Important changes to the forum

[Buckman]

Mods are not in hiding. You can still report spam and offensive posts. As far as I understand, you can still dm us.
Mel

What is a DM?

 

[otherclive]

What is a DM?

Direct Message.

 

[Buckman]

Direct Message.

I never knew we had that facility on the forum?

 

[otherclive]

I never knew we had that facility on the forum?

Yes find a post by Mel. Press on her name and you should see this

 

[Jcloughie]

What is a DM?

Sometimes known as a PM (personal Message).
But most commonly DM

Often heard in TV conversations, eg, I climbed into their DM’s. Probably won’t be hearing that anymore.

John

 

[Dustydog]

Sometimes known as a PM (personal Message).
But most commonly DM

Often heard in TV conversations, eg, I climbed into their DM’s. Probably won’t be hearing that anymore.

John

John I'm confused 🙃. PMs are being scrapped 🤔

 

[otherclive]

John I'm confused 🙃. PMs are being scrapped 🤔

How did we manage to get in to someone's Doc Martens? Im confused too.

 

[Jcloughie]

John I'm confused 🙃. PMs are being scrapped 🤔

Prime ministers, scrapped. We should be so lucky.

Going back to #37 messages were referred to as PM’s. not DM’s. IMHO Same thing. Sorry for the confusion, I was actually trying to clarify that.

How did we manage to get in to someone's Doc Martens? Im confused too.

This bit of AI might help, if the term is new to you.

 

[otherclive]

Prime ministers, scrapped. We should be so lucky.

Going back to #37 messages were referred to as PM’s. not DM’s. IMHO Same thing. Sorry for the confusion, I was actually trying to clarify that.

This bit of AI might help, if the term is new to you.

View attachment 9395

Thanks but I was aware of the phrase. I just thought drifting to Doc Martens would lighten things up a bit.

 

[RogerL]

John I'm confused 🙃. PMs are being scrapped 🤔

As I understand it, PMs between contributors and Moderators/Administrators will still be permitted.

 

[Dustydog]

How is this new legislation being applied to PC. Facebook Group?

 

[CParsons]

How is this new legislation being applied to PC. Facebook Group?

What the OSA Requires of Facebook

1. Illegal and Harmful Content Removal

Facebook must swiftly remove illegal content, including:

• Child sexual abuse material (CSAM)
• Terrorism-related content
• Hate speech
• Suicide encouragement or self-harm content
  If content is not removed or restricted, Meta faces penalties of up to £18 million or 10% of its global turnover.

2. Child Safety Duties

Because Facebook is accessed by minors in the UK:

• It must conduct children’s risk assessments
• Proactively suppress harmful content (e.g. suicide, eating disorders, dangerous challenges)
• Provide easy reporting mechanisms for minors
• Ofcom has issued updated Protection of Children Codes to guide this, effective from April 2025.

3. Age Assurance Measures

From 25 July 2025, Facebook is required to implement “highly effective” age verification methods. Options may include biometric checks, ID scans, payment card checks, or age estimation AI to reliably distinguish under‑18 users. Platforms must default minors to child-appropriate experiences and filters.

4. Adults’ Risk Assessments & Additional Duties​

As a Category 1 global platform, Meta must also:

• Complete adults' risk assessments
• Protect content of democratic or journalistic importance
• Ensure moderation processes do not arbitrarily censor user political expression
  These duties are part of the phased roll-out of the OSA.

 

[Dustydog]

Thankyou for that.
According to the above there is nothing that says I can’t PM DM another member on the FB?
Apologies now but it does seem we may have double standards between a Forum page and a FB page??

 

[CParsons]

Thankyou for that.
According to the above there is nothing that says I can’t PM DM another member on the FB?
Apologies now but it does seem we may have double standards between a Forum page and a FB page??

Like anything legal, there's lots of twists and turns in the legal verbiage. Ultimately, what it comes down to is that in order to keep DM's we would have had to implement age verification checks on the forums for everyone and also monitor DM's to make sure nothing illicit was happening within them.

Given neither of those options are great, and we're not Facebook with Billions of dollars of tech behind us, disabling DM's is the only sure way to remain in compliance with the laws. In this way, you're kind of right, there is a double standard between big tech and smaller institutions.

The OSA is not being well received by many people, and folks are looking to repeal it and if the laws change, we can revert these changes easily. If you're not happy with it and in the UK, be sure to reach out to your Government or sign the repeal.