Forum: Any better?

[newsmike]

It's been 6 weeks and I'm still seeing the same influx of noob threads trying to "rank gig", the same fake advice, the same parade of parrots thanking the posters for the fake advice and the same "experts" lamenting that despite their expert status, they cannot make sales. Anyone else see any improvements?

 

[vickiespencer]

1 minute ago, newsmike said:

I'm still seeing the same influx of noob threads trying to "rank gig", the same fake advice and the same parade of parrots thanking the posters for the fake advice and the same "experts" lamenting that despite their expert status, they cannot make sales.

What a perfect description of what we are seeing here. It is sad. I complained about the old Fiverr Forum, but now I find myself missing it. 🙁

[newsmike]

18 minutes ago, vickiespencer said:

I complained about the old Fiverr Forum, but now I find myself missing it.

How about if they tied your forum permissions to your Fiverr level?

No Fiverr rank    read only
Level 1                react only
Level 2                react & reply
TRS                     start new threads, react, reply 

 

[vickiespencer]

 

 

 

fiveroptic1

4 minutes ago, newsmike said:

How about if they tied your forum permissions to your Fiverr rank?

No Fiverr rank    read only
Level 1                react only
Level 2                react & reply
TRS                     start new threads, react, reply 

That may work, but then there would be users like @fiveroptic1 who do provide meaningful content that would be stifled. It appears he already was when he first started. Maybe he has a suggestion.

[wp_kid]

6 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Fiverr rank?

Sounds good  but doesn't work. 

[newsmike]

4 minutes ago, wp_kid said:

Sounds good  but doesn't work. 

How do we know if we don't try?  Not sure that is the perfect answer, but perhaps some other version. With very few exceptions, the brand new members need to "read only" in order to learn. Allowing them to post just gets us the endless "how to make sales" posts and the nonsense replies. 

[joshnadin]

13 minutes ago, newsmike said:

How about if they tied your forum permissions to your Fiverr level?

No Fiverr rank    read only
Level 1                react only
Level 2                react & reply
TRS                     start new threads, react, reply 

 

That would be one way of combating the onslaught of trash that's posted!
However, as previously mentioned, it would also penalize some forum members that aren't yet achieving TRS status and actually have valuable and helpful information to share, even though I'm fully aware this would be the vast minority.

Maybe the forum should just be policed much more. If serial offenders consistently spam nonsense, they simply get their privileges taken away. I appreciate this would consist of a lot of work for a moderation team, but it could work.
Perhaps even an 'upvote' and 'downvote' system where established members of the forum can leave anonymous feedback on the quality of posts, and if a user is consistently getting downvotes then they again have their privileges removed.

Perhaps a combination of things or something else entirely different.

Whatever the solution is though, I agree that something needs to be done. Visiting the forum is currently just a negative experience where I'm not seeing any helpful insight or interesting topics to discuss, and find myself also being negative as I'm frustrated by the quality and content of 95% of the posts and comments on here. It's painful.

[newsmike]

5 minutes ago, joshnadin said:

Perhaps even an 'upvote' and 'downvote' system where established members of the forum can leave anonymous feedback on the quality of posts, and if a user is consistently getting downvotes then they again have their privileges removed.

This was discussed, but it was quickly pointed out that the flood of noobs outnumber the contributing members so drastically, that they would push us to the bottom, and it would have the reverse effect.  I agree, we do need some sort of relief though. As it stands now, I am actually surprised when I find an actual post with something to discuss, buried in the sea of desperate requests for help and the nonsense advice offered in response. 

[joshnadin]

1 minute ago, newsmike said:

This was discussed, but it was quickly pointed out that the flood of noobs outnumber the contributing members so drastically, that they would push us to the bottom, and it would have the reverse effect. 

Now you say it, yeah. It would be abused in a manner that defeats the purpose of the system entirely. 

5 minutes ago, newsmike said:

As it stands now, I am actually surprised when I find an actual post with something to discuss, buried in the sea of desperate please for help. 

Me too!
I'm not the most experienced seller in the world and came here with the hope of gaining some insight from like minded professionals. But sadly, any helpful or interesting content is simply saturated by the frustrating spam and nonsense posted every day. It's a shame. The forum has real potential to be useful to many people who would both benefit and contribute, but I'm sure the current state of affairs either drives them away or makes them not want to get involved at all.

[maitasun]

33 minutes ago, newsmike said:

How about if they tied your forum permissions to your Fiverr level?

