Thank you SarEl

donquine

We need to take everything everyone on this forum says with a pinch of salt, because they may not be who they say they are.

However, I think that most regular MSErs would admit to having a list of names in their head that they more likely to listen to if they post on one of their threads. We can't guarantee that there are some people on this site who have worked as, for example, barristers, dentists, tax advisers, landlords, posties and student advisors, but there is no evidence to suggest that those people are lying about what they have done and often they can provide a useful insight into a situation that a layperson, no matter how reasonable, cannot.

There are more and more people making unpleasant posts for the sake of it these days, even if you ignore one time troll posters, but I would hope that as a community, we all recognise that if we're attacked by one of these people, we're not alone in our experience and that we should shrug it off and not take it personally. Easier said than done, I know, but I think most people have something helpful to bring to the table and there's no reason to not stay and continue to contribute if you're attacked by a couple of people having a bad day. The ignore feature is there for a reason and I hear it's pretty good.

Sincerely hope that Sar El continues to post as she does bring something useful to the table. Also hope that we all start getting along better. I don't remember there being such sniping a couple of years back - perhaps the credit crunch has made us all much grumpier creatures.

shikoku

If I ever feel the urge to respond to a troll - and some of the regular trolls have been here for a while, they are not necessarily hit and runners - I block them for a while instead, you will find most threads make perfect sense without them, and are a lot nicer without their ill intrentioned contributions, and NEVER respond to them; that is what they feed on.

Starve them out lol.

Wyndham

I have found SarEl's advice to be good and useful, and if she goes then I think that is incredibly sad. We've benefited from her advice, and her professional standing.

DVardysShadow

Wyndham wrote: »

I have found SarEl's advice to be good and useful, and if she goes then I think that is incredibly sad. We've benefited from her advice, and her professional standing.

We have indeed benefitted from her advice - but it is the content of her advice which has value, her professional standing on forums such as these is neither here nor there.

Unfortunately, I don't think that the advice was an unmitigated blessing. She often went straight to considerations of how things play out at ET and would miss quite important aspects. I do believe that some other experienced posters have not been appearing so much rather than tread on SarEl's toes. Altogether an unhealthy combination. I would hope that she would modify her approach a bit.

joanne_d_3

I would like to add my support for SarEL as well.

SarEL , if you are reading this then i just want you to know that the help you offered me , not only on the boards but via pm as well was greatly apprciated !

Please , please dont let other posters push you off the boards.

Your name is one that many posters have come to know and most of us know that if/when we need accurate advice and your post appears in response to ours , we are going to receive advice which we can rely on .

Dont give the others the satisfaction of leaving us !

Rise above their attitude , the problem lays with them not you .

Please think about it .


Joanne

alyth

One thing that did concern me regarding SarEL, and I see it's been voiced in this thread, is that she said she was a barrister - whether practising or not I don't know, but I remember seeing a post by her at 9.30 in the morning. Surely someone would be in chambers at that time?

We rarely know the identity of posters, other than the information they give out, people can claim to be whatever in cyberspace, and whilst I value the opinions and have benefited greatly from help on this site, none of it has been "official" advice, merely personal experience.

DVardysShadow

alyth wrote: »

One thing that did concern me regarding SarEL, and I see it's been voiced in this thread, is that she said she was a barrister - whether practising or not I don't know, but I remember seeing a post by her at 9.30 in the morning. Surely someone would be in chambers at that time?

You would think so. But then, she could be on leave, she could have had a hearing cancelled, she could be at home sick, so I don't see much in it.

After all there are many posters here 24-7 and you could have a field day matching their posting times to their occupations.

Alys

I'm a longtime lurker who feels compelled to post now. Sar El is/was certainly among the most valuable posters on this forum, to blame her or find fault because she answers questions too well or too authoratively is ridiculous. Other posters are still free to post whatever they like as she has never, to my knowledge, stopped anyone else from posting. If others feel that she has said all that needs to be said and then decide not to post how on earth is that her fault? I for one prefer to be offered accurate and no nonsense advice.

DVardy, you do yourself no favours with this strange hostility you have towards her. So you got more information out of an OP than she did - great, well done you. But all you had to do was give your alternative view and posters could then have made up their own minds on who to trust or listen to - why the need to make digs and comments to her? People here are grown ups and able to make their own minds up without being told how to do so by anyone.

Driving Sar El away has done what you say you were against - it limits the views expressed and the opinions offered. It seems to me that you've thrown the baby out with the bath water and the rest of the forum are the losers

dmg24

Has SarEl actually said that they are not posting anymore? If so, then that is their choice. The forum can get pretty heated at times, people will not always agree on issues and people will not always appreciate the posting style of others. With no disrespect to SarEl, if they do not feel comfortable with the way others post they can either ignore them or if they do not feel this is practical, maybe taking a break is a good idea?

joanne_d_3

I think the problem here was that some of the longer term posters on this site held the opinion that they were invaluable.

They were the ones who were able to answer a lot of the questions posted on the boards and it gave them a certain sense of "self importance".

These other posters though , whilst they had some experience to offer advice....they were not actually (well some were but not all) qualified as such.

Im by no means saying that their advice was wrong or inacurate because it wasnt...but now that there was SarEl - a practising Barrister offering good solid advice , their noses were pushed out of joint when actually there was no need whatsoever for them to feel that way.

The board is big enough for everyone . We need all the knowledgable posters we can get in order to help people out at the time when they really need it .

So come on....lets stop bickering and so what the board is intended to do which is help people who are in need of the help.

ps. I havent noticed some of the other regulars about lately eg LazyDaisy (just off the top of my head) . Hopefully they will return soon.