What are we paying for - education or dogma? parallels between NHS commissioning and free schools policy

Emma Bishton's picture
 192
I work in the NHS, where the principle that healthcare should be commissioned in accordance with local need, in order to make most effective use of scant resources, is well-established. I have been wondering if there are any parallels in the NHS with current free schools policy. The post which follows is the result of my musings:

Imagine a rural area of roughly 600 square miles, where the population of around 270,000 is divided between four market towns and a large number of villages (some of which are fairly large and provide facilities for smaller surrounding villages). This area is currently served by a district general hospital known as St Michael’s, based in the largest of the market towns.

The population is ageing (by 2021 over 65s will account for a quarter of the population), and the numbers of school-aged children are decreasing. It is a fairly affluent area, with house prices above national average, and although unemployment itself is low, the average wage is less than nationally. Larger towns are within 30-45 minutes drive. However, in common with many rural areas, public transport provision within the area and to the surrounding region is poor.

Health and wellbeing are generally good in the area, though as would be expected with an ageing population, there is a relatively high incidence of heart disease and falls (often causing broken hips in the elderly). Public satisfaction with services is generally good, though with concerns about access to services (patient transport in particular), and response times from emergency services. St Michael’s itself is looked on favourably by most people in the area. As part of NHS developments, more outpatient care is now provided in community clinics.

The area is not known for innovation in public services. However in recent years patients in one area (around the village of Abbotsford) have leapt at the opportunity to become more involved in planning healthcare. They recently seized a Department of Health funding opportunity only available for building new hospitals (it could not be used to expand existing facilities), and proposed a new small hospital for Abbotsford. It was to focus principally on delivering elective care in orthopaedics and ophthalmology (hip and cataract operations, for example), as these are areas of high demand by the elderly.

The proposal appeared on first glance to have a number of positives: Patients living nearby Abbotsford would travel shorter distances, local GPs would have closer ties with the new hospital, and staff would be more familiar to local patients. As a new build, it would have excellent though limited facilities and was considered likely to attract staff.

However, on closer inspection there were a number of disadvantages: As a small hospital providing a specific set of services, it could not provide extensive consultant cover or intensive care beds, so would not be able to provide for patients with complex needs such as those with additional heart disease or poorly-managed diabetes. So, many patients who might have wished to use the new hospital would still need to travel to St Michael’s for treatment. At the same time, St Michael’s would not need to provide as many routine procedures as now, so would reduce its capacity in these disciplines. But as there would also be an increase in the proportion of complex patients requiring a longer stay in hospital to recover from operations, overall waiting times for surgery at St Michael’s were considered likely to increase, for factors completely outside St Michael’s control. In addition, there would be risks to patients whose condition deteriorates whilst at Abbotsford, as they would need to be transferred urgently to Intensive care beds in St Michael’s or hospitals elsewhere in the region (providing beds were available). Lastly, core costs at the Abbotsford [new] hospital would be relatively high as the hospital would be a stand-alone provider, with its own board of directors. So overall, costs of providing orthopaedic and opthamology services across this rural area would increase, because two hospitals would need to provide the basic service instead of one, yet standards or patient experience would not necessarily improve, as the new service would only be suitable for some patients.

The proposal enjoyed significant support from Abbotsford patients. However, given the concerns over the impact on St Michael’s, the potential risks to patients, and the expense, the proposal was judged too risky and poor value for money, and the plan was dropped. Yet in education, the opposite happens when Free Schools are proposed in areas like this. Why?
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook

Be notified by email of each new post.





Comments

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Fri, 27/04/2012 - 16:29

Are you going to post the usual about me being mentally ill and a failed teacher who's never been a job for more than three months Inky? Or will that be one of the other anonymous cherubs of the internet who feel the need to reveal my true colours to the world?


Inkivaari's picture
Thu, 26/04/2012 - 19:51

Kids don't hit you if you're pregnant?
I must have imagined that major bleed I had at 20 weeks following a blow to the stomach from one of the little darlings. What tosh!

