Not sure of the 'policies' on here...but do you think it would be possible to have a 'lost' stickie and maybe actually put the pictures too on it??

Apologies if its breaking T&C's - but with so many members going to Goa for holidays plus those that stay long term

We won't be having a missing person's sticky. In fact we were considering removing this topic from the forums as it's not something HT would like to get involved in.

People go missing for all sorts of reasons and some may not wish to be found. Likewise people try to find missing people for all sorts of reasons, some of which we do not wish to be associated with.

Let's just leave it at that.

luci

been a while since i posted, a bit depressed to hear all the negative reporting on the site regarding how this season has by and large gone down hill for a lot of the regulars...

anyway, i digress, back to the matter in hand, i read this earlier and thought what a good post, what harm is it going to do? i can't believe the mods are considering removing this? on the one hand, it's ok to allow people to discuss recent events in the north of goa, but not someone who is missing ?

i know this is 'holiday truths' but i don't see the problem (legal or otherwise)

misterc.

Hear hear Mister C, This guy is missing and his family are very concerned for him. This place is becoming like stalinist russia at times.

I'd like to ask why HT would not like to be involved in this, I'm sure many if not the majority of it's members would be.

Here's hoping he is found soon, what a terrible worry for his parents.

We do not removed posts lightly. Such action is discussed with the Mods/Admin team and it is always done for a very good reason. In fact we do have reason to remove this post which we will not be publishing on the open forum. It was decided to leave this one by a very slim majority.

As it is this post has not been removed I cannot see what the problem is.

Martin_d wrote:

This place is becoming like stalinist russia at times.

Martin, please feel free to leave the forums and find another one which is more to your liking.

We have to be strict on many subjects for the good of the whole board and not just a few members. At the end of the day we are ultimately responsible for fighting any legal action regarding libel, etc and as volunteers with no financial backing this is just not possible.

As Van has posted elsewhere, this is a very real concern as we were closed down almost 2 years ago despite our very strict moderating principles. We wish to avoid that situation again at all costs, even if it loses us a few members who may not agree with it.

luci

Martin, please feel free to leave the forums and find another one which is more to your liking.

My sincere apologies Luci, I must have mistook this place for a discussion forum.....

It's a holiday discussion forum not a missing persons bureau, and has already been said we do our utmost to make this forum as open as possible but we cannot afford to fight a law suit. We have to look at all the implications and so we can only apologise as things are sometimes taken out of our hands.

It's a holiday discussion forum not a missing persons bureau

Why the Maddie McCann topic then, started by a mod and fully endorsed by HT?

Fair comment Martin

For goodness sake- the link has been left! As for being like Stalinist Russia-well you have a point. The team work for hours on end for no pay. As for missing persons- a lot go missing for their own reasons. Some have actually not gone missing at all but someone is trying to track them down. We have had missing peoples threads here on the Goa forum before but that has usually been when sources have been verified by us first. Imagine what would happen if that person was tracked down by someone they did not want to? Just to let you know that any member of the team can be personally sued.
When we take decisions- they are not done to get at our members, they are done for a reason. We dont expect all decisions to be popular and sometimes we all wonder why we do it. Then I remember- the vast majority of members
Lets also leave Maddy out of this please.

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=100357

luci HT Mod wrote:

As Van has posted elsewhere, this is a very real concern as we were closed down almost 2 years ago despite our very strict moderating principles. We wish to avoid that situation again at all costs, even if it loses us a few members who may not agree with it.

luci

Perhaps I just stay off the forums while I am jetlagged but I came on to support the team who are all devastated just now. However, it does upset me sometimes when we get remarks such as the one I've already mentioned. What Luci has said above is absolutely true- i'm sure a lot of you will remember that June. We came close to being permanently shut down. We want HT to remain open- we have all devoted too much of our day to day lives to let it close.
Anyway- rant over. If only someone would find a cure for jet lag

*Mods hat off*

Fiona HT Mod wrote:

Perhaps I just stay off the forums while I am jetlagged but I came on to support the team who are all devastated just now.

You've done absolutely nothing wrong Fiona!
This is a hard time for the team and as you said, you wanted to pop in and help.

Fiona HT Mod wrote:

What Luci has said above is absolutely true- i'm sure a lot of you will remember that June. We came close to being permanently shut down.

There will always be people who won't believe mods/admin when we say we have to be extremely careful what we allow to be posted.

If those people don't like our moderating..................

well i for one agree with the mods!! if these so called "missing persons" wanted to be found they would go to the nearest police station or some thing like that and make themselves known.
if they are genuinely missing, i don't think HT is the proper place to look for them. there are agencies that deal with this sort of stuff, and are very good at it!!!
HT mods do a very good (unpaid) job, giving them a hard time will not help missing people!
BOB

Well said, I am in total agreement with that, the mods [unpaid] are ordinary people just like us who are actually doing us all a big favour by being mods, they are not legal experts or the police missing persons department. This is a holiday discussion forum so lets keep it to that and show a little respect for those who are good enough to run it for us

Well said the last two posters, my feelings exactly, we recently found a close relative missing for the last 30 years, thanks to the skilled help of The Salvation Army, whohave an entire section devoted to this task. These matters are best dealt with by the experts, not a holiday discussion group. Alan

can I just say here that I fully understand why FTV posted in the first place. That is nothing to do with my gripe.

Thanks Fiona and mods for leaving it, I never usually get involved in stuff like this for reasons mentioned by Luci, however with the amount of members who have been out there recently, thought that it could rekindle some memories. By the sounds of it this guy may have fallen into the trap of no return in Goa, all over Goa there are rehabs full of European drug casualties and in the light of the more seedier side of Goa being shown with the Scarlet murder, he probably needs finding and recieving the help he most deperately requires and the love of his family.

Thanks again to the mods and please lets keep this thread for the reasons it is meant for

I'm not going to comment one way or the other on this thread so I guess this is

BUT, I would recommend that everybody follows the link that Fiona gave in this thread yesterday.

It gives an indication of how much (unpaid) time and effort is given by all the mods for our benefit.

Polly