What Future Is There In Postal Worker Forums?

[NEWS]

There seems to be no shortage of places for disgruntled employees to vent their spleen these days.

The internet has opened up a plethora of such places and postal workers too seem to like to air their grievances. With so much change going on in Europe and the UK, and postal deregulation threatening to undermine years of negotiations by Trade Unions, forums proporting to represent the views of all those employed by postal operators seem to spring up all over the continent.

The trouble is, forums don't always paint an accurate view, as many found in the run up to the recent ballot on pay and conditions. Those fiercely against what they see as a 'slash and burn' approach to modernising Royal Mail were positively shaken when the majority of those who voted were actually in favour of Royal Mail's proposals. Many were convinced of the 'we can only win' cliche and as a result were in for a bitter disappointment. The problem is, where a forum adopts an almost singular viewpoint, trying to second-guess something like a ballot becomes impossible. Maintaining balance is a full-time job and few can commit so much time, unpaid, to what at the end of the day has little influence on change. An employee with a grudge against an employer may interest him or her, even their colleagues, but it has no interest to the public and people simply lose interest - very quickly.

There is also a knock-on effect in terms of running costs. Forums can be expensive to run - very expensive. The more popular they become, the more bandwidth is consumed, and unless they operate on a fee-based membership (difficult to implement) sheer numbers can and do pull sites offline as the web host starts to cap access. Popularity is a double-edged sword and what can start out as a good idea can quickly become an ogre in its own right, and for a forum owner, consume time and money with little in the way of a cash return to cover costs. Often those who shout the loudest are the last to put their hands in their pockets.

Companies certainly don't like employee-driven forums. For one thing they can damage the perception that customers have of their services or products, and perhaps more importantly, it makes little sense to pay the wages of an individual who constantly berates their employer. On the flip-side, its right that an employee should be able to complain where injustice seems to be the order of the day, but it also contributes to loss of business when comments are published on forums and that can simply accelerate job losses - one step forward and five steps back.

Historically, companies have taken such sites to task and brought individuals to court. A comment innocently posted on a forum is (in the eyes of the law), published and therefore governed by the same rules that apply to print-based content. Unfortunately, the most popular myth is the one about 'free speech'. By and large, we do all have that right, but with an increasing tendency by lawmakers to impose political correctness on all of us, and free speech complicated by 'exceptions', it starts to become obvious that maintaining any kind of forum where feelings run high, is a real can of worms. Having worked for numerous web-based publishing companies, I've lost count of the number of individuals who found that what they thought of as a hobby, became an expensive court case.

That said, forums invariably burn out through cost alone. The bigger they get the more expensive they become and with no sponsor/advertiser willing to sit alongside content that isn't consistent or at least strictly moderated, and members confusing 'free speech' with 'free to use', it often becomes unsustainable in the long run and they simply shut down.

Hellmail too had its own forums. In fact it was the first of its kind, but editor Steve Lawson felt that it was also having a counter-productive effect on the very people posting comments and despite the 10,000 or so visitors a day it recieved in its heyday, little of that traffic covered costs or made any real positive contribution to challenging the changes going on inside the postal industry. Forums are great for fans of some long-forgotten television series, but when the subject matter is emotive, without some generous benefactor willing to put their name (and money) to what you do, the future is at best - bleak.

"Its a difficult balance" says Steve Lawson. "I think its very important that viewpoints are heard, of course, but I don't think a forum achieves much other than comfort those that use them. If you moderate heavily, you risk stifling comment but on the other hand, if you don't keep a tight grip on proceedings, you can quickly lose control altogether. On the whole, they're unmanageable outside the confines of a fanzine type site and can quickly become a financial headache as well as a legal minefield."


http://www.hellmail.co.uk/postalnews/te ... 4&zoneid=3

[Big Daz]

I herby propose that RMC applies for charitable status on the basis that is a good place to let off steam and therefore good for our mental health. To that end we shall seek money from the lottery.


All in favour say "aye"

[andy2007]

Aye.

[lovejoy]

bad blood because their pet site was closed i'd say!

[andy2007]

I think its very important that viewpoints are heard, of course, but I don't think a forum achieves much other than comfort those that use them.

Isn't that a good thing then?
Don't we deserve to be comforted in times of trouble?

He also neglects to say that it also gives us the opportunity to find like minded people, and trade information.

[baldrick]

I herby propose that RMC applies for charitable status on the basis that is a good place to let off steam and therefore good for our mental health. To that end we shall seek money from the lottery.


All in favour say "aye"

Aye - but don't forget to make a donation in the meantime!

[davidessex]

i wouldn,t mind some of my cwu subs supporting this site, the cwu itself don,t give me the instant response to a thread like rmc does, and if they have anything to say, after checking it with the pec, they could even enlighten us with their thoughts!! or maybe not as we would soon suss their agenda.