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Fri, 27/04/2012 - 16:30

I'm very sorry to hear that happened to you - if you are in fact female or actually a teacher.


Rebecca Hanson's picture
Fri, 27/04/2012 - 16:36

By the way if you are real or a teacher do feel free to get in touch through facebook or linkedin. I am in real life touch with many of the TES contributors and have never revealed their identities and will not do so. It's much easier to chat to real people rather than to anonymous accusers as they blend into the anonymous contributors who spread and believed all the lies. Failing that feel free to keep chatting on this thread - I suspect no-one will mind now it's off the top page. When posts and not constantly deleted and lies written instead initial misunderstanding usually resolve even if one or both contributors are anonymous.


Paul's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 23:19

"I am in real life touch with many of the TES contributors and have never revealed their identities"

Even by your standards this is an outrageous falsehood. No TES contributor would give you their real details voluntarily (some do not hide it) given what you have done before.

Inkivaari's picture
Fri, 27/04/2012 - 17:28

I have indeed Andy. I can't decide which is larger though, her ego or her persecution complex. Bless her.


Rebecca Hanson's picture
Fri, 27/04/2012 - 19:56

Although you were around on the TES forum I don't remember that we ever chatted. Which makes it rather startling that you should hold such strong views on my character.

It does make you feel rather persecuted when all sorts of random posters start saying things about you which are clearly being passed from person to person without being tested in reality. But I've only felt remotely persecuted on the TES forum - where that kind of thing happened along with the endless deletions and the repeated punishments such as pre-moderation and bannings for where I never received any coherent explanation - instead receiving inappropriately threatening letter from the TLS exec. And the stuff which was clearly connected with the forum but which spread over into real life and has had grim consequences was not exactly reassuring.

But the sense of persecution did mostly pass when I realised that it had been much worse for others. Sigh. And it doesn't exist on other forums.

I wonder if perhaps you teach young kids. I think there you might get hit. Andy and I are both secondary - where you could get jostled but kids are more aware that you are a person at some level than they are at secondary. Of course it's always possible you could get hit - it was only really a comment in the context of my conversation with Andy which was more invented to try and lift the mood and be a bit funny rather than as a deep universal comment about child behaviour.

Paul's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 23:06

Well well well. I see educations resident loon has found another forum to rant at.

Before you start ranting on about how badly you were treated Becka I you should remember that I archived (and still have) all your posts. Something I have never done for anyone else on any other forum anywhere in 15 years.

Rather than the persecution you complain about it shows a series of posters, some of whom have been around for a long time, discussing things with you and getting frustrated by your continual dishonesty.

You were banned because (amongst other things) you publicly slandered an OFSTED Inspector opening up the TES to libel. As I recall, you said the named HMI was personally responsible for assaults on your staff (amongst other things), called her incompetent.

Oddly, and I'm sure this is just a coincidence, the mass deletions started the minute you turned up and stopped the moment you left.

You seem to have forgotten that the person who spilled over into real life was you, by making spurious complaints of bullying/abuse against another TES member whose identity you had discovered.

I strongly advise anyone working with children not to get into discussions with this person.

Perhaps I should send my "best of Weebecka" archive to the trainees you are teaching ?

Inkivaari's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 08:46

Classic behaviour from you I see. Try to discredit the poster. Something you accuse others of doing to you. I think you'll struggle to find any posts I've made which have discredited your teaching credibility. You don't need me to do that for you. Yet instantly you respond with "if you're female and in fact a teacher" the sad thing is you can't even recognise your own bullying behaviour.
I do wonder how challenging the schools you worked in were - if you genuinely believe that a pupil would never hit a pregnant teacher. I know a teacher who was told by a pupil "I hope this one dies too miss" when heavily pregnant following a miscarriage. I was thumped in the stomach at 20 weeks which caused a bleed and led to me being hospitalised. Are you going to do your usual trick and accuse me of lying because you didn't experience it in your "tough" school?

andy's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 10:46

Inkivaari:

The sad thing is that if Rebecca were to be wholly open and honest with herself, then, a personal re-reading/recapping of her conversation threads in this discussion alone could not fail to lead her to her own conclusion that something is amiss. I am not at all convinced that she knows what introspection is let alone uses it as a deep personal reflection tool. Her persistent denial and rejection of not only what others say but also what she has said herself is another worrisome issue (when confronted with one of her own quotes she rejects and denies through ducking, diving, manipulation and sheer obfuscation). It is for all of these reasons - and others - that I have taken myself out of the loop in relation to any dialogue with her.

