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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 14/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 975
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Never mind what I think of the web-site, could somebody explain what this section of the rebridgei web-site aims to achieve? New topics are generated exclusively by moderators and, apart from the highly successful Valentine message topic (which has nothing to do with Redbridge anyway), nothing seems to get us going.
Very often the subjects brought to our attention are already in the main part of the web-site.
We know what we want. Do the persons ultimately in charge care?
annesevant
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 04/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 564
Location: Redbridge Eye
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While this forum was closed for the weekend, discussion following Dopeyf's post above took place over on Redbridge Eye.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 04/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 564
Location: Redbridge Eye
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Redimanager @ 14 May 2010 18:05:32 wrote:
Hello forum users,
The forums are now open for you to post to.
Regards,
Redi manager
It might be useful to put this announcement somewhere prominent and not in a thread titled "Forums are currently read only" which continues to be shown as the most recent post on the Latest Posts section.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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weggis wrote:Redimanager @ 14 May 2010 18:05:32 wrote:
Hello forum users,
The forums are now open for you to post to.
Regards,
Redi manager
It might be useful to put this announcement somewhere prominent and not in a thread titled "Forums are currently read only" which continues to be shown as the most recent post on the Latest Posts section. Redbridge-i? Do something useful? You have such a sense of humour, Weggis! 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 29/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 554
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The fact that nobody noticed the forum was closed or when it opened again, is a sad reflection on both Senior Officers and Councillors, , it is nothing but a glorified Notice Board. Despite numerous and expensive gimmicks (none of which were applied to the sucessful original Forum -7.5million views)
it time to admit the complete failure of "ask your neighbor" - "Neighborhood matters" and pledges- commonsense tells you that for ultralocal matters people will seek out their neighbors face to face- what is required is a borough wide forum to discuss important matters.
However it is obvious to all discerning council tax payers that both Senior Officers and Councillors cant stand their performances to be scrutinised by their Paymasters.
Now is the time for the Council Leader to ensure the forums are opened up once again, and prove that he and not Council Officers are in control.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 12/12/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,023
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The forums were suspended during the pre-election period and inevitably may take some time to warm up again.
We know that before the election some users felt that changes to the forums have reduced usage and the liveliness of discussion.
We are considering ways to increase the number of posts, and range of views expressed.
MyNeighbourhood is a continuing experiment in providing local information and opportunities for online interaction.
We are confident that in the long run online interaction at the ultralocal level will happen, and as a Council we're optimistic about the possibilities that offers.
On behalf of
Eddie Gibb
Head of Marketing and Communications
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 29/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 554
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Thank you Mr Gibb, however, what many people see, is the removal of a borough wide mechanism for gathering support or otherwise, for borough wide issues,for example there was a huge discussion about the Big Conversation,which certainly had a positive effect on the number of returns.The forum certainly explained the situation about the allotments and garnered huge support.Redbridge Life- is now a completely different animal (and much better for it) and now only a third of the price, the forums certainly played their part in that.The Great Swimming Pool debate had its moments on the forum, as well as the Great Jaguar debate.
One function the forum evolved into,was to explain to users what was happening on various items, and to explain sometimes the legal or constitutional position- I will plug here something that I suggested on numerous occasions a "teach in" from Senior Officers about how their departments work- That was a major usefulness of the original forums, the dissemination of information- it is to the great shame of a number of departments that they ignored the Chief Executive's instructions and did not join in the dissemination of information.
It would certainly be in Councillors and Officers interests to have a knowledgeable and understanding population, instead of "Keep them in the dark and we wont have any trouble"- it simply does not work, council taxpayers will find a way to make their voice heard. Information and knowledge raises awareness,gets more people voting and gets more people involved in Borough wide issues, ultralocal issues they can deal with themselves, and dont need or want the interjection of the council.
What we all want is an open and free forum, not the most expensive Notice Board in the world, on line Notice boards went out with the Ark.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 29/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 554
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Redimanager wrote:
We are confident that in the long run online interaction at the ultralocal level will happen, and as a Council we're optimistic about the possibilities that offers.
On behalf of
Eddie Gibb
Head of Marketing and Communications
Mr Gibb, I can only assume your confidence of ultralocal level interaction working (Despite the evidence against so far) is based on an existing system that is actually successful, it would be helpful if we knew which organisation is operating it so that we may examine it and take some guidance from it.
