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The LF website - a guide for newcomers


Frank OFyle
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As a brand, LF is without doubt one of the best sources of valuable information about moving to, and living in, France.

The magazine is justifiably successful, having grown in status and popularity as increasing numbers of Brits opt for the French lifestyle.

Equally, the website is proving to be hugely popular. As an interactive resource it provides very helpful advice about all aspects of living in France.

However, newcomers to the site be warned!

READ THIS BEFORE YOU ENTER!

Having signed up a couple of days ago, I now have practical experience of using this site which, I hope, will prove beneficial.

Generally speaking, the 'forum' section is an excellent provider of information. Ask a question and your answer will be provided. No problem there.

From my limited experience (I lasted less than 24 hours), problems only arise when, instead of asking a question, you use the forum to reach a wider audience.

For example, let's say you've just opened a new fish'n'chip caff in Brive which may be of interest to Brit locals.

You've invested heavily in this caff. Worked like a Trojan doing it up. And now it's ready to launch. You've even worked out a promotional strategy in which LF can play a vital role. Some of your potential customers may read this magazine. And word of mouth is an important factor. To reach them you start with a carefully worded posting in the LF website forum. You check the rules. No advertising. Okay, you're not strictly advertising; just informing. No this, no that, no the other. Okay there too.

So far, so good.

A bit later, you check your posting and discover a glowing report from a satisfied customer. Excellent news.

But there's also a message by a competitor who's hijacked your posting to advertise his new chippy in another town...

After all your hard work, you're sorely tempted to give him a piece of your mind for very rudely taking advantage of your initiative. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES COMPLAIN. In the LF website forum this is unfortunately deemed perfectly acceptable behaviour.

However, if you do complain to him, be prepared for other website users to rally to his defence. And... any one of these could be 'moderator' without you knowing.

WHAT'S A 'MODERATOR'? Well, think of him/her as a police person or referee. But without the uniform or any other form of identification. Their identity's secret. Which inevitably leads to problems for newcomers. You only learn of their identity through familiarisation over a long period of time. And, as it's unlikely that you'll survive that long, you'll never know who they are. So if someone winds you up with a patronising word of advice in a schoolmistressy manner (as in my case), DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RESPOND. It could be the secret police. If you do respond in a manner that you consider entirely appropriate (as I did - yes, I was rude and offensive but, considering the circumstances, I felt it was entirely justified) but which a moderator deems inappropriate, they'll pull the plug on your posting. And you'll be left wondering why. After all, from your point of view, all you've done is tell some nosey stranger, who has nothing to do with the matter in hand, to naff off. Again, unfortunately, it's just the way things are in the LF website forum.

And, of course, if you do fall into the trap of defending your corner, expect a few insults from not so perfect strangers. Whatever they say, DO NOT RESPOND. Remember, there are morons everywhere who take great delight in seeing you brought down to their level.

In short, if you're entering the forum section, think of yourself as a little golden fishy thing jumping into a goldfish bowl... that's infested with piranha fish and circling sharks.

BE ON YOUR GUARD AT ALL TIMES.

AND REMEMBER, WHATEVER HAPPENS, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES COMPLAIN.

I hope this advice proves beneficial.

Bon chance!
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Frank - this is so sad.

I think if you read throught postings on LF and most other forums you will see that the thread you start, isn't exclusively yours. Folks join in and the thread often goes off in many different directions, sometimes useful and sometimes a load of c**p. But, isn't that what public forums are all about?

Your post invited folks to read and maybe comment on your blog. Interesting, as not many blogs have appeared on LF yet, so someone else added theirs. I nearly added mine but by the time I went back to the thread you were acting like a spoilt child.

It's really sad that some days later you are still smarting about having your toy pinched from under your nose.

Grow up Frank, and get a life.
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Give us a break Mr F; you attacked a member; you subverted her user name to insult her, you slagged her off on the basis of her posting (which was perfectly acceptable and in no way infringed the forum guidelines or wider 'netiquette'), and then went on to insult her on the basis of her nationality. You also insulted Gay, when her response to you was civil and polite.

Now this: look, if you want more than your mate to read and coment on your blog, you are not doing so well.

 

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This person has slagged off this forum quite severely on his Blog, { I had to have a look cos  clearly it and him are so important! } so I am surprised he has come back again.

