On Facebook, there is a group that stands out a lot, a group that has a functioning and a goal very different from all others: " The Vapoteur Tribune". In order to know a little more about this group, we went to meet its founder Pascal B. also known as " Ker Skal For an unpublished interview.
Hello Pascal, to begin a big thank you for taking a little of your time to answer our questions that will allow our readers to learn a little more about your project "The Vossot Tribune" and your personality.First of all why not start with a small presentation! Who are you and what is your role in the universe of the vape ?
Pascal B : Hello Jérémy! Thank you for your interest in La Tribune du Vapoteur! So, to briefly introduce myself, I am 36 years old, married and father of 2 children, living in the Paris region, but in the process of moving to the Gulf of Morbihan very soon. Professionally I am the Manager of a consulting company in the fields of finance, wealth management and wealth management, and more particularly at the moment with companies. I am also a trainer and manager.
As you can see, I have nothing to do with the universe of the Vape, except that I am a vaper since about 18 month. I decided to invest myself in the universe of the Vape with the launch of LTDV the 2 December 2014.
You are therefore the main administrator of the group “La Tribune Du Vapoteur” on Facebook. What does this group offer that is different from the others and what reasons pushed you to set it up? ?
Pascal B : I launched La Tribune Du Vapoteur based on the observation that the freedom of expression of vapers was more and more restricted on Facebook groups, especially because of excesses and conflicts that rotted the generalist groups of vape. It's a choice of group administration that I respect and understand, but for the moment, many topics fall by the wayside, militarily, thus avoiding to discuss topics of funds, debates, disputes, which concern the community of the vapers, to try to preserve a good atmosphere in the groups of discussion.
The initial mission of LTDV was to relocate the conflicts of the vape groups, to centralize them in one place, and to try to settle them in public. The notion of "Public" is a fundamental criterion of LTDV, because it allows a certain self-control of the members and offers more visibility to the community. It is thanks to this public diffusion that we have been able to make react many people, in particular professionals of the vape.
This finally allowed to offer an escape route for the admins of the other vape groups on facebook, by orienting the vipers in conflict towards LTDV to solve their problems, and to make return the good atmosphere in a calmer climate.
And so after a few months of existence, what are the first findings according to you? ?
Pascal B : After 8 month of existence, I see that some admins play the game, but they are very rare in the end unfortunately. Conversely, it is the vapers themselves who regularly refer to LTDV as soon as a conflict arises on a vape group. This observation only reinforces the fact that LTDV is supported and developed by the vapers themselves, probably explained by a principle of democratic management set up very quickly at the beginning, notably by the election of administrators by the tribunauts themselves. same.
Then, as in any group that develops quickly, there have been excesses, undermining the principle of self-moderation of the group by its members. This is how I had to modify the rules of moderation a little, reluctantly, but this proved to be indispensable. Today we have a team of 5 administrators, who intervene as little as possible to respect the maximum of the principle of self-moderation, but who do a daily work of management, too often unknown to the vapers.
Later, some vapers told me that too often conflicts presented on LTDV in public sometimes left in free lynching, due to the lack of reaction on the part of criminals very often. I took note of it, and we set up a team of mediators to see at first if a private resolution was possible when the dialogue was broken between the two parties. Often, mediators succeed in restoring dialogue, and help to find a compromise. This represents 75% of the cases generally. But sometimes, the mediation fails: we then give the go-ahead for a public publication on LTDV, and this is where the tribunals play a role of mediators in turn. The pressure of a public exhibition often makes it possible to react vapoteurs in question.
The mediation of LTDV is now well established and recognized by the community, I think we put in place there a service, free, which was expected from the vapers. Today, we have requests for mediation also between professionals, which are much more complex cases. We are therefore soon to recruit a lawyer to complete the team.
So clearly, "The Vapotor's Tribune" is a vape mediation group? Or is it a little more than that ?
Pascal B : To answer you more synthetically, La Tribune du Vapoteur offers:
- A community mediation service, an original idea of LTDV, now cloned, managed by Christophe, Hélène, Serge, Frédéric and Alain,
- Open debates on news, regulation, security, health and the defense of a free and responsible vape, with maximum freedom of expression,
- A LTDV Facebook page which relays the publications of most of the media of the vape, like vapoteurs.net of course, accompanied by exclusive articles by our team of Authors LTDV which is also in the development phase. Currently the authors are Florence, Alexandre and myself punctually.
