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12 Feb 12 10:55
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Date Joined: 15 Oct 11
| Topic/replies: 243 | Blogger: bravado_supertrader's blog
Hi All as mentioned previously - I am following the rest who have left the forum and moved over to Twitter - anyone who wants to keep in touch can find me @Bravado_Trader on there.

Cheers

Bravado
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Report fairfranco February 17, 2012 10:07 AM GMT
I guess it sounds like a good idea but it only sounds like such an attractive idea now because the forum has so many people you don't want involved in your chat!

The obvious plus is that you could have a thread of chat with the people you want to about a game.  The negative is that people involved in that probably wouldn't bother looking at the open public thread and little information would be shared on there.  It would also make it more difficult for other potential posters to get involved.

Hopefully the improvements to the forum would make such areas not really necessary.
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 17, 2012 10:28 AM GMT
1.01/fairfranco - I can see that private chat may not be required if we can get the actual forums 'tidied up' a bit. But there's no harm in offering both. They do work on other forums - for example, during a Test if there is a large group discussion, you can break off with a few people from the group and chat privately about a particular aspect. The big conversations remain - but the option is there to start a smaller discussion and then go back later. The self-policing will be easier when we have put a few things in place which I am working on now. In the meantime, I can only ask that you report any of the sort of 'bad' posts that we have discussed here.
Report Deadly Earnest February 17, 2012 11:17 PM GMT
We need to have less jingoistic posts from the English and Indian supporters, oh, and rolo, the lone wolf South African.....Sad

....and more jingoistic posts from Australian supporters. Happy

Come on BCM2, sort it out.  Wink
Report BJT February 18, 2012 3:50 AM GMT
I personally think if the block option was more one click oriented, and once blocked you shouldn't even know they are there.
Pretty easy to identify whos posts you wish to take no notice of, but the main problem is the quality gets lost in the quantity.  This happens when you block still because you still see that they posted.
I think for a start, that would be a positive step to get people contributing with the people they want to converse with, and not have to even know about the rest of it.  That would be enough for others to get involved long enough to learn who and how to block.

Obviously there are other options, and better options, but for ease of implementation, I think this is enough to get things moving.
Report BJT February 18, 2012 3:56 AM GMT
Now another thing that just sprung to mind, would be a rating system.  Right now we can report, but that is about it. 
What about we have the option to rate a persons contribution.  1-10.  That would come up against peoples names as an average rating.  You could then disable reading anybodies posts that has a certain average rating, probably best to be over a certain amount of posts to allow new users.
Should also be rules with this, that if you give below a 5 (or whatever), that you need to provide a reason why so low.  Personally I think -5 to +5 would be better, and if you wish to rate somebody in the negatives, is basically like reporting them.  This way people couldn't be spiteful.
Downfalls with this obviously with manipulation, but at the moment we don't really know who we are talking with and their influence on the forums.  Takes a bit to get to know who we are dealing with whereas post count/positive opinion could make it easier.

?
Report bravado_supertrader February 18, 2012 10:40 AM GMT
Or we could all just join the competition Laugh Devil
Report Injera February 18, 2012 3:19 PM GMT
With any discussion group there's normally some sort of invite, or it may be just friends who choose to be together for conversation. Only on the Net does it become chaotioc!

I see a lot of merit in an 'invitation only private chat room' for people who want to hear from certain others.

It mustn't be too small or exclusive. i.e it can't be just a handful of people. It has to be a minimum of 50, so that irregular but sensible posters can be a part of it.

Hopefully in time the invitations can grow to increase the number to 100 as long as careful moderation is in place.

Perhaps a voting system could be developed to vote people in (with recommendations from others) and vote people out if there is good reasoning to do so.

Many thanks BCM2 for your endeavours.
Report rolo2 February 18, 2012 3:56 PM GMT
the betfair community platform is a very good one, i think they use a solution from a company called Lithium, and they handle some big communities - they will no doubt have many options and extensions available for improving and monitoring the quality of the community. However, this is a community of punters, you will always find a lot of rubbish here, therefore the only way to really manage it well, and also the simplest way, is a more active community manager. You need 2 or 3 people who are paid a salary and all they do is monitor the forums and make sure that it stays constructive and banning folk who talk sh*t. That is of course a cost!

