Credibility

[ShaunWhite]

Sounds very romantic, Shaun. Like something out of a Hugh Grant movie.

If you pick a partner based on having common interests, then what better way to celebrate the union than by engaging in them. Hols are about having some fun with your best mate anyway, so that's what we did.

[Derek27]

I think if there is to be a thumbs up option there should also be a thumbs down option for the sake of balance.

There should also be forumite's individual thumbs up/down percentage stats.

Something tells me your thumbs down stats would be much higher than your thumbs up

On the contrary. When I'm reviewing a purchase, which isn't something I do often, I feel compelled to give a review if I'm pleased or satisfied and would recommend the product but I have to be really pissed of with a product or service to give a bad review. Last year I bought a large plastic kitchen/recycle bin that is utter crap - the lid fitting's so tight you have to break it on first open. But I still never got round to reviewing it.

[Derek27]

Others may disagree and that is fine. I might be upvoted or downvoted, liked or disliked. That doesn’t necessarily bear on whether my contribution has or has not been worthwhile. Wrong answers may be as helpful as right answers to a person who thinks carefully and experiments.

So do we need voting systems and badges ?

I'm starting to come around to this way of thinking since yesterday. I was never in favour of the PC gold stars approach and while I think the option to like / dislike posts is a good idea I'm not sure how it could be implimented properly without nonsense being upvoted and good advice being down voted because of its source.

I still don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with the forum, yes its gone off the rails a few times of late and it seems to be happening more frequently but that's just down to handful of idiots, I don't think its reflective of the majority of forum members.

Anyway Dallas and Peter have made their feelings known so that should put a stop to most of the nonsense. And the best way to deal with trolling and stupidity is to just ignore it, easier said than done sometimes I know but responding to it makes everyone look like an idiot.

I'm not sure if you've drawn a line under it or not, but it probably won't help if we continue to call people things such as idiots... true as that may be, based on previous behaviour.

This obviously provoked me enough to reply (hopefully you see it as reasonable, not shitty) why? Because obviously I understand I was behaving like an idiot but it's not something that needs to be stapled to me in every reference going forward. Sure, it could well be a personal opinion & rightly so but it hardly helps to keep things cool and trading related on the forum.

I don't want to start the bickering again but I think you're being overly sensitive. The word idiot refers to people responding to trolls (me included), Pat certainly wasn't referring to you, at least that's how I read it.

[Trader Pat]

I don't want to start the bickering again but I think you're being overly sensitive. The word idiot refers to people responding to trolls (me included), Pat certainly wasn't referring to you, at least that's how I read it.

I was more describing a group of people rather than any individual but I wasn't describing the people responding to them, but like I said earlier we all have a part to play in keeping the forum sane and not responding to them when they're in wind up mode is probably the way to go. Easier said than done I know, I've been guilty of that too.

[jamesg46]

I'm starting to come around to this way of thinking since yesterday. I was never in favour of the PC gold stars approach and while I think the option to like / dislike posts is a good idea I'm not sure how it could be implimented properly without nonsense being upvoted and good advice being down voted because of its source.

I still don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with the forum, yes its gone off the rails a few times of late and it seems to be happening more frequently but that's just down to handful of idiots, I don't think its reflective of the majority of forum members.

Anyway Dallas and Peter have made their feelings known so that should put a stop to most of the nonsense. And the best way to deal with trolling and stupidity is to just ignore it, easier said than done sometimes I know but responding to it makes everyone look like an idiot.

I'm not sure if you've drawn a line under it or not, but it probably won't help if we continue to call people things such as idiots... true as that may be, based on previous behaviour.

This obviously provoked me enough to reply (hopefully you see it as reasonable, not shitty) why? Because obviously I understand I was behaving like an idiot but it's not something that needs to be stapled to me in every reference going forward. Sure, it could well be a personal opinion & rightly so but it hardly helps to keep things cool and trading related on the forum.

I don't want to start the bickering again but I think you're being overly sensitive. The word idiot refers to people responding to trolls (me included), Pat certainly wasn't referring to you, at least that's how I read it.

I'm not sensitive about it, I actually recognise it myself. "Because obviously I understand I was behaving like an idiot". That is me putting myself into Pats comment, not Pat directly referring to me.

The people involved were usually the same each time & considering Pat made reference to the recent off the rail events and that being down to a handful of idiots, says to me that he's referring to those usual people. My point is, if we have drawn a line and are moving forward what good will it do to call them idiots, true as it may be. It doesn't help, because here we are.

It wasn't a dig at Pat, what he said is very true... I just don't see the point or how it helps. We can all carry on passing judgement or we can draw the line, it's that simple. We don't need any fancy bells, just a conversation that can be discussed without the perception that this idiot is trying to attack you... may take some time.

[jimibt]

i go along with Euler's suggestion to monitor by discretion and simply hive such threads off to a secondary Topic ("Bickering" or whatever). then, one could choose to filter out (or in) any forum topics that met their requirement.

