Timeline threads - appropriate conduct

In the New Year, the moderators seem to be taking a proactive approach in tidying up timeline threads by blocking those that have become discussion areas rather than timeline threads. That has generated some heat in those forums. The purpose of this thread is to have a discussion among the users of their expectations of timeline threads.

Timeline threads are meant to be of use to other users in tracking how long applications are taking. The clue is in the name. Think of them as Excel spreadsheets of data.

They are not there for discussion. Discussion should ideally be in individual threads for the individual circumstances of a specific user. If not individual threads, then there can be a parallel thread, such as this one, purely for discussion.

alex1128 wrote:how come you are saying that moderators have taken the decision to lock threads without consulting the forum members who are the essential fuel that keeps the immigration boards engine alive and working (and which might become moderators in the futur in order to keep the forum alive)... besides I am not only speaking for myself I have been contacted by members expressing their support to my proposition and also having new suggestions ...

The moderators are experienced users on these forums and have seen users come and go longer than most of us here. They would not do something detrimental to the forum itself.

I would argue that letting anarchy prevail by allowing users nilly-willy to post anywhere they like will make the forum so unusable that it will fail.

The forum is not just for asking your questions, it is a knowledge base of information for others who do not ask any questions to be able to read and comprehend. There needs to be a logical structure, which is all that the moderators are trying to get the users to do. My sympathies are with them. It is like trying to corral cats.

+1 @secret.simon The voice of reason.

+1 secret.simon, well said!! It really is not as easy at it looks and not that many of us moderators active in the first place

Just to clarify : No one has said that the moderators are not hard working !

But locking a thread where a discussion started with other members and then discuasing the matter privately between moderators doesn't really make sense as here we respect everyone's opinions and every has their say !

Back to the real subject i do understand that from time to time some people just come and start posting some messages which are totally unrelated to the EEA FM timelines thread such as "i am new here how can i apply for eea fm" or " what document do i require for which or which application " and these posts should be immediately deleted and a message should be sent to that user to ask him to start a new thread!! Ptoblem solved!

However the way the timeline thread has been working since the beginning is you post yoir timeline and you can discuss events that happen on your timeline such as : "ive jad an interview today and the officer told me this or that and i should receive an answer within 2 weeks" etc and this makes it easier to track the application of others and share their experiences!

And thats the way eea2 timelines and eea4 timelines and all other timelines has been working since the begining you can check it yourself.... i agree there has been some posts totally unrelated to the subject and this should be dealt with seperatly in a civilised manner if that makes sense..

To most people, there is a very thin line between this, which makes a timeline thread unreadable...

alex1128 wrote:i do understand that from time to time some people just come and start posting some messages which are totally unrelated to the EEA FM timelines thread such as "i am new here how can i apply for eea fm" or " what document do i require for which or which application " and these posts should be immediately deleted and a message should be sent to that user to ask him to start a new thread!! Ptoblem solved!

and this...

alex1128 wrote:"ive jad an interview today and the officer told me this or that and i should receive an answer within 2 weeks" etc and this makes it easier to track the application of others and share their experiences!

While I agree that that adds moderately to the value of a timeline thread, if you were to allow the latter, how do you police people remarking on somebody else's experience in the timeline thread? Something on the lines of (following on from the example of the interview)

Hey, I have an interview next week. can you tell me the questions that were asked? And what documents did you carry? And how long was the interview? And what style of dressing (formal, business casual, casual, thousand island) did you adopt?

It may be worthwhile looking at the possibility of having an enquiry thread running in parallel to every timeline thread. I am against that idea as well because then it becomes a jumble of questions and answers with no relation to each other, like in an Asian marketplace, where everybody is screaming at the top of their voice, but collectively making no sense.

I think it is best to draw a line in the sand and state that all posts in a timeline thread must adhere to the timeline format and if anybody else has any questions or comments, to have them in another thread.

I've been told by other members that they can't find this thread i think the most apropriate is to move this thread to the eea forum !

alex1128 wrote:I've been told by other members that they can't find this thread i think the most apropriate is to move this thread to the eea forum !

As secret.simon has created this as a general discussion on 'Timeline threads - appropriate conduct' it would be pointless to move it to the EEA forum as this would assume it is not relevant for all forums members.

I suggest you continue in this thread created by chriskv1
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 00631.html

well this thread here is pointless if nobody can find it to participate and be sure that all member who visit the eea forum section are interested in this

In fact right now the members are discussing and updating each other via private messaging which totally ruins the forum purpose since people don't have access to fresh information anymore ...

you guys should unlock the eea2 timelines thread and let people share experiences there if there is something unrelated to eea2 then you can take action and move it in spite of just stopping people from connecting with each other...

Sorry for my late replies to everyone's messages, it's just that I am literally snowed with work and life nowadays

Casa wrote:

alex1128 wrote:I've been told by other members that they can't find this thread i think the most apropriate is to move this thread to the eea forum !

As secret.simon has created this as a general discussion on 'Timeline threads - appropriate conduct' it would be pointless to move it to the EEA forum as this would assume it is not relevant for all forums members.

