Why all the arguing .... this forum is supposed to support people??

undetterred

Same old story in here,i can't afford a house cos BTL meanies have bought em all.

ILW

chris_m wrote: »

Well, at least one of the two comments I reported would not have survived 5 minutes, let alone 9 hours if it had been made on a site for which I have been a mod, and it wouldn't have survived much longer on just about any other forum site I frequent.
I could be wrong but my perception is that all the mods "appear" to do is delete spam.

Before anyone suggests that I volunteer, I have - several times and each time I've been roundly ignored, no response other than the automatic email.

Bet you're fun at a party.

SternMusik

citricsquid wrote: »

I'm a Hufflepuff, what about you?

Really? Could you magic up some decent coffee at my work? That, and world peace etc. Thanks :j

pops5588

I think this issue applies more widely to the internet in general rather than just to MSE, but it is definitely one that needs to be addressed at some point. Unfortunately no one in society as a whole appears willing to be the first to stand up and initiate a discourse on where the boundary should be between freedom of speech and stopping trolls from causing people a huge amount of distress and fear (which I don't see on here, just idiots with nothing better to do).

I do think, however, that on the internet it isn't possible to get tone of voice from words on a screen and it is inevitable that some things (especially when dealing with highly emotive topics like divorce, relationships, house-buying etc.) may escalate because people feel they're personal. I know that I have been guilty of over-reacting to a couple of comments. Not because I'm a bad person, just because I care very much about the things I come on here about.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox and off to stick on Rocky while OH isn't here, otherwise he'd realise I actually quite like those films...

Southend1

pops5588 wrote: »

I think this issue applies more widely to the internet in general rather than just to MSE, but it is definitely one that needs to be addressed at some point. Unfortunately no one in society as a whole appears willing to be the first to stand up and initiate a discourse on where the boundary should be between freedom of speech and stopping trolls from causing people a huge amount of distress and fear (which I don't see on here, just idiots with nothing better to do).

I do think, however, that on the internet it isn't possible to get tone of voice from words on a screen and it is inevitable that some things (especially when dealing with highly emotive topics like divorce, relationships, house-buying etc.) may escalate because people feel they're personal. I know that I have been guilty of over-reacting to a couple of comments. Not because I'm a bad person, just because I care very much about the things I come on here about.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox and off to stick on Rocky while OH isn't here, otherwise he'd realise I actually quite like those films...

It's true that people can easily read posts on a forum in a completely different way to the tone intended by the writer.

I have recently felt the need to point this out to a couple of other forum users who chose to take offence to some of my posts.

Some people also read between the lines and their interpretation of a post can add in all kinds of things that the post never even mentioned.

The other point is that the forums are a place for discussion and with such a range of opinions being expressed, it's easy for discussion to descend into argument, particularly when people feel emotionally involved.

I think on the whole it's better not to have heavy handed moderation on forums like this. That way a full range of opinions can be expressed and discussed. However this does mean tolerating a certain amount of trolling. Having said that there were one or two downright offensive comments posted on this board earlier today and there's no place for personal attacks like that. I hope the mods get round to dealing with those particular comments soon.