Constructive suggestions for the forum

barbara12

We do need a more prominent place for the Birthday thread..it would be nice to have it at the top of the forum...then people don't get forgotten

mig

That's a very good point Barbara,I often forget to look and it's always better to get messages on your actual birthday.
What about showing who's on line at the top as well. Mig

stickywicket

I think, if there were a poll on these two suggestions, I'd have to vote against both. It's simple enough to scroll to the bottom of the page for both, we only need check birthdays once per day and does it usually matter who's online? Whereas, the more stickies etc there are at the top, the more we have to scroll down every page, every time just to see new posts.

dreamdaisy

I have just experienced my reply to a PM being flagged as spam and therefore denied - it was not even granted the privilege of being put into quarantine for approval. I mentioned funerals, the fact that once I have moved I would like to do more for AC because my overall state of being would be better and a chuckle over an email. I have had cause in the past to wonder if 'Private Messaging' was as stated and now I know it isn't. I won't be using this method of communication again. DD

[Deleted User]

Hi DreamDaisy,

I've never heard of this happening before! Mods cannot see any pm you have sent, I think it might be to do with the new spam software, which we are still trying to get balanced between us getting spam not appearing on your side of the forum and all our posts ending up in spam.

I have looked all around the part of the board open to us and your pm isn't here which leads me to suppose it is residing somewhere on the admin side. As it's after hours for paid workers I can't see it being OK'd before tomorrow, I shall send a request to the Webmanager to do that and one to the tech/software person we have to ask why it happened and if the program? can be altered to allow free passage of pm's.

Sorry for the upset of this

Mod
YEH

dreamdaisy

Thank you for replying, Mod YEH, even if your reply doesn't make complete sense. I daresay I will be calmer and more forgiving tomorrow because I appreciate the value of the forum but tonight this was irritating. As the rejection message made clear my PM was denied so I supect it's languishing somewhere in a cyber-space bin. No matter, I re-PMed the intended recipient with a very bland reply which was approved. DD

[Deleted User]

Hi DreamDaisy,

I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough, if you would highlight the foggy bit I will have another go.

This has been bugging me - I had a go at getting a pm denied and found it incredibly easy :P I merely sent a pm with just one word, no guesses but it begins with k.

I have communicated with the person who can deal with this but I don't expect to hear anything before Monday.

Please be extra assured none of the mods can see any pm, other than those to us, I will find out where, if anywhere these denied pm's are going and let you know.

Thanks
Mod
YEH

maria09

Hi
It just seems to me its like big brothers watching and you have to be careful what you say
I did find the swearing ban a bit heavy handed as we all were having a sensible discussion and then wham! Gone no explanation! Nothing!
That's what annoyed me more than the swearing ban!
So I don't come on here as much but that's my choice
I've reached 50 and thought I was sensible well almost but really felt like a naughty school girl
Maria

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I'm sorry this information is coming out in dribs and drabs but thought you may want the info as soon as possible.

When a pm is denied, it doesn't get delivered, a note goes in the admin log (there is a mod log which lists actions taken by a mod, and an admin log which lists actions taken by the Webmanager). Mods can see the mod log but not the admin log which is why I had to wait for this information.

This lists the fact that a pm was denied, sent by Moderator and the time. It does not include the body of the text. That information is gone. So any persons pm is still private between you and the recipient.

Mod
YEH

suzygirl

Thank you for the update

Airwave!

A lot of what we say comes from the heart, laying our souls bear, a new moderator or those with few posts are an unknown to us and the tendency may be to withhold or a withdrawn manner in our replies.

I note the one on dla, I ended up cancelling, as I sometimes do. Introduce all who post on here from AC.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I have feedback regarding ideas you put forward in this thread.
This is what we looked at -

Polls could certainly be used for certain changes, please let me know if you think a poll would be useful for any of the following.

Changing Working matters to Benefits and Working matters. This seems a great idea and would make both forums better. It should be quite easy to implement too.

Access to banned word list. Lots has been going on behind the scenes with spam and how to stop it, the banned words list isn't as good as it first looked, the words caused posts and pm's to end up in moderation unnecessarily. So now that other changes have been made to sign up by rotating the question and answer bit we think we are ready to actually get rid of the banned words list. This means that swearing, racist and such words will still trigger moderation but no words like k i t c h e n. It hasn't been done yet - hopefully by the end of this week.

Stickies standing out. This is a problem, but one we hadn't recognised until you mentioned it. They are already in bold as are all thread titles. There is a line between the announcements and the posts, would that help temporarily? We can't think of a quick cure to this one, but we are happy to put it on the list for any future change in site. I was wondering if this would be a good one for a poll?