The easiest way to clear it up quickly would perhaps be Wise Punt's suggestion - if you dont deposit, you cant pay. You can read, but you cant post. That in conjunction with an active community manager would solve the problem Happy
Report Lix February 18, 2012 5:00 PM GMT
How do peeps get on the forum in the 1st place if they dont have an active account??? seems insane to me as does the situation with peeps like Surg having 20 odd usernames. I thought you needed a separate credit/debit card for each account. must be a fkin pain in the arse getting a new card each time unless I'm missing something which i probably am.. Crazy
Report bravado_supertrader February 18, 2012 5:16 PM GMT
If you pay me £100,000 a year I will personally be responsible for actively managing the cricket forum Love I could also throw in Rugby and Cheltenham 2012 Cool
Report bravado_supertrader February 18, 2012 5:18 PM GMT
I would also be available for a smaller amount on an ad-hoc basis Devil
Report STEPTOES YARD February 18, 2012 5:25 PM GMT
will there be a supertrader private chat club?
Report cricketjon February 18, 2012 6:30 PM GMT
as I stated at the time i moved over to Twitter there were so mnay people blocked that I was talking to an empty room.

great to see that something is being done about it
Report Freelance February 18, 2012 11:48 PM GMT
Many forum communities online self-regulate.  In other words, they agree on a set of moderation principles or guidelines and then volunteers from within the community regulate the forum based on those principles and guidelines.

It doesn't need to cost Betfair a cent.  As for the question of who moderates the moderators ?  Well, if they step outside of the moderation principles/guidelines, or become slack then they are removed and replaced.

FWIW, I've started reporting people for blatantly rubbish posts as an experiment to see if any action is going to be taken.  Until there is some improvement, I'll be posting most of my content and discussion elsewhere.
Report screaming from beneaththewaves February 19, 2012 12:04 AM GMT
Lix, did you ever see brainsurge's long-running thread on ChitChat, entitled something like "Scanner help desperately required"?

I think it's been pulled now, but the gist of it, as I remember, was that brainsurge was trying to alter the text on a scanned document, but was floundering a long way out of his technical comfort zone.

It was a very funny thread, in which our hero was angrily denying that he was trying to clone a credit card, yet desperately seeking the kind of advice someone might need if they were about to get caught having made such an attempt.
Report bravado_supertrader February 19, 2012 10:38 AM GMT
As tongue in cheek as my comment regarding payment was, it may be a good idea to make some people on the forum moderators. The issue would be who to select however you could have half a dozen or so 'volunteers' who more than likely should be made up of those posting on this thread - all names are recognised posters who are known as good posters and refuse to do so anymore. I just went through the Aus v India match thread and took BCM advise about reporting poor pastes/language - I hit double figures!!

I also notice that Match threads now only have about 300-500 posts a match - I remember when it was 3000-5000 per game - so clearly there is a huge decline.

If Betfair - made some of us moderators we would be able to remove bad posts, issues bans (in accordance with guidelines set out by Betfair and not on our own whims)and provide confidence to the rest of the forum that someone they 'know' is managing it and who they can come to with complaints.

It would probably be a cheaper and simpler solution to an entire forum overhaul. Most of us read the forum regularly so everything would be managed - particular during game time...

Thoughts?
Report Return_Of_Dawsy February 19, 2012 11:41 AM GMT
I've been saying that for years Brav, the forum needs moderators who regulary post on the forum, it works for other forums so why not this one? I think many people would volunteer to moderate the forum, but obviously betfair would need to trust us. It's not just the cricket forum that needs cleaning up though the whole Betfair community has seriously decline over the years, giving a few people moderator rights is a good thing but won't make the forum more active imo.
Report bravado_supertrader February 19, 2012 11:45 AM GMT
This is true, however, people might return once all the crap is gotten rid of?
Report Lix February 19, 2012 12:00 PM GMT
lots of people wont return cos they hate betfair these days. The transformation into a sportsbook and the
new wave of PC charges has alienated many of the big winners. Basically, BF dont really want them using the
site so why would they want to come back on the forum?
Report Esox February 19, 2012 12:44 PM GMT
I know I don't contribute often to the forums, things are not as good as they were in the early days. Loads of great characters no longer post. Sometimes I call in to have a look at other peoples opinion on sports bets. Sadly there is too much utter rubbish now. Some of the people who post are genuine and their insight into the sports is very valuable. I know who they are. Thank you. Would the bull****s and rampers please feck off.
Report Cardinal Scott February 19, 2012 1:26 PM GMT
Looks very elitist all this,  calls for a big brother sat up on high with power to decide who the riff raff and the great unwashed are and the power to exclude them.  Better to leave it the near free for all it is now.  The General Betting page is still in good shape with lots of valuable insights there.
Report cricketjon February 19, 2012 4:06 PM GMT
Cardinal
Whilst I concede some of your point about elitsist then if it is elitist to have standards then give me elitist any day. It cannot be acceptable to constantly accuse England of fielding a side full of South Africans nor can it be acceptsble to post points that have little merit such as "this game is fixed", "i know who will win the toss" (i thought only Sangakarra had that privilige) or depicting the chip on shoulder assertions that are becoming commonplace with some of our friends from overseas.

