TheArmChairDetective

hehehehehehehehehe

Pistolpete2

I see that the:

Re: Where is the MBTTUK forum going? thread is now defunct. I thought I would throw this bone at the usual suspects for chewing, but I'm not sure there is any better way to do things.

The issue of actually providing information is in itself a complex one, as one could demonstrate from a couples of posts yesterday.

An OP has inquired as to the towns in Kent and Surrey which have fast / express service into London stations by rail.

Clearly google does not offer an easily searchable answer.

Is a BE member likely to have this information in their head? The responder has no choice but to do a search of their usual information sources and then list, one by one, the towns and their service times when in actual fact a:

"Here is the website, go and look it up for yourself!" response makes far more sense. But would we ever say that?

An OP has a query regarding UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) - a difficult subject which is very rarely discussed on here and should not really be as it should be discussed with your paid advisor and clearly is misunderstood even by those who claim to understand it.

The OP does not understand/appreciate their own residence/domicile status for IHT purposes for starters. Nor do they appreciate the residence status of their spouse and both these matters are critical to the discussion.

One hesitantly/reluctantly responds to stimulate valid discussion and to provide basic information.

The answer is not what the OP really wants to hear and also further confuses the confused OP so a rant ensues. Lucky us!

Clarification is offered and then the thread goes cold.

but

Somebody on the other side of the world (who was clearly asleep when the OP first posted) scans the thread and brings an incorrect answer onto the table without having read anything in the preceding posts apart from the OP.

Further confusion and the OP tries to get the answer that they want to hear from this new incorrect source who provides further incorrect information to "clarify".

I rebut the "interrupter" and advise that their information is wrong and why and the thread goes silent.

So much for providing information.

It is fairly typical, as per my semi-rant from just before dunroving set up the where is the MBTTUK forum going thread that posters come in half-correct, dead wrong or with inaccurate hearsay early on to muddy the waters for information-gathering OPs.

I just can't see how we can organise this better so that bad-info contamination doesn't wreck the integrity of almost every thread imaginable.

Which is why, in spite of it being out there, the request comes in for that same already-posted info time and time again.

It's interesting that there are a number of OPs, particularly in our Caribbean section, who are asking for the sort of information that it is almost impossible to provide without for starters very extensive probing to find out what exactly it is that the OP is looking for - know the feeling?? Typically it is not the OP that really wants the info but the OP's partner, to add further insult to injury. The OP is often "buying into" the idea of MBTTUK and doing all of their information "shopping" at great length over multiple threads they are OPing while the bread-winner is still winning the bread so that they can actually afford to make the move. A bit like a Yummy Mummy! Good News Britain!

The information is so subjective that there is no possible way to provide a response to what should properly be gleaned by an ACTUAL EXPLORATORY VISIT. But we do still try.

Strangely, the OPs can sit cold for quite a while but then somebody misguidedly responds and the floodgates then nearly always open wide.

More for that book Bud The Wiser?

TheArmChairDetective

How so is it defunct?

Pistolpete2

Nada happening! which is why Bud posted a bumped??? last evening . Is that right Bud?

rebs

It's still an open thread though - you can post in there if you like.

I'm not really sure what your point is other than seemingly wanting to be the arbiter of each and every thread and what's posted. Would you like to pre-moderate all postings to ensure they meet your exacting standards

Pistolpete2

BE can be a place for social chit-chat bedum bedum etc. etc. but it can also be a place that outsiders can go for information.

Right now, as I see it, unless your specific queries are put to the BE panel for answering and then the panel of members dig around for or provide the information off the cuff AND YOU WAIT UNTIL THE DUST HAS SETTLED FOR THE FINAL ANSWER and then read back through the thread in its entirety and see what the consensus or extruded answer is there is no real information.

For outsiders who have BE access and google for answers and reach the BE forum there is, in my opinion, no real information source. Hence the endless repeat questions because "I can't find the answer".

As with all things, in my life, I try to make things better by the day. If you have a problem with that I'm sorry. If I walk into a room full of people stuck in empty silence am I going to keep the silence for no apparent reason, NO!

To go back to my comments regarding a thread questioning a position on UK Inheritance Tax - Do you not think it a worthwhile point of discussion that we collectively try to best address answering OPs on a topic which relates to serious pounds of exposure which is very rarely discussed and is actually being discussed on here so as to mislead people in their future estate and domicile planning?

chris955

Excellent, shouldnt surprise anyone really as the UK is a very friendly place

sallysimmons

I disagree. I got all kinds of fantastic information when I first started planning my move and you weren't a member then, so somehow we managed ;-)

Honestly I don't think I could have carried everything off so effortlessly without this forum. Lots of people sharing their disparate experiences is invaluable. Is it a little messy sometimes? Yes, but that's human interaction. The crowd is always better informed than the individual and I am grateful for every titbit of information that was provided by every individual who took the time to post.

TheArmChairDetective

You make a sound point, gathering information using a cluster of research tools is always a must.
Nice blog by the way.

chris955

Absolutely, I totally agree. These forums are supposed to be a reliable source of information and for the most part they are, threads will always stray off topic but by and large the message gets across.
The problem I have is just Googling stuff which people could do themselves.

Bud the Wiser

Not really Pete. It was more to point out that despite Dunroving's good intentions by highlighting the problem, nothing has changed.

Regarding the forum and information. I think it, the forum, serves different things for different people at different times in their lives. There's a lot of useful information and links out there. However, I would caution people to use their own due diligence and not accept everything as gospel.

I would agree that far too many people just want confirmation that they are making, or have made, the right decision and don't want to hear anything that might negate that decision.

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." - Paul Simon.

chris955

Or they might actually be really really happy and some dont want to accept it because they arent ?

TheArmChairDetective

Paul Simon apart that is just human nature and, up and until the point they stop thinking they have made the right decision, they don't want "negative vibes". Some are happy with their decisions and remain so, others change their minds, and others having been abroad move back to the UK and then become unhappy again and move back out.
I'm just glad were are different, wouldn't it be boring if we weren't?

dunroving

I think maybe you are over-analyzing things. Or generalizing (again). Or both.

I don't think for a minute that most people on here think you are unhappy. Nor are they unwilling or unable to "accept" that you are happy. Nor are they themselves unhappy. They just find your inability to see anything beyond your own viewpoint as irritating.

Sallysimmons is very happy, that's very clear, But she is in touch with the possiblity that her reality isn't everyone's experience of the UK, and she supports people who are having a negative expeience, and accepts their reality. You seem to deny anything that doesn't fit your own paradigm of life in Britain, as if everyone lives in a lovely country village, with their mortgage paid off and all of their other ducks perfectly aligned.

I think maybe you confuse "positive" with "positivist". A "positivist" believes there is only one true reality, and it is their perception that is that one true reality. Try a little interpretivism for a change.

chris955

Oh well