PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Money Saving Expert / CAB pilot service
Comments
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This board poses a conundrum.
Posters are led to believe they will get qualified help from CAB, but, as with any population of people in trouble, at least some posters fail to take in the clear instructions explaining that only 4 topics will be answered. Thus we end up with questions raised on here that are patently outside the remit of CAB and will not be answered by them. Instead, others are able to post replies thereby undermining the purpose of a “CAB” board. Also, as those responders do not include the full range on active posters on the “normal” boards, we end up with sub optimal answers from posters who lack the specialist knowledge available on other boards as those posters do not frequent the CAB board on the basis it is marketed as a CAB only board. For example, I don’t see the accountants from the tax cutting board on here, yet some questions would be easily answerable by them if posted on the tax cutting board.
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If you restrict the ability to post a reply to CAB only, you then end up with resourcing questions. Does CAB have the capacity to reply on the full range of topics? Can they respond promptly and in so doing can they still maintain quality control.?
For instance, in the rush to reply CAB may, like the rest of us, make mistakes which are not corrected. I am not suggesting that this is the case here, but take this one as an example of what might happen if there was only a CAB presence, no checking by CAB and no one else to “advise”.
My opinion – I would rather see this board locked down to CAB respondees only, with “off topic” posts getting moved to the relevant board by an MSE board guide so the “regular” posters on that board can then reply to it in a fitting manner.0 -
Can I just ask if posts are being/have been deleted from threads on the CAB board as some of my and others posts seem to have gone? If so why can we know why? Again, it's not pedantry - it's about accountability. I really can't stress enough how important I think accountability will be to the success of this board.
Just to balance my posts about the CAB board (which I recognise often focus on negatives in the spirit of constructive criticism
) I want to restate my fundamental support for the initiative and also give my thanks to the CAB staff for sharing their expertise and offering this valuable service. 0 -
Given this thread seems to be for feedback on the forum, then just to note (and cross-posting a little), I have asked in the Forums forum about why this forum ignores the Forum Skin setting, and as a consequence looks hideous.0
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Fine in theory and I appreciate your argument as to why this should be done. But it is not one which will work within the standard model of a forum. If someone poses a question and CAB answer.... My opinion – I would rather see this board locked down to CAB respondees only, with “off topic” posts getting moved to the relevant board by an MSE board guide so the “regular” posters on that board can then reply to it in a fitting manner.- How can anyone reply if CAB require more info?
- How can anyone ask a supplementary question based on a CAB reply?
Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0 -
Thinking of Martin's idea that this forum evolve into a social network, it isn't going to work if only certain people are allowed to participate in threads. In his blog he is negative of the idea of "closed communities", which is what restricting posting rights would encourage.0
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I have been hanging around MSE for about 8 years; I am a retired solicitor and a former CAB adviser.
Why am I making these points? Because this is my first visit to the CAB board and I have been utterly confused trying to work out how/when/where to get CAB advice direct from a CAB Adviser. So imagine how much more confusing it must be for a newbie who has found their way here, looking for CAB advice.
MSE appears to be holding out this board, to the public, as an Official CAB advisory board, where members of the public can get advice from a CAB adviser. If that is the intention, then (in my view) this forum is failing spectacularly!!!- To start with, I thought from the colours and the title that this was a CAB subsection of MSE, where posters can come to get official CAB advice. But on most of the threads it seems that the replies are coming from normal MSE posters, and CAB is nowhere to be seen. For any newbies coming to the thread in search of CAB assistance, this is seriously misleading.
- On the stickies, people are posting queries relating to that topic heading, but because there is not a separate thread for each question, and there is no reply from the CAB for days sometimes, all the questions and answers are mixed up together and finding the answer to a particular query is really quite difficult - I presume even more so for someone who is not used to MSE and may be anxious and upset, having to sift through so many posts trying to spot a reply to their own post.
- A lot of the CAB posts seem to just link to external standard advice, rather than addressing the poster's own particular question
- Many queries simply cannot be properly dealt with, without asking further questions. Many people with problems leave out essential information because they don't realise that it is relevant, and it is necessary to ask further questions and establish facts before given any sort of helpful reply.
- Often the first reply raises further questions for the OP, and under the current format, getting clarification from the CAB adviser who gave the response would be a nightmare.
I would suggest a CAB board, with sub boards for the four topics that CAB have agreed to deal with, so that each poster starts a new thread for their question. I also suggest that either the thread should be password protected in some way (like the calendar is, for example) so that only official CAB advisers and members of the MSE forum team can post. Possibly after the first Official CAB reply, other posters could then give their comments.
Sorry for the negative input, but I really do think that this experiment has not been properly thought through.I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
I agree with many of the points made by other posters on this thread.
I think a CAB board should be closed so only the thread starter (OP) and CAB representatives can post.
