admin

I've sent messages between some accounts we use for testing purposes and I can confirm that the PM posting functionality is working correctly, apart from the obvious issue of an error message appearing once a message has been submitted. Further tests under way.... Bryan

Sentbox = read, Outbox = unread If a message is in the Outbox then the recipient hasn't read it yet. Once the recipient has opened/read it, it moves to the Sentbox.

Can't see a problem at this end and haven't been able to replicate the error - hopefully it was a self rectifying gremlin.

With reference to the the article "private eye names names in pay off scandal" posted on http://swwiltshirelibdems.org.uk which has been linked to several times in this thread: it should be noted that no wrongdoing was ever proven, no action was taken and "no direct evidence of deceitful or illicit behaviour was uncovered" Please stick to the facts, avoid unverified claims and give consideration to the repercussions of what you post on a public forum.

POPCORN, please observe forum etiquette and post new threads in the most relevant section. Is the 'Shetland News' section the most appropriate place for a thread about a David Icke conference in London? Thread has now been moved to 'Anything and Everything Else'

Threads merged - please refrain from starting new threads about existing topics

Please refrain from posting in capitals Popcorn - that implies shouting.

^ may we remind folk that the only way Shetlink can remain free to users is through the majority of costs being covered by the display of adverts - therefore we'd kindly request that folk don't block the ads - if everyone did, there would be no Shetlink. We haven't noticed any problem with the left hand ads but we'll look into it.

Due to a complaint received (via Private Message on Monday 7 Feb) regarding a discussion on the Holocaust, the moderators (on Wednesday 9 Feb) decided to remove the thread from public view pending a review We appreciate your cooperation while we seek to resolve the situation

The Shetlink admin team would like to put across a little of the background to this thread being locked. Firstly, we'd like to get across the point that we in no ways deny that the news story that caused this thread to appear is a subject of great relevance to the community, quite the contrary. In fact that is why the thread is locked and why we have done so with previous threads in the past and will do so again in the future in any similar circumstance. Because they provoke such a huge, singularly polarised, emotive response. There is a fairly wide gulf between how we, the team, are obliged to view a subject as administrators and/or moderators and how we, as individuals, may view subject, much like yourselves. Because we, as moderators, have witnessed threads like this before, we know how they are likely to go on the forum and we have to preempt anything that reflects badly on the forum or our users on one hand, whilst trying to keep you all happy with the service Shetlink provides on the other. The regular moderators all do so voluntarily, none of us have time to accept the responsibility of scrutinising and editing every individual post 24/7, we rely on the users to maintain some decorum despite their anonymity. In that context it is worth reminding everyone that, although the majority of our users are anonymous, we have always, and continually try to, treat Shetlink as a virtual 'living room.' Stop by, spend a while, discuss weighty subjects, have a laugh, have an argument, share resources and communicate ideas, our original motto. Neither we, nor you, would invite several hundred people around to spend an hour in your living room purely to describe how much you despise the acts of someone seeking, acquiring, saving, smuggling and getting caught with the worst form of child pornography. It goes without saying. This thread is cathartic, it may make us all feel better to vent our response to this verdict, on whatever level. However, there is no-one here defending the accused, the crime, the sheriff, the justice system or anything else and so it just incites forever greater accounts of how anonymous people would deal with the crime and the criminal and increasingly negative opinions of the Sheriff and the legal system. We have had reasoned debates on this very subject here before, but take a look at what has been written here already - that someone should be strung up from a lamp-post, that no punishments are handed out to the perpetrators of child abuse and that it is assumed that the accused "will be allowed to work with children" among other things? And worst of all, the accusation that we are protecting the accused. We are not and that accusation is unfair to everyone at Shetlink. We are merely disallowing a string of posts which would all require careful scrutiny and be of purely cathartic benefit at best, and at worst could land Shetlink in a heap of trouble if, for instance, someone decided to seriously defame the Sheriff. Shetlink does not claim to always get it right. Comparisons of this subject to others is not a clear cut issue though. Threads we have allowed in the past that have involved similar outrage have had elements of valid impartial discussion within them, deep complex issues. In this instance, there would appear to be no such debate or discussion, just outrage, fueling further outrage. So let's summarise the main points Users would like to make in this thread. No-one here wishes to defend the accused or his actions or this type of crime. Possession of child abusive images is not a victimless crime. The Justice system sometimes gets it wrong. The Sheriff should maybe have sentenced the accused to a different punishment. If anyone wishes to add a specific valid point to this list, please PM admin and it will be added if appropriate. If anyone wishes to debate the generalities of the Criminal Justice system, please refer to the current relevant thread. If anyone wishes to defend the crime, the criminal or the verdict then similarly contact admin and the point will be given all due consideration and the thread opened if appropriate. Please also feel free to contact the local media, write to your MPs and donate money to the relevant charities to address this news story. Thank you Admin.

