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Post by Admin Team on Dec 24, 2023 9:04:49 GMT
From all the Staff here at District Dave's Forum, to all of you wherever you are around the World - thanks for your contributions however small, throughout this year, Seasons Greetings !!
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Post by Admin Team on Sept 25, 2023 20:41:34 GMT
Following a period of reflection over summer londonstuff and whistlekiller2000 have decided that now is the right time for them to step away from their Administrator roles. Both will still be around the forum and become Advisors. The remaining three Admins will continue in their role and are pleased to note that this restores the majority of LUL staff within the Admin team. The Moderator team has gradually reduced over the last year or so, and we feel that this is a good time to strengthen it; Chris M has accepted our invitation to step up to this role. Chris has been a forum member since some of the earliest days of the forum and his daily quiz is something which we recognise is widely enjoyed by many.
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Post by Admin Team on Dec 24, 2022 12:09:15 GMT
From all the Staff here at District Dave's Forum, to all of you wherever you are around the World - thanks for your contributions however small, throughout this year, Seasons Greetings !!
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Post by Admin Team on Dec 24, 2021 4:40:21 GMT
From all the Staff here at District Dave's Forum, to all of you wherever you are around the World - thanks for your contributions however small, throughout this year, Seasons Greetings !!
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 7, 2021 17:42:35 GMT
The Administrators have recently been reviewing the staffing of the Forum and there are a small but significant number of changes, which are effective immediately. Tom will join the Admin team. He has been on the Forum for many years, is a senior member of the signalling department at LU and contributes regularly. It's fair to say that his knowledge is second-to-none. Having Tom as part of the Admin Team also regains the balance between staff and non-LU staff. To replace him goldenarrow will join the Mod team. Like Tom he has contributed a lot to the Forum over a long period of time and has an excellent knowledge of the Underground. Congratulations to both Tom and goldenarrow - we know they will be great. We’d also like to thank all of the existing Mod team for their continued excellent work on the Forum. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes in terms of discussion of threads, membership admin and so on and they all have been great. Thanks all.
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Post by Admin Team on Sept 29, 2021 14:36:07 GMT
It’s that time of year again!
In the last year over, again, well over 200 people have applied to join the forum and more than a fair few of them have become regulars. The Forum Staff and, we hope, the whole DD community, are proud of the Forum and how it continues to be a place to ask and find out about anything from the more mundane to the specific and niche. Several members of staff have been here well over a decade and still learn something new while new members, often ones who stumble across us, also quickly contribute with their own knowledge.
We try to keep our list of members fairly current but inevitably some existing members move on, change direction or develop other interests.
Rather than have our membership numbers artificially inflated, around this time every year the staff on the Forum look through our membership list and prune those who have been inactive for an extended period of time. In general this would only be for members who have not logged in at all this year and in cases of well-established members, much longer than that - it is looked at very much on a case-by-case basis.
We certainly don't want to end anyone's membership who wants to continue as a member and so some action might be required before this takes place on Sunday 24th October.
Action to be taken:
• If you are reading this and are logged in as yourself, or have been at any point in 2021, there's nothing more to do.
• If you are a member who reads the forum as a guest but have not logged in during 2020 or 2021, we suggest that you do, at least once, before 24th October. Anyone who forgets their username or password can request this to be reset through Proboards (or contact a staff member and we'll do our best to help you). • If you log in in invisible mode, Proboards' software only logs the last time you logged in visibly, so either log in as visible at least once or PM any member of staff just to let us know you're still here.
After the 24th October if there is anyone who is late to this and would like to be restored they are welcome to apply again under the same name. They will have their account and post count restored as it was before.
Forum Rules, Statements and Policies
As an annual reminder for all members, we invite you to read the various rules and statements that we have and which have remained the same over the last year:
Forum Rules: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/9141/forum-rules
Safeguarding Statement: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/29590/safeguarding-statement-information
How we use your Data: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/29624/application-process-use-data
This particular thread is locked but if you have any questions, please contact one of the Forum Staff by PM in the first instance.
