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cubittaudio

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A question to the mods… specifically to someone like @mjensen415 or anyone who crosses over between forum user and Fiverr staff…

Are there any plans for quite significant improvements to the forum? Not visual changes, or category changes, but fundamental changes about what the forum is, and how it works? Tearing down walls rather than a lick of paint, that kind of thing?

I ask, because this thread…

*******************.

…is a perfect example of why I, and so many other more experienced forum members, think the forum is a bit of a hot mess at the moment.

(There wasn’t anything in particular about this thread that made me call it out. More that as I scanned it, I realised it was a perfect example of the issues the forum is facing at the moment. In short, it follows the standard ‘hot-mess post’ format)

  • Thread starts with a struggling user asking for help, specifically based around a Fiverr myth or misunderstanding (in this case the misunderstanding of how gig ranking works)
  • A brand new seller, who has never made a sale, replies by repeating some ‘tricks’ they’ve heard from other people, that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media (as is the case here), thereby also damaging the Fiverr brand in the process.
  • The OP responds, explaining that they’ve been doing the suggested things, and they don’t work.
  • An experienced forum member calls out the inexperienced member, and asks them to stop parroting nonsense, as it’s harmful to the community and to Fiverr as a whole.
  • Another brand new seller with no experience then parrots some more nonsense advice, actually repeating something that’s already been called out in the thread.
  • As I write this, the most recent reply is a seller with a few sales, advising the OP to essentially remain online, in the futile hopes that they’ll make a sale, yet another forum myth.

If this thread occurred every once in a while, no problem. But it’s not. This is pretty much how so many threads look these days. It’s exhausting to read. It must be even more exhausting to partake in.

More troubling, is that the official Fiverr forum has now become one of the most prolific sources of misinformation regarding the platform on the web. Honestly, this place feels like a dodgy sub-reddit half the time - I have to remind myself that this is the official Fiverr forum.

So, I’m asking this in all seriousness, to any of the Fiverr staff who have any involvement in the forum. What’s next? Is this it?

I used to be pretty actively involved in the forum, and I used to enjoy it. I’d love to come back, but right now, I look at regular users like @humanissocial @vickiespencer @catwriter @lloydsolutions @vibronx along with excellent moderators like @frank_d and @wp_kid (plus a bunch of others I’ve forgotten, my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet) and the efforts they’re all putting in to simply keep the forum running, and I just question whether it’s worth it, in the forum’s current state. Calling out a single user for misinformation feels like shouting into a wind tunnel at the moment, and for each person who gets challenged, 10 more come along and spout the same misinformation anyway.

There’s a separate conversation to be had about how to fix the forum. My question was more about whether Fiverr has the appetite and/or desire to fix it at this point.

I’d love to hear what others think?

Mod Note: Quoted topic removed.

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Hey @cubittaudio

I couldn’t agree more.

I’d love to help as many new members as possible but it seems like the number of posts we get a day about Fiverr hacks, exchanging ratings and even purchases will still be there.

We do need better tools to handle people who don’t want to learn or grow and said tools will also help keep good members active and more motivated to stick around.

I do believe there’s a new build in the works, but other than that I don’t know what changes we’ll get when that rolls out.

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Hey @cubittaudio

I couldn’t agree more.

I’d love to help as many new members as possible but it seems like the number of posts we get a day about Fiverr hacks, exchanging ratings and even purchases will still be there.

We do need better tools to handle people who don’t want to learn or grow and said tools will also help keep good members active and more motivated to stick around.

I do believe there’s a new build in the works, but other than that I don’t know what changes we’ll get when that rolls out.

We do need better tools to handle people who don’t want to learn or grow and said tools will also help keep good members active and more motivated to stick around.

Couldn’t agree more!

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Hey @cubittaudio

I couldn’t agree more.

I’d love to help as many new members as possible but it seems like the number of posts we get a day about Fiverr hacks, exchanging ratings and even purchases will still be there.

We do need better tools to handle people who don’t want to learn or grow and said tools will also help keep good members active and more motivated to stick around.

I do believe there’s a new build in the works, but other than that I don’t know what changes we’ll get when that rolls out.

Thanks @frank_d

I ummed and aahed about whether or not to post this, but I genuinely believe that the forum has been of significant use to a lot of people in the past, and it could be again. But it does need a change of direction, and for you guys as mods to have the tools you need to help cut back on a lot of the noise, especially the noise that adds no value, or worse still, can cause harm if followed.

I’d love to help as many new members as possible but it seems like the number of posts we get a day about Fiverr hacks, exchanging ratings and even purchases will still be there.

