The LNER Encyclopedia

Hopefully someone will read this and contact me. This morning I wrote a post but, being a new member it has to go through a moderator. This post has not been put on line and is now irrelevent as the conversation on the thread I was trying to participate in has now moved on.

When I come to ask a moderator whether my reply will be posted I now discover that I am unable to send PMs as well. So not only do I not know whether my reply will or will not be accepted but I also have no means of communicating with a moderator. I am sure there will be many good reasons for such proceduresput forward however, being a member of many forums and moderating on a number of them in the past, I have never encountered such unfriendly processes and I find this way of treating newcomers very demeaning and completely unecessary.

Actually a lot of forums have similar limitations.

The problem is spam. There's a lot that goes on in the background to keep spam off the forums - the vast bulk of it normal users don't see.

5 posts before the moderator queue limits come off. PMs are the same otherwise a spammer would sign up and spam everyone with PMs before we find them, ban, and delete them. Experience has shown 5 is the right number - 10 would be much more frustrating. 1 is far from being enough.

We have multiple moderators so that new users shouldn't have to wait too long. For many years it was just me - hard luck if I'm asleep or travelling!
Just be patient - we have jobs and lives away from the forums, and this is a free service.

btw you can still communicate with users and moderators using email.

Also with a former moderator's hat on (not here), I think I agree with Richard on this. Appreciate it might seem a monumental hassle at the moment, but it's for good reason and in all honesty, 5 posts isn't a lot to work through to get past it.

Well said, Richard. Too many forums and indeed FB Groups are spoiled by spammers - it's a fact of modern life, I'm afraid. All we can do is try and minimise it.

Mark
(Moderator and admin on several forums/chatrooms/FB Groups)

I am a moderator on a gardening forum run by a national magazine group, the life of a mod can be a trying one at times, patience is all I can recommend.

Ay up!

5 posts isn't a lot then you can post and PM to your heart's content. We Mods don't spend all day on here, sometimes Life gets in the way!!

Richard et al, you must be doing a good job.
As far as I've noticed, spam getting through is a very infrequent occurrence.