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Post by Admin Team on Mar 17, 2021 10:08:32 GMT
It is ten years today since the death of founder District Dave Maloney, the forum continues to thrive in an ever changing digital world being testament to his forward thinking vision.I'm sure we will all want to remember Dave this anniversary day.
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Post by Admin Team on Feb 1, 2021 19:39:45 GMT
For those who are interested in this sort of thing, today marks the 14th anniversary of the daily quiz. I set out to do a month in 2007 - 5115 days and 4922 questions later here we are. | All locations | Current stations | Other locations | Total locations used | 913 | 427 | 486 | Locations used more than once | 828 | 423 | 405 | Total appearances | 7797 | 6116 | 1681 | Most appearances | 19 | 19 | 14 | Average appearances | 8.32 | 14.32 | 3.46 | Median appearances | 6.00 | 15.00 | 3.00 | Modal Appearances | 2 | 18 | 2 |
Average locations per day: 1.58 The locations that have appeared the maximum number of times are: Farringdon, King's Cross St. Pancras, Shepherd's Bush (Central line), Victoria and Acton Museum Depot. The forum staff would like to formally thank Chris for his hard work with the quiz over the last 14years, it has taken a tremendous amount of work to present at least one picture per day (barring occasional technical difficulties!). Lots of people enjoy the quiz though some are unable to identify their own photographs when they appear! Whilst it is true that Chris has put an exceptional amount of work into the quiz, we would also like to thank the other various members of the quiz team (past and present) who over the years have routinely posted each days question and provided the answers: SE13, mrfs42, cso, rincew1nd and Colin D.
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Post by Admin Team on Jan 20, 2021 23:33:27 GMT
Forum Staff tonight became aware that a former member of the Forum was convicted in 2016 of sexual offences involving children under the age of 16. This particular member was a member for several months in 2014 and was a prolific poster before being permanently banned later that year. While he gave the impression to Forum Staff of being a curious individual even without knowing this new information, there is nothing to suggest that anything similar to these offences took place on or through the Forum. As some background information to the forum which newer members may be unaware, membership of the forum has always been ‘closed’ in that any application has to be approved by a member of staff before anyone can post or see the restricted areas of the forum. Part of this process is to have some sort of internet trail: while we do not wish to pry into people’s lives nor collect unnecessary information, equally we have a responsibility to other members and also to London Underground to make the Forum a safe, friendly and responsible place. We do not want people who cause trouble or other undesirables trying to find out information which would not normally be in the public domain. Over the years we have had everything from graffiti artists to people with exceedingly sinister motives applying to be on the forum and we hope that, by and large, we have been successful at keeping these people away. Additionally, forum staff are all aware of safeguarding issues: many work, or have worked, in the transport industry and are DBS checked, others work in areas such as education and the pharmaceutical industry where the safeguarding training they both receive and give to others, is to a very high level. At forum socials, for example, while we positively welcome members who are under 18 years of age to attend, we also encourage them to bring an adult with them and also to have on them an emergency contact number. On the Forum itself the usernames of forum staff, both Admins and Mods, are prominently stated and any of one of them can be contacted at any time in case of any concerns. Should any member feel that they have anything to report or any other specific safeguarding concerns regarding this or any other member, they are welcome to contact any member of Forum staff or, if appropriate, a relevant authority such as the police. All members here are encouraged to read the Forum’s Safeguarding statement. Regarding the individual involved, obviously everyone has a right to live a normal life after they have served their conviction. However, in this particular case, the individual’s behaviour continues to cause alarm to others in the wider community on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, hence us bringing it to the attention of all Forum members. In general we would advise that young people in particular are aware of general internet safety advice. This advice is regularly taught in schools and colleges - for example, not giving out personal information to strangers, having a username which is not related to your real name and not meeting anyone in real life without being accompanied or letting a responsible adult know your intentions in advance. For more information, the Think U Know website has lots of information and advice: www.thinkuknow.co.ukWe thank Forum members in advance for their understanding and equally hope that they understand the reasoning behind the measures that we put in place before accepting new applications.
