Anyone interested.

Goodbye,

I hope to still see some of you around but I will not be using the forum or going to breakfasts anymore.

Thanks to everyone who has booked me and has referred. Do feel free email me if you want advice on a party or a recommendation for anything party related :)

Vicky x

88 views and no one brave enough to say anything yet?  Perhaps that says it all.

Vicky I know it's not a goodbye from me, because I will be keeping in touch in other ways. As you know I won't be long behind you, but I have some commitments I need to fulfil first, and I'm not into letting  people down.

Isn't is strange when only a few weeks ago we were being asked why people leave, or don't re-join? The consensus was they "don't get it". Well perhaps they do eh Vicky? Perhaps we get it  very well. 

I'll be in touch Vicky.

Thanks you two. I have always been a massive supporter of 4N I have even taken on a role and always promoted to others, now I don't feel I can. They have done it to themselves. Today was the last straw after a history of misjudgements.

I agree. There has been a serious error of judgement which undermines the whole of the 4N organisation. It is impossible to support an organisation that supposedly supports small businesses and yet seems to work behind the scenes to do exactly the opposite. The network is built on fear, supression of free speech and smoke and mirrors.

What they (all of the 4N directors) have done is dispicable and will damage their organisation and their own individual reputations and businesses. I will never promote the organisation or the individuals within it again. 

Meh ...

its sad to see you go Vicky!

Sad to see you go Vicky, but I understand completely why, and think I may not be far behind you to be honest. I used to recommend 4N generally and the forum specifically to people, I never understood why people didn't use the forum when it had worked so well for me. Over the last few months I've become more and more disillusioned as people who dared to have opposing views have been struck off one by one, or told they "weren't welcome" for no reason other than they'd said something negative about 4N. OK some of those people probably deserved to get banned, but it was the NATURE of the banning - very loud, in public, retweeted all over the plce - that annoyed me - for a "professional" organisation it cames across as very unprofessional, childish even, and with a real sense of "look at me, I hold the power here, therefore I can do whatever I like".

4N is, can be, still could be a great format but at the same time, the ethos that says everyone is welcome, there's no thing as good as competition, no lockout on businesses from the same industry doesn't seem to apply when it comes down to 4N itself. Over the years I've seen people banned because they started their own networks, people banned for having opposing views and now an entire forum closed down because it was in competition with - and dared to speak out against - 4N. Yeah, some of the stuff said on there was quite shocking, and there were a few disgruntled ex-members on there but there were also lots of current members who loved 4N and spoke out in its favour to redress the balance. Now the vast majority of those members have been alienated and may now leave 4N - as Vicky is doing - because of the perceived bully boy tactics that have gone one step too far.

I have a business, and lots of other people have similar businesses. The may write things that I don't agree with, they may even write things about me that I don't agree with, but that doesn't give me the right to bully them into submission.

It;s a sad old day for freedom of speech today.

As I'm sure we are all aware, there are always more sides to a story than one. The other site was taken down by its owners after evaluating the issues.

There is inevitably some 'collateral damage' and that is genuinely sad.  If that means some people wish to vote with their feet, then so be it. 

There is a company, that I am not associated with. Their forum has been closed down as a direct result of 4N threatening legal action. I was a member of that forum. This is in addition to all the sentiment above. 

Please note I do not wish the company getting threats for them to suffer from my actions. I am not associated with them, nor do I have any confirmation or information from them regarding this situation. I am merely a bystander who can see with my own eyes what is happening and take a very strong view on the actions of 4N.

sure

Can I add.

Thanks for the phone calls, DMs, tweets and emails. I have never in my life had so many in one day. xxxx

My views are based not just on the other forum being closed, but on the persistent removal of controversial people over the last few months .... for example, Mike Palmer, one time team member, original "official" 4N photographer etc, was told he was "not welcome" to come to the Xmas party - which he had already paid for and booked accomodation for - because he had stated some negstive views about 4N on another forum. OK that's etupid in itself - he wanted to come along to catch up with 4N friends, not to start a revolution - but what made it worse was rather than MP getting a phone call and the matter being kept private, it was made very public on the forum and all over Twitter. Tht's the kind of thing I don't like and I don't think falls into 4N's caring sharing MLKT e"everyone is welcome, 4N works for everyone" ethos .... the forum stuff yesterday was just the last straw for me really. I have 47 days left and as things stand now I don't think I'll be renewing this time - which is sad as I will miss a lot of people, but I can't put my hand on my heart and say I endorse the way 4N works nowadays.

Yes they evaluated the issues Tim, of course they did. It's just simply outrageous that they had to.

All this has done is given weight to those posters on that forum who voiced issues with 4N. Very difficult now to argue with them isn't it? Perhaps they were right all along?