Abandon All Fear Blog

Ghost Master

2007-08-14T22:44:00.001Z

So I bought this game on Saturday for 97p from Tesco and I haven't been able to stop playing it, which is why I haven't blogged. I tend to only buy old games, (1) because they're cheap, (2) because they're guaranteed to be compatible with my newer system and (3) I like retro.

So I've begun testing wordpress for this blog, for compatibility with the existing content I have on the server. I've just had to purchase another database for the testing itself which is a bit annoying, but my plan is to have this temporary setup before I start surfing for a new web-host.

So far I found a real good sounding web-host which is compatible with the values of this site (and paranoia that one time something I publish will cause me to be shut down): nearlyfreespeech.net

You pay only for your server and bandwidth usage, they give you a private mailbox (so your own address is not revealed), a special phone and fax and a custom email address.

Here's a statement on their FAQ (my bold emphasis):

"If you wish to host a controversial site in the US, it behooves you to know the law, particularly this one, and how to use it to your advantage in the event of a dispute. You should also be prepared for a downtime of some or all "allegedly infringing" material for a couple of weeks if the copyright owner wants to fight.
We adhere to the entire law very closely. We do not generally pull the plug on an entire site if, for example, someone claims that a single graphic is infringing. We do our best to remove only the content that the copyright owner specifically identifies as allegedly infringing. We allow and encourage the use of the "putback notification" process when material is incorrectly identified as infringing. But we do not automatically terminate a member's service merely for receiving a complaint alleging infringement. (However, actually infringing someone's copyright does violate our TACOS and will generally result in immediate termination.)
Keep in mind that while we aren't lawyers, neither are we idiots. We can tell the difference between people harassing our members via the DMCA and cases where our service is genuinely being misused, and we can adjust our attitude accordingly. Fortunately, both of these cases are very rare.
Of course, not all complaints are DMCA complaints. We very much enjoy "I hate that site. I demand you take it down!" messages, of which we receive a very large number (from, ironically, a relatively small number of people). Other than pointing and laughing, however, we tend not to respond to such demands."

Pretty awesome huh? Unfortunately they take payment in US$ so I need to contact them to discuss that, not sure what the risks are in terms of the exchange rate or how I'd go about paying.

If anyone knows of a UK equivalent, I would love to know. Lyc0s offer a pretty good service in terms of support and installation but something I read in .NET magazine recently by a Lyc0s executive caused me concern in how they would handle a copyright or libel complaint. As you can see I mention no names and have taken precaution to hide keywords!

See you on the new blog...

Technorati Tags: ghost master, gaming, libel, copyright, web hosting, privacy, dmca, free speech

HIDI: Blogger Vs Wordpress (Round 2)

2007-08-04T02:27:00.001Z

Soon, I'll be transferring this blog over to a wordpress account, and giving it a slightly different name, since I need Alex Fear to be a feature of Abandon All Fear rather than a predominant fixture.

As promised, here's the HIDI (How I Did It) for transferring my other blog Dark Side of the Light from a Blogger ftp server to Wordpress ftp server. Please be advised this is a general overview and assumes you already have MySQL installed on your server and are experienced in blogger and Wordpress configuration. If not, take some time going over the Wordpress management interface to familiarise yourself, it only took me a couple of hours to explore how it works.

Before I Began

I backed up everything off the server locally just in case anything went wrong. I then edited my .htaccess file to include the line:

Redirect 301 /darksidelight/index.html /errors/301.html

This needs to be on a seperate line (blank line above/below) in the file to work. My 301.html file basically had a short message to say that the blog had been temporarily taken down for maintenance.

1. Switch to blogspot address

The second thing I did (but first for the purpose of this HIDI) was to go into my blog settings and switch to darksidelight.blogspot.com. The name you choose doesn't really matter but anyone navigating to that domain will be redirected back to your ftp blog later, so it may be worthwhile putting some thought into it. Don't just using a generic name (which will probably be taken anyway).

Although your blogger account now points at the blogspot address, the static content up to you last post will still remain on the server. Some important points:

Do not upgrade your blog template, I have no idea if Wordpress will be able to import if you do this.

If you are transferring to a new address on your server or a new server

You may want to write a final post with some info and a link to the new blog address
There is no need to manually delete the old content on your server, in fact it's useful if others have linked to previous posts

If you are transferring to the same address on your server

You should now delete or rename the directory manually on your server (I have no idea how Wordpress reacts if there is already content in the directory but it's best to assume that it may cause problems)

2. Install your Wordpress ftp blog

My actual first move (second for the purpose of this HIDI) was to install wordpress on my server for a new blog at www.abandonallfear.co.uk/dark. Since I was using a different address from my old blog (www.abandonallfear.co.uk/darksidelight) I was able to do this step before I made any changes to my Blogger account (step 1).

After installing I was able to configure my user, template, plug-ins and add pages. The plug-ins were not all easy to configure, some require an API key (obtainable from your Wordpress profile) and some require you to actually cut and paste the php code.

When you are happy with the configuration of your wordpress blog, it's time to import the old blog, but you may find, as I did, that the import feature doesn't work for blogger. I got this message:

"Howdy! This importer allows you to import posts and comments from your Old Blogger account into your Wordpress blog.
Please note that this importer does not work with new Blogger (using your Google account).
Your web server is not properly configured to use this importer. Please enable the CURL extension for PHP and then reload this page."

