88 replies to this topic

[giles]

Geoffrey, on 29 March 2011 - 09:48, said:

The only correction is that I believe the mods are appointed by Zopa.

We asked for volunteers. They volunteered. They continue to volunteer, though I wouldn't blame them for chucking the towel in as it's a pretty thankless task, notwithstanding the odd drink and of course the company Merc.

I have kept quiet on the subject to date but FWIW, speaking only as a forum member like everyone else, if (and I hope it is rarely the case) a trade-off is ever required in moderating this forum I would happily sacrifice "interesting" (to some) chat that's not about Zopa, for civil discussion about Zopa including critcism which is never moderated unless impolite or libellous (thankfully rarely). I think this forum is pretty unique in the civil and helpful level of discussion about the topic in hand (for which I think the mods and forum contributors deserve great credit) and it seems sometimes to be when people start getting "interesting" (to some) that civility starts to suffer. The Internet is a big place and everyone can find somewhere that welcomes them. This forum's purpose is given away by its name. I'm sorry if that makes it boring to some but I think it makes it more useful to many more.

I think 3 posters have been banned in 5 years and, while regretting the loss of any poster some found interesting (which was the case for all 3), I have supported all 3 bans as they repeatedly broke forum rules for civility.

[Geoffrey]

giles, on 29 March 2011 - 10:45, said:

speaking only as a forum member like everyone else

Alas, I wish it were possible for you to speak only as a forum member. Unfortunately you and everyone else know that you're the CEO of Zopa, and everything you say will be taken in that capacity and will carry inordinate weight (and be virtually uncontestable). If you want to speak only as a forum member, you will need to post from an account with a different name and never let on who you really are. We shall never know if you already do this (although I believe it's against the forum rules... ). Needless to say, we all bow down on bended knee now that the almighty Zop in the sky has spoken.

Edited by Geoffrey, 29 March 2011 - 11:02.

[Gorgeous George]

Perhaps it is time for Zopa Talk to close.

I was chatting to friends earlier today about local youth football. There used to be a league with 1,000 kids taking part every week. They had just three proper referees because others were put off by the constant abuse (from parents and kids) and the general inability to accept the referees' decisions.

Without the mods there can be no forum. Right or wrong, they are the mods. I fear the lack of respect for authority is a sign of our modern society. If I was a mod, I'd resign - it just ain't worth it.

Or maybe ZT should allow dissenters to voice their opinion in ONE thread (that I can ignore (is there an ignore feature for threads)).

GG

Edited by Gorgeous George, 29 March 2011 - 17:25.

[Uncle Tone]

Gorgeous George, on 29 March 2011 - 17:24, said:

(is there an ignore feature for threads).

There is George, but it takes massive discipline, which I probably wouldn't be able to manage. You'll find it above your shoulders.  

[adilowes]

Gorgeous George, on 29 March 2011 - 17:24, said:

Without the mods there can be no forum. Right or wrong, they are the mods. I fear the lack of respect for authority is a sign of our modern society. If I was a mod, I'd resign - it just ain't worth it.



GG

Thank You

[momac]

Uncle Tone, on 29 March 2011 - 18:40, said:

There is George, but it takes massive discipline, which I probably wouldn't be able to manage. You'll find it above your shoulders.  

[Toffeeboy]

Gorgeous George, on 29 March 2011 - 17:24, said:

Perhaps it is time for Zopa Talk to close.

I was chatting to friends earlier today about local youth football. There used to be a league with 1,000 kids taking part every week. They had just three proper referees because others were put off by the constant abuse (from parents and kids) and the general inability to accept the referees' decisions.

Without the mods there can be no forum. Right or wrong, they are the mods. I fear the lack of respect for authority is a sign of our modern society. If I was a mod, I'd resign - it just ain't worth it.

Or maybe ZT should allow dissenters to voice their opinion in ONE thread (that I can ignore (is there an ignore feature for threads)).