I also note that the pictures used by her on here and on Linkedin do not seem to be the same person. In a similar way, on linkedin she lives in Cockermouth, Cumbria but the impression on this discussion thread is that she live in Longbenton, Newcastle?

Inkivaari's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 10:58

That's most interesting Andy. I am very aware that she was banned from an education website and prior to that ban posted a number of different stories about herself which didn't add up when analysed. Many of her posts and threads were deleted. Some because she became abusive and made threats , but not all. So it became very difficult to work out the truth. Most worrying of all she encouraged other posters to make contact with her, and lose their anonymity.I believe she tried to contact a poster's head teacher and made a very serious allegation. Given this track record you are wise to approach with caution. I had hoped she might learn from this experience, sadly it appears she hasn't.


Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 21:31

I grew up in Newcastle.
I live in Cumbria.
A substantial amount of information about me is available on linkedin and far more here. None of what I have posted on this or any other forum is contradictory as it is true. If it appears contradictory then please point out how so I can explain the point.

While teaching I experienced special measures, academyisation and assorted other central policies and was very shocked at how these policies were playing out on the ground. While I've had some flexible time during my years with young children I've got involved in consultations and discussions to try to ensure that the people and processes which generate central policy are connected to the reality of the implications of that policy on the ground so that, where possible, practical modifications are made to policy to mitigate against unnecessary negative consequences. I was never particularly invited to consultations and I've always had to pay my own costs to attend but in the early years I found them worthwhile and intelligent. I could see how my points were being taken on board by people more experienced and intelligent than me. I felt that people cared about what was happening on the ground and they seemed happy to talk to me and they respect the fact that my only motive was to improve things for others. Many people who attend consultations have financial, political or personal motives but the systems seemed geared up to actively include those of use who did not and who had recent and relevant experience to describe.

When this new government came into power all the consultative processes either stopped or were systematically ignored and I was absolutely horrified because I could clearly see the obvious consequences of policy not being consulted. As well as labouring away relentlessly with the consultative processes and the politcians (in real life and through their blogs) I turned to discussion forums to talk about what was happening.

What happened to me on the TES forum was personally distressing and I was horrified by what had happened other contributors like me. But far and away the worst part of it was discovering that proper discussion about policy was not allowed there. If not at live consultations and if not on forums then where?

The answer to that question was in the personally moderated forums and the political blogs - where unpaid volunteers give up their time and energy to make free speech possible. Once again I would like to express my gratitude to those volunteers and thanks again to them for allowing this discussion to run so that I can clearly state some of these things somewhere where anyone can read them without them being instantly deleted and anyone with contradictory evidence or further questions can post them.

What else?
here's the article I was researching when I was contributing to the TES forum: http://cyberrhetoricbyrebeccahanson.blogspot.co.uk/
yes - I know the identity of many posters - usually just through chatting to them and getting to know them over time as you do on forums but no - I've never tried to make allegations about or get any teacher into trouble for posting in forums and I don't intend for that ever to change - I don't see why it should. My intentions have always been quite the opposite.

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 21:39

"Some because she became abusive and made threats"

That's an obscene allegation and is absolutely untrue.

Paul's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 23:07

No it's true. I archived your posts, all of them, when you started threatening people.

Threats that in at least one case you carried out.

Paul's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 23:16

"thanks again to them for allowing this discussion to run so that I can clearly state some of these things somewhere where anyone can read them without them being instantly deleted and anyone with contradictory evidence or further questions can post them."

