New Forum for Business Traveller

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Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 338 total)

  • LuganoPirate
    Participant

    First I must say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

    Now that’s off my chest I agree about the thumbs up / down.

    Will you also keep showing the number of forum posts a contributer has made? It’s useful to see what level of experience a poster has and how long he been a member.

    As to moderators. I think I’m against. The “holier thou ” temptation will I’m sure creep in and besides, I think we do a good job of that ourselves. On at least two occasions fellow forum members came to my defence when I was attacked by a troll as I have also done in defence of other members.

    Likewise when someone gets something wrong, as has happened to me, posters are quick to point this out.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Great minds etc Canucklad. “I’m going to be slightly controversial here and ask why we need moderators”?

    We had the same thought almost at the same time. Had I not made a tea they would have been simultaneous!


    SimonS1
    Participant

    There is no place for tea drinkers on BT Forum 🙂


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    peter19 – 12/03/2016 20:54 GMT

    My thinking about a pro BA forum is that, like it or not, the dominant national carrier is going to generate more traffic than others on here, as a UK based forum.

    Whilst I’m no BA fan, I do recognise that others are and it struck me that it would be good to have a forum where people could discuss their favourite airline in a happy atmosphere, without it developing into a pro and anti argument.

    No more than that.


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Morning,

    To answer a few of these.

    Yes, you can be notified when a particular forum thread is updated rather than the forum as a whole. I’m still working out all the functionality but there seems to be lots of that.

    The Thumbs up and Down definitely works on the new Comments (at the bottom of pieces), I’ll see whether it can be on the forum or not.

    I’m not sure how dividing the forum into Pro or Anti would work – we’d have to do it for more than just BA!

    Why do we need moderaters?

    Well (to be honest, since that’s our approach) when it gets busy, I haven’t got the resources 24/7 to do it all.

    We would still do most of it, but it would be good to have extra pairs of eyes. Many of you have been good enough to notify me when someone goes too far in the past, but I still had to have access to a computer to sort it out.

    The forum is quieter today than it once was. That was a deliberate decision as a result of the way it was a year or too ago when it was causing problems – posters insulting BT staff, one another, posting libelous comments and so on…

    So we blocked a lot of the most frequent posters (you’ll all think of at least a couple of individuals, but in reality there were dozens over the last 10 years).

    We have both gained and lost from their non-participation.

    On the new forum, having moderators might help manage the process better than the rather binary “Active” or “Blocked” that we have had to use in the past.

    And yes, it will be easier to stop people offering visas, though I enjoyed that one a few of you responded to last week. Made me laugh at Luton Airport. So it must have been funny.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Fully agree but I was always a bit of a maverick Simon. 😉
    In ten minutes I’ll have another one with a small cigar. I think for this I should be banned from the forum. Can I moderate myself Tom?


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Well it would save us a lot of time if everyone would moderate themselves, but one man’s opinion is another man’s…. !

    I would like people to feel they can express themselves here. There was a lot in the (UK) paper this week about universities and students engaging in censorship for fear of offending other students

    Cambridge University college cancels ‘racist’ Around the World in 80 Days party

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12190238/Cambridge-University-college-cancels-racist-Around-the-World-in-80-Days-party.html

    Cambridge university students have caused an Around the World in 80 Days-themed party to be cancelled because they claimed it could encourage “cultural appropriation”.

    Undergraduates complained that the theme could even be seen as racist if revellers dress up in clothes from a different ethnic group.

    I’m not for a moment saying we should discuss racism on this forum -one of our saving graces is we stick to travel, but I hope we’re all mature enough to take a few on the chin.


    BigDog.
    Participant

    Tom – before finalising on the mod route, maybe consider a merely a red flag facility whereby any forum member can raise warning with the admin team. It would save you time checking when I guess 99/100 times you currently check there is nothing untoward occurring. (Needs validating to ensure not pressed by mistake)

    Further, on other sites apparently a sin bin (eg suspension for a few days or weeks) is used as a warning before the ultimate sanction.

