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'Unspoken' forum rules?

(275 Posts)
Imperfect27 Sun 08-Oct-17 16:06:16

To my mind, this, like any other public forum is a 'free space' for us all. I have posted over many years, on many different forums, but never before encountered what seems to be an applied undercurrent of 'pecking order' based on longevity of membership. Maybe this is peculiar to GN. I truly do not know, but I am not imagining it. These seem to be the unspoken rules that SOME want GN to run by:

Long established posters may exercise the right to post sharp comments without apology or explanation.

Newbies must forgive this, but not respond (most likely because they 'don't know the back story to that poster's life.' )

Newbies should not have the audacity to suggest that someone may be out of order.

If Newbies want to disagree with established users, they are making 'accusations' and must provide evidence for any points raised.

PM - ing anyone is 'talking behind someone's back.'

If a newbie writes frankly and openly - in a polite way, they are still 'overstepping the (hidden) mark and it is ok for someone more established to take them to task about it.

Gransnet should be understood as a 'club' and new members should not comment on how it operates. If they do they can expect to be put in their place.

I am not being fascetious here. I genuinely want us to chew this over. These are the messages that I think do SOMETIMES get sent out. Is this what other people believe to be the case?

Alima Tue 10-Oct-17 09:00:41

After how long is one not considered a newbie? Been on here for about two and a half years so suppose I am a middley. (Was going to describe myself as an inbetweeny but in the current climate that could be totally misconstrued). Occasionally get the impression some of the longer serving members talk over the top of my head but I just carry on. That happens in RL too with groups of people. Nice to see many newer members just diving straight in and getting on with it, the site is for everyone. Do not like it when newbies leap straight in and want to change things to suit themselves. Get fed up with caustic comments from some oldies who see some threads coming around for the umpteenth time. Tough, it's new to the newbies.

Iam64 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:02:43

Hello Alima
I was almost always 'the new girl' at school because of the number of moves we had as a family. One of the things I learned was to appear calm and at ease when I felt anything but. Not sure how relevant that is to the discussion about newbies on gransnet other than that it's made me reflect on how easy it is for established groups to make a new person feel even more ill at ease.

Alima Tue 10-Oct-17 09:08:53

Good morning Iam.

harrigran Tue 10-Oct-17 09:16:35

I have been here from the beginning, I have killed off more threads than I have started and been told off by those who are way more intelligent than me but I am still here.

lemongrove Tue 10-Oct-17 09:17:58

?

whitewave Tue 10-Oct-17 09:18:34

harrigran (smile) ?

Lazigirl Tue 10-Oct-17 09:19:50

Me too Iam. Was never in any school for very long, and always felt an outsider, but learned to jump straight in and get down to the basics. Some people (understandably) don't like this.
Bit thick but what is the significance of stopping threads dead? Does it mean no one will reply because they don't know/like you?

Notme Tue 10-Oct-17 09:22:27

"if someone is being actively 'disrespectful' or 'unkind' to someone who evidently may be in distress / in need," (Imperfect 08.47)

I have never, ever, seen that happen on Gransnet! Would be disgraceful. It just doesn't happen.

MissAdventure Tue 10-Oct-17 09:23:58

I've seen plenty of uncalled for, scathing comments. To my mind, it is unkind.

Notme Tue 10-Oct-17 09:31:44

To someone in distress? Someone seeking help and advice? Don't believe it.

Notme Tue 10-Oct-17 09:33:24

GN is just not that bad. To suggest that is over-egging the sandwich/piece of toast/whatever.

Eglantine21 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:36:19

Oh dear, I have been "weighing in" like billyoh. Nobody told me I couldn't until now. blush

whitewave Tue 10-Oct-17 09:37:56

Weigh away eglatine smile

whitewave Tue 10-Oct-17 09:38:33

Is that your favourite rose by the way? It is mine.

Eglantine21 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:41:57

No! Is there a rose called Billyoh! I must have it. It would so be my rose grin

MissAdventure Tue 10-Oct-17 09:42:10

Its my take on what I have seen. Yours is your own.

Eglantine21 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:43:09

Now we will be told off for digressing. And I've been grumpy on another thread. No end to my transgressions this morning. I need coffee.....

trisher Tue 10-Oct-17 09:43:58

If there isn't a Billy-Oh rose, there should be.

durhamjen Tue 10-Oct-17 09:47:18

"Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night....
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in."

Eglantine and woodbine not names you hear these days.

Eglantine21 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:48:40

Oh , I see, Eglantine not Billyoh. sad

Eglantine21 Tue 10-Oct-17 09:49:53

It's a very grimy street in Wandsworth actually........

durhamjen Tue 10-Oct-17 09:50:53

Billyoh is the name of a garden bench.
You could put an arch over it and grow eglantine and woodbine over it.

TerriBull Tue 10-Oct-17 09:56:34

On occasions there have been a handful of members who wander over to the "cut off" thread to add their ten cents worth to regular posters there, sometimes suggesting where they may have gone wrong to be in such a situation. Personally, I wouldn't, who knows how any of us would behave if we were put in that position. Families can be complex and no two are the same. Clearly there is a lot of grief expressed on that thread, and it's often stressed that it is a support thead and possibly some of the posters there feel that it's a situation where you have to live through it to understand it. If everything is hunky dory with your own relationships, for me an element of smugness creeps in when another poster indicates how they handle their own tricky scenarios with success. I know there have been flare ups because when anyone goes on that thread and rightly points out that it's an open forum and as such they have every right to post. I can't help feeling they stir up a hornet's nest that would be best well left alone particularly as they can't know or understand the history and dynamics of the relationship with the child that the parent/s have been cut off from.

whitewave Tue 10-Oct-17 10:27:42

Yes I think you are a bit right terri I do see it as a mutual support network, which is why I don’t post on it. That doesn’t mean that I’m not sad for those folk. I am, but have no experience to draw on.

Ilovecheese Tue 10-Oct-17 10:38:56

I think you are right too, Terribull about newer members like me wandering over to the "support" thread. In my case this was a misunderstanding about what the thread was for. I thought it was a discussion, now realise that that is not what it is for, but just for those in that position to support each other. No smugness intended, just didn't understand the unspoken rule.