You had them deleted yourself. The posts that were delete were yours that you didn't want people to see. Immediately you left the deletions stopped and virtually no posts have been deleted since. While you were on the TES whole threads disappeared every few minutes.

You presented yourself as a "facilitator" (repeatedly) to people who had been happily conversing for years (omitting to mention that you were collecting for a presentation on forums).

You made several suggestions - for example, you suggest when a child was causing problems in a classroom that you send the child who was upset by this behaviour out (not the causer) leaving the classroom unattended while you spoke with them.

This and numerous other things (e.g. your 'ultra difficult' class who were all going to get GCSE C grades) lead people to believe you had no concept of challenging behaviour whatsoever.

When one of the regular respected posters criticised your suggestion politely, you said her views didn't count because she was Scottish.

Doubtless this will continue in the same vein until you trash this forum as you have so many others.

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 07:41

Paul you've going to have to publish the content and say what the threat was to have any kind of reasonable conversation as I have no idea what you're on about.

Are you talking perhaps about my discussions about running conference session on improving the quality of discussion in forums? I know a lot of people on the forum felt very threatened by this idea but I never understood why.

I'm in touch with a significant number of contributors from all of the three mains sections of the forum I contributed to - maths, opinion and pregnancy. I sometimes ask people to post content but in their own name rather than mine - except in pregnancy where it seems to be okay - see for example post 15 here: http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/565319.aspx?PageIndex=1

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 07:58

"You had them deleted yourself."
In the summer of 2011 I asked for a couple of posts to be deleted. One was a PM which I'd somehow accidentally posted on a discussion. Another was when another contributor posted a PM she'd received from me but had added comments of her own on the bottom which looked like they were mine too which I knew would cause big trouble. Both were deleted.

"While you were on the TES whole threads disappeared every few minutes."
Many of the discussion I contributed to were deleted. I was never allowed to know why. I did not want them to be deleted and I did not ask for them to be deleted.

"You presented yourself as a “facilitator” (repeatedly) to people who had been happily conversing for years (omitting to mention that you were collecting for a presentation on forums)."
I wrote about my involvement with forums and chatted freely about it with anyone who wanted to talk. Far and away my main motivation for contributing to the TES forum was wanting to explore my concerns about government policy in education. In the background was the the reality that I was being asked to comment more and more on discussion forums in education so I felt it was one I should have contributed to.

"You made several suggestions – for example, you suggest when a child was causing problems in a classroom that you send the child who was upset by this behaviour out (not the causer) leaving the classroom unattended while you spoke with them."
I remember suggesting that when there is clearly a disruptive and stressful situation I tend to send out the child who is under most stress rather than the one causing the problem and going on to explain why I do that and why that works well as a strategy for me.

"This and numerous other things (e.g. your ‘ultra difficult’ class who were all going to get GCSE C grades) lead people to believe you had no concept of challenging behaviour whatsoever."
I remember writing about one of my most difficult GCSE classes which achieved their targets despite one child having a conviction for ABH and several having ASBOs and them not having been taught in year 10. I have no idea why this would lead anyone to assume I had no concept of challenging behaviour.

"When one of the regular respected posters criticised your suggestion politely, you said her views didn’t count because she was Scottish."
I remember asking if seren was perhaps not aware of the issues with academies we'd had in Cumbria as she was in Scotland so it may not have been covered in their press.

"Doubtless this will continue in the same vein until you trash this forum as you have so many others."
Which other forums Paul?

Paul's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 08:49

It's not possible to have any sort of rational conversation with you because you are a very deluded and disturbed human being.

My sole interest is in warning other people from interacting with you so they do not suffer the same fate as other people who have had the audacity to disagree with your frequently asinine views.

I am unaware of any forum where you have conducted yourself other than in your usual hectoring, demanding, deluded manner.

Because of your inability to take any personal responsibility such "discussions" invariably drift from the actual topic to meaningless ranting about your pet hate topics.

