I wanted to post a message here to say goodbye, of sorts. With a heavy heart, I have decided that I can no longer continue to provide Freetrade & the community with the time and effort I have previously for nothing.
While nobody at Freetrade asked me to do anything you’ve seen, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed at how this has ended. I read too much into my self-appointed position as after conversations this week it’s clear Freetrade has no appetite to fund improvements here. I can’t continue to offer services to a multimillion-pound international business for free.
It is my opinion this community is dying. Without genuine interaction from people both senior & junior and some active community engagement, it will only get worse. There are so many great ways to make this place fun again whether that’s content, platform improvements, or rewards.
I’ll leave everyone at Freetrade with this message - I implore you. Be better. Ship faster. Respond quicker. Act like the disruptive FinTech you are. Enough of the tiptoeing, get your shoulders back and own the space you occupy.
To everyone else - I hope to see you all around from time to time.
Sorry to see you step down as a moderator - you did a great job.
It seems that Freetrade are looking for greater integration with the forum and app, and having a well run forum will be essential to making that a success.
I think I can speak for everyone to say a big thank you for everything you’ve done in the community.
It’s genuinely a shame that the efforts you’ve put in have gone under appreciated by Freetrade, and that the community here will be a lesser place without you - I agree that without effort and focus it will slowly cease to exist, or will but in a much less engaging way.
Its disappointing as the community is a way for the company to interact with its customers, and in turn its realistically some cheap enough marketing from the word of mouth and hype that could be built here.
I hope that Freetrade realise and take action to either pay Neil handsomely for his efforts or put the work in to make sure the space continues or improves.
Thanks for your time as moderator, @NeilB - sadly, am all too aware that moderating is ultimately a thankless task, but you helped make the forum a better place for us all and I hope you continue to contribute.
Ah, @NeilB you were the first person to welcome me and were a guide during my first investment steps. I am so grateful to you for that.
Assuming you’re only stepping down as a mod? You’ll still be around?
Thank you for your work as moderator of the community forum. Enjoy the magical time with your newborn and I hope to see you around in the community for the coming years, even if not as moderator. All the best.
Good luck in your future endeavours.
On no. That is sad. You’ve done a great job policing this place, and it’ll be poorer without you.
I think I’m right in saying this is not the first time community leaders have thrown in the towel over the years. It’s concerning because these arewere some of Freetrade’s biggest supporters.
Letting someone of @NeilB’s calibre leave makes me question the competence of management.
Sad times man. Thanks for welcoming me to the forum when I joined Freetrade about a year ago. You will be missed.
Hopefully Freetrade see that you are actually a big cog in their machine and rectify the situation and take this opportunity to engage with us a bit more as well.
Thank you for everything @NeilB and making sure this place didnt become a free for all hellscape (threw in some musk). All the best and hopefully you will still be around
Let’s get real for a second. With all due respect for your (free) work over here but given the recent economy situation and the fact that Freetrade had to lay off people, I would find it extremely disrespectful towards those people if Freetrade would decide to start paying you.
Obviously some actual staff of Freetrade are going to have to take on these duties now and I just hope it doesn’t pull them away too much from the important work they have to do.
Don’t forget everyone that you can mute users who are obviously trolling you or who (weirdly) stalk you round the forums and reply to nearly all of your posts with contrarian nonsense in an attempt to bait you into replying.
On the desktop version of the site, just click their profile image and then on their profile page in the top right under message you can select Normal, Muted or Ignored. The more we self moderate and refuse to engage with trolls who try to disrupt the community forums, the less work there is for the moderation team to do
And thank you @NeilB for all the above and beyond community stuff.
PS. It’s always easier and more satisfying to just mute/ignore someone rather than try to win an internet argument and turn a forum thread into chaos!
If you are comparing position like “Head of information Security” vs a “Community moderator” then you are right…
The amount of job openings that were there before Feb-2022 were triple compared to what you see now. Now you only see the really needed/essential vacancies.
@NeilB I’ve valued your contributions very much. You’ve given a great deal to this forum and it would be a much poorer place without you. I really hope a solution can be found that means you choose to remain active. Thanks for everything you’ve done and good luck with the little ones!
