Forum Issues addressed to O2

[jonsie]

Further to Adams post and voting options, I have taken the liberty of carrying on from there with a post aimed directly at our O2 friends.
...so here goes....
@ Abs and Chris
I think we all have the knowledge and know-how to check for and spot these bogus isp's and the newly registered users who spam the forum to ridiculous levels. I think the only answer under the present circumstances is for the 6 ,7, 8 and more regular forum police, ie US, to be empowered to remove this stuff and these members ourselves.
Can you understand how frustrating it is for us to regularly red flag this rubbish when there is no moderator deleting it? It stays on the forum for hours and a spammer can post 20 or more threads without them being removed before the gods deem fit to delete them and ban them. Strange they can't deem it fit to ban the ISPs.
Good Lord, nothing else is working and the promised improvements of some 6 months ago don't seem likely to happen any time soon. Nothing at all from O2 regards to updates for months and I, for one, am sick of false expectations.
Abs or Chris @O2, any words of wisdom for us? Come on, give us a go, let us self police the spam. I personally can guarantee I will cut the spam by more than 25% and quite probably a great deal more (but unlike O2, I'm not into false promises!)
Between us 99.9% will be gone before the moderators even begin to think about fulfilling their contractual obligations (probably another pin in the effigy that O2 moderators keep of me)
Come on O2, give us a try. Strewth, WE won't even cost you a penny! (a bar of chocolate every now and then would do but please send one to our resident P&G expert prking who I would always ask advice before calling customer service! A bar of chocolate is the very least he deserves! Mind you, his postman has put a bit of weight on lately!)
To O2.
The regular contributors on this forum are keeping it going and we have valued advisers in all the sections of the forum. You know who they are but I will mention a few to remind you:
adamtemps64 expertise in all things iphone and business contracts
perksie expertise in broadband and home phone
npr1 expertise in broadband, routers, gaming etc. with his own helpsite for O2 problems
prking expertise in all things P&G, consumer law, Oftel Ofcom, Nokia and much more
beaufighter expertise in all aspects of tariffs and contracts
browni expertise in broadband, Nokia and forum rules and moderator of a similar customer forum.
wanty & canwefixit expertise in most thing O2, tariffs, contracts, P&G, t&cs etc.
oliver341 expertise in all things broadband with easy to follow tutorials for the less experienced.
sheepdog and giamburrasca expertise in all things Blackberry
O2MACH2, brendan2002, strange visitor, ancient fergueson, DaveC, DAW,darrengf,waylander, Jawswing, greatcap, mathrin, ravefromthegrave and I claim the right to name myself, who have been invaluable to other members of the forum with our own experience and the knowledge we have picked up from the above members.
Deepest apologies to anyone who feels slighted by no mention in these lists, no disrespect to anyone and as it is now around 6:20am my excuse is tiredness and a pathetic memory dimmed by the uncontrollable suicidal tendencies of my remaining brain cells!
Seriously O2. Look at all the above people, the time they spend on the forum, the thought and knowledge that goes into their replies to some of the complex queries and the more simple straightforward obvious queries. These questions have in some cases been to various departments in customer service without satisfactory resolutions and we have had a wealth of knowledge and expertise to help your customers and taken lots of pressure off customer service.
You promised us the earth with regards to forum changes, spam etc with a whole new design fully supported by O2 staff. It's time to deliver and if you can't, then let us at least police the spam on here until your new forum is unleashed on everyone.
In case the mods take offence to this post, and may I be so bold as to say that they will fail in their obligations should they decide to remove this post, I am taking the precaution of PMing the post to Ab & Chris @O2.