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 4, 2020 19:28:43 GMT
Over recent weeks it has become apparent to the admin team that a conventional forum social will not be possible this Christmas.
You may wish to reserve 11th December 2021 in your diaries, though hopefully we will be able to arrange something sooner.
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Post by Admin Team on Oct 18, 2020 17:55:09 GMT
Forum Rule 3(a) states:
We have this week suspended a member for five years following breach of this rule.
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Post by Admin Team on Jul 19, 2020 12:25:31 GMT
A limited number of accounts that have not been active for an extended period of time have been pruned today. If anyone has had their membership pruned who subsequently wants to post again, please get in contact with any member of staff or leave a note in the application process and we'll get you through the door in double-quick time.
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Post by Admin Team on May 31, 2020 15:38:21 GMT
It’s that time of year again! In the last year over 200 people have applied to join the forum and more than a fair few of them have become regulars. The Forum Staff and, we hope, the whole DD community, are proud of the Forum and how it continues to be a place to ask and find out about anything from the more mundane to the specific and niche. Several members of staff have been here well over a decade and still learn something new while new members, often ones who stumble across us, also quickly contribute with their own knowledge. We try to keep our list of members fairly current but inevitably some existing members move on, change direction or develop other interests. Rather than have our membership numbers artificially inflated, around this time every year the staff on the Forum look through our membership list and prune those who have been inactive for an extended period of time. In general this would only be for members who have not logged in at all this year and in cases of well-established members, much longer than that - it is looked at very much on a case-by-case basis. We certainly don't want to end anyone's membership who wants to continue as a member and so some action might be required before this takes place on Sunday 5th July 2020. Action to be taken:• If you are reading this and are logged in as yourself, or have been at any point in 2020, there's nothing more to do.
• If you are a member who reads the forum as a guest but have not logged in during 2019 or 2020, we suggest that you do, at least once, before 5th July. Anyone who forgets their username or password can request this to be reset through Proboards (or contact a staff member and we'll do our best to help you). • If you log in in invisible mode, Proboards' software only logs the last time you logged in visibly, so either log in as visible at least once or PM any member of staff just to let us know you're still here. After the 5th July if there is anyone who is late to this and would like to be restored they are welcome to apply again under the same name. They will have their account and post count restored as it was before. Forum Rules, Statements and PoliciesAs an annual reminder for all members, we invite you to read the various rules and statements that we have and which have been lightly updated this year: Forum Rules: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/9141/forum-rulesSafeguarding Statement: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/29590/safeguarding-statement-informationHow we use your Data: districtdavesforum.co.uk/thread/29624/application-process-use-dataThis particular thread is locked but if you have any questions, please contact one of the Forum Staff by PM in the first instance.
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Post by Admin Team on May 10, 2020 19:19:26 GMT
We have separated 'Station-Related Matters' and 'Recruitment' into separate boards, just because they don't really form natural bedfellows. The Recruitment section is visible to forum members only.
Any other gentle suggestions are always appreciated.
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Post by Admin Team on May 10, 2020 18:54:28 GMT
The Forum Staff review our policies and rules on at least an annual basis. We have review the Application Process and Use of Data policy and made the following changes. Minor changes which do not affect the meaning or spirit of the statement have not been highlighted.
This section has been clarified relating to how we check applications.
As per the Forum Rules, new accounts can be deleted or permanently suspended without prior notice.
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Post by Admin Team on May 10, 2020 18:50:05 GMT
The Forum Staff review our policies and rules on at least an annual basis. We have reviewed the Safeguarding Statement which we felt required very little change.
We have clarified our processes in the Application section, though more detail can be found in the 'Application Process and Use of Data' statement.
