The East Dulwich Forum continues to attract a lot of activity, and there may be things we can learn from the EDF model.
Open question - for those that use EDF regularly, which features and community qualities surpass the “dot life” model (e.g. SE23.life)?
As always, we’re keen to improve the SE23.life experience and appreciate your feedback.
I prefer SE23.life to EDF. I find the UI better - it’s easier to see what you are interested in.
I visit EDF for the content as I travel through ED on a daily basis and pay council tax to Southwark so it’s more relevant than transport or local politics here. I tend to only go to the local topics (new shops etc) and occasionally the What’s On. That can have so much on it that it’s easy to miss things though - they’d benefit from having more categories over there to help sort it.
I get frustrated there by the clique posters who drag conversations off-topic and spend too much time trying to be funny. Their moderation is sometimes a little too hands-off early in posts.
What would I learn from them? In their earlier days, they had more meet ups that helped get a core group of diverse posters and then build volume.
The only thing I use EDF for is selling things. I always advertise things for sale here first, then the Sydenham forum. Then EDF, and things normally sell extremely quickly once posted there. I’m guess that’s just a numbers game - so many more pairs of eyes.
I used to use it for tradesmen recommendations, but SE23.life has already surpassed EDF on that topic.
So, I just posted on East Dulwich Forum in support of the mural project that some of their residents had been running. This project has been relentlessly trolled on the EDF and I wanted to inject something more positive into the thread.
I immediately got personally trolled, and then, inexplicably, my message was wholly deleted, and then the troll response to it was edited to “deleted”.
Don’t think I’ll bother posting there again 
EDF also views terribly on mobile and looks very dated overall.
They obviously don’t appreciate you trying to help 
I hate it when my posts (sometimes entire threads) are deleted from forums to protect other people from stupid things they have said.
Does anybody know if there is a relationship between the admins of EDF and some of their most frequent trolls?
I recall you’ve raised this point once or twice before, @Michael, and it was responded to in detail. For the benefit of others who might be wondering what you were getting at:
No one deletes topics or posts lightly or happily. At least, not on this forum.
Unfortunately there are some cowardly and vindictive people out there whose actions make it occasionally necessary to delete topics or posts - even when the content of those posts break no laws.
One member was suspended from his job due to vindictive reporting of a post they made on this forum. On further review, their employer returned them to work, but the damage was done. Of course I deleted that users’ topics and posts on his request. This sadly had an impact on the posts of others, but I feel it’s fair to prioritise the career and livelihood of the member in question. Whole families are affected when someone loses their job.
I think in my situation you may have done the same thing, @Michael, if you’d been aware of the background to each of the deletions (of which there have been very few in the two years we have operated). Be mindful that moderators may have to take action without discussing it in detail publicly on the forum. We have to protect the interests of people involved, where necessary.
If you’d like to continue this discussion of moderation, that’s fine, but I will move the discussion into @moderator_actions as per our guidelines.
Was this not already a discussion about moderation.
Perhaps you would have also deleted the posts that appeared on EDF if you’d been aware of the background to each of the deletions. But it is possible that the admins are abusing their authority - I hate it when that happens and you have my sympathies.
I also post on EDF, but is very cliquey where trolls like Louisa are allowed to roam free, although she wasn’t allowed to post on the main ED section for over a year.
If you can trawl through the sludge, there is some useful info posted by Dulwichites among the nonsense, but as others have mentioned, the owner should invest in new forum software.
I used to post on EDF but unfortunately at that time one or two longstanding members seemed to take delight in posting sarcastic and sometimes hurtful comments in response to new poster’s posts. When some posters protested they were told If they couldn’t stand the heat to get out of the kitchen.
On the other hand, when my family suffered a personal tragedy, EDF and it’s admin could not have been more supportive and sensitive to my feelings. Appllespider was foremost in this and I shall always be grateful to her and the EDF.
Unfair to describe Louisa as a troll. She has been an EDF contributor for over ten years! She certainly has some strong forthright views that frequently provoke a strong reaction, but a troll she is not.
As soon as I read @rbmartin’s comment I remembered that name from long ago when I spent more time on EDF. I think ‘troll’ is a reasonable description of that individual’s behaviour on a good few threads, but not necessarily all of them. But Louisa has seemed remarkable obsessed about bad behaviour by mothers with buggies and anything that could be interpreted as gentrification.
But with a twitter troll being elected president of the US, it is hard to tell where trolling starts and where it stops.
@topofthehill, thanks for the kind words and glad I helped in some small way at what was a difficult and stressful time for you.
I like the EDF and find it useful for the most part. There are some regulars though who seem to see it more as entertainment for themselves rather than anything else. That can make it feel a bit overwhelming for less frequent users who find threads being derailed into in-jokes and old arguments.
I should like to send you a private message about a recent development but have no idea how to do so.
Click on @applespider’s name and a window should show up with a green Message button to send a PM.
Thank you
Is edf more popular simply by the greater density of people that are interested in and see the power of forums (ie not exclusively but largely the middle classes)
I have often wondered how the demographic characteristics (gender, age, wealth, ethnicity, level of education. occupation, political affiliation, interest in technology, bicycle use) of forum users/contributors compare with those of the population at large in the area the forum seeks to serve. I wonder if anyone has done any research on this?
An interesting point. Unfortunately, with the advent of GDPR this kind on analysis will most likely be no longer possible. Requesting and processing this kind of profiling information on site users is just not worth the hassle in regulatory compliance.
I work in East Dulwich at a fairly well known school and mostly forums are blocked by our filters but we had to unblock the EDF just to see what they were saying about us. It is an excellent barometer of local opinion when we have events or there are incidents locally. We had an army helicopter land on our field and it took 5 mins for someone to start a thread. Some on there really don’t like us for some reason but debate is normally pretty healthy and even handed.
Only just seen this. The organisers DEFINITELY appreciated the support Chris.