EU Referendum: tell us what you think - chance to win £100! NOW CLOSED

Yes I was encouraged to post on gransnet at the prospect of winning a £100.00 voucher, but what is so wrong with that? After lurking for several months (As janeainsworth nicely pointed out) I finally took the plunge.

I never gave an opinion, all I did was introduce myself and say I had completed the survey and also responded to morethan who kindly welcomed me, I never thought that such an innocuous post could come in for such criticism. At the very least I thought I would see a few posts with a welcome in them ( morethan did this, bless her) I would have thought that gransnet would welcome new members, surely this is what keeps the forums fresh and alive.

I do wonder though, it appears unless I have missed others, that irishlady and I seem to be the only new posters to identify ourselves as such and we certainly did not pass opinions. So I suspect these negative posts are aimed quite unjustly at us.
You have my total admiration durhamjen that you are able to remember whether a poster is new or not, without the poster actually identifying themselves as irishlady and I did. I am sure I would not be able to recall whether I had heard an infrequent posters name, I would probably think they were new.

I try avoid listening to everything that politicians, business leaders, the media, etc. are telling me (they all have some kind of personal agenda). What interests me more at the moment are the balance of payment figures (which indicate why others in the EU appear so very keen to keep us in) and at the moment these, to me anyway, appear to show that we are buying very much more from other members than we are selling to them. As someone old enough to remember the pre-EU days when we traded more with the Commonwealth and other countries I am currently leaning towards an 'out' vote but am still open to any believable monetary figures that can convince me to the contrary. Ok, so 'out' would be painful for a few years but it could be the best long-term investment we will ever make.

We still trade with the Commonwealth. That has not stopped. The problem is that there is not as much of it left as there was before the EU.
I am old enough to have voted for us to join the EU, but that was before communications were so instant. Most of what we found out about trading was from the newspapers. I really do not recall there being an elysian time before the EU.

My posts were aimed at all new members, poshkitty, not just those who identified themselves as such.
Did you lurk on other EU threads and not contribute? Did you introduce yourself on the new members thread?
In fact, I do not need to remember who is new. All you have to do is type a name into the search box and it gives you a list of the posts from that person.
Not that I did that. I think I can tell whether someone has posted over the last six months or not.
By the way, I am not the only person who said that, so why just mention my name?

Poshkitty I have no suspicions about you nor Irishlady who have identified themselves (BTW Welcome on board). Being newish, you may not notice that there are a huge number of never seen before posters on this thread, most of whom have a short name and number ID and all of whom seem to be singing from the same hymn sheet 'Out, Out, Out'.

Yes, there is a tendency for newer members and lurkers to post for the first time on a thread with a good prize. Good luck to them, the prize is a ploy by GN HQ to encourage participation. However, as we saw on GN during the Scottish Referendum and last year's GE, there is a rash of overtly political posts, from posters who do not appear on other more general threads. It is obvious to me that these cannot be random but are being orchestrated by someone/a group with an agenda. This will seriously skew the result of the survey unless GN HQ can disregard the votes of those who have signed up in the last few days (which would be unfair to anyone who has genuinely joined to enjoy Gransnet.)

Well said chickenbrain.

"What I said was that I dont want to hear being concerned about other countries being given as a reason for staying in. Frankly thats just emotional blackmail.

As for the idea that my children and grandchildren may be able to study abroad, for Gods sake get real. We have been studying in Europe for as long as there have been Universities. As a teenager my best friend went to the Sorbonne. My son is currently working in Japan and spends time in just about every country. My husband comes from Hong Kong and has spent his working life in the Health Service, Dont accuse me of insularity and adopt a moral high tone. I married a foreigner before the Left had even adopted it as politically correct.

I can only see down sides and the does this I am not is closed minded, I think the reverse is the case. I have taught at University and have had students from all over the world. Sheesh. It is the little Europeans who cant see beyond their own backyard and are limited in their world view. The world is changing, get over it."

I am laughing at the idea that all European countries will become our enemies if we leave, and that travel in Europe, as well as residing in European countries will be problematic! It's as though we'll be a hated nation if we leave. It's laughable! UK citizens lived in Europe long before we had this dreadful European Union, a Union which will soon include a Eurasian country, Turkey.

I suspect many other countries will consider leaving this farcical and costly mess of a union if we do pull out. We'll be able to open up our trading markets to the rest of the world, unhampered by European limitations, tariffs and quotas, do business with the rest of the world and will always have that huge power, the USA as our ally. Why on earth would European countries shun us?

As mentioned, it's those wealthy individuals/businesses with vested interests, able to gain financially/personally who don't want to give up their fatted calf. The man and woman on British streets KNOWS how much it costs us to remain in the EU. (Billions.) Let's put our own house in order with the savings we'll make from leaving.

I shall vote to leave, and no amount of ridiculous scaremongering tactics will make me change my mind.

I would advise everyone to encourage young ones 18-34s to check they are registered to vote, because registration changes may mean they are not. I would also encourage them to use their vote as the young are much less likely to bother voting. Observer Opinion Poll 3/4/16. It is after all, this age group who are going to be most affected by the outcome in the future.

www.hopenothate.org.uk/educational/vr/

Ben and Jerry's are running a voter registration scheme along with hopenothate.
They have until 18th April to register.