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Post by Admin Team on May 10, 2020 18:47:11 GMT
The Forum Staff review our policies and rules on at least an annual basis. There have been some minor changes to the Forum Rules detailed in this thread. Other than minor rewording which does not affect the meaning or spirit of any of the rules, other changes are:
Rule 1e This has been added but formalises something in already in existance: new starters of less than three months can have their accounts deleted or permanently suspended without warning if Admins feel that unacceptable behaviour or posting has, or is likely, to take place.
Rule 3 - Behaviour This has had its scope clarified, particularly in regard to political options. The Forum realises that transport and politics are often intertwined. However, giving political opinions always ensures a thread descends into argument and away from the main focus of being here.
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Post by Admin Team on Dec 18, 2019 22:53:29 GMT
Since the passing of Forum Founder District Dave , the Admin Team have had ultimate responsibility for Dave's website and this forum as his legacy. We have recently commenced the process of moving to a new web host; we are expecting this process to be seamless and if all goes to plan then the vast majority of members will notice no changes as all changes are scheduled to take place when forum traffic is low. There may be some display glitches as images are moved between hosts; if we become aware of any other issues we will post updates in this thread. This forum is the legacy of District Dave and we would like to take this opportunity to thank members for their contributions of the last 12 months. We would like to wish all members and readers a very Happy Christmas.
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 27, 2019 22:02:23 GMT
Five weeks ago snoggle made an announcement that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, unfortunately tonight the forum has learned that he succumbed to the disease at the weekend. Over the last 7½ years snoggle has contributed a huge amount to District Dave's forum, in particular through his scrutiny of various TfL committee papers. He will be dearly missed.
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Post by Admin Team on Aug 6, 2019 8:36:47 GMT
Safeguarding updateForum staff have been made aware by a member of the Forum that a paedophile has recently been convicted of viewing indecent images of children. This person’s interests lie in various forms of transport and are told that he was active in some online forums. Having checked the details of his name, likely username and location, we deem it unlikely that this person is, or ever was, a member of District Dave’s Forum. However, we would like to take the opportunity to remind everyone to be vigilant online and to report anything they are uncomfortable with. More information on this can be found in the Forum’s Safeguarding statement within this thread or specifically here, which we encourage every member to read. This thread will remain locked but please contact a Forum Admin in the first instance in the case of any questions.
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Post by Admin Team on May 26, 2019 18:05:09 GMT
Members will be aware that there were some staffing changes to the Admin team a month or two ago. Since then, we have spent this time discussing various aspects of the overall structure of the forum, including how this ties in to our vision of it for the future. Needless to say we hope to make a gradual range of changes over a period of time that will have a positive effect on the Forum. One of the initial things that we looked at was to evaluate the staffing of the Forum as a whole. After a consultation period with the various current staff groups, the most obvious change we have made is to abolish the Consultant role and in its place establish two new separate groups: - Advisors, whom we hope will be active, be able to contribute to the Forum fairly regularly as well as giving Admins pertinent advice.
- Former forum staff who are no longer so active, but people who have made a significant contribution to the Forum will go into a new Staff Emeritus group: we see this very much as a special badge of honour for helping the Forum in their various different ways.
Going forward, the staffing will be (in alphabetical order):
Admins: Dstock7080 , londonstuff , rincew1nd and whistlekiller2000 (unchanged)
Moderators: antharro , @aetearlscourt , Dom K , metman , MoreToJack , superteacher and Tom . Sadly, gantshill has stepped down from the Moderator role due to external pressures. We thank him for his work as a Moderator and hope to continue seeing him posting as a regular member of the forum where time allows.
Advisors: Chris W , Colin , prjb and @reganorak
Staff Emeritus: Rich32 , seaeagle , solidbond and tubeprune
The Quiz Team remain unchanged.
Job descriptions for the roles are below and will be updated on the Forum Rules page imminently. We would like to place on record our sincere thanks for all the work that the various members of staff have done, and continue to do - without these people the forum simply would not function.
With this done we hope that members will see a number of other positive changes in the forum over the next few weeks and months. While we have a longish to-do list to work through we also welcome any specific ideas from regular members - please contact an Admin by PM in the first instance.