Well I googled for information on the CURL extension for PHP and although there is support there, I have to admit that I didn't want to spend a lot of time learning how it works or following instructions without knowing what to do... but then, I found a dirty way of doing it...

3. The 'dirty' import

Even if you're importing to a Wordpress hosted blog, it won't allow you to import from a blogger ftp account, so what you need to do is register a new account with Wordpress.com and create a new blog on their hosted server. You do not need to configure this in anyway, but it's probably worthwhile using the same login details for your ftp Wordpress blog (which may come in useful if you require an API key).

Now you have your blog hosted on a blogspot domain,

Import the blog into your Wordpress hosted blog and set the author to your own profile.
Export to a Wordpress WXR file then
Log in to your Wordpress ftp blog and import the WXR file and viola!

4. Cleaning up

You may want to check links, rss and archives work. I discovered that all my embedded YouTube videos were gone, after a quick google there seemed to be a number of solutions offered. The first was to use a widget called Viper's Video Quicktags, but this didn't work for me. Then I discovered if I went and edited the original posts in the code editor (as opposed to the visual editor), recreated the embedded video link and hit 'publish' then the video gets published correctly. This is similar to blogger before they improved it, which would strip videos of their "<embed>" tags.

You should now delete your Wordpress hosted blog (with all the posts you just imported to the ftp hosted blog).
If you used the same address as your blogger account

You obviously shouldn't change the blogspot domain back to ftp, you may however want to keep the blogspot domain or delete it. It's probably not worthwhile keeping since it's a different address from the original but you may have your own reasons.

If you used a different address or different server

You have the option of keeping the blogspot domain, but that wouldn't make sense for the same reasons above so you have the following options:

Transfer the blogspot domain back to an ftp account and keep (perhaps you might change your mind and go back to blogger)
Delete the blogspot domain but keep all the old static content on your server (useful for links from others)
Delete the blogspot and static content from your server (not advised unless you are confident and want to make a clean break)

5. Redirect (skip if you are using the same address)

Now is the time to edit your redirect and point anyone navigating to the old domain/address to the new one. For DSotL I edited as follows:

Redirect 301 /darksidelight/index.html http://www.abandonallfear.co.uk/dark/

This will ensure that all the credentials from your old blog are kept and search engine spiders will follow the redirect to your new blog address. Here is a useful redirect checker from webconfs.com:

If you opted to keep your old blogger account either live or static, then I recommend:

Editing the template and replacing the title link "<$BlogURL$>" with the address of your new blog then
Edit the description with a line like "Click on the title to be transferred to the new blog".

This will catch any readers that enter your site via a post rather than the main index. Of course when they click on the title they should automatically be redirected by the 301, but I discovered PHP problems reported in red, so this is another dirty fix. It's probably down to something missing or wrong in my .htaccess file, which I should look to rectify later.

Fin

That's it. The whole process took about 5 hours but as mentioned, 2 of those hours were spent familiarising myself with and configuring Wordpress, and about 2 hours were spent researching 301 redirect and importing to Wordpress.

On the whole I have to say, despite losing my blogger template, I'm happy with the new Wordpress CMS and it's features, I'm looking forward to doing this blog now.

Technorati Tags: how to, blogger, wordpress, transferring blog, 301 redirects, htaccess, php, bugs, blogspot

And In Other News Dogs Bark... Apparently

2007-08-03T01:41:00.000Z

The MSM have finally caught up and decided to go with a 'stating the obvious' headline.

Previously: Home Spun Prophecies

6.0% (0.5% increase) - "Overblown" - Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide
7.5% (2% increase) - "Bring inflation under control" - Prof. Tim Congdon, Economist
8.5% (3% increase) - "1990 levels recession" - Alliance & Leicester

HIDI: Blogger Vs Wordpress (Round 1)

2007-08-02T23:26:00.001Z

EDIT: Table has been reduced for smaller screen resolution. Thanks for the tip, Cecilieux!

I have just finished transferring my other blog Dark Side of the Light from Blogger to Wordpress. I've also created a 301 redirect so that anyone navigating to the old address will be automatically redirected to the new. The transition was smooth enough but there are a number of modifications needed before Wordpress takes. So typically I've decided to offer a HIDI (how I did it) to my loyal readers.

Old Blogger uses a combination of CSS and HTML, new Blogger functions on an XHTML template and Wordpress utilises PHP on a MySQL db back-end. Fortunately, Wordpress did the translation work for me, but I did lose DSotL template, which needs to be re-written in PHP if I want to restore it.

There are a number of differences between running a Blogspot, Wordpress or hosted domain (like Abandon All Fear). I've compiled a list of pro's and con's I have observed below:

Blogspot (new Blogger)

FTP/Hosted (old Blogger)

Pros

Free
Customizable widgets
Customizable template
Layout editor
Upload and save templates
Multiple blog hosting (no limit?)
Image upload (no limit?)
Video embedding
Easy switch between blogspot and host
Multiple contributors

Pros

Customizable template
Easy to customise HTML and CSS (copy and paste template)
Blog is still stored on Blogger server (posts and template) effectively acting as a backup (if lost on host)
Own domain name
Easy switch between blogspot and host
Multiple contributors

Cons

blogspot.com domain
Knowledge of strict XHTML a must to add any complex mods outside of layout editor
Single user login linked to Google account
Limited set of options for contributors

Cons

No widgets
Knowledge of HTML and CSS needed to change layout
Single user login linked to Google account
Images, video and blogs unlimited but confined to host server limits
Limited set of options for contributors

