Future of the forum

[DG]

I have been busy today babysitting my 2 neices and step-grandchild and only now been able to catch a moment (and a seat!) and thought I'd unwind by browsing this forum but I feel really sad at what I'm reading . I have not been visiting the forum so much of late as I have become bored and dismayed at the sense of constant confrontation, disagreement and hostility that has be stirred.

This forum has offered people in Portobello, and outside Portobello, a chance to find out what is happening in our area. This community assett would be sadly missed and I would hate to see it go as a consequence of a few who appear to use it to challenge it's boundaries, at times it appears, just for the sake of the challenge. I am not saying that we all have to agree on all issues however, lets make our points then get over it.

Bob/Administrator - I'm sure all this has been very tiresome for you but please keep in mind that the majority of the forum users utilise the forum in effective ways and appear to be gratful for the oportunity to discuss, support and inform others on local issues. I do hope that you choose to continue this forum when you re-think it's future.

DG

[administrator]

Thank you for your support. I'm sure you do speak for the vast majority of forum users. Please rest assured - I have spent a lot of time and effort building this online community and I will not allow it to be wrecked by a very tiny minority of troublemakers.

[nicky]

Hi All

I’m not much of a poster on this board although I do lurk and try to keep in touch with matters local.

I’m not at all happy with the personal attacks Bob is receiving on this site and elsewhere. I believe the matter can be resolved easily if folk refrain from childish, personal and at times unsubstantiated remarks.

I have no doubt that the Porty Forum will continue to grow in strength and support. I for one greatly appreciate all the hard work Bob and others put into this board even if I don’t always agree with everything everyone says. A healthy debate is to be encouraged. Personal vilification and prejudiced remarks do nothing to support anyone.

Nicky

PS Cool avatar DG!!

[wangi]

Nicky - to be honest I only saw people posting interesting and meaningful points after posts were rightly/wrongly deleted. Bob's not responded to the constructive posts but rather labelled us as "troublemakers".

Isn't the whole idea behind a forum discussion?

[Porty]

As far as I have observed Bob has not been subjected to any PERSONAL critiscm. Bob has been asked to justify his decision to delete the Justattack post and then the justattack thread. He has chosen not to do so In my view this is because he cannot.
Im not interested in causing trouble but the request for justification seems to be very troublesome for Bob. Am I being unreasonable? C'mon Bob why did you delete? Show us the rule that Justattack broke and then show us the rule that everyone else who posted on the thread broke?

[Carol]

I wondered if the funding came from Council Tax or a Lottery Grant but most people say it is a Labour Party Funded Board.

Is this true because it should be impartial.

[administrator]

Carol, I'm glad to clear this one up. The 'funding', which amounts to a grand total of £50 comes from Portobello Community Council, by its own constitution a non-political body. I'm sure this is minuted somewhere, and will certainly appear in the Treasurer's accounts.

I could easily have covered this expense myself but I felt that it was important that the ownership of a community site should belong to a non-political body that represents the community. This ensures continuity, should I get fed up, and CC members are able to oversee the website and raise objections if they feel that it has been brought into disrepute. To date this has never been necessary and in fact the sub-committee charged with overseeing the site has never felt the need to meet, so there has been no interference, political or otherwise.

[administrator]

Porty, Wangi - if you have read the content of the discussion forum on Surrealist's forum, or the content on the site I refuse to give a free plug to, then how can you say that there has not been a personal attack on me? Posts containing links to these sites were removed. OK, I accept that perhaps I could have edited the posts in question and locked the topic rather than deleting it. That didn't occur to me at the time but I don't think that anything of great importance was lost.

If you wish to have a general discussion on board moderation then please go ahead. What you will find is that, in any case, events have overtaken you. Announcement to follow.