Moderator Job Description
• Edit any post
• Approve quarantined posts
• Move any post or thread
• Delete any post or thread
• Lock or unlock any thread
• Issue advice to members either within a public post or by PM (Private Message)
• Issue temporary suspensions
• 'Sticky' any thread
• 'Bump' any thread
• Make announcements
• Modify any member's profile within the limits of the rules
• Deal with new account approvals
• Lock threads at a point after they reach six months without any new posts
• Start or encourage discussion on the open forum
• Log-in on a regular basis aiming for three to four times per week excepting holiday breaks (if required).
• Share the workload amongst all Moderators as fairly as possible, scan and contribute to the open forum and check the Moderators’ board for pertinent information
• Report to Admin anything that requires higher authority
Administrator Job Description
As well as encompassing all Moderator powers and roles as needed, Administrators are required to, where necessary:
• Access any profiles for the additional purpose of adding or removing access to specific member groups
• Access all information on members profiles
• Issue formal warnings to members
• Issue suspensions or permanent bans to any member
• Block IP & email addresses
• Remove some account privileges
• Set forum policies, rules, and decision making on any future changes to the forum layout in conjunction with the others on the current Administration team
• Log-in on a minimum basis of five times or more per week excepting holiday breaks (if required), contribute to the open forum and scan everything on the Admin and Moderator boards
Advisor Job Description
• Log-in on a regular basis of once or twice per week excepting holiday breaks (if required), contribute to the open forum and scan both Admin and Moderator boards for pertinent issues.
• Give constructive and insightful advice on pertinent matters that can then be considered by the Admin Team.
• Report to Admin anything that requires higher authority
Staff Emeritus Job Description
• Log-in and contribute to the open forum regularly excepting holiday breaks (if required).
• Log-in and read the Moderator board regularly
• Contribute words of advice on major issues to both Administrators and Moderators by PM or email
Quiz Team Role Description
Whilst not Forum Staff members, the quiz team operate within the quiz board only and in addition to posting the question and answers to the 'Daily Quiz' are required to, where necessary:
• Make changes to images or links
• Correct errors specific to the quiz questions
• Edit the title of threads in order to show them as "solved"
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Post by Admin Team on May 9, 2019 14:16:30 GMT
Members should be aware that there is a new clause in Section 5 regarding language: (5g) Gender-neutral wording (alternatively known as gender-inclusive language) should be used when talking about people or roles in general, particularly so when the gender of the person is not known. Common examples would be using the term chair in preference to chairman and using neutral gender pronouns such as they in preference to assuming a he or she, e.g. the driver was approaching the terminal station and they came to a gradual halt. As way of background, the Forum felt that it should be in line with many other organisations, including TfL which encourages communication using gender-neutral words to avoid gender bias or assuming gender. There are many reasons for this though it is neatly summed up with guidance published to the EU Parliament: Anyone with any questions should contact an Admin in the first instance.
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Post by Admin Team on Apr 29, 2019 20:11:11 GMT
The Steam on the District weekend is 22nd/23rd and the Staff of the Forum thought we’d hold one of our occasional Summer Meets Socials to tie in with it. Before now we’ve watched trains go past at The Railway at Kew Gardens and ventured as far away as Strand on the Green but this year have plumped for a previous Forum favourite of the Red Lion and Pineapple, just a few minutes walk from either Ealing Common or Acton Town and a short tube ride from Ealing Broadway where steam services that day terminate. A map is here. We’d imagine we’d be there from mid-afternoon and there will be more details will be published nearer the time. Christmas For those of you who like to plan ahead, the Christmas Social is likely to be in its usual location on the day of a certain Admin’s birthday, Saturday 14th December. This is the main meeting of the Forum of the year and it’d be great to see many people there as possible.