This is true, and I think this will always be the most challenging thing to fix, certainly in the short-term. Perhaps adding a ‘misinformation’ flag, similar to the spam flag we currently have? I agree that it’s open for abuse, but it could be linked to a forum rule making clear what is considered misinformation, and what is not.

Because cracking down on this also has to be in Fiverr’s best interests too. I had a quick look at Fiverr on LinkedIn, Twitter and Insta the other day, and every single post was flooded with “plz buy my gig” comments. It’s not a good look, especially for a business that’s clearly investing heavily in social media marketing (the correct form! 😉 )

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A question to the mods… specifically to someone like @mjensen415 or anyone who crosses over between forum user and Fiverr staff…

Are there any plans for quite significant improvements to the forum? Not visual changes, or category changes, but fundamental changes about what the forum is, and how it works? Tearing down walls rather than a lick of paint, that kind of thing?

I ask, because this thread…

*******************.

…is a perfect example of why I, and so many other more experienced forum members, think the forum is a bit of a hot mess at the moment.

(There wasn’t anything in particular about this thread that made me call it out. More that as I scanned it, I realised it was a perfect example of the issues the forum is facing at the moment. In short, it follows the standard ‘hot-mess post’ format)

  • Thread starts with a struggling user asking for help, specifically based around a Fiverr myth or misunderstanding (in this case the misunderstanding of how gig ranking works)
  • A brand new seller, who has never made a sale, replies by repeating some ‘tricks’ they’ve heard from other people, that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media (as is the case here), thereby also damaging the Fiverr brand in the process.
  • The OP responds, explaining that they’ve been doing the suggested things, and they don’t work.
  • An experienced forum member calls out the inexperienced member, and asks them to stop parroting nonsense, as it’s harmful to the community and to Fiverr as a whole.
  • Another brand new seller with no experience then parrots some more nonsense advice, actually repeating something that’s already been called out in the thread.
  • As I write this, the most recent reply is a seller with a few sales, advising the OP to essentially remain online, in the futile hopes that they’ll make a sale, yet another forum myth.

If this thread occurred every once in a while, no problem. But it’s not. This is pretty much how so many threads look these days. It’s exhausting to read. It must be even more exhausting to partake in.

More troubling, is that the official Fiverr forum has now become one of the most prolific sources of misinformation regarding the platform on the web. Honestly, this place feels like a dodgy sub-reddit half the time - I have to remind myself that this is the official Fiverr forum.

So, I’m asking this in all seriousness, to any of the Fiverr staff who have any involvement in the forum. What’s next? Is this it?

I used to be pretty actively involved in the forum, and I used to enjoy it. I’d love to come back, but right now, I look at regular users like @humanissocial @vickiespencer @catwriter @lloydsolutions @vibronx along with excellent moderators like @frank_d and @wp_kid (plus a bunch of others I’ve forgotten, my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet) and the efforts they’re all putting in to simply keep the forum running, and I just question whether it’s worth it, in the forum’s current state. Calling out a single user for misinformation feels like shouting into a wind tunnel at the moment, and for each person who gets challenged, 10 more come along and spout the same misinformation anyway.

There’s a separate conversation to be had about how to fix the forum. My question was more about whether Fiverr has the appetite and/or desire to fix it at this point.

I’d love to hear what others think?

Mod Note: Quoted topic removed.

Great topic!

and for each person who gets challenged, 10 more come along and spout the same misinformation anyway.

It truly feels like slaying an infinite hydra at times.

Like you, I have also questioned whether it was worth it, and even though I am a relatively new forum member compared to others here, I still had to take a 2-month break to clear my head. I love engaging with other freelancers (good for the mental health – especially during COVID), but helping new users who simply don’t listen is very exhausting. I have seriously just started to consider it practice for becoming a parent one day, though I hope I will never have a child who refuses to apply themselves or learn.

At this point, I would welcome any tools the mods could get (or a misinformation flag for the users as you suggested) to clean up the forum because it can be truly great to be active here at times, and I think it could be so more often with the right tools. However, the solution to this is, of course, beyond me.

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Imagine just how much more of a resource this place could be, especially during this whole Covid-19 situation.

Feeling like a part of an active community is a mental boost we could all benefit from.

It took me a while to embrace a friendly and welcoming mod stance, but that doesn’t mean I don’t voice my concerns and try to protect the forum from people who harm others either intentionally or with their ignorance.