On a Forex forum that I was party to implementing in 1999 we had it set up so that you could see both the ROI or ROM of each poster. I am surprised no-one has done this with PCFair.
Report rohit79 February 20, 2012 6:40 AM GMT
I suggested 3 things to BCM when we spoke

1. Link it to the Betfair A/C so only BF traders can post.

2. Moderators on the Forum. Some seasoned posters 3 Years + who are known to be totally fair. If I had 1 vote it would go to Steptoes

3. If I block someone I dont want to know whether he has posted or not. I dont care. If I ever decide to be kind and unblock him, that option exists
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 20, 2012 9:40 AM GMT
rohit - 1. We are working towards something along those lines; 2. Not sure we'd need this if I get idea 1 working properly; 3. Am working with the developers to do something about this
Report STEPTOES YARD February 21, 2012 1:23 PM GMT
.
Report worcester sauce February 21, 2012 3:52 PM GMT
sounds good guys dont use the forum much nowadays due to so much rubbish on here must admit do miss some of the conversations with the likes of SY LIX ROHIT SFBTW BIRCHY and many more
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 21, 2012 7:25 PM GMT
worcester - hopefully I can sweep up the rubbish (give me a few weeks) and then yourself and the others will perhaps be encouraged to rekindle some of those conversations on here
Report h-bomb February 21, 2012 9:54 PM GMT
The cricket forum seems a bit like Rourke's Drift, the last stand against inevitable destruction by the idiots. You can't go on the football forum at all. Every thread ends the same, with a lynch-mob doing its best to humiliate somebody.

Any chance we could get a button that blocks jobless 20 year-olds on here? It seems that they are running the asylum...sorry forum.
Report STEPTOES YARD February 21, 2012 10:26 PM GMT
Posted on here today and happy to for the odis and tests.

Still happy to support the forum as if right is still best format
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 22, 2012 7:45 AM GMT
Steptoes - great to hear that. Was the 'rubbish' less of a problem yesterday?
Report fairfranco February 22, 2012 9:57 AM GMT
wasn't too bad yesterday, still a fair bit of junk in there but not quite so much and a few more posts worth reading in there as well.
Report PLEASE TELL THE TRUTH February 22, 2012 10:00 AM GMT
At long last we might get a forum that protects the wannabe pros from some of the utter rubbish displayed at times more recently. All for private chat / groups / forums definately the way to go as on some lesser games there is quite a good nucleus of posters, and would certainly get more involved as been put off recently Happy
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 22, 2012 10:16 AM GMT
fairfranco - please report any 'rubbish' you see while I work on some longer-term things that should go a very long way to stopping the problem
Report wise-punt February 22, 2012 2:30 PM GMT
Return of PTTT and other senior posters is an indication things are going in the right direction.

BCM2 continue with your long term plans which we discussed in our last communication.

Al the best
Report rohit79 February 23, 2012 7:18 AM GMT
BCM - Your efforts are genuinely appreciated. WIsh you all the best.

As they say "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." I will start a Pak Vs Eng thread tonight and shall do a count of how many junk posters vs meaningful posters do post on this thread and display the results. (Yes I do have some time tomorrow)
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 23, 2012 8:16 AM GMT
rohit - thanks, although as I said, for the time being, reporting any 'junk' posts will be the most helpful thing you can do for me. As discussed, the work I am doing will take a few weeks, but once implemented, should make a huge difference in terms of controlling who posts and what they post.
Report tonyf February 23, 2012 10:21 AM GMT
If there is a "club" on Twitter, would I be welcome guys. If so, how do I join (don't use it at the moment as you probably guessed) The analysis on forum is beyond the pale now
Report rohit79 February 23, 2012 10:31 AM GMT
BCM - You do not have a drop down on your report button for Junk talking.

As discusse The problem on the forum is not as much the  bad language or hindi/urdu as it is a slew of clowns who make statements like "Australia will win the toss ConfusedIndia will reach 1.3 then I will lay India and then Australia will reach 2.5 and then back India and they will win" All this said in incomprehensible English.