I suggest you continue in this thread created by chriskv1
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 00631.html

See my point above about this discussion being about appropriate conduct in Timeline threads remaining in the Comments and discussion board. How do you think that other members will be able to find it if it's moved to the EEA forum? It's open to all and doesn't relate specifically to EEA threads on the forum.

well this thread here is pointless if nobody can find it to participate and be sure that all member who visit the eea forum section are interested in this

As would members who frequent other forums where timeline threads have also been locked. Many members do actually step outside of their comfort posting forum and read other sections of immigrationboards.

Unfortunately, you do not make the rules or decide what is best for members posting in a single part of the forum. If you do not like the way the forum is moderated or run, you are of course free to find another forum/platform for your discussions.

CR001 wrote:

well this thread here is pointless if nobody can find it to participate and be sure that all member who visit the eea forum section are interested in this

As would members who frequent other forums where timeline threads have also been locked. Many members do actually step outside of their comfort posting forum and read other sections of immigrationboards.

Unfortunately, you do not make the rules or decide what is best for members posting in a single part of the forum. If you do not like the way the forum is moderated or run, you are of course free to find another forum/platform for your discussions.

I suggested that this conversation should be moved back to the EEA section because thats where it started and that's where the moderators of the EEA had this issue to try to solve professionally.

but if you wanna start a thread that only moderators can see and compliment each other then you have some serious conflict management issues.

I was trying to solve this problem because I did care about this forum and I was planning to stay here to help even after i get The EEA FM I applied for but it seems to be useless since Dear CR001, the only way for you to solve a conflict is to take it personally and ask those who doesn't share the same opinion to leave the Forum which Unfortunately isn't yours.

I suggested that this conversation should be moved back to the EEA section because thats where it started and that's where the moderators of the EEA had this issue to try to solve professionally.

As I said, other timeline threads in other forums have also been locked. This topic is for all to comment if they wish to. This part of the forum is open to everyone.

I do not take it personally, you seem to be though.

alex1128 wrote:

CR001 wrote:

well this thread here is pointless if nobody can find it to participate and be sure that all member who visit the eea forum section are interested in this

As would members who frequent other forums where timeline threads have also been locked. Many members do actually step outside of their comfort posting forum and read other sections of immigrationboards.

Unfortunately, you do not make the rules or decide what is best for members posting in a single part of the forum. If you do not like the way the forum is moderated or run, you are of course free to find another forum/platform for your discussions.

I suggested that this conversation should be moved back to the EEA section because thats where it started and that's where the moderators of the EEA had this issue to try to solve professionally.

but if you wanna start a thread that only moderators can see and compliment each other then you have some serious conflict management issues.

I was trying to solve this problem because I did care about this forum and I was planning to stay here to help even after i get The EEA FM I applied for but it seems to be useless since Dear CR001, the only way for you to solve a conflict is to take it personally and ask those who doesn't share the same opinion to leave the Forum which Unfortunately isn't yours.

You're still missing the point, This thread did not start in the EEA forum. It is a completely new thread created by secret.simon (who is not a moderator) and is a discussion on the appropriate conduct FOR ALL TIMELINE THREADS. If members choose to read other sections of the forum they will have open and easy access to contribute to the 'Comments about discussion board'. I suggest you continue to post along with your fellow EEA members who are aleady contributing to the discussion thread started by Chrisky1

alex1128 wrote:I suggested that this conversation should be moved back to the EEA section because thats where it started and that's where the moderators of the EEA had this issue to try to solve professionally.

The subject matter of this thread is not germane to the EEA Applications subforum alone and that is why I placed it in a section of the forum where it is much more relevant.

alex1128 wrote:well this thread here is pointless if nobody can find it to participate and be sure that all member who visit the eea forum section are interested in this

I would hope that more people than just people in the EEA Applications section contribute. This thread is about conduct in all timeline threads, not just the EEA one, as both Casa and CR001 have said.

BTW, for the avoidance of doubt, I am not a moderator or even a guru, just a regular contributor. And given the respect and affection that moderators are showered with on these forums, I have no ambition to be one.

alex1128 wrote:I've been told by other members that they can't find this thread i think the most apropriate is to move this thread to the eea forum !

This thread is linked to in this post in the thread where the discussion started. Perhaps the users who contact you may not have clicked through on the link. You may wish to guide them to the link.

I know that when a thread is moved from one subforum to another, that a soft link is created in the place where it was initially posted. Perhaps the moderators could look into whether it is possible to place a soft-link like that in the EEA Applications subforum to make it easier to navigate to this thread.

But just to remind everyone, this thread is not about the conduct on one specific timeline, it is about conduct on timeline threads in general.

alex1128 wrote:Sorry for my late replies to everyone's messages, it's just that I am literally snowed with work and life nowadays

I am afraid I am going to have to recuse myself from these forums for this coming week myself as I have the same issue. Indeed, I will be working over the weekend. No rest for the wicked

@secret.simon Time off? Where's your completed forum leave request form?

First rule of Timeline 'club' should NOT be:
Don't talk about timelines.