Unlike the vast majority of other groups, Vapmail posts, product reviews, contests, advertisements, sales or barter announcements, and finally requests for technical advice or good business plans, are not allowed in order to not to compete with other generalist vape groups. We position ourselves as a partner of other groups, not in competition, we also regularly promote other groups. It's a shame that many admins of media groups or platforms have not yet understood this, I will perhaps end up reviewing this principle of non-competition and responding to requests from vapers, especially in terms of mutual assistance and advice, or facilitating exchanges and second-hand sales, a source of many disputes, moreover, which are not often resolved.
Finally, we have no partnership with any shops or manufacturers, we absolutely want to maintain our total independence, this is also a fundamental criterion of LTDV. We are without a label, and that will always be the case.
According to you, "The Vossot Tribune" is totally independent, but does it happen to you to take sides in certain conflicts? ?
Pascal B : This is an excellent question! And it's pretty hard to answer, but I'll try. First, the Tribune Du Vapoteur, these are the tribunonts. Each forum has its own convictions, its own opinions on the topics and conflicts that are discussed on LTDV. So my first answer would be to say "Yes of course! And not just a little! "
On the other hand, if by the Vapoteur Tribune, you hear our team of admins, here too we are quite divided since we have our own opinions, sometimes in opposition within our team, and debates are sometimes stormy internally! It is the same for the team of mediators or the team of authors. On the other hand, the mediator team respects a perfect NEUTRALITY in its mediation approach obviously, and they never take sides with anyone. Their mission is simple: to obtain a conciliation that suits both parties.
Anyway, I have never forbidden the members of the LTDV teams to express themselves freely about the group as a person, on the contrary, I even encourage them to do so. Freedom of expression is valid for everyone! Afterwards, everyone in the team does as they see fit: Alexandre and David, for example, are not shy to express their opinion on their own behalf, while Sandra and Katelyne generally remain in the most neutral approach possible to fill the gap. better their role as “moderators”. Another example: Frédéric, who is a mediator, at the opposite extreme has a role of agitator of debate, very often border-line voluntarily, to bring out the bottom of the thoughts and to avoid the pretenses, a kind of Maieutics dear to Socrates … A bit brutal but often effective!
For my part, I avoid getting into conflicts in order to maintain the most neutral position possible, like Sandra and Katelyne. It is extremely rare to see me participate and take sides in a dispute on LTDV. The only time I did it, in memory, was during the broadcast of a video on the childish behavior of certain vapers, where I did it to protect the authors of the video. On the other hand, this does not prevent me from expressing my deep convictions concerning the defense of a free and responsible vape. After, if it is I who is implicated, I will obviously defend myself, and therefore take my side, of course!
Finally, La Tribune Du Vapoteur as a whole entity, legal entity, takes positions on its Facebook page, news, regulations, security, health ... but not internal conflicts in the community. We try to be as factual as possible, and we always leave a right of reply to all, as in the Cloud 9 case Vaping Vs Five Pawns for example, because we are in relation with both parties.
If we have to summarize, there are three teams at LTDV:
- The admins: not neutral when they express their opinions, but "professional" when it comes to moderating discussions. Fortunately, our number and our permanent contact allow us to always ask ourselves questions about our neutrality, and define the actions to be applied.
- The mediators: Idem, not neutral in a personal capacity, but "professional" when it comes to acting as mediators, with a motto: NEUTRALITY.
- The authors. We try to deal with topics that we think are important, and not covered by the rest of the blogs because the goal is not to repeat. If we display clearly in the sense of the defense of the vape, we try to present the information in the most clear, neutral and sourced way possible. Many subjects are not treated because the available data seems insufficient to us, and / or cannot be verified.
The Vapoteur Tribune being an entity especially present on Facebook which remains a closed social network, do you not have the impression to be all too little visible in this gigantic world of the vape? Do you have the ambition to get rid of this label "vape group" ?
Pascal B : Actually, LTDV will develop little by little outside Facebook, it is already the case with the community G + that we launched a while ago, and tomorrow LTDV will also be present on Twitter.
However, a growing number of vapers are making the point that we should also keep a blog given the quality of our exclusive items, including, and our incisive and factual tone that is not to displease either. In addition, Facebook has limitations, especially in terms of layout, censorship, account reporting, and so on ... That's why we will actually go out of Facebook, which will not prevent us from stay very present, as on most social networks and forums.
It's been a few months that I try to synthesize all this information, these returns of vapers since the creation of LTDV, needs expressed by the tribunauts, ideas ... And indeed LTDV is becoming a very large project and enough complex, with the main mission to unite and assemble the vapers, all actors combined, to support the actions of the AIDUCE and the FIVAPE by being force of proposal and actors ourselves, on a hybrid model between the associative world and the 'business.