GG

I am missing your point George, this appears to be a complete overeaction for someone that doesn't care about these kind of threads, if it doesn't interest you then just don't go into it. That is the freeedom of choice that we have. I know that you want your dual forums with one for you and members that you like and one for members that you don't like but unfortunately the world doesn't work like that. We have to accept that people are going to have different views and they have a right to air those views. If you evict everyone from a box that pushes the opposite way to you then eventually you will be left inside and everyone else will be outside. As Uncle Tone says if you don't like a thread just don't go into it, simples.

Who suggested Zopa talk close? You appear to be the first person to state that.

Your football league comparison isn't valid because no one has abused any of the moderators to my knowledge for a fairly long time. In fact it is the moderators calling the members names at the moment.

Respect is an interesting thing and it isn't a right just because you have a position of power. Respect is earned and lost and unfortunately the overeaction of banning FB has lost a lot of respect for Elljay and the way the wagons have closed has lost a bit of respect for the moderators as a whole. This whole thing has snowballed into something alot more than it needed to be and now I fear that nothing will be sorted due to the size of the matter.

[rudry2677]

Anyway, back to the topic.....

I've just picked this up from the Press Association News: -

"Middle-class skilled workers saw the biggest jump in insolvencies during 2010 as growing numbers of them could not keep up with their debts, research has indicated.
Credit reference agency Experian said people who earned good wages working in city centre office jobs or on the shop floor of large assembly plants accounted for 10.34% of all bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements and debt relief orders taken out in 2010, 4.5% more than in 2009."

[sl75]

rudry2677, on 30 March 2011 - 13:43, said:

... accounted for 10.34% of all bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements and debt relief orders taken out in 2010, 4.5% more than in 2009."

Misquoted in whatever source you found this, by the look of things:

The original press release at http://press.experia...insolvency.aspx says:
"This group, which can frequently be found working in city centre office jobs or earning good wages on the shop floor of large assembly plants, accounted for 10.34 per cent of personal insolvencies in 2010, 45 basis points higher than the corresponding figure for 2009."

[chilterncom1]

rudry2677, on 30 March 2011 - 13:43, said:

Anyway, back to the topic.....

I've just picked this up from the Press Association News: -

"Middle-class skilled workers saw the biggest jump in insolvencies during 2010 as growing numbers of them could not keep up with their debts, research has indicated.
Credit reference agency Experian said people who earned good wages working in city centre office jobs or on the shop floor of large assembly plants accounted for 10.34% of all bankruptcies, individual voluntary arrangements and debt relief orders taken out in 2010, 4.5% more than in 2009."

Fortunately, though, there were 13.6% fewer personal insolvencies in Q4 2010 than in Q4 2009, and just under 10% fewer than in Q3 2010.

The figures are:

• Q3 2009  35,574
  
• Q1 2010  35,682
  
• Q2 2010  34,743
  
• Q3 2010  33,935
  
• Q4 2010  30,729 (provisional)

That's a welcome development.

[rudry2677]

sl75, on 30 March 2011 - 13:54, said:

Misquoted in whatever source you found this, by the look of things:

The original press release at http://press.experia...insolvency.aspx says:
"This group, which can frequently be found working in city centre office jobs or earning good wages on the shop floor of large assembly plants, accounted for 10.34 per cent of personal insolvencies in 2010, 45 basis points higher than the corresponding figure for 2009."

It's the old saying - "Never believe everything you read in the Press" - not even in the good old London Stock Exchange by the look of it.
http://www.londonsto...644407A&lang=en

[chilterncom1]

rudry2677, on 30 March 2011 - 16:16, said:

It's the old saying - "Never believe everything you read in the Press" - not even in the good old London Stock Exchange by the look of it.
http://www.londonsto...644407A&lang=en

Sadly, you're right rudry.  The link you provide is indeed to another article that fails to include all the relevant material.  For example, it fails to quote the parts I have highlighted in the quote below from Simon Waller.  I wonder why?  

Quote

Simon Waller, Head of Collections at Experian in the UK and Ireland, commented: “While it is encouraging to see a small reduction in personal insolvency levels across the UK, there are certain sections of society that continue to face ongoing difficulties. The recession hit different people and communities at different stages and some are finding it harder to shake off its effects.
“Lenders that understand their customers’ credit behaviour, how it might change in the future and can react rapidly to signs of financial distress are best placed to manage their books in a responsible and sustainable way.”