[jafferpants]

i wouldn,t mind some of my cwu subs supporting this site, the cwu itself don,t give me the instant response to a thread like rmc does, and if they have anything to say, after checking it with the pec, they could even enlighten us with their thoughts!! or maybe not as we would soon suss their agenda.

I'll second that!!!!!!!!

[dvbuk55]

i wouldn,t mind some of my cwu subs supporting this site, the cwu itself don,t give me the instant response to a thread like rmc does, and if they have anything to say, after checking it with the pec, they could even enlighten us with their thoughts!! or maybe not as we would soon suss their agenda.

I'll second that!!!!!!!!

Agreed - lets each donate that part of our CWU subs that form the political fund to the site - it may not be a lot but it would help. I wonder how much clout RM have over the CWU by collecting the money for them instead of having to collect it themselves?

[Wessex]

Perhaps the CWU could take out a permanent advert on the site.

[Night Tonic]

CWU won't do that for reasons in that piece - too out of kilter from CWU image. Donations might but people only donate where they think theres something to be gained at end of it. As it says - confusing free speech for 'free for all'. I noticed we were offline yesterday for hours because of bandwidth limits. That'll only get worse.

[L Tommo]

Wot about the political levy??? Now we all can opt out of it... I have... SOOOOO why dont we all make a direct debit to RMC every week out of our subs.... It gives us more than the LIE-bour Party are giving us and far more than the CONS will ever....

Wot do you boys n girls think??>>


out :lfo :cfo


20p A week from everyone is a good amount....

[L Tommo]

Perhaps the CWU could take out a permanent advert on the site.

It could give us some Dosh but do you want a CWU Slant to a forum which has its own life and people in it... This place is a breath of fresh air... Please dont get in bed with the CWU espesh now.... Im proud to be a CWU member and im proud to be on this site as well.....

Let Billy n Dave have there own shouting match... This site could get bigger than the CWU .. WHO KNOWS????

OUT

[POSTMAN]

Night Tonic

The Forum has been offline because of Bandwidth limits on 3 occasions in it's lifetime,2 times because i did not keep an eye on it and was my fault.
And yesterday,because of me again and miss communication between me and my host.
As a rule it's not a problem.

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Moving on,with regards to funding i'm in the middle of doing a deal with my host which will lower costs considerably and take some pressure off me.
The CWU will not get involved and as per L Tommo i would NOT like them to be for obvious reasons.

I've never asked or needed donations up until about 3 months ago when my Google ads got pulled which completly screwed me.
With the donations i decided to do the prize draw and that was for 2 reasons.
1 it keeps people aware of it all and 2 there is a chance for the site to give some money back and is a bit of fun.
Bar last month we've given 2 lots of £30.00 out in prize money,the costs have been payed and the missus is off me back!

As i've always said i'm not looking for major amounts just the odd pound each month and you then get the chance to win a bit back.
And i'd like again to say a big thanks to those who have donated over the last few months.

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I've never posted a hellmail article up on here as tbh i have no time for them at all,too much has gone on and too much crap has been written about us for me to have any kind of dealings with them.
I was more curious with what you guys thought of it all.

As far as i'm concerned this site is here to stay,i started it up as i knew how to run message boards and at the time there was nowhere for us posties to go.
As time has gone on and the place has got bigger we've had to change at times the way things are done on here.
We've had to calm people down at times and i've made the odd announcement here and there,more so my 'RMC:CHANGES TO THE SITE:ALL PLEASE READ. ' post which is in this Forum.

I have to be careful with what goes on,sometimes it's not fair but we have to have some common sense at times.
Although YOU are responsible for what you post and it's YOUR arse on the line if you go over the top,and me and the Mod team do our best to pull dodgy posts,if stuff that is naughty is left on here then it's my arse on the dole and the board being pulled offline.
Despite the crap that has been written as there seems to be a lot of 'Selected reading' by some numnuts there is a lot more to this site that has been suggested.
Yes we've got the rant and rave threads but what about the thousands of other ones that seem to be missed by some quarters,especially on a slow news day and there's a web page to fill.
I don't drag you guys on here,you have come here on your own free will to express your views.
There is obviously a lot of 'wrong' going on in the business and the morale of RM staff is at an all time low even before this latest pay dispute.
So if the powers that be are on here lurking,please be aware that RMC is the biggest canteen in RM.
Because what is going on in here is going on in thousands of canteens in RM buildings with tens of thousands of RM staff all over the UK.
Something aint right,and instead of head bashing,step back and take stock.

We have a laugh on here,we have a moan,we help each other out and we rant and rave,but we've got a great community going on and long may it continue.

Lastly,make sure you read the rules and the two links below.
If we bear them in mind we should have no problems at all.

RMC:CHANGES TO THE SITE:ALL PLEASE READ.

ALL MEMBERS:VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:PLEASE READ.

Cheers...................oh and gis a quid!

[DirtyHarry]

And long live RMC.

PS.
Donation's in the post, via TNT. Only kiddin'