Please don't bombard us with queries.

Hi All,

As you're all aware, for the next 4 weeks, the forums will be closing from
6.00pm on Fridays to 10.00am on Mondays.

At 9.00am this morning there were nearly 70 members online.

Please try not to bombard us with questions before the 6.00pm deadline on Friday, otherwise we may not have the time or energy to get through all posts
before we close tomorrow.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Jim
pp Moderating Team.

what would be good is a FAQ list of common queries and some suggestions as to how to proceed with simple things, plus a link to an index of advice centres/CABS

If people were referred to the FAQ before posting it might reduce the load..

Easier said than done though

I can no longer sit and say nothing.

I am sorry Jim, and other moderators for creating yet another post for you to have to give your time to moderate and i'm sorry if it is a bit lengthy, but I sincerely feel that I need to say this and your comment above XFACTOR has been the deciding factor for me.

There is no doubt that this site provides people with almost all the information they need in dealing with benefit claims, all people have to do is look first, and this is not happening. If people were to do this then that is what would reduce the load.

Also, why would it be neceassary for B&W to provide a link to advice centres. Everyone on this forum has a computer, so the facility to find an advice centre or CAB office is right at their fingertip, ie the search button on their own computer.

I feel that members should start to really give proper consideration to all those moderators who have to sit and read through every single post and ask themselves, "is it really necessary for me to comment on this".

Take this as one example, the post relating to how qualified ATOS assessors are. Just look at not only the amount of posts but the length of some of them. This is getting rediculous and I am sure a real strain on the moderators, who are all disabled people themselves and trying their best to offer contructive advice.

I have found this link, so rather that keep the likes of this post going on and on and on, why not avail of this opportunity which way be of mor help to you in the long run.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/campaign...igns/fairwelfare.htm

There is no point in me even asking people not to take offence at what I say because I know people will. But I needed to say this because it's just not fair what is happening here IMO.


Kathy

Hi Kathy, whilst I respect your view, please bear in mind that some of us don't have a lot else in our lives right now.

Even us that post too long or too often, have a deep respect for the moderators.

I did post a little while ago whether it would be possible to recruit some more moderators. And no I don't mean 'overnight' but in the long term.

I completely agree with the decision to shut the site over the weekends, but please don't take away the need for some of us to have interesting, (and sometimes purile) debate. And more importantly FRIENDLY HUMAN CONTACT!

Best wishes,
Rachel

Hello Kathy,

You think people will take offence, but I doubt it. It's fair enough to ask people to reflect before posting. However, people pay their subscription and want to help others and so posting or answering enquiries and topical observations seems perfectly reasonable, as does exercising discretion before doing so, bearing in mind the unpaid moderators with their own health problems are having to oversee all this

if and when Yourable gets up and running, and it is said to be imminent, then their benefit forum will take a lot of enquiry traffic from here. That is if it has the format it did previously.

You are right about searching elsewhere for some answers.

When I was an advice worker in the past I used to go nearly mad with some of the things people brought to the office. Intelligent articulate people who could have asked an official, read a leaflet, or phone up the department. Not everyone has the ability or confidence to handle some things but initiative is not too much to ask for

XFACTOR wrote:

what would be good is a FAQ list of common queries and some suggestions as to how to proceed with simple things, plus a link to an index of advice centres/CABS

If people were referred to the FAQ before posting it might reduce the load..

Easier said than done though

Hi XFACTOR,

If you look at the top of this forum, you will see an area called 'Spotlights' which contains several threads containing information and advice.

Plus, our current FAQ does deal with questions.

Spotlights and FAQ's don't get updated as often as we'd like, but the main reason for this is that at present, we simply don't have the time.

I can remember when I first became one of the original moderators, we were lucky if we got, half a dozen posts per week, now it's common to get 20-30 per day.

Hence the reason for Steve's decision in consultation with all moderators to reluctantly close the forums at weekends, before we suffer 'burnout'

Kind regards,

Jim