An apology

bouicca21

I’ve always thought that getting upset about a post or a real world event said more about me than the « offender »

Doozergirl

AlexMac said:

Doozergirl said:

What is a bit upsetting is that I think some people that have disappeared might be neurodivergent and a bit blunt in their nature, with no harm intended. 

People like PasturesNew who was almost totally isolated in the real world.  I think she may have found a home on a forum that sprung up as a result of some
boards here being shut during lockdown, but I forgot the name of it.  

Oh dear DZ; if, as it seems, you're leaving, my Virtual World will be a poorer place, but thanks for all your posts; I've always enjoyed them.

But this thread, with its mention of people being effectively cancelled, intrigues me?

I'm obviously a real lightweight, 'cos although I used to make the odd contribution here (usually smugly referencing my pre-disposition for shared freeholds in flats, or my wish for a time-machine so I could warp back and buy more of the various 3-4 bedroom Victorian wrecks I've bought and lived in over the years, for what now seem unbelievable prices; £10k in 1975, £34k in 1985, £67k in 2007, in inner city South London slum areas which have now become magically bijou...) I've never been threatened with expulsion...   But then I've never been a reliable or frequent contributor as is eveidenced by my coming late to this thread? 

So Vaya con Dios y Gracias, Doozergirl...  Pastures new?

You're alright, I am staying.  I am yet to be cancelled!  

But thanks anyway! 😘

UnderOffer

This board and the contributors have been amazing, I’d been a reader for many years but only officially joined in 2020 (was always quite scared to add anything). 

I’m sure being made aware of some of the issues around purchasing, selling, renting, ownership, land registry, planning, boundaries etc., has helped me make so many better decisions, I felt quite level headed during our 3rd sale and purchase, it took months and the chain collapsed, but in the background I was thinking “well this isn’t too bad”.

I chose the “tea and cake option” when the (shared) boundary fence fell down, we worked with the neighbours who kindly contributed to the replacement. 

I really hope we don’t lose regular contributors. You are all so valuable. 

Norman_Castle

bouicca21 said:

I’ve always thought that getting upset about a post or a real world event said more about me than the « offender »

Some posts are unfairly rude or overly judgemental but running to the moderators who seem to have little time or interest in judging whats fair and often simply accept a complaint is justified by its existence leave forum users being judged too harshly. On a public forum you need to be able to defend what you've said or accept you're wrong or that others have different views. Luckily on this forum others will speak up if a witch hunt develops.

jimbog

There's an ongoing debate as to what extent social media such as Facebook and twitter should be held responsible for what is published on their platforms and the knock-on consequences of what is posted. The same could be said for this and other forum too

There were other forums that I had subscribed to that have closed down, with no notice given,  in the last 18 months or so (some in a professional capacity) which had many thousands of members. Their Admin ultimately said to themselves  'why do we bother?' and pulled the plug

Thrugelmir

Doozergirl said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

Yeah AdrianC, DavidMcn (..?), also where's davesnave? God they did make me laugh!

We're being picked off!   This is ridiculous.  

Certainly been the case that certain posters are taking personal umbrage at others. Then trawl through their posts to find something to report. However inoffensive,non political or legally correct the post is. A card gets issued.  Get two over time and a ban ensures...........

AlexMac

Doozergirl said:

AlexMac said:

Oh dear DZ; if, as it seems, you're leaving, my Virtual World will be a poorer place, but thanks for all your posts; I've always enjoyed them...So Vaya con Dios y Gracias, Doozergirl...  Pastures new?

You're alright, I am staying.  I am yet to be cancelled!  

But thanks anyway! 😘

Brilliant!  My sad, gloomy life is illuminated.  I shall log on more often...

This business of moderating and eliminating "off topic" (or "off colour"?) posts is done much more heavily on my other favourite Q&A Forum site on Tripadvisor.  Their moderators are really trigger - happy and don't permit idle chat.  Ant post which is neither a question nor an reply on a narrowly-defined travel or tourism related topic is ruthlessly deleted, as is any acrimony.  During the pandemic, however, standards slipped and for over a year, there was the bizarre "UK-Tenerife Lickdown" thread; a weekly post which attracted anything up to 80-90 replies each week on the TA Tenerife Forum.  Ramblings on what people who couldn't go the Spain were doing; menus, activities, gardening, triumphs and, in some cases, tragedies, by a hard core of 20 or more diarists with many hangers on... 

TA tolerated these subversive posts into, I think, abour "... Lickdown (a typo for Lockdown which somehow stuck) Week 60" or more... then killed it off;  Literally thousands of pages of amusing  (or sometimes deeply sad) musings...  MSE would never stand for that>?

davemorton

The way the site is sometimes moderated is (well was in my instance) a concern.  I was part of what was probably the busiest thread on MSE, first we got moved from the main section to gone but not forgotten, and our finds were regularly featured in the MSE news, but eventually they shut us totally down. Guess it was just too much work to keep us in check.  A look at how quiet 'Quick! Grabbit While You Can' is now says it all.  
I still love coming over here to read people thoughts and opinions, but don't post much now.  Most forum time being spent in the new forum that was set up as our new home.  Over 3 million views a year means it was still needed and is a great support for some, and a great source of money saving/advice for others.  Was nice to have a quick look at the other new forum that was mentioned in the last page, knowing that we were not the only ones that felt the need to move (because we were pushed). 
I would offer to set up a housing section on there, but dont think it gets the footfall from people wanting to enquire about those topics enough to keep people interested.  

Maskface

I never really understand these big 'I'm leaving' announcements. Will people's egos not just allow them to quietly slip away unnoticed? 

canaldumidi

Maskface said:

I never really understand these big 'I'm leaving' announcements. Will people's egos not just allow them to quietly slip away unnoticed? 

and yet it's generated 6 pages of responses, regrets (no hurrahs! I note), discussion, soul-searching, as well as a certain amount of good-humoured banter.

So, many thanks for the big "I'm leaving" announcement!