In these circs, can the moderators please just delete all traces of this odious little  man and his messages?

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I have moved this topic here from the 'finding/owning French property' section as we all enjoy a joke, and that section is intended for specific questions and comments about property in France rather than a more general discussion about this site. I would remind the originator that the forum is owned equally by FranceMagazine as well as Living France.

I also note that Mr O'Fyle's e-mail address bears a striking resemblance to my own, and can assure users that we are not related in any way - after all one of us is a dear little goldfish and the other an nasty shark or piranha (I leave to to draw your own conclusions about which is which) [:)]

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[quote user="jond"]I think that if this forum were a goldfish bowl, then I would like to be a ..... turbot. Anyone else ever fancied being a fish?
[/quote]

 

I definitely think the forum could be likened to a goldfish bowl, and  Frank's chucked a load of old pollocks into it!

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On the basis of his latest emmision as in lot of self important wind,  my original reaction to this man  was quite accurate then[:D]   Someone likes the sound of their keybord too much, isn't there something about its better letting the world think you are a fool than opening your mouth and confirming it![:D]!

Will, Gay  Why not just delete it and him??? 

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"Naturally, I stood my ground in the heat of battle and fought back with some rather unsavoury comments, purposely designed to upset patronising gits who leap to the wrong conclusions, have zero tolerance for any form of criticism and who are totally unable to accept any reasoned argument that basically exposes their ridiculous self-righteousness as a total sham. However, there was method to my madness and, I'm ashamed to say, rudeness. But I had a cunning plan, albeit one that was ridiculously flawed... I was, by now, following a strategy based on 'any publicity is good publicity' in order to achieve my ultimate objective of plugging into the mass of francophiles on the LF site and attracting new readers to my blog. "

Oh I'm so sorry I fell for it, it really just isn't that interesting at all! but he clearly thinks he is.

Anyway onto more serious things, I'd like to be dolphin!

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Isn't Mr O'Fyle a carp? 

The reason he's back is obvious - it's winter, his life is dull... he's

got nothing to put in his blog. Unless he generates a bit of dissention

somewhere. Whatever. Is it really worth us spending the time on a discussion? I think

indifference is the best response.

I want to be... well, dolphin has gone so I'll be a porpoise, please. [:)]

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[quote user="catalpa"]

 Is it really worth us spending the time on a discussion? I think indifference is the best response.

 [:)] [/quote]

I'm still squirming about being called a 'Daily Mail Reader'; I can't be indifferent, because it just isn't me. 

Baggsy Sloth: they seem pretty laid back about things.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote user="SaligoBay"]Whatever happened to Mr O'Fyle, I wonder?   I thought we were all getting on rather splendidly.[/quote]

Well SB, the very next day after he posted about his experiences here (and got more comments than ever before) he deleted the posts, and the LF related entries, and said he was not doing his blog anymore!

 

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[quote user="Tresco"]

[Baggsy Sloth: they seem pretty laid back about things.

[/quote]

 

Belatedly...

 

what sort of fish is that?? I just googled and got 15 hits the first of which was your post on this forum [*-)]

Hmmm... suspect you've chosen an animal not a fish in the LF goldfish bowl. I'd delete this pointless post but sadly, I'm past the deadline (5 mins??) for doing so.[:#]

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Whatever happened to Mr O'Fyle, I wonder?   I thought we were all getting on rather splendidly.

Well, since you ask, I'm still here, still busily doing up a dilapidated French house, still getting loads of valuable info from this website, still settling in to the French lifestyle, still trying to get the hang of Ricard and, contrary to one report, I'm still doing my blog (sorry to disappoint those of you who were, somewhat prematurely, rubbing hands with glee at news of my cessation). And thanks for asking.
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"It was me that 'reported' that you had stopped your blog, based on what you said on your blog. What made you change your mind?" (Tresco)

I changed my mind after someone informed me that various UK friends and aquaintances apparently read my blog, look forward to new reports and were disappointed to read of my decision to quit (yes, I find it hard to believe too).

Because they wrongly presumed that I'd stopped due to 'adverse criticism' from a minority of mentally unstable forum members, I felt obliged to continue in order to show that this wasn't the case.

Also, I suddenly remembered that I preferred writing to watching telly in the evenings.

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