Heck this whole situation has affected me and my attempt to create helpful posts with my personal insights. (Plus the amount of harassment I received after the 2 streams I attempted stopped me from considering covering the other subjects I had lined up)

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Thanks @frank_d

I ummed and aahed about whether or not to post this, but I genuinely believe that the forum has been of significant use to a lot of people in the past, and it could be again. But it does need a change of direction, and for you guys as mods to have the tools you need to help cut back on a lot of the noise, especially the noise that adds no value, or worse still, can cause harm if followed.

I’d love to help as many new members as possible but it seems like the number of posts we get a day about Fiverr hacks, exchanging ratings and even purchases will still be there.

This is true, and I think this will always be the most challenging thing to fix, certainly in the short-term. Perhaps adding a ‘misinformation’ flag, similar to the spam flag we currently have? I agree that it’s open for abuse, but it could be linked to a forum rule making clear what is considered misinformation, and what is not.

Because cracking down on this also has to be in Fiverr’s best interests too. I had a quick look at Fiverr on LinkedIn, Twitter and Insta the other day, and every single post was flooded with “plz buy my gig” comments. It’s not a good look, especially for a business that’s clearly investing heavily in social media marketing (the correct form! 😉 )

But it does need a change of direction

A change of direction was announced not so long ago… Unfortunately, the shift, as they’ve called it, asks us all to be more tolerant of differences and different cultures, which in theory sounds nice, but when you look at the forum practice, it turns out that we’re supposed to be more tolerant of many things we don’t want to see on the forum at all. And that we’re supposed to be a lot more diplomatic (as in, we should say please make sure that you have the rights to use all the gig images instead of you stole it from this place (link)).

Perhaps adding a ‘misinformation’ flag, similar to the spam flag we currently have?

‘Inappropriate’ flag can be used for that, I think. Though many times, when I’ve flagged something for misinformation, I was thanked by the mods, and the post stayed. I’m not bashing mods here, it’s their decision to make, and they’ve been given certain instructions, but it does make it kinda pointless to bother with flagging.

I just question whether it’s worth it

Most of the time, when I come to the forum, I quickly come to the conclusion that reading books, watching TV series, doing some cleaning, or simply staring at the ceiling would be a much better and more productive use of my time.

Plus the amount of harassment I received after the 2 streams I attempted

Wait, what? Harassment? Sorry about the off-topic, but what happened?

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A question to the mods… specifically to someone like @mjensen415 or anyone who crosses over between forum user and Fiverr staff…

Are there any plans for quite significant improvements to the forum? Not visual changes, or category changes, but fundamental changes about what the forum is, and how it works? Tearing down walls rather than a lick of paint, that kind of thing?

I ask, because this thread…

*******************.

…is a perfect example of why I, and so many other more experienced forum members, think the forum is a bit of a hot mess at the moment.

(There wasn’t anything in particular about this thread that made me call it out. More that as I scanned it, I realised it was a perfect example of the issues the forum is facing at the moment. In short, it follows the standard ‘hot-mess post’ format)

  • Thread starts with a struggling user asking for help, specifically based around a Fiverr myth or misunderstanding (in this case the misunderstanding of how gig ranking works)
  • A brand new seller, who has never made a sale, replies by repeating some ‘tricks’ they’ve heard from other people, that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media (as is the case here), thereby also damaging the Fiverr brand in the process.
  • The OP responds, explaining that they’ve been doing the suggested things, and they don’t work.
  • An experienced forum member calls out the inexperienced member, and asks them to stop parroting nonsense, as it’s harmful to the community and to Fiverr as a whole.
  • Another brand new seller with no experience then parrots some more nonsense advice, actually repeating something that’s already been called out in the thread.
  • As I write this, the most recent reply is a seller with a few sales, advising the OP to essentially remain online, in the futile hopes that they’ll make a sale, yet another forum myth.

If this thread occurred every once in a while, no problem. But it’s not. This is pretty much how so many threads look these days. It’s exhausting to read. It must be even more exhausting to partake in.

More troubling, is that the official Fiverr forum has now become one of the most prolific sources of misinformation regarding the platform on the web. Honestly, this place feels like a dodgy sub-reddit half the time - I have to remind myself that this is the official Fiverr forum.

So, I’m asking this in all seriousness, to any of the Fiverr staff who have any involvement in the forum. What’s next? Is this it?