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Post by Admin Team on Apr 12, 2019 12:40:42 GMT
There have been some changes to the roles of forum staff: Chris W and seaeagle have decided to stand down from their role of Admins to become Consultants, which recognises their detailed knowledge of the forum and the Underground system. seaeagle has been an Admin for several years and was instrumental in organising the Forum trip to Northumberland Park depot. Chris W was the 13th person to join this iteration of Dave's Forum and as such was a fundamental part of the Forum becoming what it is today. We expect that they both will stay actively involved in the Forum and that everyone will still see them around a lot. To replace Chris W and seaeagle, we have asked whistlekiller2000 to join the admin team, meaning the Forum Administrators are now Dstock7080, londonstuff, rincew1nd and whistlekiller2000. As always, the admin team keep the entire forum under review to ensure it meets members' needs and is a fitting legacy to our late founder, District Dave.
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Post by Admin Team on Mar 4, 2019 11:47:48 GMT
The rules have been substantially edited and added to this morning - nothing revolutionary but just to reflect what in practice happens on the Forum. The main changes are explained below though there have been minor stylistic changes not mentioned which have not altered the meaning of any rule. Any questions about any of the rules should be addressed to an Admin in the first instance.
Rule 1d Encourages members to read the Safeguarding statement and the information about data use, put into place over the last year or so.
Rule 2g The time periods of dormant accounts have been changed to reflect more accurately what we do and to fit better with the once-yearly summer prune Also added is that the non-deletion of accounts is at staff discretion , e.g. long-time members with no recent logins whom we may not wish to delete for longer than the period mentioned in the rules.
Rule 3 & 4 Swapped around open posting and PMs, e.g. posting has become Section 3, PMs has become Section 4 which seemed logical.
Rule 3a Added an example of likely punishments for repeated or serious misdemeanours.
Rule 3d Added closed stations to the list of places members should not try to gain access to.
Rule 4b (old) Removed the old rule 4b regarding a tutorial relating to PMs which currently is out-of-date and has been removed until it is updated.
Rule 4b Emphasised the fact that staff cannot read other people's PMs.
Rule 5e Edited the rule so that short blocks of non-English text are allowed where they are relevant to the thread and explained
Rule 6a Added extra information to the definition of spam for clarity and to differentiate it from 6b more clearly
Rule 6b Added extra information to the definition of flooding and to differentiate it from 6a more clearly
Rule 6g Added information about selling items through the forum being a one-off rather than a regular occurrence
Rule 6h Grafitti - edited the rule to state that discussion of graffiti or other illegal activity is not allowed, full stop, rather than just activities that celebrate it.
Rule 8 Added information that embedded content can be used from a site where embedding is designed and encouraged, such as where an embed code is given, e.g Flickr. Added that embedded content should not be used just by itself and that some explanation should be given. The provision of a link in case the embedded content does not load on all devices is also encouraged. The rules on picture sizes no longer applies as Proboards automatically resize
Former Section 11 deleted. Section 12 is now Section 11
Rule 11 Information added about where to find the list of staff members. The best method of contacting staff members privately has been updated Clarified the list of powers and access for each member group, including consultants and the quiz team Added that any staff 'likes' are in a personal capacity
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Post by Admin Team on Dec 24, 2018 16:50:42 GMT
Thank you to Chris M and his quiz colleagues for (mostly) posting the quiz without fail this year.
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 27, 2018 12:56:14 GMT
The Forum Rules are currently being reviewed and during this process the Administrators felt it would be beneficial to all members to incorporate something regarding the Forum's awareness of safeguarding issues and how we are aware of the different needs of children and vulnerable adults who may be a member of this forum. This has led to the creation of a safeguarding statement where everything we do relating to this area can be documented in one place. Any changes to this statement will be made within the statement itself with a separate post made explaining the changes, just like in the Forum Rules. The thread will remain locked but any comments should be directed by PM to a Forum Administrator in the first instance.
