Red Eric

Was that after you returned from one of your breaks?

riv

Yes that is exactly the point : there was an advertising section but completely separate from the country specific sections.

I agree that that simply did not work. I am not suggesting a return to that which did not work.

I am suggesting a new thing completely where within the Portugal forum of britishexpats any individual [ might be different rules for companies ] could post For Sale and Wanted / Recycling Gifts / Lifts offered , wanted / and similar.

If, as I believe Shanorme has pointed out, such a functionality has never in fact been in place on britishexpats.com ~ then why not at least try it for three or six months and then do an evaluation ?

Not only would more people come to the site when looking to buy or sell ( or give away ) but they might also potter around and see other, unrelated, threads which they might wish to read or have something to contribute to.

christmasoompa

That's what we're saying though, that there were country specific for sale sections many years ago, nobody used them. So even back then nobody bothered, I really can't see why that would change now with everybody just selling stuff via social media. Forums are being replaced by social media for everything including community discussion groups, it's a shame but just the way things go I guess.

Red Eric

I'd be surprised if anybody who had "properly" fixed residence anywhere in the EU would have dashed back to the UK simply because of Brexit. (by "properly", I mean as in investing most of their time in the EU country and abandoning any notions of being primarily resident in the UK, or being ambiguous about country of residence).

chislenko

Perhaps going forward the forum will cater more for as the name suggests "Expats" where as people like myself and many others who have / had an investment in Portugal will over time disappear.

The number of posters will I would imagine decrease but at least you will be "Expats" as opposed to holiday home owners like us.

I have over the years received a lot of good advice / information on here so thankful for that.

​​​​​I think my biggest grouse with this forum, as with others nowadays, has been over moderation, a bit of light hearted banter between two posters is wrongly seen as being offensive.

As we are having our final deed this week I will have no need to return so would take this opportunity to thank everyone for their help over the last 20 years (especially Richard Hen shall, who also seems to have disappeared) and wish all of you all the best for the future.

I think I will probably have to return to Portugal maybe once in the future to close our bank account but that will probably be it for us.

Good luck to you all, I will miss the great cycling on quiet back roads, cheap coffee stops and bars.

I won't miss the unrelenting wind on said cycle rides and the shouting!

Sunseeker1st

Best wishes to you chislenko

Lentisc

Well it had until you brought it all back up again.

macliam

I guess your choice depends upon your reason for contributing to the forum. If you used it primarily to answer your own issues or to look for advice, then you may have no need of it. If you used it to help other expats or to discuss things of consequence to people living in Portugal (for however long) or thinking of moving to Portugal, then I think your experiences still count. However, whether you choose to share them is up to you.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Rosemary

Although the forum is called British Ex-pats it is frequented by ex-pats, people who are no longer ex-pats, holday home owners and although it was initially set up for Brits we now have other nationalities using it on a regular basis.

Rosemary

chislenko

Fair points Mac, I have offered help in the past, but only if I am absolutely sure that my advice was correct. Better to offer no advice than bad advice.

Obviously as time goes by my experiences will become out of date as I won't be keeping up with the latest legislation etc. So to that end I wouldn't want to give incorrect information based on "old knowledge"

Lou71

That's the thing, it is rather strange. Most of them were pretty old and resident because they relied on the free health care.

I think some of them took fright because of Brexit (don't forget, there were those horrendous years of uncertainty) but one thing is for sure, they are not here now and overall, there are far fewer UK nationals in Iberia.

liveaboard

A lot of people came for 6 months or less, owned a second home here but remained resident in UK.
When you're limited to 3 months, it's just not so much fun.

And then there is natural attrition; people choose to return, or go somewhere else, or die.
In the past, there was a steady stream of hopefuls from the UK to take their place; now there isn't.


Regarding classifieds;
Another forum I frequent is for a specific hobby.
Whoever does their IT was able to set up the classified sub-forum with a few rules; poster there has to have some previous posts in the main discussion area. 5 sale posts per month max. sale threads auto-delete after a month of no updates.
People sell things there cheap because we know each other. Happy to buy and happy to sell. It's great.
However, the moderator still complains that the sale section causes him a lot of work.

Yes, Zuckerberg's growing monopoly on all communication will soon drown us all.

Lou71

Yes, I think that's a good summary.

RichardHenshall

I'm still lurking but since we sold up 18 months ago my experiences have become less relevant, so I've less to say! I'm also trying to wean myself off Portugal-related matters!

However, in the context of this thread, I think that one of the great things about forums (rather than social media) is the ability to search past threads for solutions to similar situations.

I'll echo your thanks and best wishes to all.

offthepiste

Yes, definitely perception of IQ and level of culture here in Cascais. But suspect pretty much the norm.