What can we do to help?

Sorry, Pippa22, I cross-posted there.

I think most of us find the acronyms useful. If you're talking about, say, your daughter and son-in-law, it's a lot quicker to type DS and DDIL. Though it does seem that a lot of posters don't like them. I suppose in real life we use names, which are often shorter than the titles. Even then I admit to using initials sometimes!

I think it would, Pittcity. There's so much going on on the site that even if a meet-up has been arranged it'd be easy for locals not to know about it.

I think the overuse of acronyms is very off putting to someone new. We don’t use them in “real” life and sometimes it is almost impossible to understand what a poster is meaning with them all. Why do all the grannies use them so much ? Not as if we used them years ago when writing, we didn’t at all, except for SWALK !

Here in Colchester our meetups have evolved and a table is booked twice a week for both GNers and non GNers. Both are well attended.
Other areas eg. Wanstead have monthly meetups.
Maybe a calendar of events would be useful?

I agree, Maggiemaybe. You may have noticed that the Scottish ones tend to be centred in an actual town, rather than a county.
In my experience that has always worked.

The recent Glasgow meet up was no problem at all to manage.
The only thing I would advise is, that if you signed for a Meet up keep an eye on the thread.

A couple of members signed up for a previous one in Glasgow, then were never heard from again. That becomes a pain if you are trying to co-ordinate numbers and a venue.

I suppose what I'm thinking of, janea, replaces Gransnet Local with something much simpler, in that it's just a thread - one thread - for each area, where members can post about local meet-ups. Gransnet Local never took off in my area - someone took it on as editor but nobody else ever posted there.

I see what you mean about someone having to own the meet-up thread they start, Elegran, but they meander so (or at least the ones for my area do). The OP might have suggested meeting up in a particular city, four posts down and two venues have been mooted at different sides of the county. If the thread "officially" related to a particular city, I feel it might help keep it focussed.

I think also that many people expect someone else to do the organising of a meet-up - establishing who is interested and where and when it will happen. That needs someone to keep track of the replies and co-ordinate things. It isn't rocket science, just to read who has replied and acknowledge them, and after a short time to post a summary of who where and when, and book a table if that is needed.

If they had the name of the area IN THE TITLE it would help. I think I reply to these threads about once a week suggesting this.

Or the op could keep 'bumping' them.

Maggie Gransnet Local was tried a few years ago but didn’t seem to work very well.
Perhaps posts suggesting meet-ups could be pinned at the top of the page, until the meet-up has actually happened, so they wouldn’t fall off the bottom of the Active Threads?

I suggested that "meet-ups" be better dealt with because, as I said, proposals and requests for them can get lost or be overlooked as things stand now. They're easy to sort out in areas where there are established groups, not so in places with a scattering of members who aren't in touch already.

A quick look at the Meet Ups/Where Are You? forum shows so many threads that end after a few posts with nothing resolved. Someone starts the thread - often just entitled Meet up? with no indication as to where. Say it's Devon. The following posts will be a mixture of people saying what a good idea it is, perhaps one or two suggesting venues or dates, people from Surrey and Norfolk also wanting to meet up, even someone chiming in with a personal problem they want advice on. Then it fizzles out....or perhaps it's all organised by pm, but who would ever know?

Wouldn't it be better if the forum just had set headings for different areas, so that anyone wanting to organise a meet-up or find out about one would know exactly where to go?

If I remember rightly, there were a few tumbles that day! It was a long walk back to the station ?. A great day ?

my right knee has never been the same after falling down on the way back to the railway station. Bloomin’ loose paving stones

Haha gilly couldn’t have been anything to do with the could it ?

Welbeck
I'm a little confused by your post RE the meet up.
You made a judgement on these 'virtual friends' with whom you do have a connection: GN, and yet you went and sat with a group of complete strangers, who, you potentially had nothing in common with ?

I believe the very title of the forum being "Grans Net" would dissuade many men from even venturing into the site. Those that do are then immediately met with a section entitled "Ask A Gran" as a great invite to becoming an active member.

To be fair, it does suggest alternatives for both grandmothers and grandfathers further down the page.

Grandude anyone?

There is a delightful picture on the Home page of a grandfather and granddaughter looking at each other, grandmother looking on.
It's asking what name you might choose if you are a new grandparent.

Then it asks if you will be Granny or Grandma!
No mention of Grandad, Gramps, Grandpa etc

The photographs on the Home Page show more or less the same number of shots of men and women.

I totally agree, grandad.
Apparently the word grans is supposed to mean grandads too, though, although I can't see how.

Welbeck, could it be that the Grans you saw were not being unwelcoming, but so caught up in the conversation, they were oblivious of you.
How would they know you wanted to join them , unless you introduced yourself to them?

I know what the last Glasgow meet up was like, we were so busy, noisily chatting, that we wouldn't have noticed a bomb going off.
We all made a point of checking every so often, just in case some one was looking for our group, but nervous about approaching us. It's two way thing.
I think it's disappointing and sad that you felt the Meet up was such a negative experience. It's not easy, but as I have said before, you have to be proactive and sometimes have to make the first move.

I give the impression of being confident and very chatty, but the reality is that inside my stomach was churning at my first Meet up, but I thought I had nothing to lose by going.
I'm so glad I did, I have made some lovely new friends.

MissAdventure Quote [Grans can be well under 50, so maybe that's another thing to look at.]End quote.

Grandads can be well under 50 as well, and this forum would be a far better place if more of them were proactively encouraged to become members of it.

Diversity always benefits wherever and whenever it is taken on board.

I missed your farewell meal Absent, was looking forward to it for ages and then caught a virus that left me with no voice. Sadly I have not been able to make any meet ups since but live in hope.

welbeck could I just say that it was very judgemental to think you didnt like the gners just from 'a glance around'.

Indeed it was janeainsworth my right knee has never been the same after falling down on the way back to the railway station. Bloomin’ loose paving stones

Absent your very generous farewell lunch was one of those never-to-be-forgotten occasions