I used to be pretty actively involved in the forum, and I used to enjoy it. I’d love to come back, but right now, I look at regular users like @humanissocial @vickiespencer @catwriter @lloydsolutions @vibronx along with excellent moderators like @frank_d and @wp_kid (plus a bunch of others I’ve forgotten, my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet) and the efforts they’re all putting in to simply keep the forum running, and I just question whether it’s worth it, in the forum’s current state. Calling out a single user for misinformation feels like shouting into a wind tunnel at the moment, and for each person who gets challenged, 10 more come along and spout the same misinformation anyway.

There’s a separate conversation to be had about how to fix the forum. My question was more about whether Fiverr has the appetite and/or desire to fix it at this point.

I’d love to hear what others think?

Mod Note: Quoted topic removed.

that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media

Though social media is one thing that’s recommended in the Fiverr help pages.

eg.

 

favicon-32x32.png.802e52df8bcd5224c8fd47ad3c4e585c.png Fiverr.com
fiverr-og-logo-c245a93f73934a327f20392445b55b43.thumb.png.3eaae7cfa0e19c2dd8b1c8d83d3bc16c.png

Fiverr Help and Education Center

One marketplace, millions of professional services. Browse. Buy. Done.

How can I have my Gig ranked higher?

Promoting your Gigs on social media, websites, or blogs is a great way to bring more traffic. The more traffic you bring, the more exposure you will receive in our marketplace. Completing your orders on time and providing exceptional service can affect your ranking. As long as you are doing well in these areas, your ranking will improve.

So if someone asked “how can I get my gig ranked higher” and the other person said “promote your gigs on social media…” (because it was said in the help pages) someone else shouldn’t necessarily automatically say it’s misinformation. Though maybe people responding should add things like “it could (or might) help” not that doing x actually will make the gig appear on the first page.

Maybe people responding should quote more from the help pages or maybe there could be standard text for answers to common questions (like “how to rank my gig”) - assuming the same text could be given and it wouldn’t be too dependent on that seller’s gigs.

A problem with a misinformation flag would be that the algorithms are mostly secret and Fiverr doesn’t want to disclose exactly how they work. If someone said “doing x helps to increase the position of your gig in searches”, it might not be easy to use the misinformation flag on that even if you thought it was wrong, because we don’t know exactly how the algorithms work or how much weight is given to different things (we just know what Fiverr has said in various places and maybe how it seems to work when we use it, though it can be shown differently to different people).

And that we’re supposed to be a lot more diplomatic

I agree we should be more diplomatic, including when we see things that might be misinformation. And at least people giving the questionable replies are trying to help. Maybe people could explain more about how/what things will help when they see a post they think is misinformation (or what parts of the post where roughly correct/might help even if not totally correct).

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But it does need a change of direction

A change of direction was announced not so long ago… Unfortunately, the shift, as they’ve called it, asks us all to be more tolerant of differences and different cultures, which in theory sounds nice, but when you look at the forum practice, it turns out that we’re supposed to be more tolerant of many things we don’t want to see on the forum at all. And that we’re supposed to be a lot more diplomatic (as in, we should say please make sure that you have the rights to use all the gig images instead of you stole it from this place (link)).

Perhaps adding a ‘misinformation’ flag, similar to the spam flag we currently have?

‘Inappropriate’ flag can be used for that, I think. Though many times, when I’ve flagged something for misinformation, I was thanked by the mods, and the post stayed. I’m not bashing mods here, it’s their decision to make, and they’ve been given certain instructions, but it does make it kinda pointless to bother with flagging.

I just question whether it’s worth it

Most of the time, when I come to the forum, I quickly come to the conclusion that reading books, watching TV series, doing some cleaning, or simply staring at the ceiling would be a much better and more productive use of my time.

Plus the amount of harassment I received after the 2 streams I attempted

Wait, what? Harassment? Sorry about the off-topic, but what happened?

it’s their decision to make, and they’ve been given certain instructions

Bingo!

Each moderator has their own personality obviously and their way on how they want to handle things.

But, when all is said and done, there are certain instructions we cannot override.

I am not against them, but I do need to follow them even if I disagree on a personal level.

As for the off-topic: I received countless PMs here and even more messages on my Fiverr inbox asking me for help.

A few people took it a bit too far, as they kept on asking me to either mentor them for free or sent me numerous messages on a daily basis.

At some point, just replying to people, filtering out some good eggs and blocking the nonsense did put a strain on me.

That’s when I scraped all plans for future streams and a lot of forum posts.

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that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media

Though social media is one thing that’s recommended in the Fiverr help pages.

eg.

 

b0a72261e3b38eee2800a70930b2964a5782cba7.pngFiverr.com
aa2b5cb413b607e697f42a018dc3d99e3560b5a1_2_690x362.png

Fiverr Help and Education Center

One marketplace, millions of professional services. Browse. Buy. Done.