Wordpress

FTP/Hosted (Wordpress)

Pros

Free
Many customizable widgets
Control and edit comments
Add pages
Detailed management interface, similar to CMS
Multiple blogs possible
Set multiple security levels for subscribers/contributors
Import variety of blog types (including new Blogger)
Export blog to a file (for backup/import)
Multiple user login for non-linked blogs
Layout editor

Pros

Many customizable widgets
Control and edit comments
Add pages
Detailed management interface, similar to CMS
Multiple blogs possible
Set multiple security levels for subscribers/contributors
Import from variety of blog types
Export blog to a file (for backup/import)
Multiple user login for non-linked blogs
Customizable template
Own domain name
Unlimited image/video upload (but confined to host limits)
Large selection of standard templates

Cons

Cannot freely customise template (small charge)
wordpress.com domain
Limited 50mb image and video upload
Small selection of standard templates provided
Will not import Blogger hosted
Bug causes problems displaying embedded video

Cons

Knowledge of PHP needed for template modification
Will not import blogger hosted
Knowledge of MySQL db needed for non-standard blog management/imports
Copy of posts/comments are not stored on Wordpress server
Bug causes problems displaying embedded video
Widgets may need to be coded in manually

Looking at the comparison tables Wordpress seems to come out on top, however I would still choose a Blogspot or ftp Blogger over the free Wordpress blog any day. It's all about the functionality you want. When you consider a free Wordpress blog does not let you customise the template, limits on uploads and bugs it's just not worth it. Blogspot may not have all the content management functionality of Wordpress, but it does allow you to change the template as you wish with a bit of knowledge of XHTML. It's simple and easy to manage and without limits to the content you want to create.

I like ftp Blogger for the fact that I can delete the blog from Blogger's servers but it will keep all the content on your ftp sever accessible (for example if you want to end a blog but keep it available for reference). Having a good knowledge of CSS and HTML I can control the look of the blog and add/remove structure and 'widget's as I wish by going into the template editor. It's also easy to switch from your own ftp domain to a blogspot domain and back again. I've also noticed that after doing this, your blogspot domain name automatically redirects to your own ftp hosted blog, eg. darksidelight.blogspot.com redirects to www.abandonallfear.co.uk/darksidelight.

A hosted Wordpress blog however does manage to kick ass against Blogger hosted. Sure you don't get a backdoor backup from Wordpress (you can still manually export the blog), you don't get to easily switch from your own domain to a hosted blog and the widgets are not easily added but the functionality on offer along with content management simply can't be beaten.

In the next post, I'll go into the HIDI walkthrough...

Technorati Tags: blogger, wordpress, transfer blog, blogging, pros and cons, domain name, hosting, blogspot, blog, xhtml, php, mysql, css, widgets, wordpress bugs, image upload, layout editor

Survival of the Fattest

2007-08-01T14:08:00.001Z

The Independent reports new research that abusing overweight people may actually be an evolutionary survival response.

"Researchers say the immune system can be triggered into action at the sight of obesity because it doesn't like the look of what it sees, and associates it with infection.
Just as it orchestrates attacks on viruses and bacteria and triggers nausea at the hint of bad food, so it sends out signals of disgust in some people at the sight of an obese body that is designed to encourage avoidance and survival." - The Independent: Why Slim People Dislike The Overweight

Wow, so bullying is actually a survival tactic? Odd survival tactic if the target is actually bigger than they are. Wouldn't the evolutionary response be to avoid an animal that is bigger than you are? How does that survival tactic fare when the bully picks on someone who can quite literally flatten them? I remember some fat kids at my school growing up who you wouldn't want to mess with.

Of course, if ~~bullying~~ survival is so important, why do we put so much effort into trying to prevent it. Why do we prosecute young people for simply doing what comes naturally? Same goes for ~~underage~~ reproductive sex, I don't understand at all why the education establishment would want to prevent evolution?!

Of course it could all be entirely cultural or flawed science, but then, that wouldn't fit with what they want to believe.

Body Image Timeline
In Praise of Big Women
One Woman, Many Cultures
The Fat Organ
Body Image and the Media

Uh Oh! My memes are warring.. Zing, zing, ouch! Which meme do I believe?

Technorati Tags: fat, overweight, the independent, slim, thin, victorians, evolutionism, intelligent design, creationism, culture, science, meme, bullying, survival

Holiday Hiatus

2007-07-29T15:42:00.001Z

Alex Fear and the Mrs are officially on holiday for 2 weeks from tomorrow, so the blogging will be light. We're actually looking for new flat to rent but we may just skip to the beach if the sun keeps (or catch a cheap 'environMENTALly unfriendly' flight away for a few days).

In the meantime, any time I get at the 'puter will be devoted to testing a new CMS and thinking the best way to go about transferring this to a Wordpress blog (domain name/content). Look forward to changes, and better organisation of the resources (devoted to social action etc).

In the meantime, click on one of the labels below to read through some previous topics.

Where's The Love? Alfred the Cake

2007-07-26T19:36:00.001Z

Troll-bashing time again. The anonymous commenter 'Alfred the Cake' has been banned from this website. It seems the Cake was beginning to develop an unhealthy obsession with the blog so I'm taking preventative action.