Event removed

[mod]Will add additional items to this list and sticky for easy access. Title altered on 14/03/2009 to include & Courier Agents[/mod] Mainland Courier --> Shetland Agent DHL --> Northwards FedEx --> Streamline ANC (FedEx) --> Streamline City Link --> Local Agent WDA Parcels - 01595 692811 - Link to parcel tracking website: City-Link Tracking Amtrak --> Northwards UPS --> Northwards Parcelforce --> Royal Mail ========================================== Retailers - Mainland Delivery - Shetland Delivery Dell Computers --> Ian Reid Marks & Spencers --> Streamline (if you spend more than £30 do not charge postage to UK (and that includes Shetland!)) Ikea Next Mothercare Mamas and Papas Play.com - like amazon but postage is free on everything no matter how little you spend, Amazon.co.uk - but some of its shops i've found don't deliver up here Boots Amazon Delivered my new TV and Home cinema very quickly without any extra deliver charges ( all from amazon not external businesses ) Ebuyer John Lewis No Delivery Charges Furniture Choice ( only delivered to Shetland transport Aberdeen, but very helpful and thoroughly recommend them if you want a sofa ) Office Furniture online Delivery was costly for office chair ( so got from SOS ) other items were reasonable and friendly service via emails. Fornisca Claimed free delivery but then phoned me to say it would cost £47 for delivering a bed up here was I still happy to go through with the order. which is still to arrive but it is still within the time frame they gave me. Cube 247 very easy people to work with and free delivery Asda Direct The Cot Mattress Company MoreComputers.com for computers, hardware, cameras, etc etc. Tesco Direct are delivering here for a trial period. Charges are quite expensive. Ordinary delivery £4.95 to mainland. Delivery here surcharge of £15 on small items and £55 on larger items! 7DayShop photographic and blank cd's/dvd's etc. postage included in the price. Comes with Royal mail. Mattress Man Free Delivery & very good deals which are constantly updated. Argos --> Shearer Shipping (or SBS) tekheads.co.uk delivered my new monitor to Lerwick in 3 days for about 7 quid. (28" flat screen) bigpockets CityLink --> WDA Viking Direct =============================================== Companies providing FREE Delivery artifolk - art supplies. Free delivery (even to ZE) over £40. Excellent service too and prices are stunniing. oyyy - mostly computer stuff. Same rates as shipping on the mainland. Prices are often lower than Amazon! blinds-2go - Orders over £75 free to Shetland and ALL orders on genuine VELUX blinds free. staples Wiggle.co.uk do free delivery on everything "except bikes". chainreactioncycles do free delivery on everything INCLUDING bikes eurocarparts - fantastic 2 day free service Empire Stores - do not charge for deliveries and if you checkout myvoucehercodes you can often find items with up to 20% discount bigpockets CityLink --> WDA ScrewFix http://www.nitecore.co.uk/ http://www.fenixtorch.co.uk/ http://www.ledfire.co.uk/ All sell high quality torches and ship them to Shetland free of charge Best Pet Pharmacy - FedEx/Streamline Carrier Contact Details ANC Charleston Dist Centre Nigg Aberdeen AB12 3LL TEL: 01224 891122 FAX: 01224 891133 DHL DHL International (UK) Ltd. West Avenue Phoenix Industrial Estate Paisley PA1 2FB M. & H. CARRIERS (ABERDEEN) LTD CRAIGSHAW ROAD WEST TULLOS INDUSTRIAL ESTATE ABERDEEN AB123AR 01224 248 191 01224 879 617 (fax) The above information was thought to be correct at time of addition but please note that delivery agents are subject to change and the above information may or may not be correct. If you happen to notice a mistake please let us know by posting a reply to this thread. ===============================================

