Ireland is to be served by another Financial Forum. I’m reminded of a pair of photos I saw some time ago of a queue outside the dole office and a queue beside an ATM, which showed how far Ireland had come financially. Now there are seemingly endless sources of information on how to Save, Invest, and perhaps more importantly how to deal with debt.
Moneytalk.ie has a green color scheme. That’s a good start, both from an Ireland perspective, and a financial perspective. The Flag should also help hammer home the Irishness of the site.
It’s early days, I believe I was member number 25. But that number will certainly grow. Whether or not the site will ever have as many members as other financial sites, or as much traffic, isn’t really important for now. The only thing that matters for now is that it exists, it’s an alternative for the growing number of people who are unhappy with existing options.
From talking to the creator it appears MoneyTalk.ie wasn’t created in response to AskAboutMoney or the goings on there. There’s a determination not to get drawn into any bickering about which site is better, which is good. Comparisons will be inevitable, but there’s definitely room for both sites.
Moneytalk.ie does have the advantage of seeing what went before. There are potholes in the road that can and should be avoided, and they’re not hard to avoid.
ThePropertyPin.com on the other hand embraces former AAM members who have either been banned or left because they became disenchanted with the way things were. It has taken the approach of setting itself up in direct competition, threads exist specifically to monitor the goings on on AskAboutMoney.
And why not watch?, AAM is producing some funny stuff lately. Funny in the same way that crazy world leaders can be funny, for those of us fortunate enough to not live under their regime.
Update: I had originally said that The Property Pin was set up as a result of AskAboutMoney’s shenanigans. They’ve kindly corrected me on that error. They existed prior to AAM going off the deep end, but their membership has grown since AAM began hounding people away.
Will the AAM factor mean that the site will forever be fruit of a poisoned branch? Time will tell. The quality of discussion, the facts and figures, and the commitment of it’s members are all extremely impressive. The site certainly has the potential to be The Go To Place for those with questions about Irish Property. In time I’m sure members will tire of watching Turkmenistan AskAboutMoney.
If MoneyTalk really does manage to sidestep debates about AskAboutMoney, then it will be interesting to watch how it and ThePropertyPin fare. Will the different approaches make any difference to the two sites?
What if any will the impact be on AskAboutMoney. If it means less posters and a more controlled form of debate then AskAboutMoney will be happy. They don’t seem comfortable with popularity.
The dna of a website, the thing that defines it’s character is the relationship between it’s moderators and it’s regular posters. How will the new sites fare?
AskAboutMoney has a style of moderation that has evolved into a very authoritarian approach. Some topics are off limits despite being the hottest financial topics of the day. Questions by new posters are routinely moved to areas where the original poster can’t contribute. Criticism of the moderation style is not tolerated. Repeated criticism is cause for banning a member.
As the site has grown these problems have become more pronounced. This seems to be as a result of trying to control the discussion, to maintain a level of quality that the moderators feel is appropriate. That gets harder as the number of participants grows and the “corrective maintenance” has to get more severe to keep things in check. Getting rid of those who don’t tow the line is considered the best way to maintain the quality of the site. It’s an interesting an novel approach to internet forums, but not one that’s universally liked.
I’m a member of about half a dozen forums and have participated in many more. AAM is the only one that adopts that style of Moderation. They would claim that’s what sets them apart from all the other forums. That’s what makes them better than the rest. Well, you can decide for yourself if that’s true. I wouldn’t have spent a couple of years trying to change their mind about that If I believed it.
ThePropertyPin comes from a more indy style of moderation. If AAM style moderation is a bow-tie then thepropertypin is a T-Shirt and Jeans kind of guy. Of course a bow-tie doesn’t make you smart and a T-Shirt doesn’t make you dumb.
How will Moneytalk.ie handle it’s growth? How far will it’s moderators go to maintain their idea of order? Early indications are that on matters of racism or offensive posts they will err on the side of caution. Deleting the post to be on the safe side.
That isn’t a bad policy. It’s the norm in fact. They point out that they’ll depend on members to bring offensive posts to their attention, which is a good approach.
One of the flaws in the AAM moderation style was that “Offence” was a very fluid concept. Moderators could choose to take offence at anything, and could therefore delete any post they liked.
That’s the tightrope that the new sites will have to walk. Hopefully Ireland will soon be served by a couple of Financial Websites that offer very different approaches to moderation and community building.
If you like the controled conditions of AskAboutMoney you’ll have that option. If you want a more free flowing debate, and less interference by moderators, you’ll have two new sites to choose from.
I’ve registered with both ThePropertyPin.com and MoneyTalk.ie. I have no immediately interest in buying property in Ireland, so I may be able to make a more valuable contribution to MoneyTalk. But I wish both sites Luck in carving out their piece of the Irish Financial Pie.
And what of AskAboutMoney? Now that there are alternatives, I hope they can get rid of the members they don’t like and can become the kind of site that Brendan is comfortable with. He hasn’t seemed very comfortable with it’s growth to date.
The future looks bright for all concerned.