I have an idea of who it possibly might be, given away by the idioms and colloquialisms employed, however I do not wish to continue to casting pearls before swine. Therefore AOL user ACCB4266.ipt.aol.com, has had their IP address 172.203.66.102 blocked from this server, and will have to find another computer if they want to read this. Might I suggest a broadband connection too, saves waiting for the images to load.

The nonsense began in this post. Now I will gladly debate with anyone who has an intelligent criticism of something I've written, as witnessed in a number of times on this blog. I will even allow myself to be proved wrong and make corrections as in this post, for example. However, I'll only tolerate insults as long as an argument has merit. Once it's devolved into childish babbling, name-calling and goading, no-one is going to learn anything from the experience.

It doesn't take a genius to point out the irony displayed by 'the Cake' when 'defending' a victim based on the actions of a persecutor, by replicating the actions of that said persecutor. It's not about defending victims at all, it's more to do with the cult of celebrity.

So here's the new comments policy anyhow:

Baited comments that include lines such as "And no WAY will you let this one through - it makes you look bad!", "Dish it out, but you can't take it..." or in anyway reference 'free speech', will be treated as a bare-faced attempt to get the comment published. They will be rejected without a second thought. The aim of this is to encourage critics to actually present a good, reasoned argument.
Comments that simply link to some article without one word from the author have the appearance of comment spam. Comment spam will be rejected.
If you run out of good counter arguments, admit it rather than resorting to insults. If this happens your comments may be rejected.
Criticism is welcomed, but must stay in context. Criticism of my post on environMENTALISM should stay in the remit of environMENTALISM and in the comments of that post. Carrying your bile into the next post on a completely different topic, or turning the argument into a personal attack, will get your comment rejected and unpublished.

Below are some tips on style and form when writing comments:

Don't say something like "I'll leave you and your titchy traffic site alone. You don't deserve my time..." then come back the next day to spend half an hour on posting another poison-filled rant, it comes across slightly inconsistent.
Saying things along the lines of "If you're going to trash victims who write about their experiences, then what about fair comment on Christians who advertise their piety?" only elevates your troll-like status, since it shows you've not taken the time to actually read the blog.
Don't expect to offer criticism without my own or someone else's rebuttal, then get all pissy about it.
Do, reveal your identity (or at least online identity) if you expect to be taken seriously.
If you post a reasonable comment and it didn't get accepted right away, it is because I am away from my computer sometimes for long periods of time. Not because I am trying to shutdown dissenters.
If you disagree on a point of theology, or political opinion then offer your interpretation, knowledge or source, don't just declare your credentials and expect everyone to be wowed to silence. Penis size means nothing if you don't know what to do with it.

On other matters...

Uh huh, the forum has been a failure so far, which I was prepared for. I guess I didn't pimp it enough, but I'm actually thinking of doing another make-over of the website. The forum will soon disappear, I'm considering experimenting with Xoops content management system, either shifting this over to a Wordpress blog (which offers better management) or even disenfranchising the blog from the site, back to Blogger or Wordpress hosting. I'm also thinking of moving or changing the domain to a new web-host. I'll try to make any changes as smooth as possible but don't be surprised if the blog vanishes temporarily.

I do hope that at some point in the future I can remove comment moderation, I really want to move on to other topics...

Technorati Tags: blogging, trolls, comment moderation, criticism, vendetta, stalking

They Know Not What They Do...

2007-07-25T21:18:00.001Z

Here is an example of a victim who has every entitlement to want justice and revenge, but has chosen true courage and forgiveness.

"THE man who horrifically injured a student after he threw a traffic cone from a bridge today escaped a jail sentence - after a plea from his victim...

...The 24-year-old postgraduate occupational therapy student suffered a badly broken skull and three fractured vertebrae in her spine. Her arms and legs were paralysed.
However, the courageous victim, who is making a good recovery at home in Ireland - but is likely to have weakness in one or more limbs for the rest of her life - said she did not want to see Smith go to jail for his crime." - The Scotsman

In other recent news, a would be suicide bomber was forgiven by Afghanistans President Hamid Karzai.

"Rafiqullah's father, a poor tradesman from South Waziristan in Pakistan, had sent his son to a madrassa to learn the Koran. Later, when he asked where his son was, the teachers brushed him off, he said.

Last month the boy was caught wearing a suicide vest on a motorcycle in the city of Khost...
..."You are now free and forgiven by the people of Afghanistan," [Karzai] told the boy with a smile." - The Sydney Morning Herald

It brings to mind the stories of Anthony Walker's mother, Abigail Witchalls and Gordon Wilson.

It strikes me that that these people know something about the human condition, the darkness that exists in the human heart. They also are aware on some level of their own failings and weaknesses. They understand what the Bruderhofs' Johann Christoph Arnold meant when he said:

"Far from leaving us weak and vulnerable, forgiving empowers our lives and our work. It brings true closure to the most difficult situations, for it allows us to lay aside the riddles of retribution and human justice and to experience true peace of heart. More than that, it sets into motion a positive chain reaction that brings the fruits of our forgiveness to others." - The Lost Art of Forgiving

A favourite quote of mine is from George MacDonald:

"It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder, because the latter may be an impulse of a moment of heat, whereas the former is a cold and deliberate choice of the heart."

The reality is that anyone can be a victim, it doesn't take brains or strength, just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just as anyone can be a victim, anyone can condemn a murderer, rapist, bomber or any other offender. It doesn't take courage to recognise that someone has done wrong, or to celebrate when the offender is brought to justice. That's just natural.