Deleting posts in retrospect. This was in operation not too long ago ((I remember it). It was changed at the time because some members were making swearing and racist comments which were reported but in between times they were changed to remove the relevant words. For those reasons it seems sensible to keep it as it is now but we are quite happy to remove/alter or whatever needs doing.

I think that covers all the points mentioned so far, if I've missed anything let me know :P
Mod
YEH

dreamdaisy

Thanks are due to you and the other mods for all your work on this, I for one appreciate your efforts and I hope others will too. DD

stickywicket

Thank you very much for your sterling work on our behalf, Mod YEH. In answer to your suggestions:

1. Yes, I think a poll could be used re moving Benefits questions to Working Matters forum. It's one of those things that seems so obvious once someone has suggested it.

2. Stickies. I think the reason they don't stand out is precisely because all thread titles are in bold. The line between 'Announcements' and 'posts' does help to distinguish between the two but my gut feeling is that something similar, or a – perhaps minor - change of font colour would help to make the stickies stand out. A poll would be fine but would, I think, necessitate some work behind the scenes first to determine what question will be asked. The simpler, the better for polls.

3. The 'banned word list'/spam sounds like a techie problem-solving exercise. I wish the techies well

4. Deleting posts in retrospect – I don't quite follow this but, if it means that members were doing their own editing, surely that's a good thing :?

Thanks again.

[Deleted User]

stickywicket wrote:

Thank you very much for your sterling work on our behalf, Mod YEH. In answer to your suggestions:



4. Deleting posts in retrospect – I don't quite follow this but, if it means that members were doing their own editing, surely that's a good thing :?

Thanks again.

Re point 4 Stickywicket

The issue isn't about genuine mistakes rather as already mentioned by Moderator YEH nastiness - racism for example. Unfortunately very often the damage had been done by the time the poster had 'edited' their own post. This resulted in serious upset, but no evidence of the offence so no action could be taken against the perpetrator.

Hope that helps?

Moderator AC

[Deleted User]

Hi,

The banned words list - this has now been changed, all everyday words have now been removed so words like kitchen and shoes should be fine. Swearing, racist etc language will still be picked up as usual.

Our first result :P

I will move forward with a poll on the change of name to Benefits and Work Forum. If we leave it for a week would that be enough time for all interested parties to reply? If you have any suggestions for the initial sentence please let me know

Thanks
Mod
YEH

stickywicket

Mod AC - that does help. Thank you.

Mod YEH - I like your suggested title. A week should be enough as long it happens fairly soon before people find that Christmas preparations are interfering with their forum time How about: It is proposed to change the title of 'Working Matters' forum to 'Benefits and Work' forum. Do you agree or disagree with this?

lululu

Just a small point I know but could be important, there allready is an excellent forum named Benefit and Work which offers second to non advice, it would be a shame if people looking for the other site should think this acc site was it for although ac offers some good advice it is no subsitute for the experts in the field.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

There is such a forum, I'm not sure whether it would cause confusion, but it might, so 'Benefits and Working Matters' would work for us just as well, I shall get onto the poll today.

Mod
YEH

stickywicket

lululu wrote:

Just a small point I know but could be important, there allready is an excellent forum named Benefit and Work which offers second to non advice, it would be a shame if people looking for the other site should think this acc site was it for although ac offers some good advice it is no subsitute for the experts in the field.

If that's the case, it might be a good idea to have a sticky thread, at the top of the newly named forum (if it comes to pass ) referring people to that website.

Just checked it out and it does look good. http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/

Toots

I wonder if there are changes happening this evening?

I just replied to a post in the Living forum and it's gone for moderation. I think that's a first for me and I've posted a lot! ....... I'm now trying to figure out if I used a word I shouldn't have done!


ETA ahh, I hit back browser till I got back to my post. I used an anagram of the common name for the river fish family Cyprinidae. Twice..... ooops?

Mat48

Oh dear Toots my few remaining braincells just popped trying to fathom out your anagram - never managed it but will keep on trying :roll: xx

Toots

Result of moderation is in - apparently the swear words were removed from my post. The fish I was alluding to earlier was a carp. So now you all know not to use that particular word. Overkill imo, but rules are rules! x

If it's still not clear, pm me. x

Mat48

Heck that's a very intelligent and knowledgeable way to go about mildly swearing in one syllable Toots? Seriously impressed I am

Now going to have a nap - fathoming this out has left me with no braincells left whatsoever! Mat x

Toots

Sorry Mat, I was concerned that naming the fish would find me foul of the mods again, you just never know! Rest those braincells!