Hello forum friends and hope this message finds you all well and continuing to enjoy your birding adventures. After a long break from the forum and lovely off community catch ups with some of you I signed back in after 15 months but still hadn't posted up anything since 2022. Bizarrely, I received notification from RSPB that my account was flagged for spam despite the fact I hadn't even been on the community for a year and quarter ! I have heard that this has happened to others including Robbo and Alan where their accounts were falsely flagged and deleted so guessing this is some software glitch in the computer system causing problems. Feel a bit like the post office scandal being accused of something I am innocent of although nothing like the dreadful trauma that those poor post masters/mistresses suffered due to a computer software glitch.
I do hope to return at some stage but fear my account will be falsely deleted later today despite no wrong-doing LOL I have submitted an appeal upon receiving the first message from RSPB and they acknowledged receipt of that appeal. Subsequently, I have received a second message stating ..............
Dear HAZY:
A few days ago we emailed you about your user account. That message was to let you know your account was flagged as inappropriate. You have until 21 Jan 2024 9:23 PM to send us an appeal using this form. Note that if you don't appeal the abusive finding, your account will be permanently deleted on 21 Jan 2024 9:23 PM
I have tried using the form link again to re-submit but it says I have already submitted my appeal, hence I can do nothing but sit on "death row" waiting for my account to be terminated later today LOL.
This is what the form link takes me to: Thank you, your response has been submitted. Your appeal will be reviewed promptly. A decision will be sent to xxxxx@gmail.com
I have written an email to RSPB querying how I could be flagged up when I haven't been logged in for over 15 months and never posted anything that could be spam or abusive but I fear nobody is in the office or will see my email until tomorrow which is after the deadline ! To be honest, I am not unduly worried but you do need to be aware that with these weird glitches in the system it can happen to any of you as not sure what triggers these errors. Maybe it auto-generated the glitch when I signed back in a week or two ago after such a long time absent - who knows. !!
So do take care all of you and sorry if I am unable to get back on to the community to maybe start posting again. X
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Regards, Hazel
WendyBartter said:Hi everyone, have heard from Hazy and have permission to post her email so as to update you all... ****Hi Wendy. Finally I have had an email back from RSPB apologising for the error explaining in an email what happened after they increased spam detection causing false flagging on my account. At least I now have an explanation although still not able to post until they further investigate the matter as I keep receiving the same automated messages about spam and account deletion. I have updated Kylie and said I can still not post up and keep receiving automated messages back from rspb so she will look into the matter further. Keep my seat at the community table. LOL. !!! XX Aitch Here is the email I received this afternoon ………….. From: Kylie Shepherd <Kylie.Shepherd@RSPB.ORG.UK> Subject: r.e. Any assistance greatly appreciated Date: 26 January 2024 at 15:29:50 GMT To: "molehillwatcher@gmail.com" <molehillwatcher@gmail.com> Cc: Beccy Speight <Beccy.Speight@rspb.org.uk> Good afternoon Hazel, Your email has been passed to me as the community product owner. I apologise for the delayed response, we have been investigating the issue you have raised. I can see that one of your posts was classed as ‘spam’ automatically by our automated spam filter, and not by another user of the community. As you are possibly aware, we have had a number of spam issues in recent months and so have increased our spam detection. Unfortunately this has resulted in your posts being flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologise for this, and we will be reviewing our filters to try and prevent this from happening again. I can see from looking at your account that it’s not under moderation and therefore you should be able to post as usual. However, please do let me know if you are still finding issues and I will investigate further. Apologies once again for any inconvenience caused and we hope to see you posting back on the community soon. Yours sincerely, Kylie Shepherd Social Media and Community Product Owner kylie.shepherd@rspb.org.uk
"Community product owner" - that one is not on my Buzzword Bingo sheet
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Attempt to reply to this thread; test 2. !! Hazy.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr