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Is intolerance getting worse on GN?

(560 Posts)
kittylester Sun 29-Jun-25 18:35:51

I am horrified to have been told, in the last couple of days, that Rod Stewart's music should not be listened to because he supports reform and to stop watching Eastenders and read a library book.

Well, I watched Rod Stewart and am still an SDP supporter - if they only still existed!

And, the library in our village is a very successfully run community library which i helped transition from Council control -between watching episodes of Eastenders.

For goodness sake - get a grip some of you!

merlotgran Sun 29-Jun-25 21:30:05

There were certainly a lot more deleted posts and threads, kitty. Our wrists were slapped but it took a lot for a poster to be banned.

HQ were definitely more tolerant in those days.

Claremont Sun 29-Jun-25 21:29:10

Not sure. The other day I was reported for saying that laughing about a very serious and tragic was sickening. It was reported for being a personal attack. I never said the person was sick, but that the use of laughing emoticon was 'sickening' in the circumstances.

kittylester Sun 29-Jun-25 21:22:22

I don't remember so much reporting and banning in the early days - or am I wrong?

merlotgran Sun 29-Jun-25 21:19:50

Iam64

FGT was open about her political leanings. Well able to express her beliefs and hold her own. I can’t recall other admirers of the Donald. I could never really work out how she stood by the awful Mr T 😁

Clearly neither could those who reported her.

I rest my case!

woodenspoon Sun 29-Jun-25 21:09:58

Iam64

Why make yourself a grumpy victim, wooden spoon, “permission granted “ is such a passive aggressive and imo unnecessary comment.
I don’t agree with your conclusion that it’s ‘leftie’ posters pressing that button. I’m probably seen as ‘leftie’ except by true lefties😉. I never reported FGT, GSM or any other right leaning posters.
FGT and GSM could be ‘argumentative and refuse to accept an alternative view’. That’s politics - we reach our belief system point and tend to stay there. Bring them back I saw

Nobody who knows me would ever call me a grumpy victim Iam64. Therein lies the problem. Everybody is a stranger on here and views of that person are formed by what they write, or not. And in fact I was replying to LizzieDrip and what she wrote about my post. I’m entitled to do so.

crazyH Sun 29-Jun-25 21:04:15

‘Agree to disagree’ - is one d.I.l.’s favourite and regular expression 😂

Iam64 Sun 29-Jun-25 21:03:26

FGT was open about her political leanings. Well able to express her beliefs and hold her own. I can’t recall other admirers of the Donald. I could never really work out how she stood by the awful Mr T 😁

kittylester Sun 29-Jun-25 21:00:49

No, it flipping doesn't, Merlot. I think it's possibly people who don't 'know' the whole person.

ViceVersa Sun 29-Jun-25 20:56:24

I can honestly say that the only time I have ever reported a post is when it has been obvious spam. I may disagree with certain posters from time to time, but come on, we're all adults - surely we can agree to disagree without it becoming nasty?

merlotgran Sun 29-Jun-25 20:54:43

MayBee70

I think people are being unfair to gransnet HQ. I honestly don’t think that they ban people because of reported grievances, either personal or political but because of an overview of an individuals posts over a long period of time that they feel put the forum into disrepute.

But that brings us back to the ‘who is right?’ argument.

FGT was a supporter of Reform and Donald Trump. I gather most of us are not.

Does that make her disreputable?

Iam64 Sun 29-Jun-25 20:52:55

Why make yourself a grumpy victim, wooden spoon, “permission granted “ is such a passive aggressive and imo unnecessary comment.
I don’t agree with your conclusion that it’s ‘leftie’ posters pressing that button. I’m probably seen as ‘leftie’ except by true lefties😉. I never reported FGT, GSM or any other right leaning posters.
FGT and GSM could be ‘argumentative and refuse to accept an alternative view’. That’s politics - we reach our belief system point and tend to stay there. Bring them back I saw

BlueBelle Sun 29-Jun-25 20:51:06

I only report spam or some horrid posts by trolls usually very early mornings when I am awake at 4 am and they start nasty often sexual threads I would never ever report a bone fide poster because of differing views that’s totally out of order and I d have thought GN wouldn’t take notice of it
I don’t know what happened to FGT I wasn’t on the threads I just read the many posts about it Did the ban ever get reversed?
How on earth do you work out that it’s ’lefties posters’ ??? doing reporting Woodenspoon that seems awfully judgemental !

Cossy Sun 29-Jun-25 20:48:51

woodenspoon I’m probably what you’d consider a leftie and woke, I have never reported another poster thanks

Cossy Sun 29-Jun-25 20:47:06

Iam64

I often ponder this kittylester , the is intolerance increasing on gransnet question. I agree with Casdon about strong opinions and disagreements. It’s the nature of News and Politcs I expect and those of us with ongoing interests will have opinions we hold dear. (I too am Spartacus)

Is the report button being over excercised? I miss GSM, we often had polarised politics but didn’t hurl insults at each other. Callistemon - of all people to target. Currently Friedgreentoms. IMO all interesting, sometimes challenging for me but banned/suspended? I can’t believe this happened without deliberate pressing of buttons

I agree.