I dont think you can take action against these people if they are reported (No Drop Down boxx either) and this will only be solved by what you have planned which as you said will take you a few more weeks.
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 23, 2012 11:04 AM GMT
rohit - just select 'other' from the drop-down. There is a box into which you can add some detail, although that isn't essential
Report Cardinal Scott February 23, 2012 1:48 PM GMT
Many of you lot seem to have no problem with Millionaire Morse on the cricket thread rather you encourage him on which only adds to the "rubbish".  Double Standards are In Play here!
Report grrrrrowl February 23, 2012 2:39 PM GMT
I think Morse is a tw@ t

just sayin'
Report worcester sauce February 23, 2012 3:22 PM GMT
seconded grrrrrowl
Report Freelance February 24, 2012 12:15 AM GMT
BCM, how long does it take to process when we report someone for rubbish posts ?

I have reported a repeat offender a few times, but he's at it again today.
Report Scottyn February 24, 2012 12:42 AM GMT
Hi All

How about the option that means you can only post on an "official match thread" once you have placed a bet on that match? You must be able to link it somehow?
Report grrrrrowl February 24, 2012 3:33 AM GMT
I don't like that idea, it means you can't contribute if you haven't taken a position even if you intend to at some point
Report jt45 February 24, 2012 4:19 AM GMT
I agree, in addition to the point raised above, I don't believe that the idea would serve as much of a deterrent to forum abuse.

Anybody with funds of £3+ could easily bet on hundreds of matches before needing to make any additional deposits, regardless of their competence. It would normally be possible to back the favourite and lay off at 1 tick higher. Alternatively, with a slightly higher available balance, for most matches it would be possible to simultaneously back, or lay, all possible outcomes at very close to 100%. With either strategy, the expected loss would be approximately £0.01 per match.
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 24, 2012 9:32 AM GMT
Freelance - it varies, but generally if action is going to be taken (ie posts deleted etc) it is less than 30 minutes
Report rohit79 February 24, 2012 9:33 AM GMT
Dont agree about the point to allow only people who have bet on a game. Pre-Game discussion is critical to let you make an informed decision. Remove people who dont have BF accounts and 90% of the problem is solved. A strong moderator solves the rest of the problem

Also disagree with your 3 quid 1 point concept. Your upside is 1 tick and yur downside is your full bank. You will be caught on the wrong end of a train one out of 20-25 games no matter how good you are and you will lose your whole bank
Report fairfranco February 24, 2012 9:42 AM GMT
just a note BCM2, I reported someone yesterday, you are one of your colleagues did an excellent quick job in removing both the posts and presumably banning the user.

However by the end of the night the person had posted several times with a new account as well as sending me an abusive private message!

I know it's very easy to circumnavigate but do you ever do any IP blocking if there is a repeat offender like that?  Being a moderator on another forum I know how difficult it can be to stop people creating new accounts to post again after being banned, though I'd think with betfair being much more than the forum and so having much more security you'd be able to cut down on multi account people?
Report grrrrrowl February 24, 2012 10:45 AM GMT
IP blocking is useless, people will just switch to proxy servers or just change their IP. These accounts that are posting need to be funded and active, that's the only way to stop all these fake accounts (that are for the sole purpose of trolling).
Report jt45 February 24, 2012 10:48 AM GMT
rohit,

The strategy I suggested does not have an upside of one tick. It involves a trade that would, under most circumstances, result in the client either losing a very small amount or breaking even on the given match depending on the outcome. It would be conducted by clients who wish to minimise losses and maintain a small balance whilst continuing to abuse the forum if Scottyn's suggestion were to be enacted.

The suggested trades involve backing the favourite for £2 at price x and, as stated, laying off for £2 at 1 tick higher. If successfully conducted this would guarantee a 1 tick (£0.02) loss on that outcome and break-even on all other outcomes.

I stated a starting balance of £3+ because as soon as the available balance dips below £2 it would no longer be possible for the client to place such bets due to the minimum bet rules. A balance of around £3.50 could enable such trades on over 100 matches.

As an example, consider the upcoming T20 Pakistan v England. At the time of writing, England are available to back at 1.91 and lay at 1.92. If you back and lay England for £2 at the current prices, you would lose £0.02 if England won and break-even if Pakistan won or the match was tied or a No Result.   

I take your point about a sudden drift in an unfavourable direction but if the trades were conducted near simultaneously pre-match, avoiding the toss time, the client would be highly unlikely to lose more than a few additional ticks and conversely there would also be some occasions were a small profit would be made.