(You can see it on this thread , it gets worse as time goes on)

(1) Anything to do with Michael Gove. Disagreeing with him is fine ; I'm a staunch Tory and I don't agree with him on everything, disliking or even loathing him and the Tories is fine, but you write about him like he's the antichrist and there's all sorts of complex and improbable conspiracies (e.g. OldAndrew is Tom Burkard) and so on.

(2) The evil TES Forums and their bullying of you and their unreasonableness in dealing with you, which you appear to think is because the posters are some sort of paid Gove front organisation, which is quite funny as apart from me the people you complain about are all staunch Labour types.

Seren (whose views don't count because she's Scottish) must be the greatest sleeper agent ever.

(3) The "dreadful OFSTED inspector" you repeatedly named and slandered (I won't here) who is responsible for every ill in your school, every act of violence or poor behaviour in your class, and the problems in your department.

(With respect to the last, I suspect the motivation behind your nasty act of revenge against one poster was producing statistics for your school that demonstrated that your supposed fantastic improvements which you boasted about had no foundation)

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 10:01

"It’s not possible to have any sort of rational conversation with you because you are a very deluded and disturbed human being."
I don't know why you're not able to have a rational conversation with me but it is not because I am "deluded or disturbed". I am, however, a human being and I find the relentless accusations and abuse hurtful.

"I am unaware of any forum where you have conducted yourself other than in your usual hectoring, demanding, deluded manner."
??? I run and have been involved in many forums so it really should be quite easy for you to find evidence to justify your claim. The US government is currently investing in educational discussion forums and has head hunted experts from around the world to discuss their strategies for launching them. I was headhunted because one of the international education discussion forums I manage is so successful and they want to understand why:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Do-online-discussion-forums-produce-38476...

"(3) The “dreadful OFSTED inspector” you repeatedly named and slandered (I won’t here) who is responsible for every ill in your school, every act of violence or poor behaviour in your class, and the problems in your department."
I named my Ofsted inspector not to name and shame but because we were discussing Ofsted and I and my school had been named against my will so I though there was no point in concealing it as it was obvious. However I regretted that and asked for it to be deleted and concealed as my concern with was with the practices of Ofsted not the individual inspector. You posted that inspector's name in multiple places Paul.

"(With respect to the last, I suspect the motivation behind your nasty act of revenge against one poster was producing statistics for your school that demonstrated that your supposed fantastic improvements which you boasted about had no foundation)"
I have never been involved in any acts of revenge of any kind. I still have no idea what you are talking about. I'm happy to present the evidence to back up my claims to anyone who wants to see it. I am unaware of there being any contradictory evidence and would be interested to know what you are talking about.

Janet Downs's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 11:43

This is a thread about possible parallels between NHS commissioning and the free schools policy. It appears to have degenerated into something else entirely. The thread may no longer be "on the top page" but that doesn't mean it should sink into a long and tedious off-topic squabble.


Paul's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 16:21

I agree, but everything Hanson gets involved in deterioriates into a long off topic squabble because she will never address any issues raised by other posters.

All you get is denial, laughable conspiracy theories and complaints of being bullied.

Some of which translate into direct complaints to other teachers SMT about their supposed 'on line abuse'.

andy's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 12:15

Janet:

LSN, as an unmoderated site, suffers from significant disgressions for the top page issue (e.g. the Free Schools offering incentives thread). I seem to recall that I attempted to call time on the major disgressions of that incentives thread but this was politely ignored. Indeed, there was a commentator who felt uncomfrotable at the direction the discussion had taken and the nature of the comments but they were told that the site was unmoderated and the comments were acceptable. It seems odd then that people involved in that discussion find this one unacceptable?

Perhaps the time has come for LSN to reconsider its position on moderation? Perhaps a limited moderation is necessary to ensure that comments stick to the top page issue, with moderator able to advise commentators to stick to the issue in hand or face having their comment(s) deleted.