How can I have my Gig ranked higher?

Promoting your Gigs on social media, websites, or blogs is a great way to bring more traffic. The more traffic you bring, the more exposure you will receive in our marketplace. Completing your orders on time and providing exceptional service can affect your ranking. As long as you are doing well in these areas, your ranking will improve.

So if someone asked “how can I get my gig ranked higher” and the other person said “promote your gigs on social media…” (because it was said in the help pages) someone else shouldn’t necessarily automatically say it’s misinformation. Though maybe people responding should add things like “it could (or might) help” not that doing x actually will make the gig appear on the first page.

Maybe people responding should quote more from the help pages or maybe there could be standard text for answers to common questions (like “how to rank my gig”) - assuming the same text could be given and it wouldn’t be too dependent on that seller’s gigs.

A problem with a misinformation flag would be that the algorithms are mostly secret and Fiverr doesn’t want to disclose exactly how they work. If someone said “doing x helps to increase the position of your gig in searches”, it might not be easy to use the misinformation flag on that even if you thought it was wrong, because we don’t know exactly how the algorithms work or how much weight is given to different things (we just know what Fiverr has said in various places and maybe how it seems to work when we use it, though it can be shown differently to different people).

And that we’re supposed to be a lot more diplomatic

I agree we should be more diplomatic, including when we see things that might be misinformation. And at least people giving the questionable replies are trying to help. Maybe people could explain more about how/what things will help when they see a post they think is misinformation (or what parts of the post where roughly correct/might help even if not totally correct).

So if someone asked “how can I get my gig ranked higher” and the other person said “promote your gigs on social media…” (because it was said in the help pages) someone else shouldn’t necessarily automatically say it’s misinformation.

You are taking a lot of Fiverr’s suggestions at face value.

But let me put it this way: Fiverr suggests something harmless that brings traffic to their domain.

That’s good.

But out of the 100 people reading that advice, how many do you think understand what it actually means?

Building an audience, targeting your niche, keeping track of where on the customer journey your followers are, etc.

99% of them will just spam their friends, families, or even worse: Facebook private groups.

Just take 5 minutes to see what kind of replies Fiverr’s official Twitter account gets every time they post ANYTHING.

100s of gig links, people begging for someone to purchase their low-hanging fruit gig.

My point is that when people keep suggesting “share on social media”, I am not attacking them because their advice is harmful.

I am trying to proactively save the recipient of said advice, when they spam their cousins on FB and IG and then become convinced that nothing is working.

That level of despair will then lead them to try the harmful, extreme stuff that will get them in trouble.

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that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media

Though social media is one thing that’s recommended in the Fiverr help pages.

eg.

 

b0a72261e3b38eee2800a70930b2964a5782cba7.pngFiverr.com
aa2b5cb413b607e697f42a018dc3d99e3560b5a1_2_690x362.png

Fiverr Help and Education Center

One marketplace, millions of professional services. Browse. Buy. Done.

How can I have my Gig ranked higher?

Promoting your Gigs on social media, websites, or blogs is a great way to bring more traffic. The more traffic you bring, the more exposure you will receive in our marketplace. Completing your orders on time and providing exceptional service can affect your ranking. As long as you are doing well in these areas, your ranking will improve.

So if someone asked “how can I get my gig ranked higher” and the other person said “promote your gigs on social media…” (because it was said in the help pages) someone else shouldn’t necessarily automatically say it’s misinformation. Though maybe people responding should add things like “it could (or might) help” not that doing x actually will make the gig appear on the first page.

Maybe people responding should quote more from the help pages or maybe there could be standard text for answers to common questions (like “how to rank my gig”) - assuming the same text could be given and it wouldn’t be too dependent on that seller’s gigs.

A problem with a misinformation flag would be that the algorithms are mostly secret and Fiverr doesn’t want to disclose exactly how they work. If someone said “doing x helps to increase the position of your gig in searches”, it might not be easy to use the misinformation flag on that even if you thought it was wrong, because we don’t know exactly how the algorithms work or how much weight is given to different things (we just know what Fiverr has said in various places and maybe how it seems to work when we use it, though it can be shown differently to different people).

And that we’re supposed to be a lot more diplomatic

I agree we should be more diplomatic, including when we see things that might be misinformation. And at least people giving the questionable replies are trying to help. Maybe people could explain more about how/what things will help when they see a post they think is misinformation (or what parts of the post where roughly correct/might help even if not totally correct).

