Puncturing someones balloon

The point jingl is this is a topic which gets raised every so often. Just because some of us have been round and round this numerous times doesn't mean that people new to the site can't thrash it out for themselves.

In fact I think us old stagers would do better to leave the thread and take our cynicism with us.

Habits of a lifetime? I've only been on the site for two years.

I agree with jingle. Why not be upfront and make a comment on the relevant thread if you think someone is being po-faced or rude?

A bit off topic, I know, but I have been thinking about this: how many people on this forum do you think you could be good friends with.

Most.

I agree

However I have noticed that on occasions a light-hearted post is going along very nicely tossed around to one gransnetter and then another, when suddenly there appears a post that punctures the balloon.

It's probably best to just ignore the post where that has happened and just carry on with the lighthearted bits. I noticed that lighthearted threads didn't last very long so maybe it isn't what this forum particularly enjoys?

Made quite a few good friends on here.

Quite a lot. The ones I've met have been just as I'd imagined them.

I remember, when Gransnet first started out, very tentative thoughts were given towards meet-ups. Some thought it may tend to spoil things a bit once we met face-to-face, as it were. Or even possibly compromise identity. However, gradually the meet-ups did start to happen (think the first one was in the Cheshire area), and there have been lots since then. I love going to them. It's nothing grand - just friends meeting up for a catch-up. Lovely!

We were talking about this just last Sunday. We agreed that those we have met in person and spoken to in the flesh are friends - no different from other friends except in the way we were introduced to one another. Those we exchange posts with on the forum are also friends (well, most of them - some seem a bit more like foes) but we don't yet know them quite as well as those we have met in person.

Some people were very opposed to meeting up when it was first suggested. They thought it would somehow spoil things, but it has not. I would prescribe face-to-face meetings for everyone. They do help put an end to those "What does she really mean by that post?" moments if you can visualise the person when you read the text.

I have only had one meet-up with two Gransnetters and thoroughly enjoyed it- bit of s low start but then we got right in and the time flew. I agree being able to put a face to a name helps you to know what the person is trying to convey. The baldly written words with the usual facial expression and body language can seem a bit stark and be taken wrongly. I like a good look at the body language!!!

What really warmed my heart was when I mentioned that I was going to the dentist for an extraction (and a few other nasty things), but that I'd need to get the bus as we didn't have a car at that particular time. It was around the August of the first year of Gransnet, (I remember this because Ruby Wax was appearing at the Edinburgh Festival and Marmight, - who had a different name at that time - had commented that Ruby might want to come across the bridge to have tea with her, or something like that, anyway)!
When Marmight realised that she lived only a few miles away from me, she messaged me and said she would take me to the dentist and wait for me while I had my treatment, then bring me home again. I thought that was just so kind.
As it happened DH came with me, and I was actually ok, but that sticks in my mind - 'the kindness of strangers'. Not strangers anymore now, though.

A very dear friend, whom I met on Gransnet, was, of course, Greatnan whom we lost last November. I will never forget the two visits I made to her little apartment in Haute Savoie.

I find it easy to get "a feel" for people on here whether good or bad.
For me it's often down to people who seem to have the same odd sense of humour.
Which is probably always a sign that you are on the same wavelength as someone else.

I am not sure how the thread is defining "puncturing someone's balloon" though.
Is that just a fundamental disagreement about facts or a difference in view points. Or just a plainly offensive remark.

As has been said many times before, a challenge to someone else's viewpoint, can be considered offensive by some when other's just see it as being an alternative view point.

Some of us can deal with it others seem to find it upsetting. There is probably little that can be done about that.
Love on GNrs.

I met up with a lovely lady last year, sadly she has dropped from sight on the board unless she is here in another incarnation. I just found it hard to keep up regular meetups at the time, as I was helping to care for a sick niece.

I don't think I've come across anyone who posts regularly yet that I couldn't face meeting!

Me. I would say there are about 6. As Nelliemoser said: it's in the humour.