List of what is currently wrong with the forum

353 replies to this thread, and counting. What does that say about how bad this forum is?

I wondered that too, for me nothing has changed, but I don't know how things are for others?

I've been here long enough to see the ebb and flow.

However

I'm not harking after any perceived "good ol days" and am very aware members come and go of their own accord for whatever reason. But, there was a definitive period of vibrancy here. That was then and this is now. That's perfectly fine.

But

If you spray weed killer too liberally without discerning what is a weed or flower, you end up killing the new shoots and NOTHING is given chance to grow or flourish. The more established and/or robust plants get tired of keep being targeted by weed killer and in the end just give up as it's really not worth it.

So the "garden" may not have died off yet, but there's every chance it could become a barren land with not much variety or colour.

I think I've said all I need to say on this matter.

Did I say "bum"? I meant to say "burn"

Iain said:

we are at risk of creating a storm in a teacup over it.

we aren't actually ... and thee and me are not a we.

SpikeyMark said:

I'm tempted to say "bum" to find out.

Careful, if the spam bot doesn't bake your noodle then the busybodies will!

You need to be smarter and pARSE your wording if you want to confound the spam bots!

Unknown said:

You are talking about forums without this specific problem, which is another subject

They all have different issues - this forum is not commercial so lacks investment which is its unique issue leading to the technical problems we see.

Other sites have different issues that lead to different technical issues.

The spam issues here will either eventually be resolved of people will learn to live with them. Those that leave, leave. There will always be more to replace them.

I don't think this is an important issue for NAS at all so I doubt they will spend much time or effort into resolving it quickly.

I'm not saying any of this is right or wrong but I think we are at risk of creating a storm in a teacup over it.

Has anyone noticed if the reported downtime has fixed anything? I'm tempted to say "bum" to find out.

Iain said:

My point is that this is a normal part of the lifecycle of a forum - I've seen it time and again over the last 3 decades and in the lack of a better alternative then the forum just keeps on going.

The new blood will grow in confidence, share more and in a few months there will be new prolific posters to replace the old ones.

People leaving because of an overactive spam filter which accuses them of abuse and tells them that their account will be closed down because of this, and stops them from posting, amongst other forum faults, isn't 'normal'.

You are talking about forums without this specific problem, which is another subject.

Unknown said:

It's definitely driving people away.

I agree, but this will be a temporary blip on the membership of the forum and they will probably come back once the lack of alternatives becomes apparrent.

My point is that this is a normal part of the lifecycle of a forum - I've seen it time and again over the last 3 decades and in the lack of a better alternative then the forum just keeps on going.

The new blood will grow in confidence, share more and in a few months there will be new prolific posters to replace the old ones.

I'll no double leave at some point too (to some sighs of relief I'm sure) but there will be no real impact of the site as there are plenty with the willingness to contribute what I have been doing.

Iain said:

All that said, I have seen lots of new people appearing here and no shortage of fresh blood to the forum.

Have you noticed though that most of them go, much more quickly than once was the case.

There were new members here only a couple of months ago who were active and saying how much they loved the forum, they posted about the spam filter, and left.

It's definitely driving people away.

Unknown said:

the forum may become even more deserted.

It is a bit of a tightrope walk these days with posting, especially with the highly sensitive spam filter and the odd poster who will flag posts as abusive for personal reasons. This however is the new normal whether we like it or not.

All that said, I have seen lots of new people appearing here and no shortage of fresh blood to the forum.

I suspect this point in the lifecycle of the forum is a bit of a forest fire where some of the old wood is burned away to make space for new growth.

To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, "reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated"

I've seen that ISperg is saying in his bio that he has 'left' and that the/a reason is being accused of 'abuse'.

This is where the abuse accusations by the overactive spam filter are very harmful.

For reference he is now called 'Melting due to global warning'.

With the (human) moderation now seeming to be very 'active' and very few people wanting to take a chance here because of the forum/spam filter faults and lack of feedback from the Community Manager on any progress with solving the problem, the forum may become even more deserted.

It's a major reason why I'm in hibernation although I do pop out occasionally to eat + post here, as do hedgehogs (although they don't post on the forum).

Again?  They've been saying that since the thing was launched, I have little faith that they're actually serious as it's been going on to long.

I’m confident it’s not a bug but I am very concerned they chose to censor a non controversial thread when they’ve left really horrible stuff here many times before.

Just my two pence worth. All my opinions are here are just that.

I am well aware of the auto moderation bots and have been a victim of them many times, but I think that an entire thread being deleted would be manual.

It sounds like there was a very good reason that this was deleted, EVEN IF we can't tell. I doubt that they would do this willy nilly. And it seems that they can't explain without re-creating the problem or highlighting a potentially vulnerable individual.

I know nothing of this thread and I never saw it, but I know there would be no bad intentions of the posters NOR of the human mods. Maybe it was mega triggering or something like that. I think for this we have to trust, and accept that it is not connected to the bugginess of this forum.

I have received another email about the thread which was deleted. It says they “cannot discuss actions taken regarding posts by other  users” but they ensure that the moderation team protect the community and ensure users adhere to the rules.

Personally I do not buy this. The entire thread was deleted, not individual posts, and the thread itself was not offensive or argumentative. 

In my time here I have seen many horrendous threads simply locked, not deleted, and this thread was not controversial.

Thank you for the update!! 

That’s very reassuring to hear they do not read PM’s. It does still leave me wondering why someone’s PM did flag up for moderation though.  

Hopefully their IT team can improve the spam filter!

Deleted User said:

They said that the spam filter is over sensitive and they have asked their IT team to investigate it as a matter of urgency.

Halleluja.

Deleted User said:

They also said that the moderation team does not read PMs except in the case where someone copies one into an email and sends it to them.

Thank you for sharing this very important information A.

An explanation of why people are therefore getting told that their PMs are actually being moderated would be good but vain hope perhaps.

I received an email from the community manager this morning.

They said that the spam filter is over sensitive and they have asked their IT team to investigate it as a matter of urgency.

They also said that the moderation team does not read PMs except in the case where someone copies one into an email and sends it to them.