[Anonymous]

Hi all
Firstly, I want to make it clear that we do understand the frustration you guys all have with the spammers, as it’s something we share. I also want to emphasise that we don’t for a second doubt your abilities or know-how – without your contributions, this forum wouldn’t be what it is now.
We’re sorry the new forum updates are taking longer than expected but we want to make sure we get it absolutely right and deliver the best experience to the community. Soon we’ll have a fresh new design and easy to navigate site which most importantly will have greater spam control on our side. We look forward to the community becoming more involved in the forums and can’t wait to see the benefits this will bring.
Until then, though, we need to ask you to keep being patient for just a little longer. You’ve made it this far – don’t give up now!
I can remember discussing these issues with Adam off-forum a good while ago, and I remember at the time I told him that changes were afoot. Back then, the plan was there and we had a rough idea of how it was likely to happen. Since that time, we’ve had all kinds of boring corporate stuff to get in place – budgets, processes and such. But I promise you that things are really progressing now and also that, once it arrives, things will be so much better for you.
We know how annoying it must be for you, and we do genuinely appreciate your vigilance and dedication with the flagging. We’re nearly there and it’ll be well worth the wait.
Thank you - as always.
Chris

[Anonymous]

without your contributions, this forum wouldn’t be what it is now.

But unfortunately it's not as we want it to be now and remember, it is a customer forum.
My patience was exhausted weeks ago and I'm still to register under the new system. Almost immediately on my temporary return, I was "libelled" by M0derator28 :

Problems ?
For example :
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=####
This has been live since Friday morning. It doesn't take much time to check through new Profiles and weed out the false ones.
Another example ?
memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=####
Last edited by M0derator28 on Sat Oct 22, 2011 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: abusive (user names accused of being potential spammers)

Where in that post did I accuse anybody of being a spammer ?
O2 need to realise that it's not just the spam levels that are ruining this forum.

[jonsie]

@Chis
Thanks for replying and for posting the latest update on the forum.
BUT: Can I ask, are you going to be using yhe same moderators to police the new forum. I ask because, in my opinion, and with no disrespect to individual moderators, they are doing seemingly, a totally shambolic job.
Are you saying that they cannot spot these fictitious usernames and ip addresses on signing up to the forum due to the system?
Are you saying they are not at fault when spam posts are left on the forum for hours?
Are you saying that these people can't be stopped in their tracks before they manage to rack up a 20+ thread count?
More importantly, will the moderators still be as negligent when we get the new shiny forum?

[Anonymous]

82 people have signed up to this forum today alone, I don't believe all of them are genuine people.
There's a similar amount signed up on some of the other days as well, surely it is someone's job to look at each members details and check if they are real people and if they are not to delete their account? The forum I deal with is a very old forum with precious little anti-spam measures built in (the record company have been asked to upgrade but have not bothered - and it's not a small record company so little excuse that they do not upgrade). But every day I spend a minimum of an hour checking each new signup out, and of say every 200 that sign up, one will be a genuine fan of the artists music.

[Anonymous]

Yep, like DAW I spend about an hour cleaning out the overnight spam at 6.00 and then when more is there in my lunch break I have no time to actually participate. The mods on here aren't even part of the site , so why aren't they checking other things than those we flag, or don't anymore.
I started a post the day Steve Jobs died and a while later flagged a disrespectful,abusive and totally crass comment. The mods left it, I have not tried to flag one since.

[Anonymous]

I think these posts sum up my views perfectly. We all know a 'new' forum is coming. However, why is the existing forum in such a dreadful state?
Twelve months ago Sharon@o2 apologised to me when a perfectly innocuous post of mine was moderated and yet an offensive name calling post, I had flagged, was left intact. And yet the same sort if thing is still going on.
Are these incidents the result of poor moderation or O2 policy?

[adamtemp64]

well i replied to prking earlier and post just vanished into the ether.
I have pm chris and suggest we all do the same so it is behind closed doors out of moderations way.

[Anonymous]

I don't see how the forum can improve when honest discussion is avoided by posts magically disappearing. Very poor in my opinion.

[adamtemp64]

prking I think the current issue is database / time related re posts disappering.

[adamtemp64]

P.s. Looks like things are improving accounts being deleted in the userlist inc those hacked high post count.
I know we all are frustrated but action is haqppening and the posts disappearing is also under investigation.
Lets help support the team behind the scenes.
I know I am responsiable for some of the many negative threads but I do feel in the end we the regulars help many customers and o2 do appreciate it but there must be many levels of corporate to get changes through if there is a cost.
I look forward to the changes and hope to continue the free support I give
Adam