I AGREE WITH ALEX1128
QUOTE from alex
"The forum is not just for asking your questions, it is a knowledge base of information for others who do not ask any questions to be able to read and comprehend. There needs to be a logical structure, which is all that the moderators are trying to get the users to do. My sympathies are with them. It is like trying to corral cats."

The purpose of the forum has been defeated , and also it portray what well are up against in creating the forum in the first place , Authoritarianism , Unjust decision , inconsiderate of other , no consensus[/color] ,the reason this forum have so many visit is because of the various query on the website that help search engine machine to find it and get to it based on the keywords use here , INSTEAD OF OTHER SIMILAR SITE . based around what people are searching for on the WEB
l see reason in what Alex1128,
i bet the person that really started this forum is not here again ..........
PLS LET SOMEONE ELSE START ANOTHER FORUM WITH THE LINK POSTED CONSTANTLY , SO PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP, HOPE, INSPIRATION, AND COURAGE CAN GO THERE TO READ OTHER PEOPLE STORY AND SEE THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR THEM , LIFE IS ABOUT GIVEN , AND HELPING OTHERS MODERATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!

soul101 wrote:I AGREE WITH ALEX1128
QUOTE from alex
"The forum is not just for asking your questions, it is a knowledge base of information for others who do not ask any questions to be able to read and comprehend. There needs to be a logical structure, which is all that the moderators are trying to get the users to do. My sympathies are with them. It is like trying to corral cats."

The purpose of the forum has been defeated , and also it portray what well are up against in creating the forum in the first place , Authoritarianism , Unjust decision , inconsiderate of other , no consensus[/color] ,the reason this forum have so many visit is because of the various query on the website that help search engine machine to find it and get to it based on the keywords use here , INSTEAD OF OTHER SIMILAR SITE . based around what people are searching for on the WEB
l see reason in what Alex1128,
i bet the person that really started this forum is not here again ..........
PLS LET SOMEONE ELSE START ANOTHER FORUM WITH THE LINK POSTED CONSTANTLY , SO PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP, HOPE, INSPIRATION, AND COURAGE CAN GO THERE TO READ OTHER PEOPLE STORY AND SEE THAT THERE IS HOPE FOR THEM , LIFE IS ABOUT GIVEN , AND HELPING OTHERS MODERATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!

You already have one create by Chrisky1, as advised earlier in this thread
http://www.immigrationboards.com/eea-ro ... 00631.html

I appreciate that you are not very active on the forum as you haven't contributed anything for almost 3 months, however please don't post in capitals as this is considered to be the equivalent as shouting. Read through the Board Administrator's Terms & Conditions which Moderators and all members are obliged to adhere to.
http://www.immigrationboards.com/announ ... ns-t3.html

@Soul101
Can I start by pointing out that your quote is from my initial post in this thread?

soul101 wrote:The purpose of the forum has been defeated , and also it portray what well are up against in creating the forum in the first place , Authoritarianism , Unjust decision , inconsiderate of other , no consensus[/color] ,the reason this forum have so many visit is because of the various query on the website that help search engine machine to find it and get to it based on the keywords use here , INSTEAD OF OTHER SIMILAR SITE . based around what people are searching for on the WEB

I would argue that what the moderators have done is to strengthen the forum. As you said, this forum is a place that people come to from search engines to find out about situations similar to what they are in, without asking questions in the forum. But the questions and answers must make sense as a cohesive whole. If there is a timeline thread where most of the entries have no element of a timeline, somebody coming from a search engine will get confused and lost. He will not be able to use the information because it is all jumbled up. In fact, if anything, your statements prove my point.

The members on these forums provide each other with information, advice and support. But if anybody can post anywhere without thinking, it makes it much harder for everybody to find the information that they are looking for. Then you will just have a huge pile of data but no information.

To be able to understand the data, it needs to be structured and organised. And that is what the moderators are enforcing. Remember, they are unpaid members, just like everybody else. With their experience, they are trying to ensure that everybody who uses this website, whether from a search engine or a member, can understand what data other members have provided.

Which topics in particular?

Evening all! *waves*

As a serial forum flooder (hangs her head in shame), I would like to sincerely apologise to the moderators and other users alike for several hundred of totally irrelevant posts..

And I honestly feel bad about all them nonsense chicken jokes and poems and suchlike... It must've taken an untold amount of time to clean up the FLRP Timelines thread...

Also, I was pretty much expecting to be banned, so thank you ever so much for still having me on here and I promise to behave now

I have read and understood the new rules, I tried to chance it anyway ( can't blame a girl for trying), but my post was deleted, so I won't do this again of course.

Just to clarify, would it be possible to start a new thread in say *Immigration for family members* category that will be dedicated to support and discussions of those day to day struggles and also sharing our personal stories and generally similar kind of stuff we used to discuss on our original thread.

It has been said already, but I just want to reiterate how invaluable it is to be able to read other people stories and find those with similar backgrounds to yourself. Then you can follow up their story and rejoice or commiserate with them.
This way you know you are not alone and you are not the only one who is currently going through this. It gave me the strength and sanity to cope with the lengthy wait.

Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Best wishes
Verbina