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 27, 2018 12:51:10 GMT
Safeguarding statementDistrict Dave’s Forum is a place for people with an interest in different aspects of London Underground to discuss a wide range of topics related to LU. Members range from 13-year olds (Proboards Terms of Service prevent members applying until that point) right up to people in their 80s and beyond. Clearly the forum has a duty of care towards these younger members and similarly to vulnerable adults. The Forum, therefore, has in place a number of measures which are designed to safeguard these groups of people. ApplicationDistrict Dave’s Forum is a ‘closed’ Forum, in that a member has to be approved by a member of Forum Staff in order to join and therefore post. Proboards, the company which hosts the Forum, provides staff members with some information from anyone who has applied for membership. This includes their username, registered email address and their IP address. Where needed, Forum Staff will then request additional information in order to be as confident as possible that the applicant is an appropriate person to join the Forum. This may involve, for example, asking an applicant via the Forum email account about their interest in London Underground and to provide some evidence of long-standing internet history, for example, a link to a social media account or membership of another forum. If the Forum Staff are happy that the account is in good order, the applicant is admitted. More information about this process is given in our Application Process and Use of Data page. Using the information provided Forum Staff will do their best to filter out anyone whose membership may be incompatible with either the Forum Rules or forum spirit. Day-to-day use of the ForumThere are approximately ten Moderators and five Administrators on the Forum who will read the most recent posts and threads and their job is primarily to ensure the safe and friendly running of the forum. Where this does not happen, a member of Forum staff may take a variety of actions, including removing a post, giving a member words of advice relating to their conduct or posting or, in more serious cases, suspend a member. Forum administrators have the power to suspend permanently any member whose behaviour or posts are not compatible with the Forum Rules. However, Forum Staff inevitably can not always be online and so it is the duty of all forum members to report anything If anyone is uncomfortable with the behaviour or postings of any member, either in a safeguarding sense or not. A good rule of thumb for this is if you are pondering whether to report something or not, this is usually something to report. We would encourage members in the first instance to get in touch by PM with any member of Forum Staff. These are always listed at the top of every page of the Forum and clicking on their names will take you through to the PM (private message) facility. Private MessagesWhile the Forum is designed to encourage open dialogue and discussion, there is a PM (private message) facility where members, either individually or in groups, can communicate with each other in a private way. Forum staff do not have access to PMs. Again, if any member feels that another member is communicating with them in an inappropriate way you should report it to a member of Forum Staff immediately. Awareness of Safeguarding issuesForum Staff make new members aware of this statement in their introductory email. Additionally Forum Staff encourage existing members to familiarise themselves with important Forum guidelines, such as rules, the use of personal data and this safeguarding statement by making a posting about it in the open forum around once a year. Forum SocialsWhile members are obviously free to meet each other on a private basis, the Forum normally holds one or two social events a year. These are an opportunity for members to meet each other and to discuss their shared interest in a convivial environment. Obviously some members who are under eighteen years of age may wish to attend these social events. In order to facilitate a safe environment a number of measures are put in place: - The time, date and location of the meeting is advertised several weeks in advance
- A mobile phone number is provided in case of any difficulties finding the location
- Various members of the Forum Staff are DBS checked, either in their capacity of working for London Underground or in other professions, such as education or healthcare.
- Under 18s are encouraged to tell their parents or guardians where they are going or, preferably, to bring them as well
- Should a member under eighteen wish to attend alone, they are encouraged to bring details of an emergency contact with them
- Normal rules of the Forum also apply to social events: it is expected that members should be friendly, polite and courteous to each other.
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Post by Admin Team on Nov 1, 2018 18:53:16 GMT
We are pleased to announce that long-standing members gantshill and Tom have joined the moderator team. We'd like to thank them for their commitment to the forum and of course formally welcome them to their new role.
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Post by Admin Team on Oct 5, 2018 0:01:36 GMT
On 01Oct2009 Rich32 joined the forum staff as a Moderator. Exactly nine years later he tendered his resignation to the Admin Team which we have reluctantly accepted. Rich32 is our longest serving moderator, providing many valuable insights over the years. In recognition of the service that he has given to District Dave's forum, the Admin Team were unanimous in appointing him as a Consultant, such that we can all continue to benefit from his advice. Rich32 remains a valued member of the forum and we all look forward to his continuing posts.
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