Goodbye 👋🏻 (kind of)

If you are going then I am going… where we going?

Really sad to hear this @NeilB as you have been a huge part of the forum and made it a better place than any other similar places. Totally agree with what you say and funnily enough nearly word for word wrote it in that questionnaire they sent this morning.

The community is a great advert for the company and many who spend time on it are a level above people who do not in passion for the company. These people get others to join and discuss the company etc.

I know people I have got to join have added over £100k already but hear too much about new products being incomplete so kinda stopped telling people about FT. Web, auto invest and dividend notifications all seem like Beta and wish they started releasing kick ass options to make people sign up to subscription.

Anyhow, wish you luck and hope you hang around still in some capacity as the forum does seem to be dying already. We need people like you, @bitflip and the many other people who join in as it is invaluable for the many silent people who enjoy the forum. Good luck!!

Oh no
What will become of us all

TBF being a forum mod. Is a thankless job, nothing but stress. Don’t blame you for giving it up

I would like to thank you Neil for all your work here and your welcome to me when I first joined. It has always been a pleasure to read your contributions both on the forum and the odd private message as well. I’m sorry to see you go.

I’m going to stick my neck out here and say I’m afraid I fully agree with you, I’ve felt this for quite a while but couldn’t exactly pinpoint when I noticed this. When I first joined as recently as February 2022, this was a really fun, interesting forum with lots of interaction with not only you and mods but with quite a lot of ordinary users as well. Now, quite a few of my favourite fellow users seem to have gone and I get almost nothing in response to any comments I make. While the tone of debate used to be pretty civilised, I’ve noticed an increase in rather unpleasant and aggressive posting which seems to be becoming more norm than exception, my ignored users list has ballooned! I know I’ve know I’ve slipped up once or twice in this area before anyone points that out but I do try to stay civilised.

A few weeks ago, I basically stopped posting, I can’t be bothered as I’m not going to waste my time when it doesn’t seem like what I say makes any difference to anybody else nor, as I’ve mentioned, do I really like the general tone of debate.

I don’t know what the solution is, but I agree with you on the problem. It will be interesting to see if there is any will on the part of any power that be to fix this forum, or indeed whether it is fixable!

Sad to hear this @NeilB you did a great job in my opinion and others too

Sorry to hear you leave @NeilB
Thank you for all your hard work.

I don’t think community is dying - we are in a bear market afterall.
I’m afraid the community has now seen through the bear market - most comments are from people in the last 12 months - that community engagement is reduce - not a surprise there to be fair.

But I do hope moderator effort was compensated in some shape or form as it’s a lot of effort that goes into this. Time, value-add is not free, - and there are many options, - even for love for the topic and cause.

Hopefully @NeilB you will still stop by from time to time and say hello.

Sorry to hear this. Sadly I think you are right, the community is dying, the signal to noise is now pretty bad. I used to enjoy engineers’ posts very much, very informative. The freeride baggers was very instructive (of what not to do!) thank you for picking up that banner as well as everything else.

Aaaghh @NeilB, I’m gutted. You were instrumental to this whole thing since I’ve been around; through knowledge, politeness in the face of adversity and, my favourite, some great GIFs. You will be missed my friend.

Can I add my voice to the praise being heaped on Neil as said modding a forum is a thankless task.
I believe that companies underestimate the value of forums like this both overt and covert how many queries have the moderators answered that if they hadnt would have taken up an employee’s time?. This forum is also one of the best free adverts for the company.

A thankless task Neil but thanks for the time you spent doing the job, some good points in your post!

Personally I think the slow down in community activity is just fall out from the market conditions…everyone loves to post when it’s going up, these boards are a cyclical beast!

Sad day for this forum, thanks for all you have done making this an interesting place!

Thanks for your time NB. Mods on Reddit could learn a thing or two from you. Best wishes where ever you go.

Thanks for the efforts youve put in @NeilB

Ive run mods for old phpBB forums before for community type places before and its an unthankful task… for a company and unpaid… fuck that…
with a littleun thats the more important… when you look back at the importance upun your deathbed in many years to come. there will be one clear winner which one is more important. it sure aint flicking out trolls.
That so many have also posted the postive views they have of you should be something you can keep in high regard, and its also showing that there seems to be zero showing on FT staffers/managers
as you said… does show the disregard they have

@NeilB thank you. As someone who only began investing with FreeTrade, this forum has been priceless. In particular, I felt safer with the moderation. Sorry to hear you’re leaving.
@Freetrade_Team please note that I think this is a real loss and in a time where FT are expanding (especially abroad), forums really make a difference.

Thanks for all your hard work. I feel like you made a big effort to make the forum more than just individual stock threads with people posting RNSs or tweets devoid of comment. (Not that being kept up to date with the RNSs on one place is bad)

Things like baggers and the competitions you organised really helped to create more of a buzz and a sense of community imo. Hopefully we don’t lose that.

Cheers for everything @NeilB good luck with the new addition, I’m sure you’ll be busy.

Arggh @NeilB this is really sad news. You have been a fountain of knowledge to us newbies on the forum and your input has been invaluable. More often than not you and some of the other great members of this community have assisted on issues faster than the freetrade team. I hope they realise the loss. Take care and hope to hear from you on the forum from time to time.

When I started spending time here I wanted to help create a fun welcoming environment for all the share and learn, to read these messages it seems like it succeeded.

While I did want some remuneration for my time the majority of the proposal was to create engaging user-led content to spark debate and hopefully entertain, think games, and short articles on news and upcoming events.

Ultimately this community thrived before my efforts and I have no doubt it will continue afterward. While the bear market has affected things, I see regular users drift away or start lurking all the time, this is a lost opportunity. If the only reason to be here is a bull market it goes against the core ambition of Freetrade - long-term investing.

I don’t know how much I’ll spend time here going forward - I’ve enjoyed my time here but it feels like I’ve given everything I have to give. Just to be clear I have enormous respect for @Freetrade_Team, @acamp, and @gemma I just hope they can get the resources to make this place great again.

@bitflip my erstwhile partner in moderating. Check your DM’s for a cake day gift to show my appreciation for all you do. I got you into all this after all.