Gransnet forums

Site stuff

Sorry GNHQ I don't like the Oldie Borum

(141 Posts)
grannyactivist Wed 14-Mar-12 22:57:06

Okay - a little bit contentious perhaps, but I don't actually like Gransnet being linked with a publication. Although the things I share on Gransnet are public and I have no illusions about what that means, I think that the link with the Oldie Magazine substantially changes the forum and I feel very uncomfortable about having my posts under the press microscope. In short, I just don't trust the press.

So, from now on I won't be posting much in the way of personal stuff and I do feel let down that GNHQ took this decision without soliciting the views of existing posters.

grannyactivist Thu 15-Mar-12 10:47:00

Just checked all the Active threads to see if there has been a response from GNHQ and I'm a little bit surprised to find that, as yet, they have not responded. hmm

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 10:08:43

I think it's just another way for GN to get more members through the extra exposure. When you go to it from the Oldie web page it says Gransnet Forums in large letters at the top,

I will give my brain fingers a rest now and try thinking about something else, like cleaning the bathroom. and let someone else get a word in edgeways blush

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 10:02:55

I think we should avoid posting on that topic and see whether they can manage a forum without our input. [doubtful] smile

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 10:01:08

Charlotta grin

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 10:00:41

Of course, they wouldn't be able to see our 'what are you reading' thread on their oldie borum in the mag.

I don't think.

Charlotta Thu 15-Mar-12 10:00:21

Thanks jingle! Nor you either in spite of having your 5th? name.

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:59:16

She obviously hadn't checked our threads out Annobel.

Cock-up all round wasn't it?! grin

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:57:16

No one would get mistaken for you Charlotta. grin wink

I suppose she is the mag's equivalent to Geraldine.

Annobel Thu 15-Mar-12 09:54:41

Why did they start a 'what are you reading?' thread when we already have one that they could quite easily either join in or observe?

Charlotta Thu 15-Mar-12 09:52:12

Who is this Charlotte? If it appears that she gets mixed up with me then I shall have to change my name!
I think The Oldie is an awful mag. It is one of those rags that I woudn't want to be seen reading in the dentist's waiting room.

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:47:07

Btw I can't see any reason why any of us would want to post on there as we already have our Topics which fit our needs. We would probably join in a thread if someone started an interesting thread on there, from the magazine side.

Which I don't think is very likely, given that it appears they already tried a forum and it fizzled out.

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:40:44

I'll stick to Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan.

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:40:13

They didn't mean it to be like they were "interrogating us" Carol*. They just wanted some threads started up on the oldie borum in their mag. (which I would NEVER buy btw)

wotsamashedupjingl Thu 15-Mar-12 09:38:29

I'm trying to get my head round how it works. When you go to the oldie borum from the mag, it says it is "powered by Gransnet" and it shows up over there just the same as the oldie borum thread topic here, but feinter. I think Gransnet must somehow do the technical side of it and, sort of, beam it across to them. And their readers' contributions will somehow bounce back to our topic thred.

I'm fine with it btw. smile

Can't see what all the fuss is about. (and it was funny the way it happened yesterday (well, I enjoyed it)) grin

Carol Thu 15-Mar-12 09:19:17

Suggestion - why not delete the Oldie Borum Forum threads and just join in like everyone else? And stop interrogating us all? I thought Gransnet was inclusive and welcoming, and joined when I experienced that myself, so it feels very odd to be protesting like this.

If the Borum wants to be separate and find out some information from Gransnetters, then follow the usual protocol and pose the questions under 'media/research.'

greenmossgiel Thu 15-Mar-12 09:18:50

I'm not at all happy. I feel that the way Oldie Borum dropped into GN was disrespectful to us all. No explanation was given prior to this, and for GNHQ to 'apologise' after the event and agreeing that they were a little remiss in not informing us first....well, we may be Grandmas but we're not in our dotage! angry

bagitha Thu 15-Mar-12 09:12:32

Quite. They seem bluntly interrogative and nothing more. Humph!

Butternut Thu 15-Mar-12 09:06:38

....and another thing. It is usual for the poster of a thread to join in, in some measure, to the ebb and flow of comments, thoughts and ideas. If not then suspicions can be aroused as to the purpose of the thread. I have not seen any participation from T.O.B or CharlotteOldie.

Annobel Thu 15-Mar-12 08:51:45

That's true, Carol. It reminds me of my GD when she was in primary school, asking me, 'What did you do in the war, Granny?' Answer: 'I wasn't even at school!'
One of the things that surprised me about Gransnet is the age span. We have grans in their 40s and some in their 80s. Any 90s? I found that I was one of the older ones (71) but don't regard myself as having an 'elderly' attitude whatever that might be.

Carol Thu 15-Mar-12 08:48:26

....just another thought - why wasn't the introduction of a tranche of new potential members just raised as an opportunity, and the threads allowed to continue in a way that would have allowed integration, rather than be presented as 'here's something to be superimposed?'

Carol Thu 15-Mar-12 08:42:36

Yes, I was a bit taken aback about the assumption that I would have memories that belong to my mother and grandmother. It's just another indication that they have misjudged Gransnet's demographic somewhat. If avoiding the Forum Borum is to be called a boycott, then boycott it is for me.

jeni Thu 15-Mar-12 08:41:29

Do NOT like it at all!

glassortwo Thu 15-Mar-12 08:38:18

Have I got this wrong might (have got a hold of the wrong end of the stick), do they have their own forum and were their members going to post over here?

If that is the case I dont think I have seen anyone other than the administrators, has anyone else?

Mamie Thu 15-Mar-12 08:36:59

Not that the 1960s isn't a bygone era, of course. Just not as bygone as the OB threads seems to expect.

Mamie Thu 15-Mar-12 08:34:25

Have to say I am not comfortable with it either. I am probably being a bit hypersensitive, but some of the threads seem to assume we are from a bygone era. For example, the one about treatment before penicillin or the question about if you met on a bus or a park bench seem to assume we date from sometime between the wars.
Er no actually, we met at university in 1968; mini skirts, the pill, the student revolution, that sort of thing.
I am up for a boycott of the OB as well.