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Timewasters/Hoax Posts

M

martwolves

Well-Known Member
Messages
625
Location
Wolverhampton
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Dislikes
Selfish people, arseholes who think they know it all, ignoramuses, chavs and people with no manners. People who play music on the bus or train full blast on their phones.
Do timewasters and hoaxers get warned about perpetuating the same questions time and again for displaying flagrant disregard and disrespect towards those who genuinely offer sound practical advice which is obciously ignored, only dor them to create near identical posts which are treated in the same manner?
There are a lot of concerned, worried diabetes sufferers out there who's posts often go unread at critical times through the selfish actions of others. It seems unfair to the genuine community that this invaluable forum is treated by some as a joke. I'm not pointing any fingers but moderators, you must see some dubious posts and recurring themes appearing frequently. Do you "have a word" with the parties involved as this is noy only frustrating, but belittling the true value of such a vital outlet to the entire diabetic community across all levels?
Thanks in advance and I know you have a difficult job with the hundreds and hundreds of posts appearing on a daily basis. Keep up the excellent work, this is an innocent and earnest question and the furthest thing from my mind is criticism of your fine team for facilitating such a wonderful discussion forum! You're all extremely helpful and I cannot praise you highly enough.

Mart.
 
100% agreement. The moderators do a greay job here just a shame hoaxerd make it harder. Hoaxers (if that is whay they are) make me angry because it seems cruel to play with the emotions of people here who honestly and sincerely care and empathise. I may have cracked the code on who exactly has inspired your thread!! All we can do is take people at face value and continue to help each other as this forum always does.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
If you see something that you think is a hoax post or spam then it's easy enough to report it to the moderators using the little triangular report button.
How though do you know which is hoax and which is a genuine plea for help? I don't and am not sure how a moderator is supposed to be able to discriminate.
Diabetes is a life changing diagnosis and sometimes people aren't able to be clear, they may not even be thinking logically about it. Some people find it hard to express themselves clearly. Others may not have English as a first language. Answers which would be fine in the UK with it's health service may not be as applicable to people elsewhere.
I have an empathy with the latter since I live in France and my French is far from fluent . It was even worse when I was diagnosed. I can remember not being able to find the correct words for my questions so then I carefully wrote them out in advance. It did't always help because then I found I couldn't understand the answers. Sometimes I felt they thought I was some sort of idiot, It was a nightmare. It would have been far worse if my main language had not been English .
Speaking English meant I could turn to the internet and diabetes forums. There is far less info and help available on the web in other languages.
Yes there are hoaxers, most post once or twice and then give up. However, the biggest hoax I have ever come across on a diabetes forum went on over a long period of time. The poster was for at least a couple of years totally plausible By the time her hoax was discovered she had gained several online friends and had managed to fool members and moderation teams on at least 2 large diabetes forums.
Personally I feel that If you doubt someone then don't answer them. I get upset when people make accusations because
we don't know. A genuine answer to a hoaxer will just waste a bit of time, a false accusation to someone in genuine need of help could have consequences. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution believing that people are honest until proved otherwise.
 
7 "reports" this month and counting. Phoenix method works.
The mods on this forum are pretty switched on mind and regulate anything they see as breaking the rules.
One can be both rich in humour and intelligence and still offer a valuable contribution to the people on this forum.
Its inevitable that we see some of these posts before the moderators do.

@myroomsadisco
 
phoenix said:
If you see something that you think is a hoax post or spam then it's easy enough to report it to the moderators using the little triangular report button.
How though do you know which is hoax and which is a genuine plea for help? I don't and am not sure how a moderator is supposed to be able to discriminate.
Diabetes is a life changing diagnosis and sometimes people aren't able to be clear, they may not even be thinking logically about it. Some people find it hard to express themselves clearly. Others may not have English as a first language. Answers which would be fine in the UK with it's health service may not be as applicable to people elsewhere.
I have an empathy with the latter since I live in France and my French is far from fluent . It was even worse when I was diagnosed. I can remember not being able to find the correct words for my questions so then I carefully wrote them out in advance. It did't always help because then I found I couldn't understand the answers. Sometimes I felt they thought I was some sort of idiot, It was a nightmare. It would have been far worse if my main language had not been English .
Speaking English meant I could turn to the internet and diabetes forums. There is far less info and help available on the web in other languages.
Yes there are hoaxers, most post once or twice and then give up. However, the biggest hoax I have ever come across on a diabetes forum went on over a long period of time. The poster was for at least a couple of years totally plausible By the time her hoax was discovered she had gained several online friends and had managed to fool members and moderation teams on at least 2 large diabetes forums.
Personally I feel that If you doubt someone then don't answer them. I get upset when people make accusations because
we don't know. A genuine answer to a hoaxer will just waste a bit of time, a false accusation to someone in genuine need of help could have consequences. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution believing that people are honest until proved otherwise.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly Phoenix

I hope that all these hurfull comments will now stop and moderators will now lock the 3 threads in question.
 