Granny2 Many thanks for your welcoming post and trust in my motives for joining Gransnet.I would like to assure all Gransnetters that my motives are entirely honorable and I am not a key board warrrior. I am probably naive but I had no idea that my first posts would cause such suspicion, I did not make any political comment just introduced myself and confirmed that I had done the survey.

When the Scottish referendum was in progress I did not know that Gransnet existed and as for the E U referendum I don't remember seeing previous threads on it probably because it is more the human and practical threads that interest me most. That is not to say that I am not interested in the outcome of the vote and the chance of winning £100 was to much to resist and gave me the much needed kick up the proverbial that made me sign up at last!

I have also posted on another thread less contentious perhaps - Would you be this frugal?

Thanks again for you post of welcome and explanation Granny2 if I had not got another more welcoming response (morethan was the first) I would have unsubscribed the whole of gransnet tonight) which would have been a pity.

Completed the survey....to come out! No question!

The whole point of an offer of £100 to fill in a survey is to get new Gransnet members. It's just one of the kinds of advertising they use.

As for questioning people's motives, why is it anyone else's business why someone joins Gransnet and posts on a thread?

Newbies, you'll get to know who are the most twitchy, suspicious-minded and aggressive of posters, especially on political threads.

Welcome to Gransnet ☘?

Call me cynical bags but I think it's a bit more complicated than GN simply wanting lurkers to post, and new members to join.
I've always assumed with this sort of thread that some third party has commissioned a survey of the views of 'older people' and the £100 bribe prize is part of the deal the third party has made with GNHQ.

I could be completely wrong of course and even if I'm right, nothing wrong with it.

I don't think your view is cynical at all, janea, and of course there's nothing wring with it, either way. That's what I was saying too. I only commented as I did because there seemed to be some surprise in some quarters that there were a number of new poster names on this thread. There being new names on a thread offering a chance to win some money didn't surprise me at all.

I feel really sad to read that such an important topic that will have a huge impact on our country either way has raised suspicion by other members. I joined gransnet because I am a grandmother and enjoy reading things on here but don't always have the time to read forums and have probably only ever entered 2 competitions - I did not complete this survey or put my vote on here to win any money. I noticed the topic when I logged in to have a read of tips and such and completed the survey that was put on here to do just that. I think comments about anyone else's motives are quite rude actually. This is gransnet not kidsnet and everyone is entitled to their opinion as long as it doesn't personally upset anyone else, surely? New members or old members all should have the right to comment.
As for me, I'm a newbie to the forums and wont be put off commenting by suspicion.

I'm definitely Out - no question! I love Europe but not the EU - can't understand how anyone could want to stay in. I for one don't believe all the hype and propaganda from the In's, so defo out for me and most people I know.

1400+ posts on the how will you vote in the EU referendum thread.
Have you posted on there, Chrissye07?

That's the serious thread on it. It's been going a lot longer than this one.
I see you have, Christalbee, but your post is ambiguous.

No I haven't posted on that 'serious' thread, durhamjen, because I haven't seen it. I didn't realise there were forums on here as I haven't been on very much since I joined gransnet and have only nipped on now and then to have a quick read. I saw the mention of EU and clicked on it to read since this is an important topic and I wanted to read other peoples opinions. I'm sorry if I offended you by doing the survey because I am a new poster and I will look for the rule that says I should have looked for the other EU forum before the one with the survey that would give me the remotest chance of winning £100 in vouchers that I'm so desperate for. I just felt sad to see snide comments about new posters only doing it to win something and to be honest so what if they did?

After a serious bout of 'don't know', I will be voting OUT.

Done it. Stay in

I will be voting out.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo loosen up!

that last message for for Chrissye07 - How I miss the old English sense of humour, everyone seems to be soooooo serious and telling us how to think, what to say ! We will all vote how we like, it's a referendum!

Thank you Carol - I noticed that too. We voted on the Common Market. The EU came into being with the Lisbon Treaty. Gordon Brown promised us a referendum on that but chickened out so we were lumbered with it anyway.
I am voting out - the EU costs far too much, takes away our freedom to decide who comes into the country or not and does very little in return.

To Posh Kitty and Irish Lady. I am a new poster too although I joined Gransnet some time ago, I didn't "get around to it" with regard to posting for some time. I hope other posters understand that maybe this is the first time we are really serious about a topic and not be disregarded simply because we are new.
Most of the reasons for staing in the EU are hollow to say the least. Youngsters travelling freely in Europe!!!! I studied at the Sorbonne and Heidelberg in the 1960s s part of my European History degree, long before the Common Market or the EU and travel was never a problem.
The EU in fact has far more to lose than we do. The EU bonfire of the vanities is funded in no small way by us so they would have to cut back severely if we left. I have no sympathy with them as they have totally disregarded us throughout. Germany and France lead the EU and their attitude to the UK is the same - Pay Up and Shut Up. Enough already.

Voting stay in - don't much like a lot about the EU but think the alternative will be a disaster

My message to posh kitty and chrissye07 - I will not be bothering with this forum in future. I have better things to do with my time than deal with the rudeness of some people on here who seem to think they own the place. There are more friendly forums to join where a welcome is usual. As for a "prize" - no thanks, not that desperate.