I am also aware that not all matches have the available liquidity and tight margins of the England v Pakistan match at any stage but most of the high profile matches that attract those who wish to abuse the forum do.

For similar reasons I also believe that your suggestion of a requirement to hold a bf account to access the bf forum would do little to resolve the problem. Most people can comfortably afford to open an account and deposit £2. It's possible that a proportion of the recent objectionable posts come from clients resident in areas where opening a bf account may prove more difficult than for UK clients but I suspect that if they wish to continue to post on bf forum they will be well capable of finding a way to open multiple bf accounts.
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 February 24, 2012 10:59 AM GMT
fairfranco - we can IP block, but as you and grrrrowl say, that can be overcome by someone who really wants to be a persistent nuisance. The solution that grrrrowl suggests is the direction we are looking to head in.
Report rohit79 February 24, 2012 1:42 PM GMT
Trust me not allowing people who do not haave a BF A/C will work. The junk started when Betfair removed the link between the BF Betting A/C and the forum account.

99.9% of people in the Subcontinent wont have friends or family in countries where BF and hence cant open A/C and that is also the reason for  flourishing of illegitimate bookies. Anyone who has an option would prefer Betfair to an Illegitimate bookie (I have access to both and do all by betting on here).Anyways lets see when the linking back to the BF Betting A/C happens whether it works or not
Report wise-punt February 24, 2012 4:31 PM GMT
rohit,

As you see that things have improved. Forum is returning to normalcy quickly. There were not not more than 15/20 posters who needed to be tamed. Mostly were non active ones who were not either betting with BF or may have betting with illegal bookies. For them it was the place to visit for fun. In the process they would fight/abuse and disturb serious punters which made them to leave it.
BCM2 and other forumites who contributed positively are appreciated for their efforts
Report cricketjon February 25, 2012 8:59 PM GMT
Still my answer to my point about linking forum posters to their Return on Investment. It is the ultimate in transparency and is not being answered. There are no data protection issues for the details are known by the platform servicer (the exchange) but not shared.

That would not only separate the wheat from the chaff but substantially improve the integrity of the forum. My post below from a week ago refers.
Report GrimReaper February 25, 2012 9:21 PM GMT
BCM2, perhaps you should put a sticky at the top of the forum topics; in this you could do such things as:

-  indicate to people that Betfair are going to be taking steps to moderate the forum
-  give an indication of the behaviours that are expected to be observed by posters

This may help improve the quality in the short term whilst you complete your other actions.  Getting rid of the clown that is Asian Runlines (or manifestations thereof) and his borderline racist drivel would be a great start.

At the risk of getting a black mark for assisting an exodus, I note that nobody has answered TonyF (at least that I could see from a skim read).  Tony, there is no "club" as such, just set up your account, and if you follow me (@grim_reaper71) I will make sure that you get linked up to the usual suspects - send me a direct message when you're up and running.

I agree that this forum, if it could be made to work again, is the best medium for sensible discussions.
Report Deadly Earnest February 26, 2012 1:46 AM GMT
Grim - serious question here.

Where does harmless patriotic needling stop and borderline racism start?

Can you be certain the line is not drawn by yourself and others amongst your countrymen according to your own patriotic preferences? 

Regarding Asian Runlines, you might argue he starts a lot of threads/makes posts based on one single topic, but then one could equally argue he is  consistent and has a fair point, even if the way he expresses it offends some sensibilities. 

I for one would hate to see free speech curtailed on here in order to appease what might be seen as a critical mass of posters.  I have no problem with censorship of mindless offensive abuse, but would like to see it deployed with an even hand.  I am sure BCM2 is on the job.

By the way, how did you enjoy the pomglomerate being currywashed by Pakiscam in the recent test series?  Mischief
Report cricketjon February 26, 2012 9:02 AM GMT
pomglomerate, currywash, Pakiscam

Why report Asian Runlines when we have to listen to this?

I'm not being pedantic but do you understand what I mean?
Report screaming from beneaththewaves February 26, 2012 9:59 AM GMT
Re displaying posters' ROI ... this site doesn't exist in a vacuum. For most of us, P&L on here is just one part of a bigger picture involving bets with bookmakers and spread firms or in betting shops. A huge slice of Betfair's turnover is money being hedged or arbed against investments via other platforms.

Knowing a poster's Betfair P&L would therefore be meaningless.