Janet Downs's picture
Sat, 28/04/2012 - 12:58

andy - you are correct about the seeming difference between the digression on the other thread about the Phoenix free school. I agreed with your concern at the time:

"andy – you are correct in saying that the debate has ranged far from my original post which did not mention the proposers. However, as you say, the discussion widened out and this included questions about the professional qualifications of one of the proposers. It also contained interesting digressions about the proposed curriculum at the free school and the teaching of reading. "

So you weren't "politely ignored".

The comments on the other thread also risked going seriously off topic (you were partly responsible for this). However, most of these were interesting and relevant to education (see above). This thread, on the other hand, has sunk into personal and often unverifiable comments about a poster (eg "I believe she...) which have no relevance at all to the topic being discussed or even education.

Moderation is relaxed on LSN to allow a free exchange of views. It is up to posters to respect this.

Andy's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 10:42

Janet: Irrespective of the acknowledgement you offered that the incentives discussion had digressed, it continued. And, yes, I did participate in the dicussion up to the point of sharing my concern. Indeed, I acknowledge my participation in the comment I made suggesting the line/direction of discussion be returned to the top page issue.

There is a parallel between the incentives discussion and this one, and it is one to make direct reference to in that in one there was developing personal focus on Mr Burkard and on this discussion it is Rebecca. Thus in both cases the discussions singularly went away from the top page issue and contain attacks of a personal nature. hence my suggestion that the moderation be expanded to include a remit to keep comments focused on the top page issue.

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 12:22

Andy do you have any experience in moderating forums?

It's generally best only to delete posts if:
1. There is a very clear breach of T&C
2. The OPer is trying to direct the conversation and is being ignored.
3. Obvious abuse/demonstrably incorrect information is being written about a person and that person objects.
4. Posts are obviously advertising spam and have no relevance to previous posts.

In general it is always wisest for the forum moderator to intervene in the discussion to advise participants on expected behaviour and they should only block or punish posters or delete posts and block threads if the unacceptable behaviour persists.

Do you often intervene in discussions you did not start demanding they be stopped because they have moved away from the original topic? Do forum moderators usually accept your wishes? If so I'm curious for more information as this would be unusual.

Adam's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 08:34

Thanks for the link to your blog Rebecca.

http://cyberrhetoricbyrebeccahanson.blogspot.co.uk/

"It is well known that Israel is expert in cyberwarfare and expends substantial resource in trying to manage its online profile."

"The first, most shocking attack came when I had been contributing to the discussion for about a week and one of our home computers from which I had been posting suddenly ceased to operate. When my husband managed to get it going (with the aid of a laptop which used the same Anti-virus software and a cable) his diagnostics told him that the machine had not been attacked by a virus. Instead it showed a deep root drive error. Asking around, a friend with relevant expertise suggested that this was not a normal problem and that it in fact indicated remote cyberwarfare – someone deliberately romotely accessing and trying to destroy this computer. That friend suggested that I contact any other participants who were trying to defend a multi-perspective agenda and ask if they had also been targeted. I contacted the other participant who was interested in multiple perspectives being heard and found that his computer had also failed at the same time and that it had cost him a substantial sum of money to get it fixed."

Paranoid much? Israel is not remotely interested in the rantings of a nobody on the internet. Computers break. Two computers breaking down at about the same time isn't even an interesting coincidence.

Paul's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 08:58

As a Comp Sci graduate I'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a "deep root drive" error.

The idea that Israel cares enough to monitor websites and forums and attack people who pose anti-Israel views (and there are millions of such people in the world, right or wrong) is nonsense.

"That friend suggested that I contact any other participants who were trying to defend a multi-perspective agenda and ask if they had also been targeted"

You'd think Israel had enough to contend with with their neigbour states without worrying about "multi perspective agendas".

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 10:06

I suggest you get in touch with other participants in that discussion to explore your concerns. I have copies of large chunks of the conversation so you can find out who they are and contact them. They are not people I know but they are regulars on linkedin discussion forums.