Though social media is one thing that’s recommended in the Fiverr help pages.

eg.

If I were a nutritionist, and someone approached me and asked me how to lose weight, and I simply replied “eat less”… I would technically not be spouting misinformation, because there is some truth in that statement, and it’s widely accepted that portion control is a contributing factor to weight loss/gain. But that statement on it’s own, is in my opinion misinformation.

  • It lacks context. How much less food should I eat? Should I stop eating entirely?
  • It can’t exist in a vacuum. Eating less doesn’t make up for not having a balanced diet or not exercising.

I hear what you’re saying, but I think you’re arguing a very literal point, in a discussion that perhaps needs us all to focus less on the literal, and more on what we all know is correct. If it were as simple as ‘post on social media and you’ll get sales’, we’d all be rich. I think it’s almost irrelevant at this point what the Fiverr help pages say.

Maybe people could explain more about how/what things will help when they see a post they think is misinformation (or what parts of the post where roughly correct/might help even if not totally correct).

The problem with this in my opinion, is this feeds right into the ‘please spoon-feed me’ mentality that exists on the forums right now. Nobody wants to search, because ya know, effort. It’s so much easier to create a new thread, and simply demand that experienced sellers take time out of their day to rehash the same information they’ve already written 1000 times.

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A question to the mods… specifically to someone like @mjensen415 or anyone who crosses over between forum user and Fiverr staff…

Are there any plans for quite significant improvements to the forum? Not visual changes, or category changes, but fundamental changes about what the forum is, and how it works? Tearing down walls rather than a lick of paint, that kind of thing?

I ask, because this thread…

*******************.

…is a perfect example of why I, and so many other more experienced forum members, think the forum is a bit of a hot mess at the moment.

(There wasn’t anything in particular about this thread that made me call it out. More that as I scanned it, I realised it was a perfect example of the issues the forum is facing at the moment. In short, it follows the standard ‘hot-mess post’ format)

  • Thread starts with a struggling user asking for help, specifically based around a Fiverr myth or misunderstanding (in this case the misunderstanding of how gig ranking works)
  • A brand new seller, who has never made a sale, replies by repeating some ‘tricks’ they’ve heard from other people, that either don’t work, or don’t work in a vacuum, and will therefore be useless to the OP. They often involve spamming social media (as is the case here), thereby also damaging the Fiverr brand in the process.
  • The OP responds, explaining that they’ve been doing the suggested things, and they don’t work.
  • An experienced forum member calls out the inexperienced member, and asks them to stop parroting nonsense, as it’s harmful to the community and to Fiverr as a whole.
  • Another brand new seller with no experience then parrots some more nonsense advice, actually repeating something that’s already been called out in the thread.
  • As I write this, the most recent reply is a seller with a few sales, advising the OP to essentially remain online, in the futile hopes that they’ll make a sale, yet another forum myth.

If this thread occurred every once in a while, no problem. But it’s not. This is pretty much how so many threads look these days. It’s exhausting to read. It must be even more exhausting to partake in.

More troubling, is that the official Fiverr forum has now become one of the most prolific sources of misinformation regarding the platform on the web. Honestly, this place feels like a dodgy sub-reddit half the time - I have to remind myself that this is the official Fiverr forum.

So, I’m asking this in all seriousness, to any of the Fiverr staff who have any involvement in the forum. What’s next? Is this it?

I used to be pretty actively involved in the forum, and I used to enjoy it. I’d love to come back, but right now, I look at regular users like @humanissocial @vickiespencer @catwriter @lloydsolutions @vibronx along with excellent moderators like @frank_d and @wp_kid (plus a bunch of others I’ve forgotten, my coffee hasn’t kicked in yet) and the efforts they’re all putting in to simply keep the forum running, and I just question whether it’s worth it, in the forum’s current state. Calling out a single user for misinformation feels like shouting into a wind tunnel at the moment, and for each person who gets challenged, 10 more come along and spout the same misinformation anyway.

There’s a separate conversation to be had about how to fix the forum. My question was more about whether Fiverr has the appetite and/or desire to fix it at this point.

I’d love to hear what others think?

Mod Note: Quoted topic removed.

so many threads

We have rules for them

When starting a new discussion, please check that you aren’t duplicating an existing discussion thread or creating one that is very similar. These will be removed.

and

…users are encouraged to post commentary that is insightful, useful, or meaningful.