What does take courage and strength, however is to choose to forgive an offender when you have every right to be angry and demand justice. When you are innocent and they have acted with evil intent. Forgiveness is when you cross from living as a victim, to living as a righteous person.

But before I'm accused of preachifying, like everyone else, I don't find it easy to forgive either. Forgiveness, or rather, the attitude of forgiveness is a hard one to master. But I recognise the importance and the help it has given me in my own life. Both me and my brother have had our fair share of childhood trauma. Many senseless things took place that were difficult to understand. If you want to hear what a victim sounds like I have a list as long as my arm of things I could tell you.

I don't, however make a point of sharing these things on this blog because I do not want to be defined by what happens to me. I see these things as challenges, things to overcome, rather than depend on sympathy of others. Of course, I have mentioned some of my experiences in passing, when they have been relevant to a discussion. This makes sense. But I try to keep things relevant, to avoid emotional appeals and embarrassment. The point is, I have forgiven the things of the past, and will continue to forgive the things of the present.

I think Martin Luthor King put it best in his 1957 Advice For Living Paper, where he speaks of love, but he's talking about the act of love that is forgiveness (ie. not returning 'hate for hate'):

"Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.

Moreover, love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the "fight fire with fire" method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos; the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and the creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that.

Yes love--which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one's enemies--is the solution to the race problem. Often love is crucified and buried in a grave, but in the long run it rises up and redeems even that which crucifies it." - Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement (Advice for Living)

Forgiveness is not burying ones head in the sand, it is actively making a choice to restore a broken relationship, whether it is a family, friendship or to the community.

Even when standing against injustice (and I refer to the bibles intepretation of injustice, not the Daily Mail), and hypocrisy, an attitude of forgiveness is needed. The objective should be to see a person, organisation or company change its ways. As Alan Paton put it,

"An offender can be punished... But to punish and not to restore, that is the greatest of all offences... If a man takes unto himself God's right to punish, then he must also take upon himself God's promise to restore."

This means in criticism we should always try to offer a way out, offer a way for someone to admit their fault gracefully.

Uh huh, something I am aware of and attempt to do, but admittedly I fail on occasion.

Emerging Chaos

2007-07-25T20:44:00.000Z

For those familiar with the Emerging Church movement, Phil Johnson has created some motivational posters which reflect the core beliefs of the movement.

If you're not familiar with the movement then the humour may be lost on you, unless you're someone who realises that there are some ideologies that are simply incompatible.

HT: Rich

tick... tick... tick... tick... BOOM!

2007-07-22T15:35:00.000Z

Banks face a timebomb, but who set the timer?

Banks did when they started lending more than 3x income. It is effectively a financial suicide bomb and banks are the financial terrorists whose bomb will take out many people in one go.

I like the sound of financial terrorism, I think I'm going to make a new category.

Bank Charges: How I Did It - From The First LBA to Post-Account Closure

2007-07-21T17:19:00.001Z

Your exclusive is finally here! I've been waiting for the final letter from the FOS before I blogged this one walkthrough for anyone who wants to do it but is worried about the repercussions.

Previous posts on excessive bank charges here: Its Time, Banks Behaving Badly, Everyone Should Do This, The Public 1 HSBC 0, Accountability Advice, Calls to Stop Illegal Activity are Unfair
What the MSM says here: £100,000 Will Help Customers Fight Unfair Charges, Claims Cost Banks £200m, The Latest on Bank Charges, FSA Faces Calls to Take On Retail Bank Regulation
Other rages against the machine? Fight the Fear!

Before I begin I must acknowledge that this would not have been possible without the information provided by the Consumer Action Group. They were one of the first, if not the first, groups to take on bank charges and offer comprehensive advice and templates in their forums.

To be honest, I did not get a lot of responses when I posted in the forums, so instead I had to search through other users posts myself and adapt the templates to my personal situation. This does not negate the hard work the CAG put in, I just hope that by offering a full walk-through of my own experience, it saves you the time of trying to piece together different experiences. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Intro: Momma always said to save all my paperwork...

So I did. By 2006 I had suffered 3-4 years of unfair practices by the companies I banked with. The last bank I signed up with had already charged me over £400 for overdraft fees and direct debits. You see, I graduated with a Computer and Management Sciences degree in 2003, but the UK IT job market had effectively gone bust so the only job I managed to land for the first year was a customer services job answering a phone. I was not earning a graduate salary, but I had graduate size debts to pay off and was working under supervisors younger than me, who hadn't gone to university, being paid more than me. To be honest, my bitterness was difficult to put off.

I was basically living beyond my means, and finding myself going over my overdraft limit constantly, then having to ask the bank for an extension each time so I could buy things like food. When the bank started to cut me off, I decided to switch. My credit rating was decimated so I wasn't allowed to open another grad account, instead I had to settle for a basic. My previous bank did not like the idea of me leaving and so they switched my account from 0% interest to standard 15% interest without notice. I did not know how the law works or how it was supposed to protect people like me at the time so I didn't do anything. I simply tried my best to pay off what I could, when I could.

Now I had my basic account, I was able to use all my wage at the end of the month, but I usually found myself with pennies left by the last week. Which meant, when an emergency came up, that tipped me over the edge and into red- for which the bank automatically slapped an extra £30 on top- thankyou very much. As the months went by, even when I managed to bring my spending back in line, an extra £30 from the previous month put the current month in the red and bang- another £30. So by the end of 3 months I could easily rack up £170 in charges (month 1= £30, month 2= £60, month 3 = £90).

