PLEASE READ: Major changes to forum proposed

[webmoo]

Hi All,

Life has been very busy for us recently and several of our regular posters have, no doubt, recognised that the amount of time I have been able to devote to the forum has been a lot less than previous. This has mainly been due to my becoming a father about 9 months ago. I never thought that being a dad would be such hard work!

In the past, there were three moderators. My sister, Diana, no longer has the time to do this, my wife, who now has a noisy bundle of wriggle to deal with which is a full time job in itself, which leaves just myself doing almost all the work.

I'm still disappointed by the quietness of some parts of the forums, and the number of posts that receive no replies. Thus, I've been thinking strongly about the future of the forum.
I propose to consolidate the forum down to a more manageable size. I will then have a smaller area to concentrate on to hopefully increase users and posters, and hopefully provide better info too. I'll also be looking into ways to provide more links to other relevant sites and to get other relevant sites to link to us.

I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the proposals, and would appreciate any suggestions you may have. Please get in touch by replying to this post or emailing or PM'ing me. Thanks!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The proposed changes:

General introduction, discussion and chat

• No changes proposed.

UK Rape Issues and Justice in UK Rape trials
This is by far the most successful part of the forum, so the changes are minor:

• Closure and removal of the "The (former) campaign for justice in rape trials" category.
• Move requests for journalism help etc into the 'general chat' category, leaving the news forum for purely items from the news and discussion of them. I plan to make a bigger effort to post relevant news articles into this category on a regular basis, and would request that anyone else who spots interesting and relevant news articles to do the same.

Bullying

• Closure and removal of this whole section.

Marriage - Good and bad, conflict and guidance

• Merging of the two sections into one and re-categorising it into something more general, although I'm not sure what exactly. Suggestions please!

Disability and Mental Health

• Closure and removal of this whole section.

UK Consumer Protection and Consumer Legislation

• Closure and removal of the "Experiences of Good service" category.
• Closure and removal of the "Experiences of Bad Customer Service" category (except the thread "www.ufindus.com or www.iomart.com terms of trading unfair" which will be moved to the category created below)
• Merging of the "UK consumer legislation" and the "Online shopping (e-commerce)" categories into one, and re-categorising it into something more general, covering articles about trade organisations, methods of spotting a good or a bad trader, good and bad trading practices, schemes that may help to improve matter and help the consumer, and suggestions on how to buy wisely. Exact final coverage TBC. Suggestions please!

As always, I would love to know your opinions and/or suggestions (constructive please!), so please reply and let us know what you think.

I'm all ears...

[lemming]

Hmmmm... the forum is definitely in need of a shake-up as it has been too quiet of late (myself included).

Speaking purely from a personal point of view I always felt the topics were too diverse to co-exist. This is the only public forum on being falsely accused in the UK that I know of so explains the (sadly ongoing) popularity of it. It was always in the back of my head that it was slightly uncomfortable to post about being accused of rape while someone else would be talking about contact lenses. And I have no doubt that potential posters on other topics would be uncomfortable about scrolling down the screen to get to their forum topic (imagine someone - interested in marriage issues - having to explain to their family/colleagues why a rape issues forum was on their computer under favourites). Thought it was worth a mention, can't see a solution other than keeping only the rape issues part (or getting rid of it which hopefully no-one will suggest!), and Rights Fighter/pafaa have that covered for the people who need it.

Your proposals seem sound, but I would suggest two things: 1) having separate "introduce yourself" sections for the rape section and marriage section respectively so the topics are completely separate entities for new members, avoiding confusion as to where to post and hopefully resulting in quicker responses and 2) reconsider removing the bullying section but keeping the consumer section. This really does feel like a support forum and the consumer issues section jars with that. Bullying is relevant issue and regular posters could transfer their skills from one section to another.

The crossover of the "been raped" and "falsely accused of rape" sections does work well and it can only be a good thing that some people feel able to post in both sections (particularly the poetry and prose) - provided the rules of being taken at face value/not getting personal are strictly adhered to.

These are only suggestions, which I think would give the forum a clearer sense of identity whilst keeping variety, nothing more! Feel free to ignore me or disagree!

Thanks, and good luck with the bundle of wriggles!

[Saffron]

Hi Webmoo

I think Lemming has made some sound comments. Personally I do not feel experienced or qualified to comment on marriage issues, (despite being married for nearly 11 years!) and the recent comment from a new member who had not received advice made me feel terribly guilty!

the quietest forums seem to be the mental health and bullying ones, so I agree with the cosure of them.

I will make a concerted effort to post interesting news articles as you suggested.

Hope all is well with Toby - my 2 are now 8 and 2 years old, and still haven't stopped wriggling!

S

[littlemoo]

You have some good points there.

I can see why you don't think the consumer advice section fits very well, and there is a lot of consumer advice sites online so we could give some thought to closing that.

However that will then make the forum very top heavy towards the rape section, and apart from that one poster in the marriage section who didn't get a reply, (i admit, i read the post a few times and found that his style of writing was a bit agressive and i didn't know what to say), there have been quite a few threads that hopefully helped people, and i don't really want to loose that.

Also, the marriage section is my main input into the forum, as i really don't know what to say in the rape categories.

BTW, Toby is fine, and getting on well, and has 2 teeth

Jo

[lemming]

By the way since you're planning to re-organise the forum a bit I have another little suggestion...

Can we blatantly steal the idea from pafaa of having a comedy/inspiring stuff section? At the mo I always have to flip back to my Facebook tab for some relief from the tales of injustice and woe! And I know reading and telling jokes was hugely important during my *ah* character-building months! And anyone in the forum can post there too!

