James R Gordon

I am closing this thread.

It is time the membership returns to research and not reflection

James

Jonathan,

It is my understanding that Moderators are chosen by moderators. I.e.a member is asked if they would like to be a moderator.

I do not believe there is a time limit.

I became a moderator because I was one of the group that created  this forum

Sandy was appointed from members of the admin group.

That said, Sandy has raised an issue. What do we do with a moderator who is not appropriate?

We are going to have to set up procedures for that.

James

Denise,

Though that was not the case of late, I can assure you Pat Speer is a respected member of this community and will remain so.

I would be interested in how you feel the moderators should approach posts.What issues should moderators steer away from and what issues should they bring to situation.

I am adverse to starting wars within the community, but certain measures need to be taken. I am against expelling Sandy but there is a price he will pay for how he conducted himself during his term of tenure.

I want to see this comunity come together

James

Robert,

Tolerance was and must continue to an important principle of this forum.

Members will always disagree but we must no longer go to war about it. Members must learn to live with a public disagreement from a fellow member.

Unless the disagreemnt fundamentally undermines a member I advise that member try to live with the different opinion.

I am happy for members to disagree with each other, but I want members to live with each other.

I do not want wars breaking out all over the place.

Roger,

Your treatment isexactly why the EF needs to changed and be returned to what it once was.

Being required to take yor banning in silence is outrageous.

I am learning a lot of what has been going onunder the surface.

None of it reflects well on the EF. The only positive point is that it will never be allowed to happen again.

James

Jonathan,

Thank you for your support.

It will take quite some time to return this forum to what it once was. But I am going to attempt to return this forum to what it once was.

I have some ideas.

James

If you look at the photographic evidence you will find numerous images of Jenkins pointing to an upper head wound. I looked at some today. That said whether these images are historically accurate is another matter.
Not being able to verify a claim I never considered a banning issue. There were less than 5 members banned when I was an active moderator. Thjat is not the case today

The EF was once the premier JFK forum and the present state of the forum bothers me. It is not going to be done overnight but I do intend to improve this site. I have been absent for too long and I can see much that shouyld be dealt with.

The conduct of the Forum has come to my attention. I have spent a good part of today looking through the forum. There is a lot that concerns me  and I may - at some point - take action.

Though I have received numerous complaints - two recent complaints have truly shocked me. In case you are in any doubt I am talking to you as the owner of this site.

1 Pat Speer was a JFK researcher before David Butler, Mark Knight, Kathy Becket and I took this site over. I believe he is seriously ill at the moment

And he has been banned!!! According to the Moderarors Reminders Rules a member needs to infringe 50 points he or she is banned. Where are Pat’s 50 point infringements listed.

It used to be the norm that a moderator would inform the other moderators of his/her intention to ban a member. Was there discussion between the three remaining moderators before Pat was banned. I raise this because often through moderator discussion the said moderator was persuaded not to ban

I am bitterly disappointed that  Mark Knight - a founding member of the admin team from posting  -  has been banned. What astonished me is that Mark was informed that he was no longer a moderator. As owner of this site I inform all that Mark Knight is still a respected member of the admin team.

On page 1 is a topic Moderator Reminders. In that thread is a Penalty Chart. That chart speaks volumes about how this forum is presently being run. What is not listed is what kind of behaviour has to be conducted in order to be given a said penalty. If the EF is to have such a chart then is imperative that all members understand the infringements. A listing of the punishments is not sufficient.

Foolishly I had assumed all was well with the EF. I want to know what are the views of members about this forum. I would be pleased to know what are the present weaknesses of this forum and where and how the site can be improved.

I invite members to use this thread to both describe the present state of the site as well as suggest how the moderators can improve on it.

James Gordon
Owner

Members who post without photo - like Jackie Ow- are well aware of the rules of this forum.

I am fed up with such flouting of our rules. Such members will no longer have the right to post.

They should contact me when they have attached a true image of themselves and I will return their posting rights.

James Gordon

Owner of Site

AS of now I will be responsible for all new applicants.

Anyone who wishes to join the forum must have been verified by me.

James Gordon

Owner of site

I support Sandys fundraising drive.

One thing experience has taught me is the EF needs is reliable fundraising. The quicker members begin to raise funds for the EF the better.

I urge members to ignore my donation system in preferencce to Sandy's. His system is now the EF future donation system.

The EF needs funds to exist and I urge members to start donating at Education Forum Fundraiser

James

Sandy,

I did contact Invision today about your system They responded as follows.

As mentioned in previous correspondance, we do not provide direct banking payments. We provide only the facility to pay via card at the present time. You would add your new card to 'My Details>Cards' within your client area, and remove any that are already present. Any payments required would automatically be taken from that card

I believe that your system does not offer a debit card and therefore is not acceptable to Invision.

James.

Sandy,

I have had a look at your link.

I have no problems with your system - which has big advantages over mine - picking up at the end of November. How are you making payment to Invision. The EF will go black if Invision do not receive their payment by December 4th. 2022.

I have lost your bank details. Please send me them again and I will forward them to Invision for their approval.

James.

The donations so far raised see the EF funded though to the end of November. After November we do not have sufficient money to pay the EF subscription.

I understood that Sandy was creating a separate system that had the distinct advantage of not requiring the cost to transfer funds from $ into £. This is a significant advantage in Sandy’s system because there would not be a loss of funds transferring $ into £ as well as the weakness of the £ in the UK. Although the subscription to Invision is $70 it now cost me $82 to pay the subscription from the UK.

I am happy to continue to make the Invision subscription but because of the economic conditions in the UK it is now more expensive if I am to do it.

A rough calculation suggests that from December 2022 to December 2023 would require us to raise around $1.000.

It is up to members. If members want me to continue making the payments until December next year it will require a donation of $1, 000. There is $20 still remaining in the donation fund.

James.

At present we have sufficient funds to see us through to November. We will need a donation drive to get us through December and later. Kathy suggested that we might want to begin that drive around October so that this time we get ourselves ahead of the game. I think that is a good idea.

One issue I believe the forum needs to be aware of is that though Invision only charge us $70 it is now costing us around $90 to pay the $70 bill. That is due to the fall in the value of the £. The more the £ falls the more expensive that $70 cost is.

James

Bill,

Your name has been brought to my attention a number of times before.

Best not to insult researchers of the quality of Vince.

James

Unless I have ,made an error:-

25 members donated.

That means aside from those 4 who did not donate $5 -  21 members donated $5.

James.

Chris,

Total of $353: 99 donated

One member donated $50
One member donated $10
Two members donated $100

Everyone else donated $5

James.

Nick,

It is not clear to me what new link Ron is referring to but there already is a link for donations.

Post this link above and it ought to take you to where you can donate - if you are happy to do so.

https://educationforum.ipbhost.com/clients/donations/

Alternatively hover your mouse over the tab STORE and you will quickly reveal "Donations"

I can assure you the link works because we have already taken considerable donations thid psdy week.

Thank you for your interest.

James

Thanks Sandy that is very interesting.

The admin team are already thinking this way. That said the present system appears to work.

Through the present donation drive we have collected just under $300. Twenty seven people have participated and two members donated $100 each.

Had it not been stipulated that donations be $5 the sum might well have been larger.

Essentially I read this to suggest that we already have a working model and maybe we should stay with that - at least for the present.

James.

Jonathan,

That is correct.

Further I and the admin tean have the sole contract with Invision for the EF. While that is the case no other individual/s would be able to create an agreement with Invision regarding the EF while we have the  contract with Invision.  Only the admin team have the contract with Invision.

James.

On August 1st I initiated this thread. The burden of being responsible to Invision had got me down. I was asked by Ty Carpenter did my statement mean I was open to someone else taking ownership of the forum. I answered Yes and pointed out the financial obligations that would result.

As well as being exhausted and depressed at that point, I also misunderstood Ty’s question.

If my answer on the 1st - as well as subsequent comments - have allowed members to believe that new ownership of the EF is now a possibility I have to make clear that is not going to happen.

I have no intention of resigning and I bitterly regret that my responses have given rise to such speculation.

The ownership of the EF will remain with the present admin team.

James

Ron,

I have agreed to keep to myself the findings of the donations to date. I have agreed I will make that public on Thursday.

Your gestimate about the sum collected so far is in the right neck of the woods. You astutely commented on the on the impact of the $100 donations. They do impact on the total so far.

Again you highlight the issue of the number of members donating. That is my overriding concern. In 2019 [ the year of the last major donation drive ] we had a much larger active membership. The August 2022 active membership is much reduced and that has an impact on the total of monies that can be raised and what is needed from the present membership to raise the requirement not just for the coming year - but for every year after that.

That - in my mind Ron - was your most astute and troubling current issue raised.

James.

Ron,

Though I am in danger of irritating Chris, that is a fairly good descriptio of the current situation.

Your comment on the number of donors is a comment worth highlighting as indeed is the idea of repetative donations.

If - and I do not say it will happen - we breach the current bandwidth and are placed by Invision into the $120 bandwidth then we are in a different ball game. Looking - tonight - at the broadband chart Invision provide we are much safer and are now no longer in danger of being bumped up.

James

Sabdy,

As I explained to you my paypal account is a collection account.

It was Invision who said the monthy subscription could be linked and the monthly payment could be taken from that account.

I never linked my paypal account I linked the bank account.

James