char1ie

"The link to the site has been removed as it's of no benefit to our users (ok, it was to another local forum with 1 post on it) - The Administrator" The thought police strike! Why remove it? Charlie

You don't need a logo by the way. Just the web address is perfect. Charlie

There are so many ways. Get a journalist to write a story about something that was achieved via pressure or collective action from the forum and name the forum in the article. Ask people to recommend their friends to join. Start a forum newsletter that goes out to all registered users and includes details of local suppliers and "friends of the forum". Make it slick and desirable and get people to forward it to other East Dulwich residents. Partner with local organisations for example the National Childcare Trust (NCT - pre birth thing for expecting parents) and set up a dedicated forum room for them to use to discuss childrens stuff and arrange coffee mornings etc. See if you can find other local organisations that could benefit from having a dedicated online forum. Sports? Make a new forum area called Sport in East Dulwich and talk to all local sports clubs asking them to use it. The charity angle works well too. Find a local charity to support and ask that they promote the EDF to their members in exchange for you raising money for them on an ongoing basis - for example the regular drinks evenings. In future aim to do a single annual event in conjunction with local business, the charity and the EDF. Banner exchange - Your banner on Find a Property in exchange for FAP's banner on your site. OK, maybe that's a bit ambitious but you get the point. Schools is a good one. Set up a schools discussion area and ask schools to promote the forum in their communications with parents. There is no reason why this forum should not be the central point for all of East Dulwich. BUT you should not spend any money on marketing. How am I doing btw? Charlie

There's a lot of competition around at the moment and a lot of demand for houses. Estate agents have a smaller share of the market each. But the market's worth a lot more. They'll be OK. Charlie

The 1% including VAT was with Osbourne Stewart. In fact, they made a mistake and told me that they would sell my house for 1%. They did and then sent me a bill for 1% + VAT. I sent them a cheque for 1%. We had an argument. They relented. I think they had forgotten to get me to sign any paperwork. Percentages are getting lower and lower but then house prices are getting stupid. Agents should be charging around half a percent or a flat fee of a few grand. It is still a lot of money and they really don't do any more than bring people round. Charlie

Strange. But then the owners of this forum could do a lot more to promote it. I would think this forum could have around 15000 users rather than the currrent 1500. A bit of savvy marketing and we'd have a serious force for pressure, change and power in East Dulwich. And it would generate revenue. Charlie

I have a nice house. Recently valued at 800k by a local estate agent. He told me that he has loads of people looking for a house like that. He can make calls and the people will come apparently. So the 1% fee of ?8,000 seems a little steep. I suggested that he takes ?3500 which is a pretty tidy profit for making a few calls. He laughed. I tried to sell my last house privately using an online agency. But the estate agent mafia prevent private websites that allow you to sell privately from publishing content on findaproperty and rightmove. The estate agents have the market sewn up. But they are parasites and their fees are far too high. 1.25% is a lot of commission. 1% with VAT included is high in the current climate. That's a few grand per sale with very little effort on the part of the agent. I don't think it is about collective action. More to do with you telling the agent that you wont pay more than 0.8% or whatever you want to pay. Charlie

If anybody wants copies or epsiodes or a whole series, let me know and I will try to furnish you. 10 episodes fit on a DVD ROM if you can cope with watching it on your laptop. Charlie

The Wire is the most amazing TV series ever. I have series 1 2 on DVD and I downloaded three and four. Five is being shot now apparently. I think the unpopularity on the screen is down to the fact that an individual epsiode doesn't make much sense. You need to sit down with a boxset and watch the entire thing over a weekend. Amazing. Better than the Sopranos. I read his book btw. Homicide - A Year on the Killing Streets. The reason the Wire is so real is because David Simon spent a year with the Baltimore police murder squad and documented the daily grind of police work. It is a fascinating book. Gives you a real insight into the workings of murder police. Charlie

When the four horsemen ride over the brow of the hill I think I would decide to head off to the Bishop for a farewell pint. Thanks for alerting me to the fact that California will ban foie gras in 2012. And Zager and Evans said it all so well... Charlie