So when I was finally sufficiently pissed off enough to search for some solution online- I found the CAG, and my eyes were opened. I had also been sufficiently screwed with my credit rating that I had nothing to lose- and pay attention anyone reading this who works for a bank - I was backed into a corner- when you back someone into a corner, then you leave them no option but to fight. The banks here have effectively dug their own grave by profiting off the back of the weakest in society.

Now, I had kept all my statements, so I went through them and totaled up all the charges. For those of you who don't have your statements, you will need to file a Data Protection Act request with your bank, CAG supplies the details here. Once you have your statements, read on.

Step 1. Gimme back my money

First thing I did was take the CAG's template and adapt it slightly for my own circumstance, then sent it to my bank.

Preliminary Letter (pdf) | (odt)

They simply ignored the letter or lost it, so after 14 days had timed out, it was time to fire a warning shot across the bow.

Step 2. Letter Before Action

Letter Before Action (pdf) | (odt)

This provoked a swift worded response 7 days later:

"I am writing in response to your recent communication and was very sorry to learn of your disappointment with the service you have received.

Thankyou for taking the time to highlight your concerns, we are currently looking into the situation and will be writing to you with a more detailed response.

In the meantime, I am enclosing a leaflet which explains the steps we will take to handle your complaint."

Meaning, we are not going to give you back your money, however give us a bit more time to make up an excuse.

To which I sent the following reply:

Response Letter (pdf) | (odt)

I then got a second letter from the bank 11 days after that:

"Thank you for your letter dated 26 May, please may I apologise for the delay in replying.

I am unable to comply with your request to reimburse the charges applied to your account as they were debited correctly in accordance with our published charging tariff... blahcakes"

Step2A. This is where I went wrong

I had every intention of filing a claim with the Small Claims Court. But as I mentioned above, money was tight, I lived hand to mouth, and it was going to cost at least £50 to file the claim, which a the time I couldn't afford (I had already filed one that month against my first bank for the overdraft change- an entirely different legal matter still with the courts).

I'm not proud of myself for it, but I just decided it could stay on the back-burner. Besides they had refunded all the charges from screwing up my account switch-over, and reinstated my direct debits.

I strongly suggest that you don't let the initial cost of the claim deter you, but if you did fail to follow up your legal threat, read on, be encouraged.

Step 3. 9 months later

A new job, a double income and some good financial management later, I pondered the legal threat I had made 9 months ago, and whether I'd have to start fresh, or be able to pick up where I left off.

I read back through my letters, then did a quick check online and in the forums, then I thought what the heck, go for it. So here's my second LBA, this time I was determined to follow it through, but they didn't know that:

LBA 2007 (pdf) | (odt)

This time I got a much more detailed and wordier reply which can be downloaded below:

Bank response to LBA (pdf)

Step 4. Small claims online

Since this was a LBA, not a fresh start with a simple preliminary, I waited for the 14 days to time out and did not give the bank any further warnings before filing my claim online which came to £80.

I basically used Money Saving Experts statutory interest calculator, to calculate my total charges plus 8% interest which came to £611.24. When you file your claim online your fee will be added to this automatically (£611.24 + £80 = £691.24).

HMCS MoneyClaim is easy enough to understand and the fields hardly need explaining, just go through and fill in your details, defendants (your bank). Then you will come to the 'Particulars of Claim' which is the difficult part, especially since you are limited to 500 characters. Again, I took the example provided by the CAG in their template library and edited the wording slightly to fit:

Between 01/12/04 and 28/12/06 the Defendant applied numerous default charges to the Claimants bank account. The defendant contends the charges were debited in accordance with its contract with the Claimant. The charges applied are an unfair penalty under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, which state: 'A term is unfair if it requires any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation'.

The amount charged does not reflect the cost of the breach. The charges are an unlawful 'extravagant' penalty. A charge is a penalty if it does not reflect an items true cost. Under the County Courts Act 1984, the claimant is entitled to interest at a rate of 8% per annum from the date they were first deprived of the money. This totals £61.24, continuing to accrue at the statutory daily rate of 0.021% until judgment or earlier payment. The Claimant therefore asks the court to enter judgment in their favour for £550.00 plus interest, totaling £611.24.

Please note that this is an old wording and CAG currently provide a new one in their template library (registration needed) which they ask not to be printed outside of the private forum.

HMCS Claim Form (pdf)

Step 4A. Be prepared to go to court

I have published the steps I took so far, under the assumption you already have researched claiming back bank charges. If not, I should warn you before you get to this stage that if you are going to file with the small claims court you should be prepared to actually go to court. You are not defending yourself so you don't need a solicitor or lawyer- it is the bank who decides if they want to defend themselves against your claim.

If your bank decides to defend in court, it is best to seek advice from a website such as the CAG, MoneySavingExpert or ThisIsMoney forums- don't pay for the advice- there is no need! The charges are illegal and unfair but if you don't state your claim properly you could end up like this man. It's completely wrong, but remember the banks have a whole legal team working for them.

Step 5. Wait...

A few days after filing online I got a Notice of Issue through the door, it felt good to hold in my hand...

Then the next day, a short (disgruntled) note from my bank with Acknowledgement of Service. Yessssssss. This was followed by the AoS from the court. Interestingly you will note bottom left of the AoS the bank ticked "I intend to defend all of this claim".