Even if you don't accept that argument, remember that some of the usernames on here are real people who personally know each other. There's no way I'd use the Forum if some of the bookmakers and punters I know on here could be tracking me.
Report GrimReaper February 26, 2012 8:36 PM GMT
DE: If the desire is to improve the quality of the forum, then obvious trolling behaviour needs to be curtailed.  You may disagree with my assertion that his postings are borderline racist, that's your privilege.  I think it's much harder to argue that he isn't a troll.

Perhaps I should start thread after thread about how all Australians are genetic criminals and ne'er do wells, perhaps you'd concede the point after that.  But given that you've never, to my knowledge, conceded any point, perhaps I'm being overly optimistic.

Agree with your comments on the other thread about thinking for yourself, theres on substitute for that; but you could  occasionally pick up nuggets of information that proved useful.

I wish BCM2 luck in his efforts, and shall watch how things develop with interest, until then it's Twitter for me.
Report Deadly Earnest February 26, 2012 9:41 PM GMT
Grim, it would be remiss of me if I didn't start here by conceding the point that I have never conceded a point on here.  Happy

I am not so certain about your analogy with Australia's genetic background though.  People who are clearly South African playing for England(and I am not referring to the Prior's of the world here) is not only a different issue to Australia's gene pool, it belongs to a whole different genre of issues.  The first issue has direct relevance to cricket, the second has no direct relevance to cricket.

Maybe I am being kind to Asian Runlines, and I am aware that he is also keen to point out there are English players of Asian descent playing for England.  I take these posts as a little tongue-in-cheek, with a little social comment angle to them, whilst also taking a jab at the rules of qualification to play cricket for alternative countries.

As far as trolling, ok, he starts a few threads, but this is surely in character with the above, it is only ever 3-4 threads here and there, and when you want to sing something from the rooftops so to speak, that is a legitimate method in my opinion.  It is not as if he is starting enough threads daily to drive all the other threads off the front page.

Perhaps I am reading this wrong, because I don't read all of his posts and threads, but I suspect a lot of people here don't "get" Asian Runlines, and although I have probably lost a small fortune on his namesake recently, I am ok with at least most of his posts that I have read.
Report tonyf February 27, 2012 11:23 AM GMT
Grim, many thanks, will be in touch soon. Appreciate the help. Pity the quality of this thread can't be duplicated on match days.
Report tonyf February 27, 2012 11:34 AM GMT
Grim, I am on as TONYF6651, trying to get a message to you!
Report matt106 February 27, 2012 3:17 PM GMT
Having just read through this thread from start to finish, I've got to say I'm quite impressed. If the forum reverts to its old ways I'll certainly begin to post again more often. Will take a look at the t20 thread this arvo and see how it goes
Report Anaglogs Daughter February 27, 2012 4:34 PM GMT
Will English court rule that Tweet was just not cricket?

Posted by Cleland Thom on 27 February 2012 at 14:20

Tags: Journalism, Law, Online

England’s first Twitter libel (or twibel, to the converted) trial starts in the next few weeks, and could be a key ruling for journalists.

The case will establish the extent of libel risk on Twitter.

It involves former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns, who is suing ex-Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi for stating on his Twitter page that Cairns had a ‘past record in match fixing in the Indian Premier League.’

Modi has already failed to get the case thrown out on the basis that the tweet was not widely read in England. The High Court gave the OK in November for the case to proceed as one of the UK’s latest ‘libel tourism’ claims.

Mr Cairns told the Daily Telegraph in 2010: “Until he [Modi] retracts what he has said, my name will always be tainted by the cheat label. Had he really had any concerns about my probity as a sportsman he could have called me at any time or instructed any of his executives to do the same. He chose not to.

“Instead he chose to make his allegation in public and to repeat it in public. For any doubting Thomases out there: I have never **** a match.”

Cairns was captain of the Chandigarh Lions in the ICL and was sacked in 2008. He claims that was for fitness issues.

So far, Wales is the only country in the UK to have dealt with a Twitter libel. In March 2011, a Welsh councillor was ordered to pay damages after making a false claim about an election rival on Twitter

The English case will determine whether the courts follow the view expressed by top libel and privacy judge Mr Justice Eady in 2008 He said comments on internet “bulletin boards” were more likely to be slanderous than libelous. He compared them with people chatting in a bar.

In Twitter’s early days, some people questioned if it was possible to defame someone in 140 characters. But those doubts were dispelled by American singer Courtney Love, who used her Twitter account to describe Texas-based fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir as a “drug pushing prostitute” during a dispute over payment for clothes.