It's the banter and the potted haddock that brings Max back to the Bish. That and the barmaids. Charlie

In my experience the Bishop has been great. I always take Max in there. The staff are lovely and very friendly towards him. There's always loads of babies and young children in there. On the other hand the EDT seems to have a harsh policy. The bar staff have told me it's illegal or breaks the term of their licence to have babies in there after 7.00pm. It's embarassing when one member of a group of friends is asked to leave at 7.00pm by the bar staff to take the baby away. Charlie

Popped in this morning and looked round the mens stuff. Very boring. Like River Island. No edge. Not impressed. 10% off but so what when there's nothing to buy. I'm too Hoxwich for White Stuff. I'm sooooo Hoxwich! Charlie

White Stuff. Meh. Who cares. Their clothes might be OK or they might not. They are hardly a force for bad are they? It's just a clothes shop. I own a white stuff t shirt that's about 12 years old. I haven't worn it since 1997 when someone asked me if it was a racist statement. I love Fenton Walsh and Question Air. When are we going to see more men's boutiques opening in the area? Charlie

No, I think "I've done a woopsie" uttered by a very small child does mean they've had an accident. Charlie

I like lager generally and there's a lot of good ones around but I find they all have characters and certain situations when they taste best: Kingfisher with an Indian Stella from the tap in Springers on East Dulwich Grove. It has real French flavour and is very cold. Peroni has just started appearing on tap all over ED and is a change from the heavy stuff that normally flows from bar taps. Budvar has a very soapy distinctive taste - great at home with dinner. Murphys in Irish country pubs. Very cold litres of Maou by the Med in Ibiza. Charlie

Woopsies. A fun word. Best used in the collective form: "a load of us woopsies are going on a coach trip to Bournemouth" No H by the way. Charlie

Are we laughing at ourselves or at a certain type of person that frequents the Lane? I'm finding it hard to differentiate. Hoxwich I like. I'm a bit Hoxwich I think. With baby but still think I'm trendy. Look for interesting design and try to be different. Have expensive house and go on about it too much. Got over drugs a long time ago but did far too much of them in the 90s. Stubble, check. Celebrate the Hoxwich. We are all a bit Hoxwich I think. We have the boozers but where are our clothes shops? White Stuff won't cut it. Question Air? Fenton Walsh? Where do we Hoxwich types buy our trainers? Charlie

Isn't every drinks night at the Rye Hotel gay drinks? Scott's a woopsie, the staff are woopsies, it's a woopsie hangout! Didn't they once have a pub quiz that revolved around musicals, showtunes and kylie? Lovely place. Is it gay drinks tomorrow? Charlie

I think I may have spotted this pig last weekend. It was only today that I happened to mention to my wife that you'd seen it, and she reminded me that a pig had side swiped our car last weekend as it ran past us while we were driving down East Dulwich Grove. At the time I said it was a pig and she disagreed and suggested that it may have been a fox or dog or other large canine, possibly wearing a pink blanket. George, could you describe the pig please, so that we may identify this mysterious creature. Charlie

Everybody! Actually saw the bloke that plays the boss of the other branch in the Office - did the Saturday Night Fever dance - in the other Bishop in Herne Hill. Whassitcalled? The Florence. Crap pub by the way - the basics of how to run a pub that serves food seems to have escaped them. He had a nice girlfriend that appeared to be mute. My mate followed him to the loo - it's short and stubby with very floppy skin apparently. Charlie

Guess who I bumped into in the opticians?

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be a recommendation for Kebab and Wine. Open til 6.00am, serving up all night. Charlie

Melbourne Grove has previously flooded. I have seen pictures of a music studio in the street that was destroyed by rising rainwater. Charlie

This is the wine bar with the deli attached to it? Rude and obnoxious staff in the deli made me vow to never return. I was really surprised because I thought the deli was quite new and they probably wanted to make an impression. They did. It was bad. Charlie