Thought it might be worth a mention

[CivvyFSO]

From the main www.fire.org.uk page - is this forum supposed to be hidden? 

[BLEVE]

Been like that for some time now

[Clevelandfire 3]

Yeah i have to look at my usage history to keep logging on. Chris or Kurnal thats one for you and may be why we havent had much traffic recently.

[Clevelandfire 3]

Just noted that the forum login function is back on home page. But no option or info on how new members can join it.

[BLEVE]

Still reckon absence of traffic isdown toperception of closed club elitism

[BLEVE]

To be fair you are not the most welcoming of individuals that I have encountered in fact beligerant could be your buzz word.
I have never encountered such a closed shopfor a long time.

I often question why I bother to post or contribute. Again ask yourselves why such a small number of posters from circa 5000 members.

 

[Meerkat]

To be fair you are not the most welcoming of individuals that I have encountered in fact beligerant could be your buzz word.
I have never encountered such a closed shopfor a long time.

I often question why I bother to post or contribute. Again ask yourselves why such a small number of posters from circa 5000 members.

 

You're not serious are you? I received nothing but a warm welcome form this forum when I joined and as a result of being a forum member I have had a fair number of e-mails with useful info and useful contacts from other forum members.  Yes the forum is somewhat more robust than certain well-known professional institution forums but I thought you'd welcome that 

I think the low membership is more to do with the difficulty of finding the forum in the first place - but "closed club elitism"?  Are we reading the same forum? (and for the record I've never been a member of the Fire service but I felt wlecome here from day 1)

[Tom W]

I think it is a very unclear forum, what is it for?!

I have a look every so often and really am finding myself not bothering writing anything.

Every so often someone posts an interesting topic and it just starts arguments from the same old people arguing the same old topics (wasn't like this in my day blah blah blah) It quite often seems that people post to show off about how much they know rather than writing in a way as to add input or help the poster. Im not say question techniques/guidance but back it up with a decent reason why, not just the government are cr*p are no one apart from me knows what they are talking about!

Firenet is a great idea that unfortunately seems to of been trodden into the ground (for various reasons). Any new people looking at joining will see all of this clickyness and will not bother. They may just do a search for an answer and leave it. It is supposed to be interactive is it not? Is it not supposed to be from all over the fire safety world? Of all experiences? Well its not. From reading a lot of the posts it seems like none of you like each other!!

We may as well call it one upmanshipnet.com

[Tom W]

phew that feels better 

[Wiz]

To be fair you are not the most welcoming of individuals that I have encountered in fact beligerant could be your buzz word.
I have never encountered such a closed shopfor a long time.

I often question why I bother to post or contribute. Again ask yourselves why such a small number of posters from circa 5000 members.

 

Bleve, there are many members on this forum who are very opinionated.

In my opinion there are also some members who have spent such a long period of their lives telling the public, in an authoritarian manner, what they should do, that they therefore automatically expect to be listened to and obeyed!

All of this can possibly make those of, maybe, 'a sensitive disposition' feel that this forum is a tad unfriendly. There are even some members who will get a bit aggressive if you don't agree with them.

I have also noticed that there are now very few fire alarm engineers left who post on this forum. They have moved on to a friendlier forum with more like-minded members. I believe that some of them felt that their expertise in areas that some of the 'opinionated persons' knew little about, was totally ignored, unappreciated or misunderstood on Firenet.

However, there are also many members of Firenet who are friendly, funny, helpful and provide good advice and expertise. I continually learn important, relevant and interesting information on Firenet in areas that I previously knew very little about.

You will normally find the most friendly and welcoming sort of Firenet members in the 'Banter Bar' of this forum. My experience is that anyone is welcome there to socialise and talk rubbish, but only after receiving matron's medications!

[Midland Retty]

Bleve / Piglet

Sorry to hear you have negative experiences on Firenet.

Alot of members have been using the forum for years, and know each other. This is perhaps why its seems a bit cliquey. Please be assured this is not the case.

Anyone is welcome and encouraged to contribute to the forum. It's always good to get different viewpoints and opinions.

