Site notices on private wagers, commenting and this week
Be careful before entering into private wagers
There have been one or two instances recently of site regulars entering into private wagers with other posters on PB threads and then being unable to receive payment once the outcome is known.
Can I suggest that you do not enter into such an arrangement unless all the parties are prepared to exchange, obviously off thread, their real names and personal contact details.
In one recent case all a poster was able to provide were the published comments on the thread at the time. Do not consider a deal has been done until you have been in direct contact and you are satisfied.
I have been a victim of this in the past. A post calling himself Observer still owes me £500 following a bet on the size of Clegg’s majority in the 2007 Lib Dem leadership race.
An issue that relates to this and other matters is that PB does not give email addresses of posters without that person agreeing. I am planning to set up a process that will make that easier for parties to make contact if that is what they wish to do.
Instant publishing is a privilege and not a right
PB does not require any form of registration and allows most commenters to publish instantly on the threads provided they have had a previously approved comment and use a valid email address.
This is not, however, a right but privilege .
If it is abused, particularly when contributors make comments that are defamatory, then the privilege of instant publishing can be suspended for a period or withdrawn completely.
This in no way prevents those involved from contributing to discussions – it is just they they will have to wait for their comments to be cleared.
It is often the practice with new commenters to send out a validation email to check that the address that they have provided is active. If you get one of these then please respond as soon as possible.
This week on PB
Tomorrow I am off to Cornwall for a short break and to attend a cookery course at the Rick Stein School in Padstow. I won’t be posting very much and will not be following the site. There are a number of guest slots in the pipeline.