Acknowledgement of Service (pdf)

Step 6. Bank Owned!

Bank Settlement Letter (pdf)

£700 of my money, stolen from my account returned!

Ooh I don't like the sound of this:

"As it is clear that you do not accept the terms and conditions for the operation of your account we will shortly be contacting you to discuss its future operation."

Step 7. The Empire Strikes Back!

And sure enough...

1st Notice of Account Closure (pdf)

"The decision should not be regarded as an admission of liability on the part of the Company, nor should it be regarded as any sign of weakness..."

Ooh they must have taken it personally.

"Therefore as it is clear that you do not accept certain aspects of our terms and conditions for the operation of your account we regret that we are unable to continue to offer you banking facilities..."

Err... which certain aspects of the T&Cs were those... the ones that were unlawful? The ones you were unwilling to defend in court?

Of course it was an attempt to piss on my victory parade, and if I'm honest I was not only annoyed but slightly nervous. The last account switch-over didn't go to well (see above) and I actually did get good service from A&L.

A brief check in the CAG forums and other online places only seemed to return results for people going through a similar thing, but no resolution or some brief mentions but no details.. how.. what.. when?

Step 7A. Pulling the cord

Most guides you read will advise you on the first step to open your parachute account. I haven't mentioned this yet because I still had my former account with HSBC which was currently dormant, so I knew I'd be able to do a quick transfer myself into it.

Nevertheless, I had got my first taste of blood, I wasn't going to let them get away with retaliation and forcing inconvenience and further stress on my person.

Step 8. Go ahead, bank, make my day

I wrote a strongly worded letter right back to them asking things like: "If you felt that your charges were ‘fair’ and not unlawful, why did you offer full payment and not proceed to defend them in a court of law and prove my particular case wrong?"

I then mentioned I'd spoken to someone in customer services who had confirmed that other customers were having their accounts closed after claiming back charges. This was true, and it was important for establishing it as a retaliatory measure, not just a vague "breakdown of the relationship".

Finally I used some of my own initiative and creativity to issue a further warning about closing my account:

If you go ahead with the closure of my account I will be forced to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service myself and be claiming further compensation. I take this opportunity to remind you the FOS is ruling in favour of customers who have had accounts closed in retaliation for claiming back charges. (See attached adjudications ‘Mr A’ and ‘Mr L’).

In order to make my point, I enclosed print-outs of an article from ThisIsMoney and both adjudications from the FOS website. I did this to make it clear I knew my favourable legal standing.

Warning Letter on Account Closure (pdf) | (odt)

You will be advised that it is the banks discretion who they do business with, so even if they are wrong to close an account, it can't be stopped in anyway legally.

The bank did take notice of this letter. I received a shortly drafted letter from them advising they were "currently looking into the issue you have raised and will let you have our response as soon as possible."

I then got another letter 7 days after that to advise that "the issue you have raised concerning the closure of your account has been forwarded to the relevant department who will contact you direct." That got their attention didn't it?

Step 9. We're gonna do it anyway and risk the consequences...

... because it's all about risk isn't it? If we keep this customer, we can't make any money off him anymore, if we close the account, we'll only lose a couple of hundred pounds.. you do the math.

2nd Notice of Account Closure (pdf)

But they extended the the closure date... can't really think why, they already decided they were going to close it. I suppose they expect I should be thankful for this gesture?

So I get online and transfer all my standing orders over from one account to the other. Let the HR girl know at work (thankfully I work in a small company), and write a letter to companies I direct debit. Those I missed, got in touch with me- Ha!

Step 10. The last laugh

Next stop FOS website to download their complaint form. It took about 15-20 minutes to complete. Mostly cut-paste-edit job and photocopying a bunch of letters. Print then send.

Had a response by 12th June from the FOS:

"Thankyou for sending your complaint form. Unfortunately, I have to return this as you need to sign it."

DOH!

2nd Response from the FOS (pdf)

The 3rd response from the FOS on 16th July was just to inform me of the guy who had my case dumped on him, and to inform me they have a heavy workload so it may be sometime before they can progress my case.

Well, I think they're doing a great job BTW but I immediately had an idea of how they could reduce their workload. Stop writing letters to inform clients you have a heavy workload! I think that will probably reduce it by a quarter at least.

4th Response from the FOS - The Gold! (pdf)

"A&L has now told us it would be prepared to pay £200 compensation to cover the distress and inconvenience the closure of your account may have caused..."

-///-

And that folks, is how I did it, it only took me 12 months, but I did have a rather long and unadvised break in between. Like a surgical procedure, unpleasant, but you get to take time off afterwards and eat cookies. Anyone can do it.

Technorati Tags: bank charges, banks, reclaim charges, overdraft, account, financial ombudsman service, account closure, retaliation, how to, moneyclaim online, small claims court, letter before action, fightback, walkthrough

The Water In North London

2007-07-19T19:43:00.000Z

Controversial
Putting myself up for a Northsquad hit again.

It's been hard to ignore the volume of pageviews I've had from "Felicity Jane Lowde" searches. I blogged on the Rachel North stalking saga back in May, and it generated the most comments I've ever had for a post. I've had links from other bloggers who, like me, took a step back and tried to see the issues from a rational viewpoint.