Hi All.

You have all raised some important and valid points in this thread .
Please can I reassure 'all' members that we do 'do' our best to deliver the correct actions needed .

Given that the forum is of considerable size please help us , with reporting in anything you feel is
a concern or anything you see as potential problem .
Like spam , hoax posters , commercially driven posts , offensive posts .

If you are unsure or uncertain, just drop any of us [mod team] a PM .

We endeavour to help the best that we can . :thumbup:

Thanks Anna.
 
phoenix said:
If you see something that you think is a hoax post or spam then it's easy enough to report it to the moderators using the little triangular report button.
How though do you know which is hoax and which is a genuine plea for help? I don't and am not sure how a moderator is supposed to be able to discriminate.
Diabetes is a life changing diagnosis and sometimes people aren't able to be clear, they may not even be thinking logically about it. Some people find it hard to express themselves clearly. Others may not have English as a first language. Answers which would be fine in the UK with it's health service may not be as applicable to people elsewhere.
I have an empathy with the latter since I live in France and my French is far from fluent . It was even worse when I was diagnosed. I can remember not being able to find the correct words for my questions so then I carefully wrote them out in advance. It did't always help because then I found I couldn't understand the answers. Sometimes I felt they thought I was some sort of idiot, It was a nightmare. It would have been far worse if my main language had not been English .
Speaking English meant I could turn to the internet and diabetes forums. There is far less info and help available on the web in other languages.
Yes there are hoaxers, most post once or twice and then give up. However, the biggest hoax I have ever come across on a diabetes forum went on over a long period of time. The poster was for at least a couple of years totally plausible By the time her hoax was discovered she had gained several online friends and had managed to fool members and moderation teams on at least 2 large diabetes forums.
Personally I feel that If you doubt someone then don't answer them. I get upset when people make accusations because
we don't know. A genuine answer to a hoaxer will just waste a bit of time, a false accusation to someone in genuine need of help could have consequences. I'd prefer to err on the side of caution believing that people are honest until proved otherwise.
Click to expand...

I concur with Phoemix.

Who are we to 'out somebody or send them to Coventry???' Most members are genuine and if there are ( and we have seen that before) trolls/hoaxers etc, then I feel thats their problem, not mine. Remeber the old saying, little things please little minds. I think most people use their intelligence and know how, to their best ability, about what threads they want to answer. It is down to choice.

If you don't like a thread or how it is going, then don't answer it and put your energy with advice and support to someone else.

RRB :D
 
Good posts phoenix and RobinRedBreast some excellent points.

Not everyone is a troll and some may not be familiar with forums or indeed the internet for that matter. No need for locking threads IMHO if you dont want to answer a thread then dont. Its much easier to not reply to someone than it is to reply to them.

There is also the "Foe" button better known as an "Ignore" button on most forums which can be found in your User Control Panel if someone upsets you too much just "add" them to your "Foe" list and you will never see replies again, I believe it can make threads seem a bit odd though if you miss some comments that may be referred to later in the thread but the choice is there :thumbup:
 
What on earth is this about? What do you mean hoax posts? People pretend to either have a question or an answer that isn't true? And how come everyone seems to know what's going on except me?....hold on actually that's quite normal :)
And what is a troll, assuming you don't mean a big ugly dude that lives under a bridge?
 
Andy12345 said:
What on earth is this about? What do you mean hoax posts? People pretend to either have a question or an answer that isn't true? And how come everyone seems to know what's going on except me?....hold on actually that's quite normal :)
And what is a troll, assuming you don't mean a big ugly dude that lives under a bridge?
Click to expand...



Well sort of Andy, but they live on forums :shock: apparantley they 'troll' ( looking/lurking) forums with the intention to cause upset and provoke anger and mutiny and is indifferent to others!!! I knew nothing of this until I became a member on forums And what is a troll, assuming you don't mean a big ugly dude that lives under a bridge?[/quote]

I'm an older person and I'm learning all sorts :wink:

RRB :)
 
Benefit of doubt.

I had to exclude myself from answering snymore of the questions that are referred to as being hoaxes.
Regards the 'eyes burning' post... That was it for me. I tried to help with other advice on posts ... Ignored.

I posted, that I could not respond to any more..

Personally, it felt awful to write it 'out loud', but if ooen, without malice then we have all expressed our thoughts and concerns ...

I don't think it would be good or correct to block or close responses to these postings... I may well be wrong but, I do believe they are genuine..

Well done Moderators for being fair with the postings. I used this site a loooooonnnnngggg time.... And the responses to these postings from ALL have been far different than 3 years ago.. .... Pretty polite, open and honest..
 
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