So it’s proven you’re the real deal? In which case, what saddo is impersonating you?
Probably the same person that joined the Monzo forum as Minstrels with a parody of my avatar.
If I have such a bad reputation, why not pretend to be someone nice! 
4 Likes
Welcome either way! I think it’s great to have you here. Nice to seem some more folks from the Monzo community on here I think. Hope you all stick around after the Monzo community comes out of lockdown too!
2 Likes
I both admire and commend you for your unswerving optimism!
2 Likes
This topic is temporarily closed for at least 4 hours due to a large number of community flags.
Thank you everyone for your patience! Sometimes it’s good to take some time out and let things cool down a bit. Hopefully, we can get back to some great civilised conversation about other fintech forums and their moderation - there are plenty of them!
Please remember that mentioning individuals or specific cases isn’t really appropriate. If you see anything of concern, please flag the post and the @moderators team can review it and take action as needed
But please don’t abuse the flagging system.
I’m committed to making the community a positive experience for everyone. Neither I nor the other moderators will ever wish to take strong action against anyone, but the community comes first.
11 Likes
This topic was automatically opened after 4 hours.
From the Monzo forum
Hi everyone
[We] are still looking into the recent activity over the weekend and taking another day of Read Only before making any changes.
You may notice some changes to the aesthetic of the Community whilst in Read Only. We’ll be moving topics around a bit to make sure this is still a useful landing page for anyone coming to the forum.
Thanks for your patience.
They’re going to nuke it, aren’t they?
It looks like they’ve switched to the same format layout as this site
I notice after it was originally placed in read only mode, there was a reference to this place about 7 stories down. That thread appears to have been nuked.
And unlisted a few topics a few hours ago, including the thread for this place. Aesthetics changes are interesting though. I do prefer the latest view as the default on mobile, perhaps they saw that in action here and preferred it too?
It still exists! Just unlisted. Seems shady, but maybe they’ll relist it once it opens? Not sure why they would it hide it as there was nothing nefarious going on in that thread. What’s the motive here, I wonder? 
5 Likes
Now that this thread has reopened, I wanted to take a moment to discuss Atom’s kitchen. Checking it today, the place seems very inactive since the influx of new users towards the start of the year. Moderators still engage and keep the place alive, but engagement from users seems to have died off sans a small number of folks.
Does anyone else on here take part? I’ve seen @Graham around on there, but other than that, not many folks I recognise from any other fintech communities, which is quite unique in that regard.
2 Likes
Oh stop it! You’re tooooo much 
Anyway, I think the new forum layout will be a success, people just have to get used to it.
1 Like
Ha, that was me. I was cheesed off because I’d recommended Freetrade to several people and no-one had received the free share (including me) and the help section regarding this had at that time been closed off or ‘locked’. Anyway, one member went right off the deep end. I was not trolling, just annoyed but his over reaction was actually amusing. I am an investor in Freetrade and he said that as I was I should just trust them to do the right thing. Yeah, right!
Anyway, after my post the help requests regarding free shares were ‘unlocked’. After much chasing up everyone I recommended got a free share and I posted to say so on the forum (no response to that though). I don’t think I should have to chase up these incentive bonuses as they constantly push them at me and it makes you look foolish when no-one gets what you said they would. I was being asked if it was a con by the people I’d recommended it to.
It isn’t, I know that now, but it’s not something I would do again…not worth the hassle.
4 Likes
My first time popping on in months. I think the issues stem from a few places.
- The domain is weird. I can’t remember it so I’m never going to go out of my way to visit it.
- The notifications are unreliable. I visit when I get an email, and I’ve often missed out on loads of notifications that I never received an email for. Which is a shame because I genuinely want to engage and help them become better, because I like Atom, just not the experience.
- It’s solely reliant on engagement from the moderators to sustain itself. They’re the ones who start the conversations and and set the feedback and prototype activities. I don’t think there have been any activities in a long while. While they do engage a lot and reply to almost all user feedback, they’re not proactive enough in starting new conversations to keep things moving and engaging.
They do seem to act on feedback though, if a little too slow when it comes to executing it.
1 Like
Yes. It’s a strange setup. The “Kitchen” as a testbed for new ideas or more so, feedback on those ideas.
I’m not sure there’s more than a handful of contributors though.
Thing is, there’s little going on to spark conversation, unfortunately.
Edit: I’ve just reinvested having seen their latest offering and I must say the app has leapt forward rather. It’s not, by any means, breathtaking, but blimey, it’s so much better than its previous self 
2 Likes
Why is it that whenever I take a 48 hour break from social media, a community goes down the bog? First FTT turns to dust and now the Monzo forum is in read only?! Well I must say, I never expected so much drama in the word of fintech forums 
I’ve been vocal in my criticisms of the Monzo Community on FTT, especially the fanboyism and overzealous moderation including shutting down perfectly civil discussions. I’ve always been torn when some people have suggested Monzo ought to do away with their forum all together like Starling did: while I could see the issues very clearly, I think the concept was admirable and, like it or not, a large number of users enjoy a wide range of discussion over there (not just regarding Monzo, but tech, entertainment and much more) - I think a lot of people genuinely value it as a place they can socialise, and I think the fact that a bank is responsible for that is actually pretty special. However, the recent suppression of perfectly valid criticism of Monzo and measured discussion on the topic has changed my mind. The forum isn’t an advert for them - it’s real people discussing real opinions, and if Monzo can’t cope with some of those inevitably being critical as opposed to complimentary, then they need to pull the plug and replace it with a self help wiki and blog. Regardless, this is why I think discussion spaces should ideally be free from the editorial control of any single company - hence the tremendous value of this place (thank you @Mathew!). This has given the team over there the perfect opportunity to call quits. Yes there will be a small number of disgruntled regulars, but the bank will continue just fine and their cries of anger on Twitter or Reddit will go largely unheard by the main customer base.
Regarding the discussion of Freetrade’s forum by @N26throwaway and @nelliep, I totally agree with both of you. I always found the atmosphere strangely toxic, the staff oddly unprofessional and the community very gatekeeper-ish. Shame, since some of the due diligence posted is insightful.
And @anon46977588, catching up on this thread was more entertaining that any drama ITV has churned out in the last 5 years!
7 Likes
I’m intrigued about Atom’s Kitchen as, despite being an Atom customer, I’m not a member. I would like to be, but joining seems to be a very secretive process not easily achievable by all.
They could generate more engagement if it was open to all, or at least open to all customers?
It sounds quite similar to First Direct and HSBC’s market research panels, or even Barclays’ Launchpad feature. Am I way off the mark with that?
Having taken time to read this thread in full this morning, I must also agree with @Lonford’s post, particularly this bit:
Also, I especially like the mock-up of Scooby Doo and Revels, absolutely hilarious!
1 Like
I’d previously had a bit of a moan about the horror show that was the app. That was very early days, but maybe that’s how I got there.
I’ve probably touched base with them twice in total.
I see.
I also hate their proprietary Face ID, as I’ve said before, but have never bothered to complain to them about it!
Perhaps I should.
2 Likes