#postergate

There were some recent posts on here with pictures of members of this website standing besides SE23.life posters in the street. Unfortunately these images were quickly posted onto fixmystreet.com with a complaint about fly-posting.

I don’t want this site to appear brazen against the council/residents and so I have removed the posts and my friends and I will take down the posters from the street. I believe Forest Hill has already been cleared of the posters I put up last night.

The one in the “Welcome to Forest Hill” signage is certainly allowed, as are all posters in shop windows

Please can someone drop a few more to me so we can get them in more shop windows!

To add my contribution to this matter…

This morning a reply was posted on a topic in this forum regarding, what was maybe with hindsight, an over enthusiastic advertising campaign for this community forum. Last night myself, and a couple of others put up some posters (unobtrusively with string) around the local area. The idea of this was to promote what is a rapidly growing, and very open and friendly community forum.

Sadly a local resident felt this was vandalism, and offensive, and subsequently reported this via Fix My Street. The subsequent reply posted on this forum was a little threatening and offensive in itself (at least to me), however, with the concerns taken seriously (not the threats) the posters were immediately removed from around Forest Hill by myself, and the report on Fix My Street was updated.

I have taken the decision to self report myself for this act to the local authorities, and of course apologise for my actions.

The fact that this forum was used to highlight an issue, be discussed on other local forums, and provoke not only corrective action, but also discussion on the matter, just goes to show that this is a forum which cares, listens, and considers it’s actions properly. True community interaction, regardless of whois raising the issue, and in what manner it is presented in.

So thank you to the user who raised the issue, and rest assured many lessons of all kinds have been learned here. I hope you stick around as the forum continues to grow and thrive.

I can pop up with a few in a bit @Pauline
Have you got your “I can verify you” one yet?

No, so if you can bring that too, that will be great

Thanks @anon64893700. I have to say it was me that put the majority of posters up. I’ve posted apologies to the authorities too, and extend those to anyone troubled by the posters - I have been over-enthusiastic about advertising this site. Which was stupid in hindsight given another thread I saw posted here about fly tipping recently.

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Worth an email to Michael, the SNT head for FH. Very nice man and a great team with him.

I’ll drop Michael an email now

I can get you one of these this evening if you’re around?

No harm done in reality Chris, just a few feathers ruffled. Community spoke, we listened. That’s how it is supposed to work I believe. Accountable, responsible, what more could people ask for

As for your enthusiasm, it’s admirable mate, don’t ever apologise for that!

On my way up now @Pauline
Save yourself @anon5422159, you are prey now, you need all the energy you can muster up lol

I am at work. Wish I could be in FH right now

@Londondrz I’ve emailed Michael (Hill) now & Cc’d @anon5422159

Well get on with your work then!

See you in a mo @anon64893700

Doh, just realised that @anon5422159 has the verification one with him, I only have the normal. See you in a bit all the same.

@anon5422159 if you can slip the poster in the side of my door this evening that would be great, and I’ll get it in my window first thing tomorrow morning

Will do. Thanks @pauline

Thanks @anon65350507! I’ll drop one to you tonight

@pauline how about the town centre notice board, so much better than attaching things to lampposts?
I think it would be good to allow any local forum some publicity on the traders’ notice board.

I’ve put one in already @Michael

This is the “I can verify you” poster as it stands, but I don’t like the wording.

Suggestions from the professional wordsmiths @magse23, @RachaelDunlop and @AgentBlonde would be appreciated! Then I will reprint and drop it into @Pauline’s

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Maybe something like “pop in to have your status verified” but the others might be able to word it better

Or “pop in to have your profile verified” maybe? I like the “pop in.”

I want to convey that being Verified is a bonus, not a pre-requisite, and means upgraded access to features, access to topics in the special “lounge” category, and visible trustworthy status on the site.

Indeed, “pop in” makes it fun and informal.
Do you need to promote the reasoning for verification in any way? A few short words, so it doesn’t come across as no verify, no forum use.

Yeah I think I’ll make that clearer - dedicate most of the poster to it in fact (it can always be displayed alongside the regular poster assuming the shop is willing!

Now to think about what to write about that. And you started out just looking for a new “verified” tag line lol

Maybe we could “wear” our posters about instead?

How about a badge?

BONUS: you might get offered a seat on the train by myopic commuters

I like that @anon5422159 you could still put “verified” on it to make it stand out - I’ve now put a poster in my front window as well as the normal side. I’ll ask @Anotherjohn if we can put the general poster in the shop next door until new tenants move in

And I’ll get the posters @anon64893700 brought me today out in the morning before I open, including the cafe at the pools.

Just to be clear before suggesting any wordsmithing tweaks: is the idea with this ‘verified’ poster that someone in the shop/cafe can award an SE23.Life user verified status if they pop in and introduce themselves?

Hi Emma! I have updated the instructions here, which should provide enough insight - let me know if not.

In a word, yes. Not so much award though. It’s more a process than a prize. Just shows that someone of stature has confirmed you are a human being and not a masked user account.