I'm happy to send copies of the conversation to an anonymous email address.

Adam's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 10:24

Why would I want to contact people I know nothing about to "investigate" your pet conspiracy theory? I'm perfectly happy to trust my instincts. You'll be telling me 9/11 was an inside job or the moon landings never happened next.


Paul's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 16:16

Two minutes with google shows that there is no such thing as a deep root drive error.

You seem unable to accept that your paranoid conspiracy theories are just nonsense.

Do you seriously think that Israel cares what you think ? Are you completely deluded about your position in the world ?

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 12:11

The easiest way for you to investigate this would be for you to start a discussion about my blog in the TED forum on linkedin where the original conversation took place as many of the participants in that discussion are still active participants in that forum.

You could chat to them about it and then ask me any questions which arise in your mind following that discussion.

Adam's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 12:19

Hello? I said I didn't want to investigate. There is nothing TO investigate.

You should reconsider standing as an MP - I'm sure the Monster Raving Loonies would welcome you with open arms.

Rebecca Hanson's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 12:24

Ooops yes, sorry I did misread your post. Anybody who's actually interested in the truth is welcome to follow the strategy suggested above.


Adam's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 12:50

"Anybody who’s actually interested in the truth is welcome to follow the strategy suggested above."

Alternatively they could just wrap themselves in tinfoil head-to-toe. This would both act as a secure antenna for extra-terrestrial communication and form an effective invisibililty cloak against shape-shifting lizards.

Paul's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 16:19

And the truth is that you are targeted by the Israeli cybercrime black arts unit because of your multi-perspective agenda, apparently.

Or possibly, just possibly that you're a loony.

Ever heard of Occam's Razor.

Fiona Millar's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 16:48

You guys seem to be moving quite a long way from the original post so maybe you could continue this conversation somewhere else. We don't moderate comments but think they should relate back to the original subject rather than personal tit for tat that is unrelated to the general themes of this site. Thanks


Andy's picture
Sun, 29/04/2012 - 17:00

Thank you Fiona. Following on from my earlier discourse with Janet, perhaps you and the other founders of the site woulld like to extend the light touch moderation to ensuring contributors stick to the top page issue in every discussion, which would nip this type of situation in the bud (and I include myself as being one who has gone off piste).


Paul's picture
Mon, 30/04/2012 - 08:08

My apologies for (slightly) disrupting your board.

The problem is the poster is not just your typical forum nut, of whom there are countless. She has shown that she is quite willing to take "off board" action against her perceived "enemies" (which is usually everybody).

As you can imagine, this can cause quite significant issues for the people who the complaints are made about because words like "abuse" and "bullying" are used rather than "I didn't like what he/she posted on a forum".

While I think it is great that you are unmoderated, if you let the poster continue untrammelled she will do what she did to the TES board and are also open to libel action.

Fortunately for the TES the OFSTED Inspector in question either doesn't care, or more likely doesn't know what was written about her.

Fiona Millar's picture
Mon, 30/04/2012 - 08:28

We will do our best! The good thing about unmoderated comments is that the conversation can move on pretty swiftly in our absence. I think in future if the discussion gets too far removed from the main topic we will have to consider shutting down the threat which would be a shame.


James's picture
Mon, 30/04/2012 - 17:08

Fiona - it make have been a typo but "shutting down the threat" is exactly what you need to do. TES and NCETM did it and normal service quickly resumed.


andy's picture
Mon, 30/04/2012 - 18:10

Phew, that's me off the hook then, I don't blog on TES and have no idea what NCETM stands for let alone use it! :D


andy's picture
Mon, 30/04/2012 - 08:50

Thanks Fiona. I appreciate that my suggestion is not without its problematics and I have to admit that I had assumed that (1) a commentator asked to stick to the top page issue would take heed and do so, and (2) the forum platform would enable errant comments to be deleted.

At a personal level I will be more careful in regard to sticking to the issue to hand.

Pages

Add new comment

Already a member? Click here to log in before you comment. Or register with us.