Whenever a new user adds a tread or reply, I try to avoid flag or hide unless it’s strongly necessary. So when I handle flags, I focus on “User-friendly” action rather than the quality of contents. Thanks for the heads up, I will be watching this thread and looking forward to more feedback. We definitely looking to improve our forum experience in 2021.

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Though social media is one thing that’s recommended in the Fiverr help pages.

eg.

If I were a nutritionist, and someone approached me and asked me how to lose weight, and I simply replied “eat less”… I would technically not be spouting misinformation, because there is some truth in that statement, and it’s widely accepted that portion control is a contributing factor to weight loss/gain. But that statement on it’s own, is in my opinion misinformation.

  • It lacks context. How much less food should I eat? Should I stop eating entirely?
  • It can’t exist in a vacuum. Eating less doesn’t make up for not having a balanced diet or not exercising.

I hear what you’re saying, but I think you’re arguing a very literal point, in a discussion that perhaps needs us all to focus less on the literal, and more on what we all know is correct. If it were as simple as ‘post on social media and you’ll get sales’, we’d all be rich. I think it’s almost irrelevant at this point what the Fiverr help pages say.

Maybe people could explain more about how/what things will help when they see a post they think is misinformation (or what parts of the post where roughly correct/might help even if not totally correct).

The problem with this in my opinion, is this feeds right into the ‘please spoon-feed me’ mentality that exists on the forums right now. Nobody wants to search, because ya know, effort. It’s so much easier to create a new thread, and simply demand that experienced sellers take time out of their day to rehash the same information they’ve already written 1000 times.

Great points and I think there’s a great opportunity here to restructure all of our existing how-to posts or answers or guides, in a way that it’s easier for people to access and find what they are looking for.

I also think that we can still be a welcoming and friendly place whilst requiring brand new users to read a specific thread or two before being able to post.

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I think @lloydsolutions is doing exactly the right thing.

Question coming in.

Answer with link: Look here.

And after that, the thread should be locked immediately.

💯

Follow-up question:

What happens to the 2-3 replies from completely unreliable sources, that managed to creep in the thread before @lloydsolutions or anyone else replies?

You know the kind of replies I am talking about.

The ones that get 10 hearts from 0-level sellers.

Should they stay there?

Edit: I acknowledge that I keep falling in the same trap. I want the content to be better, not just the forum to be friendlier and for everyone to follow rules. I think @wp_kid is a zen master when it comes to moderating. 🙂

Edit 2: For instance I had a great convo with @vickiespencer the other day. Via PM. That conversation could only take place in private. Had it been a public thread, it wouldn’t have survived.

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One idea would be to allow such posts to be marked with a flag. After 3 flags, they would be deleted.

I believe that such comments are not taken into account if they are flagged?

Although they haven’t actually done anything “wrong”.

Well that’s the thing:

The rules cover what’s “wrong”.

Not bad advice or people with 0 sales making outrageous claims.

And yes the current flag system works as follows:

2 flags hide the comment, and 24 hours later it gets deleted.

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One idea would be to allow such posts to be marked with a flag. After 3 flags, they would be deleted.

I believe that such comments are not taken into account if they are flagged?

Although they haven’t actually done anything “wrong”.

Or maybe the post could remain and be still visible after it was flagged (probably a manual flag) but a standard message/messages added about the content and a link automatically added near that message like twitter fact checks to give more info about the flagged reasons (eg. if someone says “post 10 buyer requests each day” or “post your gigs on social media” it could link to more info about those topics and say under what conditions sending offers/posting on social media might help).

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💯

Follow-up question:

What happens to the 2-3 replies from completely unreliable sources, that managed to creep in the thread before @lloydsolutions or anyone else replies?

You know the kind of replies I am talking about.

The ones that get 10 hearts from 0-level sellers.

Should they stay there?

Edit: I acknowledge that I keep falling in the same trap. I want the content to be better, not just the forum to be friendlier and for everyone to follow rules. I think @wp_kid is a zen master when it comes to moderating. 🙂

Edit 2: For instance I had a great convo with @vickiespencer the other day. Via PM. That conversation could only take place in private. Had it been a public thread, it wouldn’t have survived.

I’m a developer 😃 My priority #1 is to get the shit working then I focus on quality lol.

Btw the definition/Scale of quality can vary from person to person. so we can’t drow a line by the quality that can be agreeable by everyone 🤡

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💯

Follow-up question:

What happens to the 2-3 replies from completely unreliable sources, that managed to creep in the thread before @lloydsolutions or anyone else replies?

You know the kind of replies I am talking about.

The ones that get 10 hearts from 0-level sellers.

Should they stay there?

