Time for Angloinfo to close down?

lol! ive given up. tact does not work. unfortunately screaming and shouting like a loony does, something i never resorted to in my life before living in france. no wonder the french need all that red wine to bring the heart rate down

In defence of A1 it is a free advertising site for many people, the fact that the people who advertise get there slated sometimes, goes with the territory.

I took over an advertising site early this year and the creator wanted a clutter free site, hence no forum section. I do check every reply to adverts to try and filter spammers, which is not too hard, as they usually reply to many adverts at a time.
Offering a part free section does take up a lot of unpaid time, but not nearly as much as running a forum, But it will attract traffic, which is why A1 has one.

This site is a breath of fresh air, mainly because the owners are so involved on a day to day basis and are doing a fantastic job. I am sure their revenue so far will not cover their time, but they are defiantly going in the right direction.
Luckily we can choose with our mouse which sites we visit. My mouse seems to have a mind of itā€™s own and seems to click on SFN far more than A1, which I am sure is very much the same situation for many.

Keep up the good work, but you could have a problem on your hands when all the petty minded people on ā€˜otherā€™ sites, migrate.

I was trying to be tactful!!!

within the law? you are joking arent you? every department makes up their own laws and when you point that out and show them the real law the officianado dont give 2 hoots. the law is what they make it in that particular village

Protectionism with a capital P definately, keeping France for the French as far as is possible within the law and getting worse as time goes on. Iā€™ve lived and worked here for 14 years and in that time, the changes taking place have accelerated in the last five, little wonder so many people are leaving.

if we are talking about sites to close and censorship then take a look at le bon coin. they will not communicate with you by phone email or letter, however they will remove adverts that you have put based on in the opinion of the moderator you are commercial or not. for 3 years i run a discount business slashing prices of products by approx 50 %. we were advertising on various sites including le bon coin. after a very sucessful first year le bon coin would remove my adverts after they had been placed for about 3 days even though they had passed moderation. i would then see the same products being advertised by french dealers at higher prices with no moderation what so ever. we even started playing a game with le bon coin. if we registered with the same email address the adverts would be dismissed almost immediately but if we changed address they would last a few days. however the best of all was we wrote an advert along the lines of ā€œdear le bon coin, why do you censor English peoples adverts but not french and not reply to letters or emails etc etc.ā€ the advert went on for months. i then was contacted by numerous English people who had the same problem but could not get through to sort them out or discuss?
free market in france dont think so, racism? possibly or just plain old protectionism that can be witnessed every day of the week in france

Anglo who?

I havenā€™t read all of the replies here, but my experiences with Anglo Info have been mixed and I donā€™t disagree with their censoring, as they say - take it or leave it. My disagreement comes when their censoring seems to be patchy, one rule for one and something entirely different for someone else.
I have written to their head office on occasion - no surprise, no reply there!
I have been deleted from one of their sites for placing to many ā€˜off-topicā€™ replies i.e. when people advertise their kittens for rehoming I politely ask if they are thinking of getting the mother neutered.
We live, as I am sure many here do, on the borders of 3 other departments(we are also on the border of 2 regions) so I have placed adverts for items for sale which have been removed from the forum because they are outside the area, even though we are 15 minutes away - when I flag up the many other similar postings, also out of area and list examples, they deleted my membership.
I am all for having rules and regs, but lets have it across the board and not selective!!

I agree about the draconian censorship on AngloInfo, it is over the top. I have stopped using AngloInfo because it is mostly used by people selling overpriced RHD cars, giving away livestock, and people who have an opinion on everything(!!). I donā€™t agree with your sugestion of marking peopleā€™s cars. I heard of an instance where someone wrote on car with a disability badge because the driver appeared able-bodied (they marked ā€˜fraudsterā€™ on the car in lipstick). They had got it totally wrong and caused a lot of distress to the person who had the badge legitimately.

I totally agree with all you say and have experianced the same draconian cenership. I tend not to contribute there any more but do moniter the forum for ā€œbargainsā€ and nothing else.

Hi Nick / James



The Guide2 sites are region based, although there are plans to have a central Guide2France website in the long term - we just want to get it right.

If you search Google for Guide2 ā€œregion nameā€, then you should find the site you are looking for.


The other way to find the Guide2 sites; scroll down to the bottom of the page on any Guide2 site and there is a list of all the Guide2 sites. Just click on the name of the one you want.



Cheers

Martin

My driving instructor gave me that as a serious lesson! Never trust a driver in a flat cap were his exact words. i now translate that to never trust a driver in a beret, well they are flatish!!

Couldnā€™t agree more - when we had dreadful after sales service for our pool, I put a notice on AngloInfo stating if anyone was thinking of having a pool get in touch with me to know who not to use - no names or any means of identity mentioned. I had an email stating they would not allow this sort of post. Hence, any emails from them now go straight into my ā€œjunkā€. I was only trying to help others to avoid the problems we had. Needless to say, it was not ā€œpulledā€ on SFN - my favourite and only ex-pat site!

Nick

The Guide2 franchises are regional, Iā€™m pretty sure there isnā€™t a national one.

James

The policing of Anglo Info doesnā€™t allow for freedom of speech at all. Everyone has differing views on all subjects, very healthy and promotes good debating. The current one on this site entitled immobiliers has been an excellent example.

Chris - you need to recruit us a load more members from your neck of the woods please! xx

I find AI a difficult and unwieldy site. It is hard to navigate around it. I have everything I need here on SFN, so I frankly donā€™t care what happens to AI.

Glad to hear that!

I have been here 8 years mate, and every thing you say about that site has been said before and will be said again.

When I type in Guide2 in Google it just gives me a Charente site. Is there a central site? if so please can you give me the web address as I couldnā€™t find it on the Charentes site.
In passing I agree entirely - all these sites are Guides - they are not gospel /laws/regulations; so use them as an initial port of call before delving into the French system and finding out exactly from a French neighbour/Mairie. Most of the time people are genuinely trying to help. However theyā€™re also good for a laugh when someone gets their knickers in a twist