/see) or sending a PM (which nobody will see).

There are some forums I used to use (but no longer do so) where the application of 'rules' has become so tedious it makes the forum an unpleasant place to be. All of us are different and communicate in different ways. So long as we are all working towards the same aim - saving money - we should all be tolerant of different people's approaches, provided the forum rules are complied with.

In terms of clutter/wasted space, the one thing I've noticed consistently generating clutter during my read-only and active participation in this thread - and unfortunately also the cause of much hostility/unpleasantness - has been when people try to police what other people post. I agree when you say that too many rules has drawbacks - it gives those inclined to 'police' more ammunition to do what they claim they are trying to stop.

I think you made a great choice by having this as a discussion thread with a separate 'no-chat' thread for those who prefer that approach. Maybe part of the issue is folk forgetting what you've set up here and the house rules you - as the person doing the hard work - have laid out.

Failing that, and reflecting on the last few pages, perhaps it is time to have a separate "The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread Discussion Thread" where people who want to grumble about what other forum members post can grumble away to their heart's content, and those who simply appreciate other people's positive contributions can continue to appreciate them, and the excellent work you do.

masonic

Just a reminder that said thread already exists:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6482745/general-discussion-and-whimsical-banter

Andystriker

I rarely post on this forum,
but, over the years, I have opened multiple Regular Savers and currently have over thirty and 90% of them are as a result of the information from this forum, Bridlington1 and all the other contributors.

I read and welcome all posts even the 'thank you' ones, and the 'I have just funded the new account' ones. It takes me seconds.

It's a discussion room about regular savers.

I find it strange that so many are getting so upset about posts that takes them 10 seconds to scroll past (if that).

I say leave the forum exactly as it is, it works for me.

Bridlington1
thank you for all the work you do. Thank you to all the other posters who talk about regular savers, whatever they say.

Now, that will annoy a lot of people, and to be honest if I want to thank someone, then I will.

Bridlington1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066675#Comment_82066675

I must confess one of the things that irritated me about the old RS thread was that some posters often complained about posts being ``off topic" just because they didn't find the topic interesting, there was even instances where people complained about discussion about the maturity process of NLA RSs because the RS being discussed wasn't ``currently available", it's one of the reasons why I went with a different name to @Special_Saver2 and made it explicit that such discussion is permitted here.

I prefer to take an approach that is fairly laissez faire, the rules are very simple, discuss regular savers here to your heart's content, don't do that on the archived thread and post how many RSs you have on the league table thread. I'll tolerate the occasional off topic post but if it gets excessive and/or severe then and only then will I intervene.

To me this seems a fair approach and broadly it seems to work. I've no appetite for there to be any excessive policing on this thread by myself or anybody else for that matter, for it creates an underlying tension and often nastiness to any discussion and may deter new users or those who view the thread but do not post from posting for the first time.

I also think it worth reflecting on the lessons of Barbra Streisand, and consider how many times people have complained about discussion they do not like and inadvertently created pages of discussion off the back of it. Someone's going to log onto the forum soon, find there's 50+ new posts, wonder if a brand new RS has been launched and then be disappointed when they discover that a lot of it stems from some users not being happy about the level of discussion about one particular RS.

The threads do not belong to any one user, they're used by heavens knows how many users on a daily basis so a degree of tolerance should in my view be exercised by all users with regards to what gets discussed.

Failing that, and reflecting on the last few pages, perhaps it is time to have a separate "The Top Regular Savers Discussion Thread Discussion Thread" where people who want to grumble about what other forum members post can grumble away to their heart's content, and those who simply appreciate other people's positive contributions can continue to appreciate them, and the excellent work you do.

Alternatively people could just message me privately with feedback they have on the threads, plenty have done so in the past, I don't bite and as many would testify, you do get a response. That approach does offer its own sets of advantages and drawbacks, and is worth considering if you have things you dislike about the threads and the way they are run but do not wish to spark a lengthy debate in the thread itself.

As of yet though few of those who complain about discussion on this thread have taken the time to message me directly, most of the feedback I get via this avenue is either ``thank you" messages or ``I really like the thread as it is, but could I make a suggestion, would it be possible to add this feature, tweak this slightly etc without changing anything else".

Kim_13

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066659#Comment_82066659

I’d tend not to reply only to say that advice worked (only if I could add detail gained in the process of following it), since there would inevitably be posts asking for other things to try if it had not.

Malchester

I am not an avid user of regular savers. In fact I only currently have two - Santander and Club Lloyds Monthly Saver - but I do appreciate all the information that is put on this forum and I don't mind there being lots of posts as I can easily scroll through ones that are of no interest. However, sometimes I have read a post that initially seemed to be of no interest but turned out to be interesting and informative and gave me pause for thought

Also thanks to Bridlington for all you hard work on this board

username2026

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82066372#Comment_82066372

Thanks for that - I've changed the setting so will see if that gets the updates to appear for me. Seems odd that the people behind the forum wouldn't enable it by default as that's what I'd assume a bookmark does.

I also appreciate your response - if others prefer the tables then that's perfectly valid and you're right, you can't please everybody. I'd imagine a lot of the posters here use the forums on a laptop/desktop so it would make sense to leave the tables as they are.

Ultimately, of course, you created the threads and are free to run them however you see fit; I really do like the one that you created just for the updates and will continue to follow that regardless; I hope you didn't see my comment as a criticsm in any way. You do a lot of work for the people on this thread and I certainly appreciate the work you put in, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

All the best to you!