Is it time for a rethink about the place of The gaff in the community?
Each week a new edition is published and is given pride of place as a sticky thread on the ‘Contribute’ board, but does it really deserve such treatment? I would argue that it doesn’t.
The first problem for me is that it is unclear how The gaff is put together. I can find the names of ‘contributors’, but who has editorial control? Is it the mysterious @willp789 who posts it to the board each week? And is it signed off by giffgaff staff before publication? (The ignoring of the dreadful issues related to the Halloween advertising campaign in last week’s edition would suggest not, but maybe it should be?). And if any other members of the community wanted to contribute, would that be welcomed? If so, how can other members go about that?
A second issue is the quality of the content, which seems to either be lifted from elsewhere in the community or copied directly from external websites, as was the case with the High-Tech Highlights section last week. Does this really fit with the purpose of the ‘Contribute’ board as a space to provide feedback, take part in giffgaff projects and have a say in upcoming developments?
One of the biggest issues for me is that each edition of The gaff is followed by many comments which seem to be placed entirely with the aim of getting kudos - which are given by (and in some cases to) those involved in the production of The gaff - but only if the comments are entirely uncritical. Of course, this is nothing unusual on the giffgaff forums, but when The gaff is given pride of place as a sticky thread in the Contribute board, it smacks of corrupt practice by giffgaff.
I would welcome your thoughts. Maybe I am being overly harsh, but I would suggest that The gaff be moved to the General Discussion board as a non-sticky thread. What do you think?
