16 November (Part 2) - The bonkers path to a Forum
The Bexley is Bonkers website exists because Bexley council sought to tell me
in 2009 that their road planning was supported by the Transport Research
Laboratory when I knew for a fact that was a lie. The blog was tacked on only because a friend had set one up
to cover his musical interests. I might not have known what a blog was if it
were not for him but it seemed like a good idea at the time to follow suit.
The blog being an afterthought has led to complications. It has taken over the
whole website yet, confusingly perhaps, it isn’t the Bonkers’ front page and from
that front page the menu still leads to all sorts of long outdated stuff. A total restructuring
now would be a nightmare taking far too long and probably breaking a few
things in the process. It is not likely to happen.
Another weakness of the BiB blog is that it is a one way communications medium.
The Contact page
may help a bit but sometimes there is no time to answer messages. One such message said…
Hi Malcolm,
I love your site and appreciate your dedication towards democracy,
accountability and transparency. I was wandering if you thought of setting up a
user forum bulletin board for residents.
There have been other such messages.
I can see why some people would ask for a forum but it is a potentially dangerous step. When
BiB was in its infancy there was an Abbey Wood Forum. It was occasionally swamped with spam
messages but otherwise little used. It eventually disappeared.
However there is now a forum on Bexley is Bonkers. It has had some limited
testing and a Moderator has been appointed but the Forum probably needs a soft
start as the Administrator and Moderator learn the ropes and discover the pitfalls.
The Moderator is someone whose name has never been mentioned on these pages so
it is pointless trying to guess who it is. The Forum Administrator is
inevitably me, deciding on forum names etc. Suggestions welcome.
The Forum’s URL is not hard to guess but there is no direct link from BiB at present. Hopefully that will limit the number of users at the outset
and provide an opportunity to iron out any problems.
I can imagine that it will soon be necessary to block out non-UK IP addresses
(†). Most spam seems to come from overseas.
† That's addresses outside this country, not everyone
who is not a supporter of Nigel Farage. Thanks to those who requested
clarification.