Edit: I acknowledge that I keep falling in the same trap. I want the content to be better, not just the forum to be friendlier and for everyone to follow rules. I think @wp_kid is a zen master when it comes to moderating. 🙂

Edit 2: For instance I had a great convo with @vickiespencer the other day. Via PM. That conversation could only take place in private. Had it been a public thread, it wouldn’t have survived.

What happens to the 2-3 replies from completely unreliable sources, that managed to creep in the thread before @lloydsolutions or anyone else replies?

You know the kind of replies I am talking about.

The ones that get 10 hearts from 0-level sellers.

Should they stay there?

In my opinion, they should be deleted. The user could be given a polite first warning about not sharing misinformation, and directed to a page or thread that explains this in detail. Repeat offenders get a suspension or ban.

The forum would of course have to have an agreeable ‘misinformation’ list, but then I would treat these posts the same way we’d treat someone swearing at or calling out another user.

Yes, this is censorship. Yes, this would take a HUGE amount of work to stay on top of. But I do believe that over time, as people begin to realise that the forum doesn’t like people coming along and spreading incorrect information, it would cut down.

Or maybe the post could remain and be still visible after it was flagged (probably a manual flag) but a standard message/messages added about the content and a link automatically added near that message like twitter fact checks to give more info about the flagged reasons

Yeah, I was thinking of something like this too - my worry would be that the flag or warning would get read and absorbed much less than the misinformation. People like to hear what they want to hear. I dunno, it would definitely be worth a trial run - perhaps a less draconian step than fully deleting answers.

(Also, just so there’s no confusion, I’m 100% all-for keeping an overarching atmosphere of friendliness and helpfulness in the forum. I just think we should strive for the best of both worlds. I’d love to see a simple tool that allows us to call out misinformation, without it becoming a personal attack on the person who’s claimed it.)

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Imagine just how much more of a resource this place could be, especially during this whole Covid-19 situation.

Feeling like a part of an active community is a mental boost we could all benefit from.

It took me a while to embrace a friendly and welcoming mod stance, but that doesn’t mean I don’t voice my concerns and try to protect the forum from people who harm others either intentionally or with their ignorance.

Heck this whole situation has affected me and my attempt to create helpful posts with my personal insights. (Plus the amount of harassment I received after the 2 streams I attempted stopped me from considering covering the other subjects I had lined up)

mental boost we could all benefit from.

It took me a while to embrace a friendly and welcoming mod stance, but that doesn’t mean I don’t voice my concerns and try to protect the forum from people who harm others either intentionally or with their ignorance.

You strike this balance so well, Frank. I admire how you approach all this.

Thanks so much for this post and the mention, @cubittaudio. I truly believe the only solution is to change and enact different policies for the forum:

The policy should condemn posts that parrot incorrect information and advocate spam in the forum. The policy ought to state that such posts ought to be removed and the people who post them ought to be suspended from the forum.

Nothing in the forum policy prevents people from doing this or requires messages be sent to people who do it, so it isn’t going to stop happening.

Change can only happen from the policy downward.

And I don’t understand why I get suspended for calling out people who lie and trick naive sellers but the people who are spreading lies to trick sellers in the forum get no penalty at all. Why is this?

Nothing will change until Fiverr starts placing more value on insights and starts respecting ethics.

Fiverr wants to be taken seriously as a company yet does absolutely nothing to combat the very myths that spur on the behaviour that hurts their reputation, most of which either starts or is perpetuated in the official forum. It makes no sense.

I speak out here because the bad reputation of Fiverr hurts all of our livelihoods and I resent being expected to act like nothing is wrong.

Change the freaking policy, Fiverr. And mandate stricter moderation against the unethical behaviour here.

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I’m a developer 😃 My priority #1 is to get the shit working then I focus on quality lol.

Btw the definition/Scale of quality can vary from person to person. so we can’t drow a line by the quality that can be agreeable by everyone 🤡

Btw the definition/Scale of quality can vary from person to person. so we can’t drow a line by the quality that can be agreeable by everyone 🤡

Let’s fire up this wonderful discussion first as a mod team, with Fiverr community staff of course included, and then bring whatever is decided to the public.

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His post was an ironic depiction of this very issue. 🙂

@antomtjvc ‘s subtle irony gets lost more often than not.

His post was an ironic depiction of this very issue. 🙂

@antomtjvc ‘s subtle irony gets lost more often than not.

@antomtjvc

The official Fiverr forum is full of so much absurdity that it is impossible to differentiate satire from actual beliefs.

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