Another greedy established forum member does the dirty

[jasman]

I think one way to handle this would be to have a locked thread called Disputes which consists of single posts added by a mod with no replies. Each post would simply state the username of someone who has been in a dispute and a link to the thread in the rest of the forum where more details can be found i.e. a thread like this.

That way it would not be a blacklist as such which may have legal implications, but still forum members would be able to go to the Disputes thread and scroll through the probably quite small number of posts (most people here appear to do business without any issues) and see if another member is listed. If they are listed there would be a link to the thread describing what has happened, enabling each of us to decide for ourselves whether we want to do business with the person.

 

[Edwin]

That way it would not be a blacklist as such which may have legal implications.

It's a private forum. There is no obligation for Alan to allow anybody to participate here. We're all here by his good graces (something we would all do well to remember on occasion) and there's never been an automatic "right" to be a forum member!

As such, there shouldn't be any legal implications to a ban being issued. How could there be?

 

[jasman]

I said there may be legal implications, because in a typical deal which is conducted via pm or email other people in the forum would not necessarily have all the facts and there are often two sides to a dispute. To stick someone on a blacklist might be construed as being defamatory as it affects the person's reputation. I'm not a lawyer but it seems a possibility to me.

By contrast, a list of disputes would not flatly condemn anyone but instead would allow members to make a judgement for themselves, and would also organise all the disparate dispute threads into one place which would be convenient for members.

 

[Bailey]

With the greatest of respect for all members of Acorn. It is the "Naming and shaming" element that I personally find distasteful. "Calling people out" in a public forum is to my mind an avoidable avenue to take. Yes I consider myself ethical and i certainly have no axe to grind.

There has been some very mature comments made regarding taking the "personal approach" ie - no longer on my list of people to do business with. or even in private conversation but, to run it out on a single view approach on Public board is not the way to go especially when it's being viewed in the heat of the moment. Sure the Publicly humiliated have a chance to counter argue (again in public). But, whos to say the circumstance of the sale was one of "pure greed" against perhaps an immediate and desperate sale for the cash. and why should the seller have to present a counter - argument enough to make a reasonable person sympathise - because that is what this thread seems to demand.

There's nothing wrong in "outlinning" a warning story - those that want to dig deeper will. Admin of course have the right to ban as they see fit. The reason of my earlier "point-of-law" post was to highlight the often casual and often instant way in which we approach our domain dealings only to find buyers/sellers remorse kicking in at the same speed as the original decision. I'm again not making excuses for the seller

Time to format that long winded "legalise" for attatchment to all my Sales responses I'm thinking - just in case

 

[Admin]

I have no intention of posting people's real names here, some of us have other jobs etc. which could be affected by such things let alone legal threats as some people will surely defend themselves.

I will keep my own private list after I have made a decision to ban people and take steps to stop them re-joining.

I am discussing all sides on this one so will close the thread pending further offline discussions.

Rest assured I will act in the best interests of members by removing people who don't follow the rules or worse but on the same token, some deals can go bad and that's just the nature of business.

If anyone has any specific concerns people PM me.

Admin