Impersonal

kittylester

Marydoll

I think the GM thread's dynamics have changed from when I first started posting many years ago.
There are quite a few posters, who are missing. I always enjoyed their posts.

The GM thread has changed immeasurably from the time Michael joined GN and suggested he start one.

In the early days it was very factual - good morning, a weather report from the poster's location and a brief over view of their upcoming day.

My memory can't cope with all the info now and I would hate to miss anyone out so I stick to the original format.

From that you may assume I have been here for ages and don't like change!

My penchant for novellas may be partly to blae.
Kitty, you and Maw were the first people who interracted with me on GN and it was on the GM thread.
Very few of the original posters still remain.
NanKate was another lovely member.

I have joined recently and found some nice people already. Wouldn’t say friends but kind and friendly posters. There are however some well established cliques on some threads where posters do have friendship groups and have done so for years, I think Soops kitchen is one, but that’s absolutely fine, are lots of others threads to choose from.
Like just dipping my toe and joining in whatever takes my fancy. Get ignored a lot of the time but at least have had my say.

It just takes one person to start a Meet Up thread and a bit of nagging persistence to organise

I think that is what is different to other forums I’ve used. Meetings arising from posting on those tend to be more organic, based on something happening that posters would be doing and which come up during a conversation (someone mentions they are running the Great North Run, others say they will come and cheer, shall we grab dinner later?) or because there’s an event or activity that previous conversations have shown are a shared interest (so a casual invitation is offered (anyone fancy getting tickets for X gig? And that grows into enough interest for a few folk to make a weekend of it). I’ve met people in Las Vegas based on an original interest in scrambling/hiking, people in Paris because someone was in a show there, so on. Mostly no arranging beyond ‘I’ll be at X at such a time Hopefully see some of you there’ and no persistence needed. Sometimes there are two or three people, once 40 of us ( which did take a bit of planning for a restaurant, but not for the rest of the time), usually somewhere in between. Sometimes it’s a quick coffee, sometimes a few days, and often subsets of us do different things or overlapping dates or times. From there, I’ve forged long and deep friendships, with people local and from all round the world, whom I meet up with in addition to forum based stuff.

I no longer post on Soops Kitchen, only because I can't keep up, not because it is a clique.!
Soop started jt as a safe haven at a time when GN was rather fraught.
Having met Soop in person, I can confirm she is as lovely in real life.

Babs I'm sure you will be made very welcome in the Kitchen as well as the GM thread.

I agree OP. I belong to a knitting forum. If I make a comment I get replies which I can read. There is no facility here for a personal reply. I think gransnet could update their site. Mumsnet is better for this.

Kate is still here, MD. She started a thread not so long ago.

kittylester

Kate is still here, MD. She started a thread not so long ago.

I know, I occasionally hear from her.

Babs Soop's Kitchen isn't at all cliquey. There are people who have posted for years and some who are recent. Some people dip in and out. You would be welcomed by Soop and others if you post

There is no facility here for a personal reply. I think gransnet could update their site. Mumsnet is better for this.

I m not sure what you mean there is a private message facility on GN knittyPamela
I have made some lovely friends on here through private messaging We have shared emails, photos, phone numbers, and real long distance friendship.
I ve been on here maybe 11 years or so and although it didn’t happen then, over the years I ve made strong long connections
I ve never been on Soops kitchen or Good morning as I felt a bit out of that group and I m not good at make believe situations I mean like bringing a bottle and cake my mind doesn’t work in that way
I ve never understood the idea of cliques perhaps I m naive but it’s never hit me that because two or three people come up with the same thought, idea, or answer it means they are in a clique 🙄
Stick with it Tiley and if you see someone with similar thoughts ideas and reactions send them a pm and see where it goes

Marydoll

I no longer post on Soops Kitchen, only because I can't keep up, not because it is a clique.!
Soop started jt as a safe haven at a time when GN was rather fraught.
Having met Soop in person, I can confirm she is as lovely in real life.

Babs I'm sure you will be made very welcome in the Kitchen as well as the GM thread.

Sorry, maybe the word clique is unfair. I just feel that there everybody knows about everybody else historically. Have been on there and was made welcome but couldn’t keep up with what was going on for whom.
Didn’t mean that in a bad way at all.

Zealots get on my nerves; especially on the political threads. Also, hounding. Persistent campaigning against politicians(Johnson) is getting a bit boring and a rather dogmatic poster is always 'jumped on' till it looks like borderline bullying. Sometimes a GSOH is lacking.

BlueBelle Not to speak for others but Mumsnet has a useful function that lets you start typing the name of the person you want to answer, select it from a drop-down list (which shortens as you add letters) so it adds to your message. No need for daft bolding and typing all the flaming time.

Of course, they also have an edit button.

I have been a member of GN since the days of the late lamented GreatNan, and have seen it change dramatically. I agree with Kitty about the GM thread. For some it can be a rolling conversation and if that’s what they like, so be it. I try and stick to the original format too, but have been known to stray with an extra post occasionally. I left Soop’s Kitchen because I simply couldn’t keep up, and I no longer felt connected, but I read occasionally. I tend to limit my input now to the more anodyne threads. People can read and pass by or not.
There are many very special people on Gransnet - empathetic, supportive, funny and kind. I have had the privilege of meeting some of them personally and they all restore my faith in human nature. They outnumber the strident, less accommodating members who are only interested in pushing their own agenda. Long May it be so.

Siope I don’t understand what you are referring to ??? knittypamala said there was no facility to private message people on GN but there IS at the top of every post

Bluebelle I don't think knittypamala meant PMs, I think she meant being able to reply directly to a specific poster from one of their posts within a thread - thus, in the context of this thread, facilitating conversation on the boards.

But I could be quite wrong...

I'm guessing what Knittypamela is referring to is the earburn facility on Ravelry which let's another member know you have responded to something they have posted or are just alerting them to something that may interest them.

Ravelry is imo a brilliantly organised and programmed platform. GN isn't.

Greatnan once rebuked me for saying I felt an outsider. Her point was that it was a matter of fact that some people had been here a longer time and therefore knew each other better.

She said it would be silly for people to pretend they knew nothing about each other.

I get that now but I think I trembled a bit at the time!!

I used to tell my pupils that to get a friend, you have to first be a friend.

That is my philosophy. I try my best to be pleasant on GN, but may not always get it right and am a grumpy old woman.😉

I feel people are wary of new posters, who launch right in with multiple posts, best see how things work first and take your time.

Why? Genuinely, what’s wrong with doing things differently?

Which part of my posts are you questioning?
What I was trying to say was that some new posters come on and make lot of posts (sometimes lengthy) within hours and wonder why sometimes people don't respond. Read the room and get the flavour of the site first..
Of course that is only my humble opinion and it may not be worth anything

I agree MD. I don't think people would launch in in rl. But maybe they would.