    Finally, any chance of allowing the occasional picture if low res and therefore small in size – a picture is worth a thousand words.


    Henryp1
    Participant

    I like the way forward with a new forum with voting thumbs, really easy to agree with a particular post. In terms of moderators, probably a good idea but not sure who would have the time to moderate, reading the posts when there is conflict there’s usually a common factor of a particular poster. Red flags would be an easier way of moderation without the need of formal moderators.


    transtraxman
    Participant

    @Lugano Pirate 13/03/2016 08.53 GMT
    ” Can I moderate myself Tom?”………………….
    ……………….only within the bounds of moderation, obviously.

    @BigDog. – 13/03/2016 10:58 GMT
    agreed

    @SiteAdministrator – 13/03/2016 09:19 GMT

    I am very much against censorship. I do not want any Orwellian “Thought Police” telling me what to say and thus think.
    If I want to call a spade a spade (and I mean a tool used to excavate holes) I will. I do not want some pussy footing, pumped up, petty bureaucrat telling me that expression might be misconstrued and might cause offence so cannot be used.

    The ground rules should be clear and respected (which seems to be the case nowadays). Any moderator should encourage debate and not stifle it. We, on the other hand should participate when we have something to contribute and not use the forum simply as a chatline.
    Can a non-dedicated moderator achieve that?


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    As this is turning into a kind of “wish list”.. can anything be done to speed up the “thread/search” facility.

    Often I try to continue an existing thread rather than start a new one, but the search process takes far too long, so much so… that sometimes I have already forgotten what I was going to write… 🙂


    peter19
    Participant

    bigdog +1 on the pictures part. Nice to see people’s experiences as well as hear them.


    canucklad
    Participant

    I suppose it’s all about achieving balance. I’m now putting on my tin hat as I write my next sentiment..mmm

    When Mr champagne used to be a regular poster he frequently made valued contributions. Sadly his capacity to fish and alas catch others with his provocative comments blighted his positives
    So,I’d like to think that our mantra should be respect and individual responsibility.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Cannucklad, I only I think caught the end of Mr Champagne, but certainly he made an impression as he is often mentioned. Worth remembering though, to catch a fish requires bait as well as the fish to bite! People come on here with opposing views that are often seen as provocative. An example is the subject of BA between myself and FDOS. We probably provoke each other on occasions on the pros and cons of various BA shenanigans. However it has never got personal or abusive. Some of what I write is intended to be provocative to a degree, one of us lays the bait, the other bites. As FDOS said earlier on this thread, we could do the same over a pint….or two.

    The issue of moderation is something some concern has been expressed. I think it absolutely right that a moderator allows good lively debate, does not have own axe to grind (except in their own posts) and allows things to develop. A couple of posts I have been involved in of late, HEX and BA’s IT exit seat booking issues are a case in point. Views differ greatly but on the whole have been gracious in allowing people to air a view safely and without personal insult. I would like to think on both moderation would not be necessary.

    Anyone want a visa? …….I can do a good deal….


    Bath_VIP
    Participant

    I am with some of the others here that I am not sure we need moderators. For a start what exactly are they supposed to do? What is the job description and rules, etc?

    Saying that, if we must have moderators, I am not keen on particular contributers being picked out as everybody has their own biases and prejudices and they will just end up imposing those on others however much they strive to do otherwise. To my mind, this is BT’s forum and it they who should be the moderators. I am therefore a little disturbed that BT feel they don’t have the time to moderate. After all this is their forum from which they presumably derive benefit from.

    If we are going down the route of having contributors moderating then what about this idea. Whoever starts a thread becomes the moderator for that thread. As the thread progresses, contributors can like/unlike the moderator. If someone starts getting too many dislikes for their moderation then they would be unable to start new threads.

    I am not saying I like this idea, I am just putting this up as one way forward.

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 338 total)
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