If you have been doing business with a member who has disappeared from the member list, please contact me immediately on – sylvia@portalpublishing.net

Successful business relationships are based upon trust, but sometimes we are taken in by charismatic or persuasive members, who seem to make a good case.

Portal Publishing cannot guarantee the bona fides of members, but we do attempt to protect members. We do also rely on members to inform us of actions taken by other members, which are not ethical, not honest, or not good business practice. Most of our information comes from complaints of members.

There are layers of protection:
Firstly, from our side, we do constantly refuse membership, and block obvious scam approaches. We ask for personal photos to identify members - although it is obviously not foolproof, it does allow some checking on other social media.
Secondly, members can protect themselves by checking what information in their profile is public - see the discussion on how to protect your privacy by editing your profile.
Thirdly, we rely on members to report issues, and when we receive reports - such as a non payment for services delivered - we do contact the member and ask for clarification on when the payment will be made - or we will delete the membership. That has been successful in a number of cases, and the members remain. However, we have had reports where the member is not willing to accept or resolve the dispute. In that case we do delete and block the member.

So, if you have been doing business with a member who has disappeared from the member list, please contact me immediately on - sylvia@portalpublishing.net