No Fiverr rank    read only
Level 1                react only
Level 2                react & reply
TRS                     start new threads, react, reply 

Mike, this won't work because buyers have no level. If it were applied, they would never be able to post - which is their real need.

[gajuseidi]

42 minutes ago, newsmike said:

Level 1                react only

😶

On a serious note, after the updates I have experienced post restrictions that do not make a lot of sense. Some time ago I replied to only one post, and received the "you reached your post limit for today" message. And even now I'm pretty sure I have 4-5 posts per day which is really not helpful if I'm trying to have a legitimate conversation with someone.

[newsmike]

27 minutes ago, maitasun said:

buyers have no level.

Yeah, that needs to be figured in. Good point.

[fiveroptic1]

Hi all, & @newsmike.  it's a good idea in principle, but of course, it would prohibit any meaningful contribution from newbies who do want to join in constructively. I would imagine that Fiverr itself doesn't want to stifle new contributors en masse either, as that would be counterproductive to growing the forum. Above all, it would only work on the presumption that if someone is established on the main site, they would be a meaningful contributor on here, but that would not necessarily be the case.  Serious newbies would also be handicapped by their ability to post questions and seek advice & ideas from experienced members - a core reason why this forum exists I would imagine.   

But hey, I too am frustrated. I've said this before; that this forum should be a place to discuss (mainly) business / freelancing ideas. Sadly, most new members don't seem to get that simple premise. I've also said before that it seems to be a 'forum within a forum' - a few interesting threads swamped by drivel. I won't go on though, as it's all been said before!  If I had a definitive answer to the problems, I would gladly suggest it. However, I've a few ideas to chuck out there: 

1. All forum newbies MUST watch a mandatory video on signing up, to know how to use the forum properly - on what is acceptable behavior and what is a no no. (There are similar videos on Fiverrr now for newbie onboarding - that prohibits a viewer from moving forward with the process until ALL the video has been watched). The videos should outline best practice behaviour - e.g: where to post a question, a gig review, how to comment etc etc. Plus general guides as applicable.

However, (& most importantly), the videos should outline what will happen if a newbie doesn't play ball. e.g: 3 warning strikes and you're out - permanently. *This final warning can be monitored manually by the mods, so that everyone can appeal (even the most well intentioned newbies can make forum etiquette mistakes!) 

Finally, and here's the really important bit, although the 'language of the forum' is English, these videos should be created in, let's say, English, Spanish, Urdu, Hindi, German, Portuguese, Italian & maybe (Cantonese/Mandarin), plus any other languages where the main site has a presence (Fiverr will have the data on which languages predominate - although I reckon the above list would cover 95% of the world's speakers to a basic level). So, there's no excuses - no "I didn't understand" because "English I have not very good" excuses etc etc. Even the subsequent warnings could be delivered in English and the users mother tongue!! 

With this method, everyone is presumed innocent till proven guilty, but would very quickly relinquish that position if they muck about. This could all be automated until the final manual warning. The simple premise of this is that everybody, no matter where they come from, will have been told, in their own language, what the consequences are if they don't use the forum correctly - i.e. it's fair to all & there can be no excuses.

2. A separate 'invite only' forum area for established members & newbies who want to contribute meaningfully. Self explanatory really. Plus, an invite to join can also go out to all the members who have left / lapsed their contributions, to become involved again.

As I said, no silver bullets, but maybe simple things that can be actioned swiftly to improve the atmos for all of us here now and for those who are looking to join contribute in the future.

 

  

[visualstudios]

Not better. I've been commenting nothing but  " CONGA RATS" all day (on appropriate threads)  and I am in the top 3 users of the day. CONGA RATS Strat clearly OP, pls nerf.

[mandyzines]

I can only imagine how complicated this could be for administration, especially when the format is new and the purpose of the forum is not yet clear.

Are there shills or bots that create Fiverr accounts just to post on the forum? I'm still trying to figure this climate out.

All I know is that it's a bit awkward to be neither a newbie spammer nor a long-time resident of the forum, and the spam makes it hard to use the search function.

[fiveroptic1]

Hi all - thanks for the mention & I've just posted a reply in this thread. However, it was quite long so it's now in a 'moderation pending' queue. Expect it to arrive in this conversation within the week like my last long form post! Another understandable restriction on newbie activity I presume 😏

[vickiespencer]

4 hours ago, joshnadin said:

Maybe the forum should just be policed much more. I

It once was. That is what I miss about the old Fiverr Forum.

 

3 hours ago, mandyzines said:

I can only imagine how complicated this could be for administration, especially when the format is new and the purpose of the forum is not yet clear.