The contents of this thread have been removed due to ongoing investigations

Welcome to the new dedicated Shetland dialect usergroup From an initial private usergroup set up in the summer of 2007, this has expanded into a forum and is now available to the Shetlink community. It's purpose is to "share information, share resources and communicate ideas" regarding Shetland dialect. Please be aware that we request for the "most part" that users of this "Shaetlin Dialect" forum write in Shetland dialect only. Diacritical marks are provided and the use of these are as simple as pressing the button to have the the mark appear in the edit box. NOTE: Use of diacritical marks is purely down to user preference in writing style. (** MOD EDIT ** - title altered from "Shetland Dialect Usergroup" to above to reflect organic changes to forum 19/12/07)

A new forum dedicated to consumer information, advice & insights has been established to act as a resource for Shetlink community members. An increasing number of discussions relating to online shopping, customer service, how to get goods delivered to Shetland and general consumer issues was noted, so it was decided to round them up a give them their own section. Popular topics include: Best Mobile phone coverage? The Banking Industry - Charging Malpractice Had Any Bad Buying Experiences Lately? Ebay & Paypal Sky+ charges stopping and many more ..... To access this new forum, registration is required (and users must be logged in to view the forum). Click here to register as a Shetlink community member Please also note that the Shetland Personals Forum has been removed with all content shifted over to Anything & Everything Else - Shetlink's general discussion area. Why ... aa thank yoo!

You were purged from the database as were picked up to have been a spammer. No matter. Your original posts are still there and you have resigned up. Please accept Shetlinks apologies. Enjoy your stay.

Please note that Shetlink will be offline for part of the day tommorrow (Friday April 20th) as we run through some routine site maintenance We hope to resume normal service on Saturday Shetlink admin

A new “Parental Involvement” forum has been launched. The Parental Involvement Act is legislation under which the old School Board system is being replaced by Parent Councils. The forum, hosted on behalf of the SIC Education Department, is a central point where parents and carers of children who attend Shetland schools can share ideas and views, and find out more about Parental Involvement and Parent Councils. A Parental Involvement Officer will be on hand to answer your questions. Shetlink administrators Click here to visit the Parental Involvement forum

The Shetlink team are very pleased to announce an exciting new collaboration with the recently re-launched Shetland Life magazine. We've opened a new forum allowing Shetland Life readers to interact with the magazine's editorial team and writers, discuss articles, contribute content and post "Reader's Views" messages. Note that messages posted in the new Shetland Life Forum may be considered for re-print in the actual magazine, but don't let that put you off, it's your chance to have your say! Click here to visit the Shetland Life Forum The Shetlink team

