It seems we have a repeat of the problem that beset this forum a few years ago. A member here has set up a rival forum and together with other members who have been inviting other members here to contact them by email who are then directed to the new forum. This was done completely behind my back and the invites made on the pretext of it a being a 'backup forum' if this one ever disappeared. But having visited the new forum myself it is clear it is a breakaway forum with new discussion topics being opened and encouraged. Of course it is a free world, and anyone can set up a forum of their own. But I object to members for a new forum being poached from the membership here.
The members who own and/or promoted the new forum will not be banned from here, but as long as it continues they will have their posts moderated which means their posts will be have to be checked by me before appearing on the boards. That will apply to anyone else who seeks to poach members from this forum.
Those who have been contacted to join the new forum are of course free to participate there as well as here if they wish. I have nothing against you. And just as happened before there will be members who will permanently switch to the new forum and this forum will suffer as a result. But as before this forum will recover in time.
For the record, I have no intention of closing down this forum. If people are worried about a prolonged outage of this forum I have created an
official backup forum at
https://pensionersforum.createaforum.com/With regard to the recent outages here I can say that they are not caused by the server being overloaded. In fact when the outages occur the server is still operating normally with server load going down to zero. It is simply that traffic is not reaching the site. This can sometimes be caused by a faulty switch at the data centre which normally quickly comes to the attention of administrators there and is quickly resolved. As the problem is ongoing I will open a ticket myself and get them to look into it.
Another reason for dissatisfaction seems to be a couple of new members disrupting the forum by attacking other members who disagree with them. As an unacceptably large proportion of their posts broke the forum rules they are now moderated so they will no longer be able to attack anyone, and have been for some time. But it works both ways and people who continue to attack these members themselves will have their posts deleted and if they continue to do so will end up having their posts moderated also. The rules of the forum apply to everyone and include:
• No hostility. All discussions must be friendly and civil.
• No inflammatory posts. No controversial, offensive or otherwise disruptive posts which are likely to provoke an angry or emotional response.
• No attacking other members. Teasing or jesting between forum friends is fine, but it must be in an obviously friendly manner preferably with a smiley to make it clear you are joking. Otherwise it will be considered hostile. If either party objects to teasing then both sides must stop immediately.
• No reprimanding. Please do not reprimand other members or make personal criticisms about them. If other members' posts break the rules or you find them objectionable please use the 'report to moderator' button. Please do not reprimand them yourself on the boards as people find this condescending and will often react angrily.
I will lock this topic as I do not want to see this argued out here. If anyone wishes to discuss this with me personally I can be contacted at
contact@pensionersforum.co.uk
