AIBU to be fed up with some posters who cannot accept others have different opinions?

I do say so suziewoozie . The intonation of your comment suggests you think I am lying. Isnt that just another way of belittling or discrediting by personal insult? An example of what I was talking about really.

I will repeat, my question was prompted by an incident on a forum other than politics . I was quite taken a back as I only answered an OP's question for an opinion about a domestic matter. I did not expect to be preached at because I was not conforming to some sort of social justice agenda in my answer. Its that simple.

aprilrose, I don't know what your views are but, if they are right of centre like mine, you have no hope of any civility towards you on this site.

I did not expect so many

Oh I think you did?

It's remarkable how reluctant right wingers are to ever admit to being right wing.

They often prefer to describe themselves as "moderate" or "middle of the road" which means "I'm no more extreme than all the people I know who think like me, vote like me and read the same newspapers"

If you say so april if you say so. Whatever.

This thread has become so complex that I have to confess that my curiosity was piqued so I searched via Google and I can see april that you posted about green energy and what you said upset some people and you didn't like that they disagreed with you which is exactly what you're complaining about here!

It's pretty clear what you post about and what your political leanings are and that's fine, we are all different and we have different opinions but we all have to accept that others may disagree with us and actually not take that too personally. It's a forum, people argue.

I can see april that you posted about green energy and what you said upset some people and you didn't like that they disagreed with you which is exactly what you're complaining about here!

No, lets get this straight because I dont feel your summary is accurate ( not that I am chalenging your opinion , to which you are entitled).

I posted to an OP that I had used two different electricity companies and found them good . That was what the OP asked for. I mentioned green saying I did not know what their green status was because that was not my primary concern but it had been mentioned by another poster and so OP needed to check that for themselves if it was important.

I was then questioned as to why I did not check the companies green credentials and I explained that my economic situation demanded I find the best deal and I would take that deal and was not in a position to have any kind of stance on eco values etc.

This promted said poster ( who in hindsight had asked the question so that they could actually start preaching about the importance of green and renewable energy from primary providers . I responeded saying this was off topic.

I was then told I should lok for another deal and consider green energy and it was one of the purposes of GN to inform other posters when they had not got a handle on the importance of some issues.

That was when I got prickley and the following exchange made me aske my question here.

Posters might like to consider that all energy companies are required to be "green" but some do buy their energy in different ways and have to certificate their purchases, some quarters argue this is not genuine - only the more expensive companies wil have primary renewable sources it seems.
However, my point remaines that I select the cheapest and best deal based on criteria other than green energy for the most part. All companies these days will say they are green anyway - so this was not so much an issue of green energy as someone fielding their views on the more expesnive types of green energy.

I did not expect so many

Oh I think you did?

Did I? You are more privy to my thoughts than I am? Really.

No, I did not expect so many replies. End of I think.
Not willing to accept anothers point of view there . QED with regard to my OP and concerns .

By memory, I think you said that green energy or green issues were of no interest to you which you may think is off topic but others won't.

I understand that you think it's hard to quantify and interpret what green energy means in reality but given the concern that huge numbers of people feel now about climate change, the way you expressed your opinion invited others to challenge and offer alternatives. That's what people do if they care about something. You call it preaching, they call it educating, it doesn't mean that they think you are stupid, it means they'd like you to reconsider and they're giving it a go because it's important to them.

aprilrose, I totally agree with you and posted at the beginning of this thread.

I have now read the thread that prompted this one and I am really surprised that something as innocuous as energy providers could spark such a response.

Thankfully it’s a minority who behave in this way, don’t leave gransnet aprilrose this will mean the bullies have won.

This thread was deliberately started to get others to line up on one side or the other, as has been said. You don't always get the results you want even when you pull out the bullies trump card.

Missfood there’s much more to the starting of this thread than the OP says there is. The first time I was aware of april was when she posted on a lighthearted thread we were all enjoying and told us all off for being childish. She hardly practices what she preaches. She also appears to believe that she should be able to post ‘facts’ without being corrected. And I mean facts - real facts not opinions or theories.

varian I so agree with that! And can I add that right wingers seem absolutely happy to call those even slightly to the left names and yet feel they are mistreated if they are labelled.
Personally I think it's a guilty conscience.

suziewoozie you complain about aprilrose spoiling threads but I have to say here that I have seen numerous threads turn unpleasant and aggressive as soon as you appear on them, along with all the bad language you throw around so she hardly practices what she preaches (quote from you above).
trisher And can I add that right wingers seem absolutely happy to call those even slightly to the left names
I have seen right wingers called all manner of unpleasant things including crass, clueless, rude, nasty, arrogant, lacking in common sense, no manners, childish. Absolutely dreadful names.
Hypocrisy from both of you or what! ?

From my prospective I think the question posed by the OP has been answered simply by reading the responses by posters.

Of course the OP question will be answered to all posters in different ways.

Everybody has the right to be stupid if they want to. Unlike in real life , online one does not have to respond to uninteresting people who have no information or interesting ideas to share.

PS April Rose wrote:

"I dont mind a debate any time but to throw rude words , phrases and comments like " you are uneducated, you are stupid , you are an idiot and to belittle people I feel goes too far."

I agree. Any properly moderated forum will have rules about calumny. Much depends on the kind of users. Some users of forums are accustomed to insults and swearwords and the moderator takes this into consideration. Gransnet is not geared up to swearwords and insults, probably rightly so. Opinions are okay although some people's opinions are boring and ill- thought out.

Some forums now exclude extreme right posters whose ideas are held by most people to be evil.

And can I add that right wingers seem absolutely happy to call those even slightly to the left names and yet feel they are mistreated if they are labelled.

Works both ways - left wingers are happy to call right wingers names too, and the left-wing "pack dogs" are the worst - you know who you are.

It's remarkable how reluctant right wingers are to ever admit to being right wing

No reluctance from me, I'm right wing and happy to admit it.

Aprilrose - completely understand where you are coming from re energy contracts. If you're on a tight budget, then obviously you are going to choose the cheapest contract. I wonder how many of those who criticised you are driving Tesla "electric" cars, instead of petrol or, even worse, diesel cars - or maybe Tesla cars are out of their price range? Same difference. The level of hypocrisy on here is gob-smacking!

Opal I am also right wing I was raised never to be ashamed of your political views.

Oh aprilrose that is not at all how you responded to my remark about green energy when I pointed out they were not necessarily more expensive. You said you were going to ‘bite your tongue’ but had changed your mind and went for it!

Your rational was that you didn’t like being ‘educated’ if I remember, but as I didn’t respond to your response I can’t be sure.

And that promoted you to start this thread! What has that to do with anything never mind not valuing your opinion? I walked away from your final dig as I’d stated my opinion (that green energy was worth considering).

Opal no one criticised this woman, she just saw it that way.

Isn’t being called “pack dogs” personal and insulting? This thread was supposed to be about avoiding such.
Hypocrisy rears it’s head again.

It’s always the bullies who cry most about being bullied

The term 'pack dogs' is pretty accurate when applied to a group of posters who attack one poster in particular and criticise her comments.
If you say so april if you say so. Whatever.
Comments like this which are demeaning and patronising.
No wonder so many grans stay off these threads, when they have been spoken to in this way they have backed off. Only the strong survive.

Let she who is without sin cast the first stone!