There are people than contribute regularly. I wouldnt call them know it alls or show offs. We all have a right to an opinion, and whilst sometimes there can be passionate arguments on the threads the reader is always left to make up their own minds on teh subject and hopefully see two or three sides to an argument.

Clearly there won't always be posts or threads or subjects of interest to every single member - if there is nothing which floats your boat then why not start a thread relating to something that does interest you.

I think the recent forum move to another server is mainly responsible for decrease in forum traffic.

Wiz I was quite shocked to hear about your fellow fire alarm engineers, please do encourage them to return. 

[Wiz]

Wiz I was quite shocked to hear about your fellow fire alarm engineers, please do encourage them to return.  

Sorry M.R. they have gone to what they obviously believe is paradise; talking techie stuff between themselves on a peer to peer basis and, most importantly, without, it seems, any petty sniping (or any that I've detected)

I believe they are lost to Firenet forever. Firenet never ever had a section that was related specifically to fire alarm systems and they have very little interest in the questions about fire engines, fire doors and use of foam on aeroplane fires etc. Worst of all I think that some of them thought that they were being talked down to by firemen who didn't know their analogue value from their end-of-line!

I suppose it is not unusual that people join groups with those that they can communicate with at the same level, but it is a shame because some of the 'lost boys' could answer some really in-depth technical questions about specific items of fire alarm equipment.

We need to make Firenet a bit more Fire Alarm engineer friendly. That is, of course, if we even want them posting here.

[Tom W]

Its quite obvious that numbers are dwindling so out of interest what would you all do to improve it?

Who is firenet aimed at? Fire Fighters? Consultants? Fire Engineers? Alarm techs etc?

Should there be a section dedicated for each discipline?

[Wiz]

I think it is a very unclear forum, what is it for?!

I have a look every so often and really am finding myself not bothering writing anything.

Every so often someone posts an interesting topic and it just starts arguments from the same old people arguing the same old topics (wasn't like this in my day blah blah blah) It quite often seems that people post to show off about how much they know rather than writing in a way as to add input or help the poster. Im not say question techniques/guidance but back it up with a decent reason why, not just the government are cr*p are no one apart from me knows what they are talking about!

Firenet is a great idea that unfortunately seems to of been trodden into the ground (for various reasons). Any new people looking at joining will see all of this clickyness and will not bother. They may just do a search for an answer and leave it. It is supposed to be interactive is it not? Is it not supposed to be from all over the fire safety world? Of all experiences? Well its not. From reading a lot of the posts it seems like none of you like each other!!

We may as well call it one upmanshipnet.com

Piglet, there are a lot of people who are very expert in many subjects on Firenet.

I also believe that most people who do know something worth knowing, will find it difficult to explain a subject fully without sounding like they are pontificating.

Many answers have to include sub-answers that appear to be taking the answer away from the original subject but if they are not mentioned at the time someone later picks up on it with 'aah but what about.....' type comments.

I understand the point you are making, but suggest that, like most of us, you just wade through all the opinion, advice and bulls*t and try to select that which is relevant to your needs. Surely, most posts add something to the debates, even if it is given in what appears to be a condescending manner? !!!

[Mr. P]

Many hours have been freely donated to some great worthwhile advice on an expanse of topics. Although the forum is now in black & white (and a bit of blue) it's not always easy to give a quick, succinct remedy to a problem of which only a very limited amount of info is given.
But, to add a little humour/banter some add some bits in... sometimes ridiculing or scathing (usually hurtfulness un-intended) and sometimes we get a bit of something that it not deserved or warranted - a sort of E-fisty e cuffs. But hey, that's usaully sorted out soon enough and on we go to the Banter Bar.
You know, to keep anything going, it takes one or a few to inject the lead threads to carry us on our voyage. So, if you don't join in or appoint yourself to take the helm or be admiral of the fleet, sit back and just read.
Some questions are asked again & again in slightly different verse. But the posts get an answer. You could just look back over the thousands of posts gone before.
Search engines? Well, some existing users/members have had problems getting re-logged on. So if the site is not coming up as often. The way my IT works, the site is not as versatile as it once was. I'll get over it.
With the E-World Banter Bar Society, it seems alot safer a place to be than many other chat rooms...
There's life down there Jim, but not as we know it. Warp factor 10 Chekov...