Why report so much ?

It's clear what the issue is.

mean-spiritedness, ganging-up behaviour and rehashing old arguments.

Differences of opinions on the political or news threads are very different from targeting a particular poster, wherever they happen to be enjoying a chat.

Different from casting aspersions on the persons motives and so on..
That is mean spirited, I'm sure we can all agree.
It isn't on, and needs sorting out so that everyone can pass their time here, however they see fit.

Nobody here needs to seek approval from others to be "allowed" to post, neither should they need to defend themselves when they have done nothing to deserve it.

the issue has been explained by *MichaelGransnet !

Why not leave it at that

Yes, I will now, otherwise I'm rehashing stuff.
Out for good from this thread. (I promise)

Chestnut

That is very interesting especially as no-one admits to being mean or bullying when it's mentioned. It's mostly the News & Politics board I suspect. Let's hope things calm down in future. I know for a fact there are people who are too scared to post for fear of aggressive replies, so the boards end up being one-sided viewpoints and the same posters just agreeing with each other.

I agree that an avatar would help identify posters. I am one who likes visual images so it would suit me.

This sweep of posters suspended was NOT on news and politics

At least one has never had more than one deleted post and no warning
And yes I know that via A personal email . I communicate via Pm with a few kind posters who have been sympathetic about my cancer diagnosis. It is no witches coven or conspiracy or gang and I make no apology for it

There are bullies on here. No two ways about it. I don't know if they are the ones suspended, but I've seen it happening and I've seen people hounded away from the site. Like Lucca, I've had personal emails telling me that was why they were leaving.

Very sad. This is supposed to be a place to have a good chat and a bit of relaxation.

Chewbacca**
Would your elephantine memory care to mention any names ? ?

Megs36

Interesting post this. Months ago I and some other posters used to ‘chat’ with an Australian gent, some banter, some jokey comments and often personal opinions this offended some people who must have reported us because he was banned for a time and I had a personal e mail from HQ. (to which I replied) .Eventually my Oz correspondent was reinstated and we carried on chatting keeping our opinions to ourselves !Sadly he was very ill and like some other posters disappeared. I’ll never really know what caused offence but now am very careful what and when I post.

I liked the Australian gent too, although he was a rather unreconstructed elderly male who hadn't learnt the new pc rules! I liked his daily perspective from Down Under.
I think the worst must have happened as he was in his 90s.

MissAdventure

It's clear what the issue is.

mean-spiritedness, ganging-up behaviour and rehashing old arguments.

Differences of opinions on the political or news threads are very different from targeting a particular poster, wherever they happen to be enjoying a chat.

Different from casting aspersions on the persons motives and so on..
That is mean spirited, I'm sure we can all agree.
It isn't on, and needs sorting out so that everyone can pass their time here, however they see fit.

Nobody here needs to seek approval from others to be "allowed" to post, neither should they need to defend themselves when they have done nothing to deserve it.

I couldn't agree more. Ganging up, following people around threads to disagree with them, making personal remarks with no provocation, or sneering at and belittling people, or dismissing their threads as trivial and beneath your attention are the kinds of behaviour that put people off posting or drive them off the forum altogether.

It is not only nasty behaviour it is downright arrogant.

By the way I'm talking in general. I didn't even know a group of posters had been banned recently and have no idea where or what they were posting.

Me too honestly

I havent a clue. Although it's a small site and it's not hard to notice names that are missing. Or I may be watching too much Vera.

Chrissyoh I could do that but I'm expecting that they'll put in a reappearance again when they're needed!

Ah - I see !
I don’t post much - but read a lot .
Thanks for replying ?

No idea what this is all about. I've been watching lots of tennis ???

Usual falling out stuff I suppose.

Gransnet investigated concerns raised by members around bullying and harassment which caused upset and reluctance to post because of the tone of some threads.
They found a group of posters were repeatedly breaking guidelines on 'mean-spiritedness, ganging-up behaviour and rehashing old arguments.'
So NOT 'school snitches reporting things that were clearly not their business' but people genuinely upset by the treatment they received.
The people responsible for this unpleasantness are the people who have been quite rightly suspended.

Although I scroll through Active Topics to decide what to read (as opposed to going direct to a forum) I post most often in News and Politics, as that's what interests me most. I don't think it's fair to say that people 'gang up' on there. It is true that there are some topics on which a lot of people agree and there are only one or two dissenting voices, and I appreciate that it might feel like that when every time you post there are five others disagreeing.

