Hello Pardon? members! It seems like we have confused a lot of members with our pinned post on closing groups – so we’ve taken the most frequently asked questions and explained it here.
Firstly – Pardon? is not going anywhere.
In BSL & English, here is our announcement – for immediate release.
https://youtu.be/pto08wMhZz0
What’s happening?
We are closing the following Facebook groups:
Pardon? Employment
Pardon? Invisible
Pardon? Cinema
IMPORTANT: Whilst the Facebook “groups” are closing, we are still going to be discussing and supporting our members on these issues; it’ll simply be in the main Pardon? Facebook group. We are not going anywhere 😉
We are continuing the following groups:
Pardon? I’m deaf. When will you listen? We need access for All!
Pardon? Marketing for Communication with deaf people
Why’s it happening?
Since Pardon? was formed in March of 2013, the needs of the group and it’s members have evolved; and Pardon? went through a phase of separating common themes out into separate sub-groups. These included employment issues, mental health support and cinema accessibility. We have since looked at these groups and found that it has become difficult for people to find things. It has also been difficult for us to manage as we all found it hard to allocate specific posts / for members to know which group to post something in (and would sometimes have a crossover).
One of the downsides was that we found that our valuable members were posting less in the main Pardon? group as there was confusion with what should go where, or were not subscribed to all the groups and would then miss out conversations that may have been of interest to them. The main Pardon? group then became stagnant.
When’s it happening?
We’ve already started the process. We announced a date of the 21st of February; but as there was confusion as to what was happening, the dates became fluid.
The Pardon? groups which are closing will not be accepting any new members; and posts will need to be authorized by an administrator – which will only be if the post is something that is vital for our members to know about.
The Employment, Invisible and Cinemas Facebook Groups will be closing on 05th of March 2016. The groups will disappear from Facebook at some point during the day, and will be confined to history forever.
What do I need to do (as a member)?
Well you’ve already done most of what you need to by reading this; if you aren’t a member of the two remaining groups then please go ahead and join them where you can continue conversations that would have been held in the ones which are closing.
Where do we all post things in future?
Firstly it’s important to remember that Pardon? is not able (nor has it ever been) to offer legal advice. We are also unable to endorse anything that you may see in the groups (this applies mostly to Pardon? Marketing).
General discussion of D/deaf-related: issues & support will continue in the main Pardon? group.
Specific discussion on D/deaf-related: Courses (free & paid), surveys, advertising (deaf-led businesses), equipment sales and accessible events will be in the Pardon? Marketing group.
Advertising other groups/pages are only allowed on Pardon? Marketing – but only if the groups are open, accepting new members and there are no Pardon? members blocked.
I have a question that isn’t answered here..
We have pinned a question thread at the top of the two Pardon? groups – simply ask it here and one of our moderating team will respond.
Will there be any other changes?
We’ve got a lot of good things coming soon; but it’s too early to release details on them 😉
We are currently reviewing the member rules and also looking through our member lists looking for fake profiles / scammers; we are trying to keep everyone safe and sometimes people slip through the net.
We want to make sure that our members feel safe, valued and most importantly – welcomed. We have a friendly moderation team – so if you’ve got a problem, a concern or simply want to say hi – get in touch!
Join Us!
We are soon going to be looking for people to join our group moderation team. We’ll post more details soon.
Thankyou!
Lastly, we’d like to say thank you to each and every member of Pardon? – we are very lucky to have you all here; without you all, Pardon? would not be where it is today… it’s a credit to each and every one of you.
All of us appreciate how smoothly things go and how well everyone self-moderates themselves – after all, no one-person “owns” Pardon? (it’s all of our group); but if there is a post that pops up that shouldn’t be on Pardon? let us know by hitting the “Report to Admin” option and one of us will check it out.