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AIBU

To object to inane 'banter' on serious threads?

(217 Posts)
Greatnan Sat 20-Apr-13 09:59:27

We are all, presumably, mature adults, and if you have nothing to contribute to a serious, or sometimes tragic, thread, would it not be better to stop trying to trivialise the subject and find another thread where your wittering would not disrupt the flow.
And please don't accuse anybody who objects of having no sense of humour - most of us just know when it is appropriate to make jokes.

soop Tue 23-Apr-13 10:58:54

...after which, I shall ride my exercise bike and think happy thoughts smile

soop Tue 23-Apr-13 10:57:50

Nanban and jings thanks for making me grin

Back to serious 'inane' stuff...washing to hang on the line, 'tis sunny and blustery in Kintyre. sunshine

j08 Tue 23-Apr-13 10:57:44

grin grin grin

Nanban Tue 23-Apr-13 10:47:06

Ooooh, I don't think we need to worry about lacking a dragon, there seem to be a few about the place .....

j08 Tue 23-Apr-13 10:39:16

Ah - they've added it now! Bit late! hmm

j08 Tue 23-Apr-13 10:37:26

I have just got off my exercise bike soop. [halo]

I posted on the St George's day thread. About the fact that that Other Lot have got a dragon and we haven't.

#nevermindtheold'uns. hmm smile

soop Tue 23-Apr-13 10:27:27

This may be classified as inane banter, but what I want to know is...where be our Jings? #wandersoffmuttering

annodomini Tue 23-Apr-13 10:24:05

Are chickens coming home to roost? Ah, am I trivialising a serious subject? hmm

merlotgran Tue 23-Apr-13 10:23:50

Nanban grin

Nanban Tue 23-Apr-13 09:38:58

Marvellous - now it's chickens! I have always, always wanted to keep chickens until our neighbour asked me to look after their's for a week. The blighters stayed up till well past my bedtime, escaped and needed rounding up, were unloving and uncommunicative - yup completely like any teenager - and I wish I'd let the fox have them - indeed if I'd let the fox have a teenager my life would now be so much simpler!

If there was a previous thread about chickens, I missed it, I'm feckless, I apologize. Merlotgran - I have filed that lovely phrase away for an opportunity to use it and knowing life that will be sooner rather than later.

merlotgran Mon 22-Apr-13 22:05:08

Get over yourself, POGS. I am allowed to put my name on any thread I like.

POGS Mon 22-Apr-13 22:03:08

Merlot

If you are responding to my post can I just say this.

A) I really do not, nor can I remember, nor do I care who the poster was but the 'Poultry Keeper' does not ring a bell. Unless you believe that the post I mentioned, as a throw away point, was you then I don't know why you have put your name into the ring

B) To say "I thought it was not the done thing to drag up old threads" is ridiculous. Isn't that exactly what the OP in this thread is doing by asking a question about past threads. Are you seriously saying there has never been mention of past threads before on any other thread. It happens all the time. confused

C) Our posts are proving a point brought up in the OP, threads do shift from the OP all the time, in a trivialising manner.

glassortwo Mon 22-Apr-13 21:57:41

merlot I was part of the conversation re chickens, cant remeber who instigated the deviation or what the thread was about but thank you for the information it will prove to be very useful when the time comes to buy chickens, but all I can say is since when in real life does a conversation stay within the original subject.

merlotgran Mon 22-Apr-13 21:23:02

I once dared to make a jokey remark about reading 'Poultry Keeper' on a long ago thread. I was NOT trivialising a serious thread. One or two Gnetters joined in the joke and the thread meandered as normal conversations often do.

I make no apologies for having a sense of humour. It has sustained me through some difficult times. Maybe some of you should give it a try.

BTW I thought it was not the done thing to drag up old threads?

Ana Mon 22-Apr-13 21:18:46

I think we should all be able to cope with 'occasional' disruptions/diversions/inane banter interludes or whatever on threads without making an issue of it.

Galen Mon 22-Apr-13 21:11:18

Chickens?confused

Bags Mon 22-Apr-13 21:07:53

I can cope with "on occasions".

petallus Mon 22-Apr-13 21:04:58

I do remember the chickens. I kept on hoping the thread would go back to the original topic and opted out in the end, muttering 'still those bloody chickens'

Ana Mon 22-Apr-13 20:59:41

No, I agree, Bags - but on occasion it has been very obvious.

Bags Mon 22-Apr-13 20:58:19

Sometimes two conversations or more are going on at the same time on the same thread, so something that might look at first sight like blanking probably isn't. Each poster is not necessarily replying to the comment immediately above their own (sometimes posts cross in the ether anyhow and arrive on the thread within seconds of each other). Or else a poster may be picking up one part of the thread and not others. I don't think there is much deliberate blanking.

merlotgran Mon 22-Apr-13 20:58:10

Well I'll just have to remember NEVER to talk about chickens again!! angry

Give me real life any day.

Ana Mon 22-Apr-13 20:37:23

I agree, POGS. There have certainly been occasions when a member's posts have been 'blanked' by others who decided they didn't want to respond and carried on what seemed like a private conversation.

It may not have been 'inane banter', but it was certainly meant to divert the thread and discourage further discussion on a particular theme.

POGS Mon 22-Apr-13 20:28:23

All I want to say is I have noticed on many occassions a thread has shifted entirely from the OP. to a manner I have felt didn't give any respect to the OP. However I accept that is how GN works.

Some shift a thread to tell others about themselves or their family.

Some shift a thread because they have taken a dislike to what others have said.

Some shift a thread being because they want to say their two penneth and don't even read the OP.

I remember a thread being trivialized into small talk about chickens and it was blatent what the game was from the poster

Be very sure if you say you don't like this happening you have not,you will not in future do exactly what you say you don't agree with. Or have you already and others have noticed but you don't remember doing so. After all threads being trivialised happen on a regular basis.

absent Mon 22-Apr-13 20:04:41

I'd still like to know what makes people feel that inane banter is humorous. If, for example, the discussion is about the bombing at the Boston marathon, do we need need to be informed or are we entertained in the middle of it with an anecdote about someone's coffee and cake? That was imaginary, but I think it is the kind of thing that was the subject of the OP.

Nanban Mon 22-Apr-13 19:41:16

I'm taking a theoretical bow and maybe should frame up your nice comments for my children to appreciate that I too can be appreciated!

Thank you ladies. x