Nevertheless, I don't think there is bullying. There is fighting back, when people make false accusations, or get unnecessarily personal. There are robust responses when people twist words and pretend you have said things you didn't. But I don't think that people are targeted, and nobody is 'hounded' - it's just that everyone stands by their opinions which are often deeply held. I can disagree wildly with someone about one topic and agree absolutely on another, and I'm sure others do likewise.

As I said upthread, I think that N&P has an unfair reputation for being nasty. I wish more people would get involved on political threads, so there would be a wider range of viewpoints, and there would be fewer complaints that threads are all the same people agreeing with one another - it's baffling to hear that when it's free for anyone to join in.

People say that they don't post because they fear being shot down. I don't think that happens too often, and if it does, someone will usually step in and call out the behaviour. I find that posting on there makes me think through my own views on things - knowing that you will be challenged keeps you on your toes, which is no bad thing. It may not be for everyone, and that's fair enough, but I just wanted to defend poor old N&P, as it gets a bad press without (IMO) real justification.

I think that is a bit disingenuous Doodledog. You and I know of one member that no longer posts on GN because of behaviour on some of the threads you and I have been in. There has been hounding and mocking. Not always, but at times I would regard it as bullying

You know that I no longer post on threads 'of that type' due to that kind of behaviour / posting.

It's not about being disagreed with. It is gunning for someone because others disagree with them. And the way it has been conducted at times has been unreasonable.

Let's be honest about it, at least.

eazybee

Gransnet investigated concerns raised by members around bullying and harassment which caused upset and reluctance to post because of the tone of some threads.
They found a group of posters were repeatedly breaking guidelines on 'mean-spiritedness, ganging-up behaviour and rehashing old arguments.'
So NOT 'school snitches reporting things that were clearly not their business' but people genuinely upset by the treatment they received.
The people responsible for this unpleasantness are the people who have been quite rightly suspended.

Not entirely accurate sorry
One thread only was objected to not “some threads”
An educational and witty thread
Nothing to do with politics
Nothing to do with ganging up
However some responses on this thread have caused at least one suspended poster to leave permanently. A great loss
So for some “result “

GagaJo

I think that is a bit disingenuous Doodledog. You and I know of one member that no longer posts on GN because of behaviour on some of the threads you and I have been in. There has been hounding and mocking. Not always, but at times I would regard it as bullying

You know that I no longer post on threads 'of that type' due to that kind of behaviour / posting.

It's not about being disagreed with. It is gunning for someone because others disagree with them. And the way it has been conducted at times has been unreasonable.

Let's be honest about it, at least.

I disagree with that, although as I said, I can see that it must be difficult to post knowing that you are in such a minority. Without naming names, if we are being honest, I have to say that I may be wrong, but I don't think that the poster I think you mean has left us.

Again, without rehashing old arguments, I have seen hounding and mocking coming from those who claim to be 'bullied'. I have had horrible accusations made against me, for instance, as have others.

I don't 'gun' for anyone. I agree or disagree depending on the thread. I can't think too far back, but I recently agreed with you about swearing in parks being unacceptable, and that open spaces for children to play are now often built on, for instance.

I stand by the fact that people are more robust in their replies on topics that matter to them, and when they feel under attack themselves.

GagaJo I sometimes stayed off 'those' threads for a day or two if there was a lot of squabbling going on but, when I looked, it always seemed to me that everyone involved was treating each other in much the same ways.
The current threads on 'those' topics have had some disagreement but have stayed civil, as far as I could see.

Sometimes, a strongly expressed opposing view can be perceived as a personal attack when that is not the intention.
I'd hope that GNHQ, as a detached observer, would be able to see the difference.

Why don't you just say which thread it is, then people could have a look?

It isn't one thread, SD. We are taking about threads about trans issues. There are, and have been several in N&P, although there are many other topics in that forum too.

Sometimes, a strongly expressed opposing view can be perceived as a personal attack when that is not the intention.

Exactly.

Gagajo this is one of the things we agree on, although you and I seem to be able to disagree on some things and still get on.

I don't mind disagreeing there seems to be only two specific subjects that lead to issues for me so I go through phases of avoiding them cos I don't like the personal stuff.