Ain't that the truth!

I made a few comments in the introduction to seller plus thread. I made sure to unfollow it. Yet today I have 3 pages of notifications that one of the newbie forum members has liked every one of those posts. Ugh! I checked and he is not one of my followers, so I do not understand why I got all of these notifications.

BTW, I @ted the seller who did all of the likes that appeared on my notification feed and told him to stop trying to game the system by liking every post in a 27 page thread because of my issues with getting pages of his notifications. The post was removed. 🤨

[mandyzines]

1 hour ago, vickiespencer said:

Ain't that the truth!

I made a few comments in the introduction to seller plus thread. I made sure to unfollow it. Yet today I have 3 pages of notifications that one of the newbie forum members has liked every one of those posts. Ugh! I checked and he is not one of my followers, so I do not understand why I got all of these notifications.

BTW, I @ted the seller who did all of the likes that appeared on my notification feed and told him to stop trying to game the system by liking every post in a 27 page thread because of my issues with getting pages of his notifications. The post was removed. 🤨

It might be standard, rather than custom, forum software that was implemented and now little tweaks are being coded in at whatever pace resources enable them to happen. I see that user feedback has been requested in the past, but I have to wonder how (or if) this forum serves Fiverr as a business.

I've seen a few things that made me scratch my head as well. One of my comments was removed. I don't know why and I didn't ask. It seemed like there was a lot going on in this neck of the woods, and figured that I shouldn't take it personally. The weeds in my garden were calling out my name, anyway.

[vickiespencer]

11 minutes ago, mandyzines said:

I have to wonder how (or if) this forum serves Fiverr as a business.

 

Because the users who give good advice here help CS not to be so overloaded. All CS has to do is refer the users to the Fiverr  Forum. I do not think the Fiverr Forum is referred to as "Support" on the Fiverr app for nothing.

[mariashtelle1]

6 hours ago, newsmike said:

Anyone else see any improvements?

🤐🤐🤐

 

Nothing will change unless all forum rules are enforced. I will keep repeating that all this can be solved with proper m o deration. But it seems that for now the priority is to figure out how to attach music/voice attachments rather than cleaning spam. Choices are clear. 

[theratypist]

1 hour ago, vickiespencer said:

I made a few comments in the introduction to seller plus thread. I made sure to unfollow it. Yet today I have 3 pages of notifications that one of the newbie forum members has liked every one of those posts. Ugh! I checked and he is not one of my followers, so I do not understand why I got all of these notifications.

Oh dear I'm sort of glad I'm not the only one experiencing this. The past few days to weeks there are truly days that I get spam likes that the actual notifications I want to see gets buried deep down. I wanted to make a post about it under forum feedback but I think I was too busy that day I forgot, lol!

TL; DR I only want notifications from people I follow. 

[frank_d]

Hey gang!

Just wanted to drop by and say hi to everyone.

I am not participating as much as I used to because the new forum “broke” how I used to look for content/discussions I wanted to read and participate in.

I am still lurking and reading, but the experience is not the same as the old forum.

I keep trying to force myself to get into it, but seems like it’s not working.

I am almost done writing the webinar I am hosting on the 14th, and once I am done animating it, I will try to write a few pieces of content I really need to talk about. 🙂

[theratypist]

2 minutes ago, frank_d said:

Hey gang!

Just wanted to drop by and say hi to everyone.

I am not participating as much as I used to because the new forum “broke” how I used to look for content/discussions I wanted to read and participate in.

I am still lurking and reading, but the experience is not the same as the old forum.

I keep trying to force myself to get into it, but seems like it’s not working.

I am almost done writing the webinar I am hosting on the 14th, and once I am done animating it, I will try to write a few pieces of content I really need to talk about. 🙂

Hi Frank, I miss ya! I'm so glad to see you popping in.

I am looking forward to reading Fiverr 4.0 or whatever it is you plan to talk about. 😄

Hope all is well! Take care and here's some virtual pizza. 🍕

[fiveroptic1]

Thank you mods for clearing my above long post so swiftly (although why has this post been placed in the moderation queue??) 

[melanielm]

No clue if this is even possible, but it would probably work.

Posters of a certain caliber have the power to downvote posts, which will vanish if they receive enough downvotes. This should include some automated message to the poster saying something like "Your post does not meet the minimum posting quality standards" and point to something that teaches them how to use the 'Like' etc. icons, where to post, the TOS, or whatever they need to actually function in a reasonable way. A way to make community moderation happen?

Probably a pipe dream.