Tomorrow, in the best of all possible worlds, with a lot of elbow grease, willpower and motivation, we would like LTDV to be a social and solidarity company, offering solutions that meet the needs of vapers, and proposing to create jobs for vapers in a precarious situation. Since the beginning LTDV has a social and committed purpose, and we will continue development in this direction, we will just change scale. The idea is also to bring more financial and material means in the defense of a free, responsible AND independent vape, all in the respect of the values at the origin of the Vapoteur Tribune.
Let's resume: The group “La Tribune” was born, then came the page, relaying the group's information, then the various vaping news, then exclusive articles, then a G + community, soon Twitter, then a specific mediation team was created. Not to mention the many changes in the group's moderation and administration policy… What is driving all this? The needs expressed by the tribunauts, and more generally by the vapers themselves. The Tribune is what you make of it, it belongs to the Tribunes. My team and I act in the best interests of the community, despite what some may say, not always delighted with this unbridled freedom of expression which disturbs many people.
We appeal to all the good wishes that wish to participate in this project, and I am all the more happy with our exchange today which participates in this ... We will soon make an official call, probably after the September Vapexpo, where we will of course be present.
We would like to launch our future website, ideally in December 2015, on the occasion of our first anniversary! It's a lot of hard work and energy, I hope we will manage to meet our challenge!
So with this announcement, what is your approach vis-à-vis the TPD that could also be applied even before May 2016? Because it would still be inflated to launch a project so vast now! No ?
Pascal B : But we are swollen at LTDV, it's in our DNA, don't you think? : p More seriously, we try to remain optimistic about the post-TPD period, if it is properly implemented, because the fight is not over! AIDUCE will attack the transposition of this European directive to justice, which is why we regularly encourage vapers to join AIDUCE in order to help finance this looming legal battle.
On the other hand, since the LTDV project is not supported at all by the advertising in our forecasts, but by the voluntary vapers themselves and by other sources of income, we hope to slip through the cracks, in somehow. Anyway, we will adapt like many vapers I think.
However, this story is a real problem to reach smokers and the general public, it's clear. So the best way to communicate is word of mouth between vapers and smokers, we know, it is also on this axis that we will work.
You explained to me earlier that you would need a lawyer on your team. Are you looking for a lawyer who would be paid, an enthusiast or an opportunist to train for help with litigation? ?
Pascal B : The whole team is a volunteer, so for the moment we are looking for a lawyer, vapoteur preferably, and who is already trained in the law of consumption in particular, and volunteer, like all of us. Even if we already have good legal knowledge in the team, no one is a lawyer or lawyer, specialized in this field, for the moment.
As soon as LTDV develops with a real legal structure and income, we will start creating full-time jobs, and it is likely that the lawyer will actually be part of it. In the meantime, I think that participating in this project voluntarily is a great opportunity for a junior lawyer or junior lawyer to forge an interesting and rewarding experience for his career. Moreover, this is the case for all of us, I have also put myself on my LinkedIn profile.
One last question, if you want to participate in the project "The Vapor Trailer Tribune" is this possible? Who should we contact ?
Pascal B : It is quite possible, we call all goodwill to participate in one way or another to the project, based and supported by the community itself. According to the profiles, the newcomers will be assigned specific missions, whether as mediator or author in the current teams, or by creating "post" on other future areas.
Each team has a "referent", it is him that must be contacted directly for that. Christophe Decenon is the referent for the Mediators team, while Alexandre Brotons is the referent for the Authors team. For the Admins team, it is Sandra Saunier the referent, but it is not planned to recruit new admins for the moment.
On the other hand, we are looking for volunteers to develop the community G + and Twitter, but also one or more vapers developers, graphic designers, etc ... to participate in the creation and development of the website to come.
In general, vapoteurs who wish to participate in the LTDV project can also contact me live, I usually answer fairly quickly. Each participates in the amount of available time that he can devote to it. It's a real golden rule at LTDV: the personal and professional life in priority, LTDV passes after. It seems foolish to remind, but sometimes the passion and personal investment of each other in the team is overwhelming, and the other team members are responsible to remind the reason generally. Some people invest a lot, others less, and that's normal, it's part of a collective volunteer project.
Decisions are made collegially in each team, 1 member = 1 voice. The principle of fairness is fundamental for us, it is in LTDV's DNA. When a decision can not be taken collectively, I am the ultimate decision maker, but it is very rare.
To summarize, La Tribune du Vapoteur is recruiting volunteer vapers:
- non-professional but passionate
- having a real team spirit, (I really insist on this important point)
- motivated to defend a free and responsible vape
- wishing to participate in a unique experience, with a social and solidarity purpose, within the framework of a major public health topic.
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and good luck for the future!
Useful links : The Facebook group "La Tribune du Vapoteur"
The Facebook page "La Tribune du Vapoteur"
