Who should have access to this message board?

[Brad Imsdahl]

Poll: This message board is offered free of charge to anyone who registers. It was originally designed to allow tax professionals an opportunity to correspond with one another. It provides a valuable service to independent professionals who wish to seek advice from their colleagues. Lately, however, we see more and more general public questions from non-professionals. Many feel that giving free advice to the “taxes in a box” crowd is like shooting yourself in the foot. Your thoughts?

[dsi]

I view as I do intuit. I pay a pretty penny for the Lacerte program, and Intuit sells it's competitve products to the very people I'm trying to make a decent living from. I strongly believe this board and any other professional board should be restricted to tax professionals only......ONLY. I don't even want them to see the messages. Selfish? Perhaps, but that's how I feel about it at least for now.

[les grans]

" It was originally designed to allow tax professionals an opportunity to correspond with one another."

I had no idea this was how it was designed, or intended.

From the disclaimer, however: "This message board allows participants to freely exchange ideas and opinions on areas concerning taxes."

[thomtax]

Missing question on poll

I must admit that I am frustrated with so many posts by people that post questions to get free answers and then state "Thanks for the answer. Now since I know what I want to do, I think I'll go buy TurboTax and get it completed".

Or, I have seen them argue with the answers that they get. And in one case, the woman wanted the answer immediately and was unhappy not to get pampered attention.

I would have voted a different way, except the question that I wanted was not in the list. That choice would be "Board open to "read only" for non-professionals, but cannot post."

I appreciate all the help that I have received from the responsible preparers and appreciate the board.

LT

[Bees Knees]

From the disclaimer, however: "This message board allows participants to freely exchange ideas and opinions on areas concerning taxes."

Does that mean you are against restricting access?

[Brad Imsdahl]

I would have voted a different way, except the question that I wanted was not in the list. That choice would be "Board open to "read only" for non-professionals, but cannot post."

Any and all alternative poll questions are welcome. Post them here if you don’t see one that fits your opinion.

[les grans]

Does that mean you are against restricting access?

Nope, it means that I hadn't seen anything "official" (til now) about how the proprietors and paying subscribers are feeling that hoi polloi should stay (or, rather, maybe, be kept) out...

[JohnH]

Not a problem for me

I don't view it as a big deal if non-professionals are allowed to post. It''s easy enough to spot their posts and respond accordingly. If I have something to say I may jump in, or if I'm not interested I just move on. In some cases I've learned something new from the other posters when they respond to non-pro posters, and in other cases I've enjoyed a good laugh.

But then maybe my opinion is a little slanted, since I'm one of those people who will answer simple tax questions at church, at the ball field, etc. wihtout telling them they have to make an appointment.

[les grans]

...and in other cases I've enjoyed a good laugh.

Say it again, Sam......

[erchess]

My two cents

Bees Knees once told us in a response to a post of mine that TTB makes more sales because professionals come on board and after using the site for a while buy the books. That makes perfect sense to me and I hate to see the organization lose revenue. At the same time, I think that even reading by non professionals leads to more sales of boxed tax products. I guess I really don't have an answer. When I answer a post by a non professional I am deliberately vague and always encourage them to see a professional. It would not break my heart if the organization started deleting posts by non professionals.

[LawrenceGR]

Some of the posts

get good conversations started and good debates. I have no problem with non pros coming on. I can post a reply or get skip over it. I think the real question is "Does Tax Materials what to foot the bill for Non-Pros?"

[Nashville]

Foot the Bill?

Lawrence, they're already footing the bill, and obviously believe the Message Board to be an element in their growth strategy, or they wouldn't be spending the money.

I think maybe what they are NOT willing to foot the bill for might be trying to make the message board artificially intelligent to discern user attributes, or add other qualifiers which increases monitoring resources, etc. I hope the respondents to this thread keep that in mind when making suggestions as to what they expect out of the board.

For those who believe $$$ should not be a factor, please view the poll results. As I write, there have been over 40 responses, NONE of which indicates a desire for a user-paid forum.

[Roland Slugg]

How would you do that?

Dear Brad

I suppose you could restrict access to this board only to TMI/TTB customers by requiring an account number, but if you don't do that, how would you limit access to tax pros only? How would you filter out tax pros from the general public? The number of posts by those who are obviously not tax pros, or who even admit they're not, is relatively small. Anyone who doesn't want to reply doesn't have to.

Three changes I would favor are as follows:

1) Actively monitor posts and aggressively eliminate those which have nothing to do with any legitimate tax question or issue ... such as jokes, political commentary, HRB bashing, etc., and those which stray into purely personal chatter.

2) Require people who start new threads to write a meaningful title that gives some clue as to the nature of the post that follows. Titles such as "Need help," "Question," "What to do" and the like are not helpful.

3) Encourage people not to use the "Quote" reply option to repeat someone's entire post, but only a relevant portion.

The first two points above could be handled by using the "pending approval" delay option your messaging tool has available. This would, of course, require a greater commitment of time and resources on the part of TMI ... a commitment your company may not wish to assume.

All three of the above (as well as additional "rules" regarding civility, use of ALL CAPS, etc.) could be covered in a screen new members would be required to see and click that they have read and agree to follow. Many other sites do this, including some that use the same posting tool your site uses.

[Zee]

I must admit that I am frustrated with so many posts by people that post questions to get free answers and then state "Thanks for the answer. Now since I know what I want to do, I think I'll go buy TurboTax and get it completed".

Or, I have seen them argue with the answers that they get. And in one case, the woman wanted the answer immediately and was unhappy not to get pampered attention.

I would have voted a different way, except the question that I wanted was not in the list. That choice would be "Board open to "read only" for non-professionals, but cannot post."

I appreciate all the help that I have received from the responsible preparers and appreciate the board.

LT

I also like the option of read only much better for non-professionals. Everyone seems to want a "free lunch". Responding to many of these questions involves considerable research. Most of the responses aren't just "shot from the hip". Why should this board provide free research?

[snowbird]

What's a TaxPro?

The option of other than limiting it to customers of The Tax Book, what is a tax pro and how is it determined? Someone that does X number of returns? Familiar with individual, partnerships and corps? Or EA, CPA or JD? Every time someone says pro ... I think of the oldest profession and wonder if we are not the second oldest ...

My vote was keep it open ... some of the DYI's are interesting.