Love is currently being sued for another Tweet, this time by a law firm. She Tweeted: “I was ****ing devastated when Rhonda J Holmes esq of San Diego was bought off. I’ve been hiring and firing lawyers to help me with this.”

The case Cairns v Modi starts at the beginning of March before Mr Justice Tugendha
Report Lix February 27, 2012 9:47 PM GMT
Hope Modi destroys the scumbag. (thats not libellous is it? Silly )


If he needs any help I'm happy to fill in the jury the ins and outs of spot fixing and the expected market prices for a batsman getting out (or staying in chewing up balls in Cairns case) Happy

CHAK DE LALIT BHAI
Report SUPER KEVIN DAVIES February 29, 2012 7:29 AM GMT
Might make a concerted effort to come back on here.. Getting bored of Twitter and always enjoyed the forums when they were busy.
Report rohit79 February 29, 2012 9:37 AM GMT
DOnt know what right Modi had t make the accusation against Cairns. He has no proof and while it is entirely profitable it was silly that Modi rejected his right to be part of the IPL auction because he "Believed" he was involved in match fixing in the ICL.

Modi is not a man of integrity by any stretch of imagination and has obviously made millions in "Deal fixing" like the Flintoff case which came to light. Sure there are several more.

Dont know if the IPL is better off or worse off with him. While the was a go getter he was extremely arogant with a know it all attitude. Slightly better than Srinivas though.

Home Cairns gets something out of him
Report Lix February 29, 2012 2:01 PM GMT
IPL was better with Modi in charge. Far more even contest. now the big teams simply bully the rest.

If you watched the ICL and saw the huge lumps of money that just happened to know that certain batsmen wouldnt be scoring many runs then you'd be unwilling to believe that it was just coincidence.

Lots of money often appeared laying when Cairns was batting.. Mischief
Report rohit79 February 29, 2012 2:24 PM GMT
I know what you mean Lix but there were tons of fixers and there was no one found guilty (Cause it was all a farce). Dont think Modi had the right to take a unanimous decision that "Cairns is guilty" and no one else is

IPL was also an uneven contest then Lix with CSK getting Flintoff and god knows who else, part of the reason the 1st 3 season they were atleast semifinalists, Mumbai INdian also got the best ICL Indian players. He banned Ravindra Jadeja on a whim.

Add to that his obscene arrogance in trying to get the Kochi team out of the way so one of his teams could come in,

WOuld like to see the guy get a whack.
Report Lix February 29, 2012 2:34 PM GMT
lol! Flintoff was awful in the IPL. They played better without him.
Report rohit79 February 29, 2012 3:18 PM GMT
Yeah he played 4 games and was a bit useless but he did bend the rules.
Report STEPTOES YARD February 29, 2012 6:23 PM GMT
flintoffs finest ipl moment was chasing that dog off the pitch
Report Nilsson Schmilsson February 29, 2012 7:40 PM GMT
remember AB smashing him to all parts CoolCool
Report STEPTOES YARD February 29, 2012 9:10 PM GMT
ab the dog beater Plain
Report matt106 March 1, 2012 1:47 PM GMT
Just joined twitter... @tradermatt106
Report Nilsson Schmilsson March 1, 2012 2:29 PM GMT
Happy step
Report bravado_supertrader March 1, 2012 10:09 PM GMT
cool add me on there Matt as per opening post
Report d13phe March 2, 2012 11:36 AM GMT
this is all very elitist reading through this thread
Report Lix March 2, 2012 11:46 AM GMT
the forum's glory days were when it was more cliquey. Bring back the forum mafia Mischief
Report bravado_supertrader March 2, 2012 11:55 AM GMT
Damn Right! Banter on Twitter today was as always immense and some great shouts on the game
Report johnterry 26 March 2, 2012 1:32 PM GMT
I concur with d13
Report fairfranco March 2, 2012 3:01 PM GMT
And is that a problem?

I will often have banter about a football match down my local, if someone sat in there shouting a load of nonsense over and over with no room for discussion or debate either the landlady would kick them out or the punters would leave and go somewhere else.

The number of those nonsense talkers has gone up while the number of old locals has gone down.  For the landlady this wouldn't be such a problem but the old locals were knocking back 5-10pts each day while this new breed are either sipping on tap water or having the occasional half.

Those smart folk behind the betfair bar have spotted this and are now trying to rectify.