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 01/07/2008(UTC)
Posts: 1
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I have been away from this site for some time, and having taken a look today I am amazed by how different it now is. It used to be a lively interesting site used by people with fire in their bellies: okay so "grumpy old men" could be another description - but at least they gave us somthing to think about and to discuss. Now it looks like no more than a Council Notice Board. And why are all the subjects opened by Redbridgei? It gives me a chilling feeling as though Redbridge i are trying to tell us what we are allowed to think/talk about, as though we do not have minds of our own. Are Redbridge i trying to turn us into a brough of Stepford residents? Surely 1984 has been and gone.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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So I suppose that the forums are to go into purdah again for the by-election in Chadwell ward necessitated by the incompetence of a local political party, and for which we shall all have to share the costs. 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 03/07/2008(UTC)
Posts: 251
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squeaky wrote:Surely 1984 has been and gone. Sorry Squeaky, you've obviously been away too long! In Redbridge, 1984 has only just begun - with a vengeance! Take a look at the recent elections. An (exceedingly long) period of purdah was announced - and we were presented with a long list of all the subjects that couldn't be mentioned on a local authority web site for legal reasons ... ... but this is premoderated forum, which means that nothing can possibly appear on this forum unless it has been passed as acceptable by the forum's moderators ... ... which leads to the inevitable conclusion that the 'powers that be' don't even trust the council's own employees ... Welcome to 1984, Squeaky! 21st century Redbridge style!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 14/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 975
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A by-election, so soon, for very unusual reasons could have been really interesting if the balance of political power could have been changed radically, a bit like the butterfly effect and the Chaos Theory. However, even if a Labour Cllr is replaced by any other political hue it will not make much difference to the coalition at the Town Hall.
And I don't think a purdah will be noticed either!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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One could argue, Anne, with some justification that the entire forum has been in purdah since the abandonment of Redi-v1! 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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knowsie wrote:squeaky wrote:Surely 1984 has been and gone. Sorry Squeaky, you've obviously been away too long! In Redbridge, 1984 has only just begun - with a vengeance! Take a look at the recent elections. An (exceedingly long) period of purdah was announced - and we were presented with a long list of all the subjects that couldn't be mentioned on a local authority web site for legal reasons ... ... but this is premoderated forum, which means that nothing can possibly appear on this forum unless it has been passed as acceptable by the forum's moderators ... ... which leads to the inevitable conclusion that the 'powers that be' don't even trust the council's own employees ... Welcome to 1984, Squeaky! 21st century Redbridge style! I responded to this, but it was not allowed past the Redbridge censors. 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 14/07/2007(UTC)
Posts: 975
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I copied and pasted the following statement by the redimanager:
[The forums will continue to run as usual, but we would like to remind users of the Terms and Conditions which do not allow anything of a party political nature.]
This is really narrowing our range of options since the way the Borough is run is heavily influenced by political people (our councillors, of course, most of them do declare a political link).
annesevant
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 02/09/2007(UTC)
Posts: 2
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I do agree that the normal method of discussion, which is restricted to a 1 Km radius, seems perverse! Why do we not have a simple 'Council-wide' blog forum? 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 03/07/2008(UTC)
Posts: 251
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Well, it's not getting any better is it? (And there is no possible way it could get worse!) I noticed that the Newbury Ward gets a 'Big Clean Up thread had obviously gone down like a lead balloon and was going to contribute, but, there is no facility available to post a reply! And this is the part of the council which is in the public domain! What horrors are they really hiding from us ...?
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 30/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 76
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Q: When is a forum not a forum?
A: When it's hosted by Redbridge-i
As soon as the e-petition facility comes in ("by December 2010" - roll on!) it is my intention to start an e-petition to get a proper forum up and running on Redbridge-i and scrap this hideous excuse for a forum we see here!
I can't wait to see what the next forum topic is from Redimanager... so excited!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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 Don't get TOO excited, Mark. By comparison with this forum, a corpse is positively adimated. 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 06/06/2007(UTC)
Posts: 1,399
Location: Too close to Redbridge-i censorship
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Morris Hickey wrote: Don't get TOO excited, Mark. By comparison with this forum, a corpse is positively adimated. A typo - should be ANIMATED!
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