Passport renewal

What's all the earlier problem with passport renewal delay? I have just received mine back only 14 days after application, and 2 days of that were spent in DHL's hands! The cost is still disgraceful, though.

They've probably got through the half million plus backlog they had. This after being told to get their fingers out or else.

Well, the or else has happened. The Passport Agency has lost its agency status and passports will come under the Home Office from next month. The boss has been sacked and the decision to base overseas passport applications in one office in UK has been slated. It may go back to overseas consulates issuing them again.

Just got mine back too. less than 10 working days from receiving a text stating it had been received to receiving a text saying it was being printed. Delivered next day. However, 1 week later I received my old passport back with a note saying my documents had been received and were being processed!!

Mark

Yes, I got mine back fairly quickly too... after a having to resubmit for marginally writing my signature outside the box first time around. They gotta make that box bigger!

According to someone from one of the chains of newsagents found all over Spain, passports are still taking 6 weeks to process, so what's happening here?

So, these likes and dislikes, then. Not sure when they appeared but is there any rationale behind the clickers?

marcbernard posts that he got his passport back quickly and gets 2 likes and 2 dislikes. Are 2 people unhappy he got his passport back quickly? mariedav points out the system is going to change and quotes something that was in the Telegraph, the Guardian and on the BBC news and, for some reason, gets a dislike. Virtually every time johnzx posts something an automatic dislike comes up. It's happened to many other posters when they have just pointed something out or give a helpful hint to something.

Do these things actually mean anything at all?

Personally I couldn't care less about likes or dislikes. There are enough trolls and pseudos on this and probably every other forum to bring down serious discussion, if one took notice of them.

Firstly I got my passparot back in under 10 working days, very impressed with the service and absolutley no complaints except for the price. Shocking as macbernard says.

As for the Likes and Dislikes, it is on trial and is only supposed to indicate if the post has been useful nor not. If you found it useful you like it , if you found it not very useful, relevant or appropriate you dislike it. Only some people find it funny to dislike something for the sake of it, so take it with a pinch of salt. It is also there to help to add a bit more interaction from those who don't normally write in the forums but do read them.

Well Bob until I liked your post 30 secs ago you had 1 dislike, I guess you deserved it really! quite amusing!

So long as you can 'like' your own post it's just a gimmick really.

Go on Bob 'Like' your own post then you will be 2-1 up 

I was expecting about a dozen dislikes but, obviously, the EOS users haven't taken the bait as they should. However, on the subject of "useful" or not, I'd have thought mariedav's post on the new system with the passport office would have been extremely useful. Never mind, I'll give her a like to even it up.

I don't think there is any need for the like/ dislike system.

Eos_ian you can find a post not very useful, but it doesn't mean you don't like it.

Similarly , you can find a post useful, bit may not like it 

If someone doesn't like your post, you can be sure they will comment on it in no uncertain terms, and tell you why they don't like it, which is more useful than a thumbs down!

Well one of the points is that the majority of the people who read the thread don't actually write anything but read. If the thread is long and if the Like/Dislike funtion is used correctly it can be useful to help filter through the 'useful' comments. ie those with a lot of likes, in theory. Although 'Like' doesn't mean useful or viceversa it is the industry standard to represent a positive comment, and by definition 'useful' on EOS. The 'dislike' if used incorrectly, admittedly quite frequently, can be distracting, but it also alerts people to certain posts that may be erroneous or information they should take with a pinch of salt. So it can be useful too.

We'll keep you posted on what we finally decide to do with the functionality.

Why not change the "definitions" from "Like/Dislike" to "useful/not helpful" then? English has deteriorated over the years of my life (many!) and perhaps we should return to more meaningful phraseology. It might also help if posters would check their entries for typos or incorrect word usage too.