Elitist or trying to keep their paying customers happy whilst removing the free loaders of their services?
Report d13phe March 2, 2012 3:03 PM GMT
your post assumes that the the locals who drink 5-10 pints a day talk sense Laugh
Report fairfranco March 2, 2012 3:09 PM GMT
lol, good point! Laugh  The bitter old QPR fan in my local will talk sheit to any set of fans he's not keen on and will be negative about pretty much anything, he'll also sink a few pints while he's doing it!

they have successfully kept out nonsense talking water drinkers though!
Report d13phe March 2, 2012 3:13 PM GMT
i think Twitter is good for those that want to massage their egos along with the big boys of Betfair cricket who really boycotted the forum because they are p1ssed off at the PC and the purple place wasn't lively enough.

The forum isn't as good as it used to be but this is because of the premium charge, not the few idiots that try to wreck it for everyone who you can easily block.
Report cricketjon March 3, 2012 10:00 AM GMT
i prefer to stand in the bar with a mere few drops left of my "half a pint of mild dash", a desparate ale ponce begging for his jar to be filled by someone else and at their cost whilst taking in tips about qpr et al and maximising them to my advantage
Report Asparagus Man March 10, 2012 9:49 AM GMT
BCM2 - how is replacing the Community tab with Super Slots going to help promote the forum please?
Report d13phe March 10, 2012 10:19 AM GMT
was just thinking exactly the same

Laugh
Report d13phe March 10, 2012 10:25 AM GMT
Homepage - Community tab


Betfair Customer Services
09 Mar 12 20:50 Joined: 22 May 02 | Topic/replies: 16,993 | Blogger: Betfair Customer Services's blog
You may have noticed that the Community tab in the header of Betfair.com has changed. We want to explain why this has been done, and also to invite your views and comments: therefore, this thread is not locked and you will be able to leave your feedback. All customer posts will be read and considered.

This change is a trial which we have implemented ahead of the upcoming Cheltenham Festival as it allows us to use the tab to promote other key content on Betfair.com.

The Community and the forums within it are still a very valuable part of Betfair.com: there is a link to the Community in the Top Features area of the homepage, and links are still in place on the sports, football and horse racing home pages.

In the coming months, we will be making changes and improvements which will mean forum content will be easier to find, as well as relevant to the pages and markets it is on.
Report fairfranco March 10, 2012 3:16 PM GMT
so the explanation is basically:- were hoping to get new customers in for Cheltenham who might want to mug away some money on the slots in between races.

I've still tabbed the forum like i normally wuld but it doesn't open very well as it's the version meant for window.
Report worcester sauce March 11, 2012 2:25 PM GMT
cant see where to leave feedback for the new format so will leave it here

BETFAIR NEW FORMAT IS A LOAD OF CRAP I HAVE BEEN ON THIS SITE FOR A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME NOW AND THIS IS THE WORST THE FORUM HAS LOOKED OR BEEN PRESENTED WHY TRY TO FIX THINGS WHEN THEY AINT BROKE WHY TO TRY TEMPT NEW PEOPLE TO PLAY SLOTS AT THE EXPENSE OF LOSING OLD CUSTOMERS.

I WANT MY OLD FORUM CLASSIC BACK NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Bravado_Billionaire March 15, 2012 10:28 AM GMT
forum is officially dead - 14 posts on the lanka v pakistan match so far - everyone is on twitter Devil
Report STEPTOES YARD March 15, 2012 11:22 AM GMT
was decent for overnight test
Report rolo2 March 15, 2012 3:56 PM GMT
a bit quiet but a massive step in the right direction, have not seen a rubbish post for a while, except for the 'smiffy is finish' comments(you know who you are Blush), keep up the good worm CM2 Grin
Report rolo2 March 15, 2012 3:57 PM GMT
and the good work
Report Betfair Community Manager 2 March 15, 2012 7:42 PM GMT
rolo2 - thanks! Now just need to convince those such as our friend Bravado and Co to spend a bit of time here as well as on Twitter. No reason why both can't be useful.
Report crunchyfrog March 15, 2012 8:47 PM GMT
I can't find @BCM2 on twitter Shocked Plain
Report Bravado_Billionaire October 26, 2012 10:59 PM BST
Thought I would bump this to the top for the chaps who were asking where we had all gone...

Anyone who wants to follow me have a look for either Lee Bravado or @Bravado_Trader - if you follow me and go through the people I am following/who follow me you will find the rest of the forum
Report 1.01 Layer October 27, 2012 9:06 AM BST
I don't tweet much and my tips are rubbish but it's mostly cricket, with a bit of Rugby. I'm @1point01
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