Ah, ok! Then ‘pop in to get your profile verified’ sounds perfect.

Agree ‘Pop in’ is right.
how about THE forum??? there are after all two of them!

Assumimg people looking for the Get Verified Here poster are already members and know about the process, I think you can keep the poster really simple. It’s more of a sign post than a source of information.

@RachaelDunlop yep, completely agree.

Happy with this, @Pauline and the @Wordsmithsx ? If so, I’ll print a few and do a midnight run to Sugar Mountain!

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Would also appreciate any suggestions for my design, if we have any graphic artists in the house?

Help! You guys know I’m not up on IT x

Oh look, I’m in a group! claps hands excitedly @Wordsmithsx

Am not a designer, but might suggest a soft red or light blue background to the banner rather than yellow to tie in with the other elements above and below.

Ah yes, I think that’s better:

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Regarding the group - you, Emma and Maggie are co-owners so you’re able to add members if you know any other local writers / journalists

Love this! What do you think @Anotherjohn

Liking the blue. Good call @RachaelDunlop

As I made quite clear in my response to the matter, it was indeed a matter of taking the moral high ground, rather than bowing to a cheap shot with threatening undertones.

Rest assured that I for one didn’t take the posters down to appease anyone,. But instead gave consideration to the possibility that we had over stepped the mark with over enthusiastic advertising, and decided that we should undo it, and reconsider how we go about advertising.

Glad that in the 12 hours or so that they were up, some great users like yourself joined the forum and already support what it is trying to do for the local community.
Thank you for joining @Sealink

Fix My Street are just a middleman for forwarding issues to the relevant authorities. With this in mind I updated the report to show it was fixed, and we made contact with any authority who may have wasted valuable time following up on an issue which was resolved.

Ooh how fancy, our very own group! @magse23 and @RachaelDunlop now if we see each other in the 'hood we can do some kind of secret @Wordsmithsx handshake. #offtopic

You will have to throw up a W gangsta style with your fingers all tied up.

. [quote=“AgentBlonde, post:47, topic:249, full:true”]
Ooh how fancy, our very own group! @magse23 and @RachaelDunlop now if we see each other in the 'hood we can do some kind of secret @Wordsmithsx handshake. #offtopic
[/quote]

That’s pretty much how I roll anyway, throwing gangsta signs all over town like a badass.

Haha I shall watch out for those then. Grammatically correct ones I hope?

Anyway, back to posters eh lol

Feel free to update any of my posts, cause I’m not up on dat IT ting or thang bro

The problems with the posters has got me to thinking that an alternative could be to have a large poster in the town centre where lots of people could see it (as well as the smaller ones in shop windows). There isn’t really much advertising space near the station, but a good (potentially free) option could be a big poster in the ‘From the Forest’ window near the station. Most shops can’t put big oversize posters in their windows for obvious reasons, but as From the Forest is closed it shouldn’t be a problem to fill most of the window.

You could sell it to the owner by saying you will print them a huge poster with their business name and ‘coming soon’ for the window, together with a ‘get updates on our progress at SE23.Life the new local forum’ prominently placed (e.g. big enough to be seen from the station carpark).

I seem to remember that you might have mentioned that you knew the owners @Pauline?

Brilliant idea, @SteveG85, and worth running past the owner of the former From the Forest shop

I have the owners number @SteveG85 but he’s not from this area, unlike @Anotherjohn sadly. I’m not sure if he’d go for this & there is a new owner that has taken on the lease who I don’t know. I could call & ask if you like @anon5422159

If you’re happy to do so, I’m happy to design and pay for a large poster for their shop window provided at least 20% of the surface area is the “Follow our updates on SE23.life”

I will use the money from the fund I was building to increase my bid to purchase #TOSS (the other similar site). If you can’t buy em, beat em!

Indeed @anon5422159 haha.

Seriously though I was wondering the same myself, are there any local billboards with a low fee etc?

That said, I fear anything external might get vandalised quite quickly, given that two posters were ripped down between 9pm and 9am of the day we don’t speak of.

I think it really is appealing to local businesses now, especially ones which have a pause when you interact with them, any service provider.

I’ll call the landlord this afternoon to ask

Brilliant - thanks so much, Ann

Fantastic stuff, well done.

@anon65350507 [quote=“Baileysmum, post:58, topic:249, full:true”]
Poster going up today at Stillness Infant school in the parents notice board
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If I can grab a poster at some stage I will see if I can get one put on the board at my girls school.

I think @Pauline may have a spare. If not I can get one to you soon. Cheers @Londondrz!

No problem, I most likely wont be able to do so until week Monday as we will be away. We see if I can sneak out tomorrow morning.

The other place you could try to get a poster into is the currently empty (but being developed?) Eaton Properties place next to Barclays. It will get spotted by quite a few passing cars / pedestrians from there.

Ah yes - I noticed they’d “whitewashed” their windows. Any chance @Pauline or @Anotherjohn knows the landlord, or the incoming business (if there is one)?

Sorry have no idea who this is!