This Forum

punkdoc

For many years this has been a wonderful place to obtain gardening advice, plus a lovely place to chat about anything and to forge real life friendships.
From time to time we get a trouble maker, but they have always been removed within a short period of time.
Recently we have had a major issue, a new poster has been spouting what can only be called drivel, which has been pointed out by many other posters.
This person has also been very abusive to many other members.
A number of members have complained, but nothing seems to be done.
I am very worried that the forum will fall into disrepute unless something is done, so this is really urge those in power to do something, before it is too late.
Any other suggestions welcome. 

Fairygirl

I've got nothing @punkdoc 
If I was feeling generous, I'd say the person needs serious help, but I'm not feeling very generous today. 

steephill

Best advice is don't feed trolls. Use the ignore button, they all disappear in due course.

Fire

"....A number of members have complained, but nothing seems to be done... so this is really an urge those in power to do something, before it is too late."

It's why the forum really does need outside moderators - as I have always said. They seem to have disappeared and don't reply to messages and don't fix glitches. It seems like they have renaged. They must be making a huge amount out of ad revenue - they set up the project and should keep responsibility for its proper running - they can't just wander off.

This isn't a question of one disruptive person. Moon bats will always appear and big rows will always breakout and need intervention - it's part of running and group. Lots of members say "we look after the site fine, we don't need admin". I disagree. You need a element of outside neutrality, external perspective and effective ability block trouble makers. 

Is anyone at all here in regular touch with any admin - Daniel or another? Do they have a phone contact? Things have slid for months now, if not years. It's not impressive.

Topbird

The problem with that @steephill is that beginner / novice gardeners will see some of the rubbish 'advice' being written and may follow it. That can be expensive in terms of both time and money. Many of the new posters / novice gardeners are young people without a surplus of either of those.

For my own blood pressure I might choose to use the "Ignore" button - but I feel that would be doing a disservice to those too inexperienced to know when they're being fed incorrect information.

Fire

SlipperyElm said:

Carry on reporting the repeat offender,  it seems the only option open to us.

@SlipperyElm - it's not our site. It's run by Immediate Media. They are a commercial, profit making company  and have responsibilty for making sure their sites run properly. This is a systems issue - not about one abusive person.

Our Mission

We can sum it up in three words: Content. Passion. Engagement.
 ... we are building a business that is populated by high calibre people, driven to exceed the expectations of our super-engaged consumers.

https://www.immediate.co.uk/

I can't see much evidence of that.

bcpathome

I haven’t posted for awhile for this reason. I do still read ,but finding it difficult to sort out the right stuff from the dross .I am sticking with it hoping the fools will get fed up eventually. 

Woodgreen

@punkdoc
@steephill

If all the experienced regulars used the ignore button that leaves new posters and occasional viewers wondering what kind of a forum is this?

Just now, what with photo glitch, spam glitch and now this, the forum has the air of a 'Marie Celeste' at times........who is running the ship?

It's the knowledge based on experience, in all parts of the UK and elsewhere, that is the backbone of the forum.

Posting 'advice' blindly via irrelevant  links does nothing to help anyone.

And that's apart from the ranting and abuse....

Fairygirl

I'm sorry you've found that @bcpathome. This is exactly the problem with ignore button too,  IMO.
It works well for avoiding stuff by a poster you just don't want to read, or if they've caused a problem to you personally in the past, but it leaves the incorrect or abusive stuff etc in full view and that's why we have the situation we have just now. 
This person isn't the first , and sadly - won't be the last.   

Fire

bcpathome said:

I haven’t posted for awhile for this reason. I do still read, but finding it difficult to sort out the right stuff from the dross. I am sticking with it hoping the fools will get fed up eventually. 

On the whole, it seems that very experienced gardeners point up unfettered rubbish when people state it. Sometimes there are different points of view, but sometimes stuff is just plain wrong. I very much hope old hands do contradict totally wrong-headed misinformation - I believe the forum operates on that basis. I get that impression. It's the only quality control system of posts that we have.

- -

Pressing 'ignore' may help you individually, but it doesn't help the site work properly as a resource.

Topbird

Stick with us @bcpathome - we're a nice lot really and there is a lot of good stuff on here🙂