Pitfalls & benefits of anonymity?!

It was not said by me newnanny. I suggest you refer such comments to GNHQ.

Jalima

Gracesgran the one braincell insult was said to all who voted to leave EU. The poster who said it knows who they are and no apology has followed. Not fake news.

Discussing politics is seen as a bit of a sport, !

Certainly not by me. Politics is about other people's lives. I do not agree with the politics which says we will make some people richer and richer to the detriment of those who were already poor and unlikely to every be anything else.

I do believe that politics should be about enabling all the country to work towards a decent living and provide services for the very basic parts of life.

I will talk about and explain why one party - or several - have the possibility and intention to do the latter and why one party has the intention to do the first and no ability to do the latter. That's way I am doing the very little bit I am able to try and make this country a better place for everyone - not just a small elite, or even just the comfortable middle - to live in.

What discussion on here it is certainly not about, as far as I am concerned, is attacking other posters personalities. That is more than 'rude' and is certainly not forthright. Forthright, calling a spade a spade, frank, direct, blunt - none of these have a place on a politics thread when you are talking about another person rather than the topic.

Discussing politics is seen as a bit of a sport, !

Overthehills posters like you and Ailsa can't be wimps if you're still here.

Funnily enough yesterday I came across the thread started by GNHQ with a poll asking if we would like the option to change our user names. Apparently you can do this on Mumsnet. Until recently I didn't know GNHQ could change someone's name and I thought you'd need to reregister with a different name.

Not a wimp Overthehills,but a nice considerate person ?

Trisher it's the fact that I was brought up in a family who would argue discuss politics until the cows come home that makes it so difficult to stay off the politics threads.
Actually my family would argue about anything TBH and my parents produced three very competitive and argumentative children. There's no falling out, just a good discussion with everyone dying to say their 10p's worth. My parents were both union reps (me too) and we're all left wing (well, one a little bit less than the rest). Most of the time now though, there's only my DH to talk to and although he's also left wing (and an avid Private Eye subscriber), he's not much for discussion. So the politics threads on here are like my addiction! But I also have a problem with depression and I can allow those threads to be a distraction in an unhealthy way, so I step back now and again - until I'm drawn back in.

Thanks Wilma. I’m another one who has felt so intimidated by the nastiness of other posters (not only to me personally but to anybody who doesn’t agree with them) that I changed my user name. There are some people whose posts I always scroll past because of their general tone. But equally there are others whose posts I will always read because, even though I don’t necessarily agree with them, they provide links etc to back their arguments and it’s good to hear the other side. We’re all entitled to an opinion but, as someone has already said, there are ways and ways of expressing it. As to the original question, I’d like to think I was the same on GN as I am in RL but I do sometimes decide not to give an opinion because of a possible nasty response. I suppose that makes me a bit of a wimp ...

Piggypoo, I think it's lovely that you can do that, I can understand where your friend is coming from, possibly she wasn't able to speak her mind as a child & being shy is a great inhibitor. No one really knows her as a person on line, so she feels safe to speak her mind to strangers without fear of judgement and / or of offending anyone she knows or cares about .

I am just as plain spoken online as I am in real life! I've never thought to alter the way I am. If I comment on here, I am never rude of bullying, what's the point of being nasty for the sake of it? I like to comment in a helpful manner. My friend on the other hand, is really shy, but is a real loud-mouth online, and will instigate arguments with people, make rude comments and generally be the complete opposite to the way she usually is. She says it's the way she wants to be, but does not have the courage in real life.

Ahh thanks for posting Trisher,I'm sure you are lovely,split personality or not? I also grew up in a household having arguments/ discussion on just about everything, but I guess knowing that the people you are arguing with care about you no matter what makes a big difference. On here one may put up what they think is a reasonable comment & the delivery rather than the actual opinion can be jumped on & worst still I found it so easy to go down that route of criticism myself & have pulled myself up sharp now that I realised.

I am sorry for posters who find the threads damaging. I suppose I am quite strong in that respect having a grandfather who thought arguing about politics was a bit of a sport and who questioned most things. It seems to have been passed down in the family. I might get angry and annoyed about things but I don't take them personally. It is difficult sometimes to put yourself in others shoes. I do think I probably post more kindly things on threads where people are asking for support and advice and I do try to offer support and share any knowledge I might have.
Does this mean I have a split personality? Oh best not go there!

I so agree with you WilmaKnickersFit, thank you for posting, Part of me wants to participate ( I don't go on any other sites) but part of me finds it quite psychologically damaging & not at all sure it does us any good..... hence my reason for starting this thread , we humans are quite a complex entity !

The DM - and any other paper that decided to use the posts is okay I think, partly because the internet still doesn't have any real legal boundaries. On some forums the Ts & Cs say that you own the posts you publish but on GN I believe they do. If it was being published in a paper instead of on the internet I suppose someone would have the copyright, although I think they can still quote from that. It is odd, that's for certain. If they do bring in the laws of publishing then any defamatory statement made could/would be libelous I suppose.

I've never come across that about quoting someone, but I will uses quotes from now on to be on the safe side.

A couple of times since I joined GN I have taken a break from the site because I realise it's having a negative effect on me. Most of the time it's when I've spent too much time on the politics threads and I'm sick to death of tabloid tripe being spouted as fact by a small number of posters. Now that's quite a contentious thing to say on this thread, but these posters do not engage in discussion even when you are able to provide them with the correct facts. It's like going around in circles and that's when it's time for a break.

Probably should have said' lifted' not printed

Last year a section of my comments were printed on the Daily Mail on line site, which I only found out about by chance . I left for some while ,GNHQ did sort of apologise, but say they don't have much control as this is a public forum. So I wouldn't worry too much about quote marks as long as you aren't saying anything that could be deemed to be 'liableous' (not sure if correctly spelt)

Good advice about the quotation marks Elegran.

I still find it difficult to take in that GNHQ would not be able to read that is was a quote - even without the quotes but there you go.

Good point well made about the " " Elegran

Jalima since I found out about the FB link and the press lifting threads I have been more careful of what I say,and thats a shame as being able to discuss and have feedback on things from strangers is in my opinion very helpful.

You do surprise me. Don't you usually have 'x said' or 'on post y you said' that would identify it as a quote anyway? I am stunned someone could manage to quote someone else in a way that could be read as if they were saying it themselves when that was not what they meant. It must be true if you say so though.

Yes.