In short, i find of late that i'm happiliy motoring along and getting the rhythm of the thread when all of a sudden -boof, we're off the rails again. having a dedicated place to do that would allow the majority of readers to indulge or ignore as required and some sort of harmony/choice [key] would be restored.

[greenmark]

LeTiss brought up the knotty issue of assessing the creditability of advice again but it got lost in that thread. PC is one way but even a lucky newbie can pay that until the wheels fall off, and I don't pay PC even though this pays my bills, so....

What's missing that other trades have ? an Association/Federation/Institute of Master Sports Traders.
£20 quid a year, you sent in your PL, you get a certificate and a sticker for your van The big guys can apply for a gold certificate ...but that's £40.

I might do it, I reckon I could get 10 members and that's enough for a christmas dinner & drinks.

Thought it was worth returning to the OP. Otherwise distant thunder may develop into a full-blown row.

[jimibt]

LeTiss brought up the knotty issue of assessing the creditability of advice again but it got lost in that thread. PC is one way but even a lucky newbie can pay that until the wheels fall off, and I don't pay PC even though this pays my bills, so....

What's missing that other trades have ? an Association/Federation/Institute of Master Sports Traders.
£20 quid a year, you sent in your PL, you get a certificate and a sticker for your van The big guys can apply for a gold certificate ...but that's £40.

I might do it, I reckon I could get 10 members and that's enough for a christmas dinner & drinks.

Thought it was worth returning to the OP. Otherwise distant thunder may develop into a full-blown row.

agreed and put far better than my effort above

[Euler]

Certainly I think it would be nice to have a hard rule that there is no cocking about in the newbie area. Anything considered off topic can be moderated.

They need all the help they can get without any interference. So only fair, that it's a gentle introduction to forum life.

[jamesg46]

I'm 100% on board with that. From time to time it's going to be inevitable that people will disagree or fall out but spilling over into a newbie thread should be a huge no. Afterall, they don't know anyone person from the next & didn't come here to be used as a point to score & certainly it gives a stinking perception of the forum in general.

[alexmr2]

i go along with Euler's suggestion to monitor by discretion and simply hive such threads off to a secondary Topic ("Bickering" or whatever). then, one could choose to filter out (or in) any forum topics that met their requirement.

In short, i find of late that i'm happiliy motoring along and getting the rhythm of the thread when all of a sudden -boof, we're off the rails again. having a dedicated place to do that would allow the majority of readers to indulge or ignore as required and some sort of harmony/choice [key] would be restored.

I feel like it a lot of the bickering stemmed from the coronavirus thread which is a divisive topic better avoided in normal conversation (like politics, religion or convincing someone that trading isn't gambling). The problem is that cognitive dissonance kicks in from both sides and people get emotionally driven, which results in some people getting personal and attacking each other rather than having a rational debate.

I put forward my skeptic views on the pandemic and was quickly labelled a conspiracy theorist nutcase for questioning the government and BBC. A lot of the time I would respond with some light-hearted and overexagurated nonsense about Bill Gates to calm the tone but not everyone shares the same sense of humour so some people were getting triggered. I even gather from this thread that people are still passively aggressively calling me an idiot for putting my opinions across.

It's a shame that it's not feasible to have a sensible debate about the big issues in the world right now but at the same time there's a fine line between having some light-hearted banter vs going wildly off-topic where every post is nonsense or pointless arguments.

It's not the end of the world if we just tip the balance back to some more rationality. On the upside I hope that the off-topic discussion has at least contributed something to the algorithms which push more traffic to BA

[jimibt]

I'm 100% on board with that. From time to time it's going to be inevitable that people will disagree or fall out but spilling over into a newbie thread should be a huge no. Afterall, they don't know anyone person from the next & didn't come here to be used as a point to score & certainly it gives a stinking perception of the forum in general.

+1 james well put and i think that underscores exactly how we should all view these topics - i.e. be aware that a thread posted as a newbie topic should be welcoming, not an alarm for them to run.

[jamesg46]

I'm 100% on board with that. From time to time it's going to be inevitable that people will disagree or fall out but spilling over into a newbie thread should be a huge no. Afterall, they don't know anyone person from the next & didn't come here to be used as a point to score & certainly it gives a stinking perception of the forum in general.

+1 james well put and i think that underscores exactly how we should all view these topics - i.e. be aware that a thread posted as a newbie topic should be welcoming, not an alarm for them to run.

Be sure to leave your Dad jokes out of those threads too

[jimibt]

I'm 100% on board with that. From time to time it's going to be inevitable that people will disagree or fall out but spilling over into a newbie thread should be a huge no. Afterall, they don't know anyone person from the next & didn't come here to be used as a point to score & certainly it gives a stinking perception of the forum in general.

+1 james well put and i think that underscores exactly how we should all view these topics - i.e. be aware that a thread posted as a newbie topic should be welcoming, not an alarm for them to run.

Be sure to leave your Dad jokes out of those threads too

where to start....

[footysystems]

Just read this thread sound like a gaggle of old women