The only reason I think it should be separate from the poetry/prose as opposed to adapting it is so people with serious, emotive stuff won't be put off from posting.

[Saffron]

sounds like a good idea to me....we could all do with a giggle from time to time....

[webmoo]

Some good thoughts going around. More please!

Lemming:
Wow. What a lot of comments. Thanks!

• I wasn't aware that this was the only public forum on false accusations, although PAFAA keep trying to steal my steam. (Only kidding RF!) That does indeed explain why it's the most popular.
• I agree that we are a bit too diverse, although I couldn't have summed it up quite as well as "slightly uncomfortable to post about being accused of rape while someone else would be talking about contact lenses". I'm not really sure what to do about that, but I have an idea or two I'm mulling.
• I'm not sure I agree with the bullying section - I appreciate what you are saying about relevance and skills being transferable but the sad fact is we've had precious few posts in there. Also, some of the posts in there are from people asking for advice who never received any. I may bring it back one day if warranted. I'll not actually be deleting the forum, just turning it off from public view, so I can bring it back in future if I think we have the members to support it.
• Separate "introduce yourself" sections - I agree that the section hasn't worked as planned, so needs some change, but I'm not sure splitting it into two sections is the way to go. I had hoped that it would provide a bit of a bridge between the sections and encourage people to use those transferable skills!
• A "comedy/inspiring stuff section" - What a good idea!

Saffron:
Thanks for the agreement. Glad to see I'm not barking down the wrong tree...
Thanks for saying you'll make an effort with the news section. I need some more input into that..
Me and my lovely weird wife will try to take on the marriage section a bit more ourselves, but you must have learnt something in those 11 happy years? You've got two kids - you must be a pro! One's enough for me...
Toby is lovely though. He's mostly great - a really happy, contented, wriggly, marching about (thankfully not on his own yet) kid. However, nature is torturing him at the mo. He's teething...

[Saffron]

ha ha! I don't think i can say hand on heart that ALL of those 11 years have been happy....there was the small issue of my other half being falsely accused of raping someone and going to prison for a crime he didn;t commit....but we are both still here so I suppose we must be doing something right! Personally I think that children are the glue of marriage.

I will do what I can for the marriage section, but my main input has always been the rape section. Lemming is right that this is the only public forum for those falsely accused, and if you do a Google search on false accusations it comes up pretty near the top. You and Jo do a sterling job, and my thanks go out to you both, and to Diana. This forum kept me going during the dark days, and I will continue to visit to help people going through the same ordeal.

Glad to hear Toby is well. Teething is horrible, but it doesn't last forever. I sincerely reccommend Calpol Night - magic stuff! My son recently made the connection between losing his milk teeth and the coins left my the tooth fairy - hence at the slightest hint of a wobbly tooth he is yanking at it for all he worth...

[Rights Fighter]

I wasn't aware that this was the only public forum on false accusations, although PAFAA keep trying to steal my steam. (Only kidding RF!)

I'm not trying to "steal your steam" folks, but trying to help people who need advice that is best given on a private forum, not a public one. I realise that some people don't mind airing their "cases" in minute detail on a public forum such as this but that can create dangers on it's own. Most prefer privacy with such a sensitive subject.

I accept that you are only kidding webmoo but I thought this needed to be addressed to people who happen by. PAFAA specialises only in false allegations of sexual abuse and as such offers far more support and advice than a public forum can for obvious reasons. I occasionally surf this site and am often concerned to see 20+ unregistered users (guests) on the forum. Nobody knows who these people are.

We know that the police (and possibly SS and CPS) lurk on this site. They are not interested in justice. What they are interested in is either getting convictions to reach targets or preserving convictions where certain departments have not behaved in a proper and professional manner, how shall I put this, in an honourable way, and don't wish to be found out.

This is why people who appear to require access to further support and information, can do so with the more confidential and hopefully secure forum, which is PAFAA.

[webmoo]

Note: The post about better links has been moved to its own thread.

[webmoo]

Note: The unfair and destructive criticism posted by an unregistered user has been deleted, as have the replies to them. Sorry - I somehow had unregistered people able to post without me approving them first set for that forum. Oops!

I don't know who it is but they have been posting a large number of posts like that in most categories. I've not approved any of them. I don't know how we've annoyed someone but it appears we have and they are intent on continually posting destructive criticism on the forum as an unregistered user.

I have rectified the permissions so they should not be able to post again.

[Saffron]

Cheers Webmoo

I seem to remember we had someone doing that a while ago as well - questioning whether people were telling the truth and generally being quite nasty. thank you for putting a halt to it so quickly!

[webmoo]

Ok, I've made many of the changes, although I ran out of time before being able to finish everything I wanted to do. I'll continue soon.

The changes I have made thus far:

• I have done Lemming's suggestion of "comedy/inspiring stuff section", although it's actually called "Humorous & inspirational stuff".
• The (former) campaign for justice in rape trials category has been removed.
• The bullying section has been removed.
• The disability and mental health section has been removed.
• The news and journalism category under the rape section has been re-titled to cover only news stories and discussion of them.
• The marriage section has been consolidated into one category, and it's been re-titled.
• A new category under the marriage section has been created, covering news articles about marriage.

More to come soon...

If you have any comments on what I've done so far, I'm all ears.

Cheers!

[webmoo]

Ok, I've finished the edits that I plan to do - I've merged the consumer protection etc category down into one thread and made it a bit more general. I've still not been able to come up with a brilliant title so any more suggestions on how to edit that would be appreciated, but overall I think the work is done!
If anyone has any more suggestions, please let me know - I always like feedback, although I can't guarentee I'll act on it very quickly these days!