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Has Talkback been hijacked? - Janet (1st Nov 2013 - 19:34:56) According to the strapline at the top of the Talback page, Talk back is intended "for the residents and businesses in Liphook to voice their views and opinions about issues and events". Just recently, there seem to be more and more people using it as a place to advertise goods for sale. Just on today's first page, out of 20 threads 9 of them are items being advertised for sale. All these 'for sale' posts tend to water down Talkback and it means many interesting and topical posts could quickly get relegated to the second page and be missed. Wouldn't it be better if this site had an "items for sale" section, that was separate from Talkback? What do others think?

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Editor (1st Nov 2013 - 20:47:13) Hi We are working on a project to update the site and will be including 'jobs' and 'for sale' as seperate sections. Not sure when we can slot this update into our normal schedule. But rest assured it is being sorted. Alan

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Fred Splinge (1st Nov 2013 - 21:28:25) I like it as it is...

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - lucy (1st Nov 2013 - 21:32:14) How sad that you make such a comment. At times like this when lots of people have money worries, you feel commenting on people selling things in their local community. Lots of people use this website purely for this reason. Rather than slaying it, you should embrace the fact that people use this website and know that people locally will benefit and support each other. Rather than eBay things, or take things to the dump, I would prefer things I have to sell or in lots of people's cases, give away, to someone in their community. How sad it is to be so nit picky.....

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Janet (1st Nov 2013 - 21:42:09) That sounds an excellent idea Alan and I think will be a very useful enhancement to the site. Anyone wanting to offload unwanted items (to give away, not to sell) might be interested in joining Freecycle. The local group is Bordon & Petersfield branch. Website here: groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Bordon....

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Janet (2nd Nov 2013 - 02:01:01) Lucy, you misunderstood, I was not in any way "slaying" the Liphook website. On the contrary, I have always found it very informative and over the years I have particularly enjoyed the lively discussions that take place on Talkback. I was simply opening another discussion (this is a discussion forum after all!) and inviting others' views. Thanks for contributing yours. It's clearly useful for people to have a venue for advertising things locally for sale. I personally don't think a discussion forum is the best place for that and evidently there are plans afoot to separate the discussions from the 'for sale' ads and the job vacancies. Surely it would be better for those people advertising goods for sale or job vacancies if their posts didn't disappear onto page 2 (because discussions were filling page 1) before many people had seen them? Similarly, people wanting to read or post to discussion threads wouldn't find the discussion page swamped with ads. Janet, it seems you woke some of the trolls up!

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - lucy (2nd Nov 2013 - 07:53:26) Very helpful editor to call me at troll...... I'm not a troll. Just adding my thoughts as Janet has. Why did you think you were a troll ? Some other posts weren't even accepted.

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - MR under bridge` (2nd Nov 2013 - 14:28:55) did not trools used to be gonks ? big eyes bright sticky up hair ???? 70's things ????? or am I a bit behind on the times anyway look out when you cross the bridge at radford park I might just surprise you ,....................he ...he ..... he or should I say Ho....Ho....HO this time of year Merry Christmas to you all

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - iwik61 (2nd Nov 2013 - 15:48:56) that is better, get back to the basics ,,,,what business can we get back to running down !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Hugh Man (2nd Nov 2013 - 18:29:46) How about the Moderator signposting commercial entries in a similar way they do for jobs entries? maybe a £ sign at the beginning of the 'Subject'? Good idea, but our current search facility ignores special charactors, which is why we are having to do a re-write. #job can't yet be searched for at the moment :-(

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - tony (2nd Nov 2013 - 20:27:25) I've sometimes thought it was a bit cheeky to use the free community message board to sell/advertise things, especially when commercial shops and restaurants do it! But it's the owners decision at the end of the day and he/she has to decide between alienating people or letting them get away with a bit free commercial advertising. Personally I think businesses should pay to place their adverts, individuals should be given a separate section and charities carry on as now.

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Jay W (3rd Nov 2013 - 17:19:31) I think we have a great facility in Talkback and I've made use of it for selling things, moaning about things, laughing at other people moaning about things, giving things away for free and obtaining advice about all sorts. I agree with Fred, I like it the way it is. If we had separate sections we might not see something for sale that we just can't live without or realise that the perfect job was on offer! Quite easy to click on to the next page if the items for sale or jobs on offer are clogging up the "important" issues. Although when you are on any page other than the front one, if you close a thread you are reading, you are taken back to the front page again, rather than staying on the same page. Is there any way to change that making it easier to speed on to the next interesting topic?!

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - liz (4th Nov 2013 - 08:29:16) I'm with Lucy on this.

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Andy (4th Nov 2013 - 10:50:51) If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't think it's broke.

Re: Has Talkback been hijacked? - Hugh Man (4th Nov 2013 - 15:03:40) Dear Editor, in response to your reply to my entry above: I wasn't concerned with searchability of special characters. All I'm suggesting is to clearly and concisely flag a commercial entry at its very start. So if no "£", then how about all for sale entries begin with "For Sale:" or services offered begin with "Service Offered:". Demystify subject headings? As long as it is standardised, fair and convenient... Please don't ban/penalise commercials, just regulate them to make the reading smoother and more efficient.

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