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As far as I am concerned, you have shown more thought in recent compositions, and you will probably go OK for the time being.

Alan Collet shows how it can be done.

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sjn2003

I agree that his first couple of posts were very patronising and not the tone usually found on this website.

But I can understand where he is coming from as he is used to communicating in a formal professional manner. That doesn't work here and I guess he has learnt that.

I voted for getting rid of the massive sign off and disclaimer - a lot of professional firms cannot write anything without it, so it may mean he goes away or posts less stuffy sales stuff.

I hope he stays though.

ptlabs

Geraint,

Many people have given gentle (and some not so gentle) advice on what's appropriate here and what's not. Myself included. What bothered me was that you simply did not act on those advice, so claiming that you did not know how things work here is lame. I viewed your purposeful ignorance (after being pointed out certain forum norms) as dismissive of the members' way of participating and habits. Not good.

I've already posted once about your all-caps disclaimer - which is equivalent to shouting at the readers in an online context. It took you several more shouts before you amended your disclaimer. A bit late, but noted with thanks nonetheless.

Your sig line (the one at the bottom of each of your post) smacked of advertising - it was a dozen lines long, and was sometimes longer than your reply! Thanks for amending that as well.

You will notice that goodwill from this forum is earned and isn't given to everyone by default. You had started on a wrong footing, and to be honest, I was this close to banning you from this forum.

Merry Christmas.

Peter

bondipom

GLD this is a place where people come and help each other on aspects of migration to Australia for no fee whatsover. We do however recognise the need for professional advice but that is a decision for us. There are others in the migration industry who post but they give as complete an answer as possible and they say when something is beyond the realm of a forum (because of complexity).

Just saying contact me is not good enough. To earn the trust of other members you must help us for no fee where justified. The quality of your advice can be judged by us. It is a 2 way thing. I believe you offer expertise that will be of help to us but we do not want adverts for your company with no info in the middle of our threads.

There is an etiquette to forums and I think you are finding them out. CAPS Means shouting in e-mail as well so maybe you should take a course on e etiquette. Money well spent considering it is already putting off clients. Or maybe someone on another forum could offer the advice for free.

ptlabs

Geraint,

By all means, put a link to your website in your sig line. That's fairplay.

Some professionals give specific answers, while others don't. Such is the nature of the online forums, and if you look at the Australian Immigration forum on British Expats (where I tend to post more than here), you will find that's pretty much the case. No one expects you to give specific professional advice to specific situations for free here. But also, no one expects you to tout for business and slap disclaimers before even answering a question.

Welcome to the British Expats forums.

Peter

BrigieDarling

Alright, I'm not usually called in and can see Pete's been 'ere already!

I'll get the drinks in then... who's 'avin what?

Geraint, I've heard some people have trouble being noticed the first few times they post! -- I haven't read your previous post because my attention was drawn to this one first. So I'll go on first impression from here.

Nice to meet you it is. Now where are you from and where are you going etc.....

Married/Single?
Pets?
Inside leg?
One lump or two?

WBB

that's a bit personal init ?!