Review of Posting Guidelines on Askaboutmoney

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extopia said:
I like AAM the way it is. No problems with frivolous posts. If their numbers have increased, I haven't noticed.
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I fully agree with extopia. I found AAM when I was living in Australia and it has helped me with my return to Ireland, setting up my own company to become a contractor and right through the purchase process of my new apartment....I really don't know what I would have done without the advice, information and informative links I have found on this site....

The site is well moderated and whilst I don't always agree with decisions to close posts etc, well thats life and is a tiny price to pay for this invaluable resource...
Keep up the good work Brendan and Co.
 
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My tuppence worth: AAM is easily one of the best Irish sites on the Internet as it offers endless advice on important financial issues. That's its primary focus and it excels at it, but some of the non-financial sections are also beneficial (e.g. Home & Gardens give people excellent help on all things related to their primary investment - their house, and the advice gained on their empowers a lot of people when dealing with the trade, and also helps people to fix problems themselves, all of which saves them money).

Fair play to Brendan and all the mods for all the trojan work they do in running the site, and I for one would have no problem with seeing a banner advertisement at the top of the site in order to cover costs and give the mods a reward every now and then, though obviously this would be from a financial institution which would raise issues on partiality etc.

As I've said in the past, taking a narrow view that this site is only about money and anything else isn't really welcome will be detrimental to the long term success of the site. Sure, you could say 'if you want to talk about that go to boards.ie', but some people will go there, like it, and never come back, thereby depriving this community of a potential contributor.

That said, you cant have people coming on here just to waffle in meaningless threads (I would categorise any thread that doesn't 'help anybody as meaningless. e.g. knowing how you like your Creme Egg doesn't help anyone, but pointing out a great deal you got, or how to fix your PC does help people).

So, in short, my solution would be to lump all categories that don't help people into one section (i.e. add more to The Depths), and clearly advertise that this section will only be moderated to prevent against libel - i.e. there will be no quality control. Once everyone knows what to expect in there, and it can be skimmed to prevent libel, anyone using it couldn't complain about standards, though many would be happy to use it regardless.

Oh, and I do agree that the number of people posting threads without searching for previous ones on the same subject is growing and is frustrating (e.g. how many 'About to build extension, what is the cost per sq ft?' threads have there been recently?).
 
There is and never was any plan to do this. Brendan foots most of the running costs himself and fair play to him. Last year (or the year before?) users were invited to make voluntary contributions towards the ezBoard subscription renewal - at their own discretion and with no onus on them to do so or any strings attached - and the renewal subscription amount was raised in a few days if I recall correctly. At that point no further donations were solicited or accepted. I guess there's always a possibility that a similar approach (e.g. via PayPal etc.) might be taken in order to defray costs and take some of the financial burden off Brendan (not that he ever complains about it). However there are no plans to make the site commercial, money making or to accept advertising.
 
Fair play to Brendan is right!

I would gladly donate a few quid to the running costs, and would think it'd be fair for him to take just enough donations to be able to buy the mods a meal. I'd say you'd get enough donations to cover this in no time.
 
I don't really have much to add that hasn't already been said but just want to join with the support for Brendan and the mods. I'm another poster who reads the whole website but doesn't feel confident/competent enough to answer most of the financial questions, or most of the non-financial ones either come to think of it. But I visit this website every day and have come to rely on it as a back-up source of info/opinions - kinda like having a knowledgeable neighbour.

I agree with the posters who call to keep the non-financial aspect going and also agree it has gone downhill recently. I miss the informed (and sometimes heated) debates on current affairs that seemed to be more prevalent a year ago. The frivolous threads seem to be much more dominant now. (Where did daltonr go? Did Clubman finally get him to back down for good?) Mind you, when those threads were more prevalent, we had some navel-gazing about that too.

So do whatever you need to to keep it more or less how it is and if you need some help (financial or otherwise), just ask as I'm sure plenty of us would be only too delighted to be a part of it.

Rebecca
 
Totally agree with the last couple of posters. I log in every day - more than once! - and while I don't contribute a whole lot in the financial area - I add my tuppence worth where I can. I have no problems with any decisions taken by moderators - and I have learnt a whole lot.
On running costs - I was delighted to give a few quid the only time it was asked and would gladly do so again ... as others have suggested ... to defray some of Brendan's running costs and make a gesture of thanks to the moderators who give considerable time to this site.
My apologies for straying off topic - but I want to take the opportunity to say that my sense of "community" increased in line with making a contribution - it was good to be able to give something back when asked.
 
Just to be clear in case of any confusion - any donations last time around were purely used to renew the ezBoard subscription. Once the subscription cost was met the donation mechanism was closed off. If there was any excess then it was most likely a few US$/c at most. Any future contributions would be used to renew the ISP hosting, domain name renewal and vBulletin upgrade costs. Neither Brendan nor any of the moderators benefit from this money at all (even for a few pints or a meal as suggested above). I am pretty certain that I speak for all moderators in not wanting or expecting any payment at all.
 