The quarterly figures listed in my previous post (extracted from the figures in the report from The Insolvency Service) suggest a positive trend through 2010.

[pfpessex]

chilterncom1, on 30 March 2011 - 16:44, said:

Sadly, you're right rudry.  The link you provide is indeed to another article that fails to include all the relevant material.  For example, it fails to quote the parts I have highlighted in the quote below from Simon Waller.  I wonder why?  



The quarterly figures listed in my previous post (extracted from the figures in the report from The Insolvency Service) suggest a positive trend through 2010.

I think the answer is quite simple - good news such as a positive trend attracts far less interest/publicity/sales than bad news.

The press would have us believe that all the Japanese are about to suffer from radiation sickness, when the experts have said time and time again that the threat - even in the worst case scenario - is minimal and indeed that even Chenobyl, terrible as it was, did not have the long term outcomes we wer warned of.

The same scaremongering philosophy seems to apply to financial new. I am not in fact optimistic about the long term future of western economies as we repeat the same old mistakes, but even when there is positive news the reporters will find a way to frighten us!

Edited by pfpessex, 31 March 2011 - 09:18.

[chilterncom1]

pfpessex, on 31 March 2011 - 09:17, said:

I think the answer is quite simple - good news such as a positive trend attracts far less interest/publicity/sales than bad news.

The press would have us believe that all the Japanese are about to suffer from radiation sickness, when the experts have said time and time again that the threat - even in the worst case scenario - is minimal and indeed that even Chenobyl, terrible as it was, did not have the long term outcomes we wer warned of.

The same scaremongering philosophy seems to apply to financial new. I am not in fact optimistic about the long term future of western economies as we repeat the same old mistakes, but even when there is positive news the reporters will find a way to frighten us!

Spot on - particularly re the Japanese nuclear accident; the IAEA site is by far the best source for reliable information concerning that.

[rudry2677]

pfpessex, on 31 March 2011 - 09:17, said:

I think the answer is quite simple - good news such as a positive trend attracts far less interest/publicity/sales than bad news.

The press would have us believe that all the Japanese are about to suffer from radiation sickness, when the experts have said time and time again that the threat - even in the worst case scenario - is minimal and indeed that even Chenobyl, terrible as it was, did not have the long term outcomes we wer warned of.

The same scaremongering philosophy seems to apply to financial new. I am not in fact optimistic about the long term future of western economies as we repeat the same old mistakes, but even when there is positive news the reporters will find a way to frighten us!

Hello PF, I completely agree with your sentiment and we should always have PMA.   I just put the 'news item' into the forum as I believe the adage 'Scientia potentia es', 'Knowledge is power'.   There, now we all feel more powerful today

[pfpessex]

rudry2677, on 31 March 2011 - 10:16, said:

Hello PF, I completely agree with your sentiment and we should always have PMA.   I just put the 'news item' into the forum as I believe the adage 'Scientia potentia es', 'Knowledge is power'.   There, now we all feel more powerful today

I agree - but don't forget - "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..."

[rudry2677]

pfpessex, on 31 March 2011 - 10:22, said:

I agree - but don't forget - "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing..."

I could write a book about all the things I don't know

[pfpessex]

rudry2677, on 31 March 2011 - 11:02, said:

I could write a book about all the things I don't know

While you're doing that, can you include all the things I don't know too?  

[rudry2677]

pfpessex, on 31 March 2011 - 11:21, said:

While you're doing that, can you include all the things I don't know too?  

Is there such a thing as a very large tome?   That's just for me.   What would two tomes be called?  

[pfpessex]

rudry2677, on 31 March 2011 - 12:22, said:

Is there such a thing as a very large tome?   That's just for me.   What would two tomes be called?  

Webnet dictionary definition - Tome: a (usually) large and scholarly book.

So presumably a very large tome would be : an (unusually) large and scholarly book.

But as it is going to be about things UNknown, can it be scholarly? And if not scholarly, can it be a tome?

So many questions - and another 'thing' to add to the list of things I don't know...