Policing the Posts

However, this is an old thread which should maybe be allowed to die off now?

Otherwise Varian I do agree with you, and because somebody does not agree with your brand of politics does not mean a personal attack or give them leave to be as snippy as possible.

Obscene?

People do feel very strongly about politics and religion. To many their views and beliefs are a matter of identity and any expression of a different view is seen as a personal attack.

We should be able to debate by putting arguments in terms which distinguish between facts (which can be verified, and until Trump came along were indisputable), opinion (we are each untitled to our own opinions and should accept that others will disagree and challenge them) and predictions (which cannot often be relied on, but some are more likely to happen than others).

What does sometimes happen is a descent into name calling, ad hominem attacks, petty point scoring and quoting unpleasant and sometimes obscene sources which we could do without.

Goodness Firecracker have you nothing better to do. I am sure if we could see ourselves as others see us we would realise that we are all much the same but then that would apply to you to wouldn't it.

Peace and love ?

This was a bad thread to start with.....but it became a good one!

Why on Earth resurrect this old thread unless a person is
a) bored or
b) stirring?
Who is T ? (Theresa? Trump? )

Thanks for telling me about this thread T. A case of pot kettle I agree.

A wooden spoon emoti is a bad idea. It would be extremely frustrating to a poster who was trying to get a valid point that other posters seemed unable to grasp, across.

I would however welcome reassurance that no actual cats were harmed in the writing of that post and that any members affected by the post can access adequate counselling.

Or sometimes one just wants to introduce a lighter note - like the stoned cat

I doubt that threads are deliberately 'derailed'. I tried to explain to the OP once that sometimes a comment from one poster sets off a lateral train of thought in another poster. This is then picked up and people run with it.

It happens in real life too, at least my in world it does.

I loved the stoned pussy cat

Anya
A stoned pussy cat

Oh dear, I am not trying to derail the thread; I think I put a more sensible post on earlier.
Where is the OP?

Perhaps we should have a wooden spoon emoticon
(I think I suggested that before)

This accusation of 'hijacking' a thread has been raised a lot recently, as though there is often some sort of pre-arranged plan among certain members to disrupt a discussion on purpose.

I doubt very much whether there is any truth in that - certainly I've never received a PM suggesting such a ploy. It does seem that a sense of paranoia is overriding common sense among some posters.

Drat! my ^ disappeared and so did my intended italics. Serves me right for not previewing.

^It has also seemed to me that disruption seems to be the aim of some posters. There is a sense of "we don't want to talk about the subject so we will talk about anything else, however trivial in order to derail the thread. Is this really what GN is about?

It has often been observed that, on Gransnet, even the most serious posts can branch off in many directions and sometimes - but not always - return to the point of the OP. It has been noted, but has never been a matter for complaint. There is nothing wrong with a bit of levity in the midst of serious discussion and I don't think Gransnet would be the same without this charactistic.

She might have been otherwise occupied disappointed at the response.

I was hoping Gracesgran would come back and comment on some of the replies to her post....

It's inevitable there will be disagreements, take any group of people, they will hardly be a consensus all the time, look no further than the EU. As others have said there are some on GN with deeply held views, mainly on the political threads, a lot of the points made on those are recycled pretty frequently, they can be tedious and some deliver their posts in a "high moral ground" manner, which makes me want to avoid them altogether sometimes.

"Ganging up" or merely gravitating towards those who share the same point of view?

On occasions threads meander and digress, that's the nature of conversation, it happens in the real world, we shouldn't be surprised.

I think all these issues, as stated in the original post have been brought up time and time again, and as such this is just repetition. It's not clearing the air, the tone is very accusatory and I can't help feeling there is a desire to up the ante.

I agree with Alea, "life is not all doom and gloom, trouble and strife"

GN members are a varied group with differing preferences and opinions. Sometimes a thread can appear to become vitriolic which is a problem when you are unable to see the person "speaking" and read their body language.

There are some on GN with very deeply held views and do put those views strongly, however, if I feel a thread is becoming heated - I just don't read it anymore. We are all free to post what we want (within the laws of libel!!) just as we are all free to ignore posts and threads, or post counter views, if we wish.

I'm thinking it's time to lighten the mood with.....a cat picture

Rather than 'ganging up' perhaps people of similar views are busily typing responses in a similar vein to what they think is a contentious post but some just type and post faster than others
I am being very kind there - I thought I was being 'ganged up on' when I put a supposed-to-be jokey post on a supposed-to-be serious thread that was becoming contentious and I thought I have noticed also some posters 'ganging up' on other posters, but it is probably all in my fevered imagination and just sheer coincidence.

Anyway, perhaps better than having comments or questions ignored!

And don't conversations in RL do the same - go off at a tangent? Often you forget what you were talking about in the first place - well, we do! At least on here you can refer back to the OP if someone wants to pull the conversation back on track.
Sometimes DH or a friend and I never remember what the original point of the conversation was, never to be remembered!

That took a lot of typing I do hope it's not deleted as soon as I post it as a thread about a thread.
Phew!