Everyone is entitled to their own views and opinions, we are all perfectly capable of debating and disagreeing respectfully.

IMO, I don’t think anyone should be suspended or banned or have their comments deleted.

The only time I would draw a line is when people are overtly racist, homophobic or in any other way discriminative.

I also cannot bear it when people present their own views and opinions as “facts”

Am I intolerant? 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Doodledog Sun 29-Jun-25 20:45:14

No, we have had posts saying that people lurk, read without contributing anything and then report people who annoy them. I can't understand how anyone could admit to this behaviour, but they do,

To me, this is a community, which relies on everyone to post, contribute and be part of it, but obviously, as in life, there are those who expect others to do the work whilst they just criticise. I have no time at all for people like that (online or off) but it is clear that many people are perfectly happy to allow others to pay in whilst they take out. It's just how it is, I suppose.

woodenspoon Sun 29-Jun-25 20:29:52

Fairly easy to work it out LizzieDrip. If you follow the threads and then look at who is active on them and when. Also it’s fairly obvious who is on the thread and being argumentative and refusing to accept an alternative view. I tend to read a lot of the threads on here but don’t comment on most as, to me, it’s pointless. However, there’s the odd time when I do and now is that time. Permission granted?

LizzieDrip Sun 29-Jun-25 20:23:30

woodenspoon

Personally, I think it’s always the same few who do this. If you disagree with their leftie dogma they press that report button. It gives them power you see, they crave it. Sad in my opinion.

Look at what happened to FGT recently at a time when she, no doubt, could do with all the support of her many friends on here.

Is it always the ‘leftie’ posters who report Woodenspoon?

Seems a rather judgemental, unsubstantiated claim - quite ironic on a thread about intolerance, don’t you think?

How would you know which posters have pressed the report button anyway?

MayBee70 Sun 29-Jun-25 20:14:56

I think people are being unfair to gransnet HQ. I honestly don’t think that they ban people because of reported grievances, either personal or political but because of an overview of an individuals posts over a long period of time that they feel put the forum into disrepute.

Casdon Sun 29-Jun-25 20:06:12

woodenspoon

Personally, I think it’s always the same few who do this. If you disagree with their leftie dogma they press that report button. It gives them power you see, they crave it. Sad in my opinion.

Look at what happened to FGT recently at a time when she, no doubt, could do with all the support of her many friends on here.

I could be wrong of course, but I’d highly doubt that it’s regular posters who are pressing the ‘report’ button. Different political views don’t mean that people snitch on other posters. Not agreeing with somebody doesn’t mean you want them removed from Gransnet - if you enjoy a good discussion it’s quite the opposite in fact.

Claremont Sun 29-Jun-25 20:01:43

No idea why and when FGT was reported and why the ban came ito force. I can tell you that the report button is oft enthusiastically used by those with a rightie dogma, as well as the accusation of antisemitism as a reaction to any criticism of Netanyahu and what is happening n Gaza.

So, intolerance of a TV programme, or a musician supporting Reform, is just unfortunate and spoil things. An opinion properly expressed is fair enough however.

But when it come to an illegal war, or sheer racism, then people have the right to express their concern and even more.

I watch Denders as we call it in our family and read many books of many kinds. It's just silly to judge.

kittylester Sun 29-Jun-25 20:01:31

Look at what happened to FGT recently at a time when she, no doubt, could do with all the support of her many friends on here

Exactly!

Mollygo Sun 29-Jun-25 20:00:22

Iam64 merlotgran woodenspoon

Good and sorry to say, accurate posts.

But then who knows who has reported something. I looked at a fun word game someone posted the other day only to find it had been reported and deleted.
Happily for me, I’m still playing it, but if you can have Wordle and Connections, who was offended enough to report it?

woodenspoon Sun 29-Jun-25 19:46:56

Personally, I think it’s always the same few who do this. If you disagree with their leftie dogma they press that report button. It gives them power you see, they crave it. Sad in my opinion.

Look at what happened to FGT recently at a time when she, no doubt, could do with all the support of her many friends on here.

merlotgran Sun 29-Jun-25 19:34:03

I think it’s awful when people are ‘silenced’ by the report brigade. They are never exposed and the rest of us are helpless. We can protest as much as we like but there’s only been one reinstated member (as far as I know) since I joined 11 years ago.

The crazy thing is that whenever a member is banished, and it’s usually about politics, many of us are not even supporters of that person’s views but we care about the individual because it’s somebody we have got to know and value.

We’re a community and we have a right to support each other.

AGAA4 Sun 29-Jun-25 19:32:40

I have been on GN for about 7 years and I think there have always been some GNs with very robust views who could be quite scathing at times.

When I'd only been posting for a few weeks I was set upon by a GN and would have left only for a kind GN coming to my rescue. Neither has been on GN for years. One I'm sad about the other I'm glad has gone.