A few suggestions to keep things running smoothly As a last resort, folk who persistently don't play by the rules will be warned, temporarily banned, and potentially permanently banned. Engage in discussion - Our aim is to provide a welcoming space for discussion that develops over time as ideas and opinions are posed and reflected upon: don't just bomb-in your point without taking the time to engage with what other forum members have written, don't just post links without explanation or comment, and be prepared to back up your points with evidence or reasoning. Avoid sweeping statements and generalised moaning, particularly with regard to whole local authorities, political parties, governments or organisations - These activities translate as "blah, blah, moan, moan" and do nothing to encourage constructive debate. If you have specific examples and/or reasoning, please refer to them and keep them relevant to the topic's subject matter. Stay calm! - Shetlink is a place where people of differing opinions engage in discussion. Please remember that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that by posting messages you may not get a response you agree with! Needless Negativity - We want to the forums to be a friendly, supportive and positive 'living room' where people can discuss issues and share their thoughts. As such we welcome and encourage constructive criticism and discussion, but discourage needless negativity, antagonism and hostility. Repetitious overly negative, antagonistic and hostile posts discourage other people from joining in discussions - this is the number one complaint the Shetlink moderators receive and is the main reason folk stop, or don't start, contributing the forums. All too often threads are snuffed out due to voracious and repetitive groaning, griping and belly-aching. The odd rant, moan and whine are inevitable but there's a line to be drawn. Don't purposely post misleading information - there's too much bruck written on the internet already. Let's keep Shetlink a place where discussion is based on facts. Sarcasm, insinuation, rhetorical questioning and generally skirting around the point - this has its place in debate, but for there comes a point when you have to nail your colours to the mast and spit it out! Use font formatting sparingly - in particular ALL CAPS translates as shouting. Make your point through reasoning, not formatting. Avoid starting a new discussion thread if there's already a relevant one - the forums become confused and discussions difficult to follow when there are multiple threads dealing with similar or identical subject matter, so we encourage users to post in existing threads whenever possible. This gives new posts a chronological order, provides background information to new posts, keeps popular topics active and acts as a running archive of subjects. New topics which are deemed as dealing with the same subject matter as existing threads may be locked and/or merged with the existing thread Don't use unnecessary and/or long quotes - When using the quote function, only quote the parts of a previous post directly relevant to your reply. Unnecessary quotations make page lengths excessive and unwieldy to navigate. There is no need to quote the whole post made immediately prior to yours. Doing so breaks the flow of the conversation and forces people to re-read posts. Alternatively, use a "^" symbol (to indicate you are refering to the post immediately above yours), use "" (to indicate you have truncated a long quote) or just post a reply! Do not crosspost/ multipost - Please do not post the same message several times and/or in different areas of the forums. Messages should be posted only once, in the most appropriate thread. Crossposts may be removed without notice. Give new threads appropriate and descriptive names - It makes it easier for folk to find subjects they're interested in, and saves them wasting their time on subjects they're not. Titles like "Look at this", "Lerwick" and "Advice needed" are not very helpful Use abbreviations sparingly - The forums are for the use of a wide range of people, many of whom have no idea what abbreviated terms such as LMAO, LOL etc mean! Don't post very large images - it can take ages to load and affects the formatting of the web page. Remember, not every forum user will have the same connection speed you do, nor a 42" plasma screen to view huge images. And please make sure the images are relevant and have context. --- The Shetlink team

For more fun websites Click Here So, "Shetland Ponies!", whadya say?

Registration is now required to post in the forums Please read this announcement for more information

After serious consideration, the Shetlink team has decided to close the forums to 'Guest' posts. Please CLICK HERE TO REGISTER - Registering should take less than 2 minutes. All you need is an email address. You simply choose a Shetlink Nickname and Password, and an email is sent to you which includes a confirmation link. When you have clicked the link, you can log into your Shetlink account For further info or help with registration and logging in, email admin@shetlink.com (We require no personal information for registration other than a contact email address. Shetlink is not affiliated with any other public and or private body in Shetland or elsewhere. All information about you and everyone using this site is held under trust between yourselves and us and is NOT distributed to ANY third party.) Registered users gain the following extra features Post indicators - Coloured indicators show posts which have not yet been read Private messages - Registered users can contact other registered users privately Polls - Registered users can start and vote in polls Editing posts - Registered users can edit their own posts Members List - Registered users have access to the Members List There were several factors in our decision, including -->Multiple guest postings make threads difficult to follow (i.e. forum users don't know if guest posts are from the same or different individuals) -->Guests can post under the same name as other guests -->We have no way of contacting guest posters should we need to The subject of guest posting has been discussed in the Shetlink forums several times. Here are the thoughts of some of our registered users

If any of the parties concerned in this debate would like to make documents (or parts of documents) available to the public, we would be happy to host them in the "downloads" section of the Shetlink website. You can email the documents as attachments (or links to the documents if they are already on the net) to admin@shetlink.com and we'll do the rest.