has any-one contacted HQ yet?
I would but I am waiting to hear from the hospital
it is awful we are all trying to get to the bottom of this we have sort of begged NRAS to give us an answer but still they have not had the decency to acknowledge us
I am very up-set by this
Mary L

I've emailed too.

Hi

Thank you for all your comments on the private messaging issue. However, the decision was taken for your own protection and that of NRAS.

When we set up the private messaging facility we had not considered that it would be abused.

It is not possible for individuals to switch off PM and they would be vulnerable to receiving unwanted messages.

We have offered to facilitate communication between members - if you want to get in touch with another forum user – if you give us permission to pass on your email address the person can then choose whether or not to get in touch privately. We do not suggest putting your personal contact details openly on the forum.

We appreciate that some of you would like to access existing PMs and we are now able to switch on this facility temporarily until next Monday to allow you to extract anything you want.

We regret having to take this action but we are responsible for ensuring that everyone who visits the forum feels informed and supported in a positive way.

NRAS Team

The explanation should have been given BEFORE the PM were removed, NOT now.

It is NRAS who run this forum and hence I believe the 'conditions' of the forum should have been stated somewhere.

BUT, no one has ever mentioned money. Unlike other forums we pay for the opportunity to use this facility, don't we, and therefore some of it must be 'owned' by us. As adults we have the capability to decipher what is wrong and what is right and therefore even if there is abuse on the forum, PM or otherwise, we will decide to report it if necessary.

I MUST ADD, even though it will be of no benefit now, that there was blatant abuse going on one one of my threads and that person was never removed and the posts were not omitted.

PM, however, is private and therefore only two people can read whatever has been written so I would say it was in'our best interest' to have intervened with this aforementioned 'abuse'.

Amanda

Totally agree with the last 3 threads, we are not in a Kinder Garden, why should we have this service removed and suffer the consequences of one individual's actions? Doesn't seem fair to me and a democratic vote should have been made based on the decisions of members of the forum's community.

love,

Barbara
XXXXX

I agree.

I don't believe removing the PM facility is the correct way forward. It's permanent removal does more harm than good for all members.

I would implore the Admin team to reconsider as this unilateral decision they have taken is not in line with the wishes of what would appear to be the majority of users of this forum.

Joanna

Wow, I have missed a lot here, as been up to my neck in stuff. In the old forum you could have an option of sending an email to another member if they activated it on their profile. I remember doing this as I didnt want to post my home email as anyone can access it (though I forgot that you had to be a member to see the forum).

I quite liked the idea of sending an email to someone especially if the threads got pretty long and it was like tennis bouncing back and forward between 2 people. Maybes its a good idea to find out how other forums moderate. Wasnt there something said way back that NRAS needed more moderators - can one of us do it or whats the criteria for someone to moderate. I think its pretty sad that because of a minority' ignorance he majority loose out. I cant imagine anyone on this forum doing something nasty on purpose. Though Ignorance is not an excuse and as we are so diverse whats upsetting for one is taken by another. I cant comment on what I dont know, but I hope this gets sorted out and common sense prevails.

Mari

PS I am confused theres a pm logo at the bottom of emails and my pms are still in my inbox and I hit the pm and it came up with a new message. I thought the service had been removed?

Goodness me! Well it can be reinstated then even if temporarily! Perhaps it could then be argued that there is no need to remove the PM facility again. The problem, whatever it was and whatever it involved, is obviously not so serious that PM is a complete no, no.

We are adults on the forum, with few exceptions, and unless one of the 'exceptions' has been targeted in an abusive fashion, I cannot imagine any situation so serious that we all have to be punished. Any PM any member receives can be dealt with, I should imagine, by that member. Any response should be between the individuals concerned and not involve the whole membership of the forum. We are all more than able to chat on threads passing opinions and expressing ourselves very well so I am sure that the same applies on the PM facility. Leave the PM facility as it is NRAS please.

As for the offensive thread, well we don't know (or do we?) what that is. I await the revelation with interest.

However, can we just wait and see what comes next now. Lots of us on the forum are having other kinds of difficulties. We have seen postings highlighting these lately. Can we please e mail our thoughts to NRAS leadership through the e mail address given on their contact page and let it drop on the forum.

I am conscious how easy it would be to drop our membership, which is not only for our personal benefit but also for the mutual benefit of us all. Please do not leave. lets carry on as a united forum, non judgemental although feeling aggrieved as we do. NRAS will be better able to deal with us on a one-to-one basis via e mail and we will not get so upset as we have been doing. Lets consider the feelings and fragile conditions of many of our forum friends, as well as new members, be dignified and drop this topic on the public forum.

perhaps, we should express in our personal e mails just what we think needs to be done in the longer term and NRAS may want to convene a meeting including some of us re the future of the forum.

SUMMARY: Frail and vulnerable members are becoming upset not only by the action of removing the PM and insinuating that something else is to be removed, but by this thread.
New members will wonder why they bothered join.
Lets get back to the business of supporting each other and lets try to take a longer term view of this.

Eleanor x

Well, I didn't know they'd gone at all, mainly because I can still send them, so have they come back or something?