Sure Lowde may have been locked up and she may be in need of psychiatric care, but the fact that she is the 'loser' in this scenario, doesn't actually improve my opinion of Rachel North or her supporters one bit. In fact, I've been surprised by how judgmental and vitriolic these self-labeled 'liberal' bloggers really have been towards the mentally ill. In response to one attack blog, they ganged up and created multiple attack blogs. In response to nasty comments, they made nasty comments. I don't see the difference except that Lowde is behind bars and they are not.

I put comment moderation on this blog, when I started to get into a circular argument with a troll and it was successful in silencing the troll without silencing those that chose to voice reasonable disagreement. Which means I did not need to report anyone to the police for harassment.

Since there is still so much interest about this, I thought I'd take the initiative to try and compose a list of those blogs that have offered thoughtful analysis. If I link you below and it generates you unwanted attention, please let me know and I'll remove the link immediately (of course if you want me to add yours, likewise get in touch). Here is a list, in no particular order, of blogs that have not been drawn into mob-mentality:

Drowning and Other Fragments
Tim Worstall
Isadub
Living With The Conspiracy 24-7
Famous For 15 Megapixels
Vandaweb
Duff & Nonsense
Libel Lawyers London (links to a good article by Craig H)
Ronpanasonic
The Policemans Blog
Mike Powers Not A Blog
Southpawpunch

It's a sad fact that with the onset of web 2.0 making it easier for idiots to publish online, that a growing number now see it as a publicity extension, rather than the great technical and informational revolution that it is.

Take for example, Brian Retkin, who I'd never heard of before (but now his recent actions have allowed me to form an opinion of him), who is suing Google for... wait for it... linking to websites that have defamed him!

"Lawyers for Dotworlds, which registers distinctive domain names, have sent Google what lawyers call a "letter before action".

Mr Renton, 48, the company's managing director, of Wembley, north London, said he would sue if Google did not take down the links about his company posted anonymously. "Based on what I know today, I am determined to go ahead with this," he added." - The Telegraph

And guess where Mr Renton is from? ... North London! Something in the water, perhaps?

It's time to seriously consider the nature and the future of the internet, because free information is under threat. Perhaps a change in the law is required, but if the world continues to allow bloggers and web-publishers to be taken to court for publishing their own opinions or thoughts then we can kiss the internet as we know it goodbye.

We're one step away from a law companies setting up "No Win No Fee" sites for anyone who feels they have been libeled, defamed or had their feelings hurt.

Long live FJL's blog! Not because it's right or wrong, but because it's an opinion, a record, and it exists.

We should not modify the past in order to fit the present.

EDIT (After a quick thought): I wonder how much revenue/incoming links Google generates for Mr Retkins site, dotworlds.net? If he is successful in his idiotic lawsuit, couldn't Google just remove all links to any material mentioning dotworlds.net and therefore render his site ignored and obsolete?

That would be awesome... c'mon Google, your motto is "don't be evil" now teach an evildoer a lesson!

UPDATE: Southpawpunch emails...

Alex
I see that you have listed some blogs that mention the Lowde/North affair
You may like to consider my post -
[added above]

(towards the end)
This post generated complaint emails from North.

Technorati Tags: felicity jane lowde, rachel north, blogidalirity, stalking, north london, dotworlds, harrassment, mentally ill, libel

The Australian Connection

2007-07-19T19:03:00.000Z

Controversy
Contains speculation over global conspiracy.

Should British immigration rules be tightened for Australians?

Is Australia the greatest threat to democracy in the world?

We're All Terrorist Suspects Now!

2007-07-18T21:51:00.000Z

Mildly Offensive
Since it's only offensive to Australians.

Yet more common sense coming from the rulers of that former prison island. Any reasonable Aussie should be as astounded as Justice Spender. What Australian Immigration are actually saying is that anyone who has had even some past association with a *current* terrorist suspect is, by association, a terrorist suspect.

That means if you once shared a house with someone whilst you were a student, or allowed them to use your mobile phone perhaps... then years later that person is indoctrinated into islamic terrorism, then YOU are ALSO a terrorist suspect!

Well done Prime Minister Howard (who is also a friend of Hillsong Australia) for implementing anti-human policies yet again! Do your lips ever get chapped from kissing Dubya's ass?

Pray for democracy to come to Australia!

Food For Thought

2007-07-18T21:17:00.000Z

Fun/Friendly
Well, maybe.

The following video was posted, I think in attempt at one of those 'joke on the public' deals. However it comes off looking like some sort of social experiment. I think the gag says more about the onlookers and those sitting nearby, eating whilst completely ignoring the 'person' with her head in her food. I also think the comments posted below the video say a lot about the users of YouTube at the moment. What do you think?

HT: BoingBoing

Note to World: Please Remove Your Libel Against Me

2007-07-15T01:39:00.000Z

Offensive
Caution, this one may offend. Contains libellous blog comments.

I'm so craptastically sick of reading libel and counter-libel claims being slung back and forth between immature British bloggers (who shall remain anonymous), who get far too much attention for their drivel. I'm now going to post my own bit of libel just because it seems mandatory if you own a blog these days:

Cow farts are responsible for Global Warming!

I now expect throngs of cows from the blogging cow-munity to accuse me of libel and post contrary statistics that it is not farts but belches, to prove me wrong.

What I'd like to see is a law that fines people for accusing someone of libel and not following it up in court- surely that in itself has to be a form of libel... like calling someone libellous or something.

Can all British Cows who shout libel at least once a month on their blogs, please get off the internets, you're polluting the tubes with your methanes!