Just to be clear in case of any confusion - we know that neither Brendan nor any of the moderators benefitted from contributions ... a few people are just suggesting that maybe they should. I would like to see people getting a small "thank you" for their efforts.
Just as long as you all know that all efforts on behalf of the site are greatly appreciated. Personally I get disappointed when things get heated from time to time and pot shots are taken at some moderators ... but I hope that out of this discussion will come some solutions. I for one am perfectly happy to go along with whatever is decided.
 
my2leftfeet said:
a few people are just suggesting that maybe they should.
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I understand that but I personally would not like to see that happening.
 

I like the not for profit nature of AAM and would hate any advertising here. Think things work as they are and don't see the need for financial rewards for moderators if not required.

I would make one suggestion re:LOS - allowed for users who have 50+ posts. Where a valid discussion is started by a user and is then moved to LOS i think the author of the thread should have access to reply to argue his/her point - see the evading tax example.
 
I disagree. Then what would be the point in having any restriction? At the moment people have to have some sort of posting track record to post in LOS deliberately to weed out time wasters.
 
Wow...four whole pages of back slapping!!

At the risk of being cynical - I'm a long time AAM user. Like many others who've posted here. Over four years in fact.

Yes, the moderators do a great job. So does Brendan. I've always thought that. And yes this is a great site. But you probably wouldn't be reading this if you didn't think that. But I'll resist the urge to say anymore.
At the end of the day the people who moderate here do so out of choice.

I actually think (and I don't think I'm alone in this) that some of the moderation has been a bit on the heavy side and badly done. I doubt I'm the only poster who's been put off posting here because of it. And I only spent a relatively small percentage of my time in LOS.

I also think there's a small percentage of moderators who are ill fit to do the job.

Incidentally, I'm not sure how constructive the feedback you're receiving is. For a start it's in LOS so only certain posters can respond to this.
 
kinda like having a knowledgeable neighbour.
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That's a great way of looking at it. If we ever change the title to reflect the wider scope of the site, it would be a good name to go for.

And just as people might buy a meal or present for a helpful neighbour, if we do get around to setting up a PayPal account, we might raise a small bit extra for a dinner and few pints for the mods. I wouldn't be too proud/pure/whatever to refuse it.

Brendan
 
As the person who started the "porridge thread", well for starters I apologise, I didn't think it was out of place on the forum I posted it in but if it was well then I apologise. I have to admit I was very taken aback to see the thread closed down and in a way wasn't inclined to go back to the boards for a while. Which is a pity because I use the boards an awful lot and find them great and enjoy them a huge amount.

I feel that the boards are great, the moderation is perfect and it's great to see the community spirit. As other posters mentioned the removal of "the depths" etc would only detract from the site I feel and if the frivolous stuff is getting too much and detracting from the main mission of AAM then all of that needs to be moved to "the depths" imho.

Apologies again.
 
I'm glad to see that at least the mods and Brendan got a few pints and a meal from the contributions, and will hopefully be able to do the same again next year. It will be sad though to see third-party advertising banners coming in.
 
SineWave said:
I'm glad to see that at least the mods and Brendan got a few pints and a meal from the contributions, and will hopefully be able to do the same again next year. It will be sad though to see third-party advertising banners coming in.
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Hi Sinewave,

I think you may have misread the posts above. We have actually never had either a pint or a meal from the contributions to-date. If you have a look again you will see that Clubman is opposed to same whereas Brendan says:

"And just as people might buy a meal or present for a helpful neighbour, if we do get around to setting up a PayPal account, we might raise a small bit extra for a dinner and few pints for the mods. I wouldn't be too proud/pure/whatever to refuse it".
 
SineWave said:
I'm glad to see that at least the mods and Brendan got a few pints and a meal from the contributions, and will hopefully be able to do the same again next year. It will be sad though to see third-party advertising banners coming in.
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Once again I have to point out that this did not happen. Neither Brendan nor any of the moderators as far as I know (certainly not me) have ever received or benefited directly from any of the money that was donated to AAM by users. A couple of posters earlier suggested that a meal and a few pints for moderators out of any AAM kitty raised through donations might be a good idea. Brendan said that he wouldn't be averse to availing of that. I personally would be averse and would not accept any remuneration or emoluments from AAM. I would also cease to be involved if the site became commercial or accepted advertising. Others may have their own opinions on these issues. I just wanted to clear that up (again).
 
I am 100% with ClubMan and all the moderators on this - there is absolutely no question of advertising, sponsorship or any other form of commercialism.

However, if you bump into me in Doheny's and want to buy me a pint, I will gladly accept it as long as you don't tell ClubMan. We couldn't afford to lose him.

Brendan
 
I'd just like to clarify that my own personal PayPal a/c no. is [Inappropriate post deleted by DrMoriarty]
 
Brendan said:
However, if you bump into me in Doheny's and want to buy me a pint, I will gladly accept it as long as you don't tell ClubMan. We couldn't afford to lose him.
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At the risk of getting pedantic (yeah, yeah - I know...) there is a qualitative difference between a user buying a moderator a pint and moderators benefiting from any kitty raised from user donations. I would be very much against the latter on the basis that it could undermine trust in any donations mechanism and some users may not want donations used for this purpose. Anything else is a matter between consenting adults. By the way - while I'm at it I should declare that I personally did not contribute to the last fund raising effort preferring to donate in kind in terms of administrative assistance etc.
 
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