The thing about Citizens Advice is that clients don't have simple answers that can be put in a box "Housing Benefit", "Debt" etc. and by the time they get round to seeking advice have complex issues that need to be addressed outside the limit. I feel advice should be "all or nothing" and CAB representatives should answer on all subjects as you would expect in a bureau. If each thread was answered in full this would be useful to readers.
Only verified CAB advisors should be allowed to post. Citizens Advice has policies of being "impartial" and "non-judgemental" and this is sadly not the premise of all "normal" posters. Those type of posters should not have the opportunity to post on a board purporting to represent Citizens Advice.
There should be clear direction where people can look for help if they have an urgent issue and don't want to wait for an answer which could include boards on MSE as well as adviceguide and other websites like Shelter etc.
Is there a way of anonymising posters? (Okay, that's probably not a real word!) Ie when posters ask questions on this board they are automatically given a number (is this possible technically?). It could be useful for the many people who have an online presence but don't want to ask questions publicly.Torgwen.......... ...........0 -
zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »I have been hanging around MSE for about 8 years; I am a retired solicitor and a former CAB adviser.
Why am I making these points? Because this is my first visit to the CAB board and I have been utterly confused trying to work out how/when/where to get CAB advice direct from a CAB Adviser. So imagine how much more confusing it must be for a newbie who has found their way here, looking for CAB advice.
MSE appears to be holding out this board, to the public, as an Official CAB advisory board, where members of the public can get advice from a CAB adviser. If that is the intention, then (in my view) this forum is failing spectacularly!!!- To start with, I thought from the colours and the title that this was a CAB subsection of MSE, where posters can come to get official CAB advice. But on most of the threads it seems that the replies are coming from normal MSE posters, and CAB is nowhere to be seen. For any newbies coming to the thread in search of CAB assistance, this is seriously misleading.
- On the stickies, people are posting queries relating to that topic heading, but because there is not a separate thread for each question, and there is no reply from the CAB for days sometimes, all the questions and answers are mixed up together and finding the answer to a particular query is really quite difficult - I presume even more so for someone who is not used to MSE and may be anxious and upset, having to sift through so many posts trying to spot a reply to their own post.
- A lot of the CAB posts seem to just link to external standard advice, rather than addressing the poster's own particular question
- Many queries simply cannot be properly dealt with, without asking further questions. Many people with problems leave out essential information because they don't realise that it is relevant, and it is necessary to ask further questions and establish facts before given any sort of helpful reply.
- Often the first reply raises further questions for the OP, and under the current format, getting clarification from the CAB adviser who gave the response would be a nightmare.
I would suggest a CAB board, with sub boards for the four topics that CAB have agreed to deal with, so that each poster starts a new thread for their question. I also suggest that either the thread should be password protected in some way (like the calendar is, for example) so that only official CAB advisers and members of the MSE forum team can post. Possibly after the first Official CAB reply, other posters could then give their comments.
Sorry for the negative input, but I really do think that this experiment has not been properly thought through.
Hi zzzLazyDaisy - firstly, thank you for the feedback. It is welcome and will inform the evaluation of this pilot exercise that's about to start. However, on a practical point, the MSE team are looking into setting up the sub-boards and, if possible, we'll be going ahead with that as soon as we can.“Official CAB Representative
I am an official representative of CAB. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to questions on the CAB Board. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. If you believe I’ve broken any rules please report my post to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com as usual"0 -
I agree with many of the points made by other posters on this thread.
I think a CAB board should be closed so only the thread starter (OP) and CAB representatives can post.
The thing about Citizens Advice is that clients don't have simple answers that can be put in a box "Housing Benefit", "Debt" etc. and by the time they get round to seeking advice have complex issues that need to be addressed outside the limit. I feel advice should be "all or nothing" and CAB representatives should answer on all subjects as you would expect in a bureau. If each thread was answered in full this would be useful to readers.
Only verified CAB advisors should be allowed to post. Citizens Advice has policies of being "impartial" and "non-judgemental" and this is sadly not the premise of all "normal" posters. Those type of posters should not have the opportunity to post on a board purporting to represent Citizens Advice.
There should be clear direction where people can look for help if they have an urgent issue and don't want to wait for an answer which could include boards on MSE as well as adviceguide and other websites like Shelter etc.
Is there a way of anonymising posters? (Okay, that's probably not a real word!) Ie when posters ask questions on this board they are automatically given a number (is this possible technically?). It could be useful for the many people who have an online presence but don't want to ask questions publicly.
Hi Fran - firstly, thank you for your feedback which, like all of the comments we have received, will inform the evaluation of this pilot service (and that's just about to start). We will also be looking at what would be required to resource a full service, both in terms of staffing and running costs.“Official CAB Representative
I am an official representative of CAB. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to questions on the CAB Board. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. If you believe I’ve broken any rules please report my post to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com as usual"0
This discussion has been closed.
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