Hi All,

Following my locking of the threads on "5 Million on UK Council House Waiting Lists" and "If only a certain Roadsweeper had soup and 50marks", I've had several PM's from members.

I apologise that I haven't replied yet, but I'm having trouble with my broadband connection, and having to use slooooooooooow dial up instead.

I will reply to all PM's as soon as possible.

However, just to remind members that queries on benefits and appeals should be posted in Benefits questions, problems & results forum, a forum for asking general benefits questions and share news about your benefit and discussion on benefits and related matters in Benefits discussion a forum for exchanging news and views on government policy and other benefits issues.

In recent weeks, we have had threads posted in in Benefits discussion that have absolutely nothing to do with benefits, but have been cleared for moderation, and I have to admit that I have responded to threads totally unrelated to benefits myself.

However, I have posted in the Moderators Only Forum, which only mods can see, and recommended that in future any new threads posted in Benefits discussion which are not related to benefits/appeals should not be approved, so won't appear on the forum.

My reason for this is that there are already numerous forums on the web where one can post and discuss issues unrelated to benefits. B & W was set up to deal with sickness and disability benefit queries by way of Steve's guides. The Benefits discussion forum was set up at my request in order that we could deal with benefits queries as a priority, and benefits discussion would be separate, and moderators could choose whether or to respond, or just let members discuss related issues between themselves.

However, mainly for legal reasons, all posts in both forums have to be pre-moderated, which is very time consuming, so starting a discussion on a non benefits related topic causes extra work for moderators.

Therefore, subject to Steve Donnison's approval, off topic discussions unrelated to benefits will not be approved, so won't appear on the forum and the poster will be sent a PM to this effect.

I will update this thread when a definitive decision has been made in consultation with all moderators.

Thank you for reading this.

Jim

please dont over worry yourself jim i am sure everyone on here really appreciates the sterling work that is done by all of the moderators.

i know it is difficult to have to make rules and enforce them but there is no point in letting the important stuff get buried.

i am sure everyone will appreciate and support which ever decision is made.

I'm sorry I joined in with threads that were off-topic. I will do my best to avoid doing so in future.

I didn't look properly and thought it was Jim 1 who posted it. Wondered what was going on.

Hi All,

Steve Donnison has agreed with my comments on posting non benefits related topics in the Benefits discussion forum.

Therefore, in future any member who tries to post a thread in the Benefits discussion forum on a non benefits related matter, will not have it pre-moderated, so it won't appear in the forum.

This will allow moderators to concentrate on answering benefits queries, and take part in benefits related discussions if they wish.

Hopefully, this will help us to provide a better service to our members, after all we are specifically a site for people seeking valid, credible and up-to-date advice on sickness and disability related matters in a safe environment.

I can remember when I first started moderating here with Steve, we used to only get around 5-6 queries per week, nowadays, it's common to get 10-15 queries per day, and the majority are answered the same day if possible.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Jim
pp Moderating Team
Crazydiamond Chas Nott jima1 Gareth56 Steve Donnison pete17971 indieames Mr B pata1