Are Gransnetters just vicious online trolls?

I don't know if I am allowed to post part of one of the comments on the DM site; it may be deleted but here goes:

But have you tried to look at it from Catherine Middleton's perspective? So many readers of Daily Mail online make horrible, cruel and derogatory remarks, about Catherine and the rest of the Middleton clan, and I think a lot of that is actually bullying. I don't see what you said on Gransnet as being any better than that. In my opinion, whenever we make 'fun' of other people, we are, in fact, bullying them. I hope that none of the Middletons read the nasty comments, and you should ignore replies to your comments if you are upset by other people's views

I agree with this entirely and in fact had been pondering this and wondering how to phrase it in a post.

The OP posted by GrannyB63 was in fact online bullying of a nice young woman who happened to fall in love with a member of the Royal Family and a of a defenceless young child who is royal by accident of birth but with 'common' ancestors.

As *GrannyB63 said in her article: As for me, I have learned that you’re never too old to be a bully - or to be bullied. But as with all bullies, the advice is the same. Stand up to them, then ignore them. They will move on to another victim soon enough.

But perhaps GB63 does not realise that could refer to her. I hope Catherine, Carole, James and Donna ignore her, if ever they bothered to read such tosh in the first place.
George was probably too busy eating his toast and his Duchy Organic Strawberry Conserve.

Lots of good stuff on this thread for another article

I don't know where they found the Gransnet 'models' either. I don't have a 'granny perm' or that many wrinkles (at least I hope not). Nor was the granny on the laptop looking at GN. It looked more like Ebay.

So, in answer to the original title question, I would have to say, some are.

I would mention that the poster who told me about it was having nothing to do with it herself. So we have some decent people on here.

Someone has commented on the DM article:
"How much were those old ladies paid and were they chained to their computers?". Ha, now we get to the important details!

Daily Mail, I'm available to pose for future articles about Gransnet if there's money to be had to supplement my non-existent pension (I'm chained to the computer half my life anyway, keeping up with important threads like this). I have a face full of wrinkles and can do a whole range of expressions from nasty old battleaxe to bewildered old biddy.

A couple of weeks back I was pm'd by another poster who told me of an "orchestrated attempt" to get as many posters as possible to send complaints about me to GNHQ, with a view to getting me barred.

How viscious can you get?

I think they must have started great gransnet by the look of the photos. Hope I don't look that old yet..... Perhaps I do.
I do feel what is discussed here is not for sneering at in the Daily Mail.I suppose that is the modern world.

Blimey. I just had a quick check back to the thread to see if I'd been "vile" (the most over-used word of 2016) and I find I was very kind and stuck up for her, so I claim my [halo] emoticon. I actually did feel sorry for her - it was such a cack-handed attempt at humour that missed its mark by a mile.

Ah well, she's managed to turn it into a nice little earner now We could probably do the same if we started a class action about those photos.

See what I mean?

An opening post from a self-declared new member that pitches in and talks about "vile comments" deserves to be attacked, imo. Please note that I said the post deserves to be attacked, not the person making it. From a quick scan of the comments that followed, I'd say the post was replied to without malice but with some surprise at its apparent gall.

I think there are very few truly vile comments on gransnet.

And me.

Not so Wilma, when people disagree with me - they have a problem

There's definitely bullies on GN, just like any public message boards (cliques too), but the OP in question just wasn't funny. The replies were quite tame too, when you consider how heated threads get on here on a regular basis.

Some people never learn the lesson that if almost everyone disagrees with you, more than likely it's you who has a problem, not everyone else.

Thanks for the heads up about the DM connection, Jalima. I should have realised it from the start, as I am pretty sure the DM would have had to get approval from GN or Elegran to reproduce Elegran’s post. The GN terms of use say:

“By submitting user content to us, simultaneously with such posting you automatically grant to us a worldwide, fully-paid, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully sublicensable, and transferable right and license to use, record, sell, lease, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works based upon (including, without limitation, translations), publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, publish and otherwise exploit the user content (in whole or in part) as Gransnet, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate.

Subject to the rights and license you grant to us under these Terms of Use, you retain all your right, title and interest in your user content submissions. This means that copyright in your User Content will remain with you and that you can continue to use the material in any way, including allowing others to use it.”

I’m not great with legal jargon, but doesn’t that mean that you can use (or allow others to use) your posts, but, if you want to reproduce post from other members, you need permission from that poster or GN? Not a criticism of GN - they are a business and the full page in the DM is free publicity.

Don't just hint at it, then! I'm all agog!

And I could tell you a thing or two. But I won't.

durhamjen, I did not start a thread about bullies! I never mentioned the word!

There are already 4 comments at the end of the DM article,but they say they were selected.
So maybe try to comment and see what happens.

Possibly starting off a thread complaining about bullies is not a good way to introduce yourself, Mumsy.

Yes there are bullys on gransnet, as a relatively new member I was attacked on a thread here by a few people and it was very unpleasant, once one started others followed. I tried defending myself which was a complete waste of time.

yes it might seem funny to some people but I assure you it isnt funny being picked on by a pack of bullies, one wonders if they would be as brave face to face, I doubt it very much!

She thinks I was "acerbic" in my comment on her little piece. That is a compliment, and I am so pleased to hear it! It was exactly what I was aiming for - an honest appraisal of her skit on "breakfast with Georgie".

If she had published it in the Oldie, it would have had just the right tone - I could even have guessed that was the ambience that she was aiming for - but not on a site peopled with the "fellow knitters and jam-makers" and "retired gentlefolk" she had met, who had welcomed her and responded to her previous posts. Always consider your target audience.

It was moved from the blogs to the "less conspicious ‘chat’ section" because the blog section is for writers invited by the editors - the whole of the rest of the forum is for self-selecting posts. (By the way - the chat section is, in fact, more often read than the blogs)

Well, it isn't all bad for her. She must have been paid a fair price for her contribution to the Daily Mail, so she should be grateful to GN for supplying her with such excellent material! Just a pity she had to twist so much of it to give it the necessary sensationalist bullying headlines!

If we suddenly see lots of new names, then it was good publicity for gransnet.

The thread was from February anniebach
It has festered for a long time before eliciting a response - in the national press!!

Is it our 15 minutes of fame?

The comments went on for pages, with everyone egging each other on to denounce me as a waste of time and a disgrace to Gransnet (as well as being a lousy writer).

What a load of tosh. The thread lasted for all of one and a half pages.

#gotofflightly#

Diddums

I didn't see the thread. Just as well, did she expect applause? is so she should have write something worth applauding.