Spoiling GN

I don't see any need to feel sorry or sad about people who give replies on any threads, they are just behaving like decent human beings and should not be made to feel as if they have been foolish or duped.

Posters are not preventing anyone else from "getting through" like on a helpline.

Surely a lot of people only come on to Gransnet with a problem when they actually have a problem, they shouldn't have to undergo some sort of probationary period before asking for help.

It is also as well to remember that on an internet forum, unless you have actually met the person in real life, it is impossible to tell if what anyone posts is actually the truth.

Blatant advertising does get taken down quite quickly SpanielNanny and there have been a few ‘fake’ threads taken down but it can be quite slow whilst messages doubting the thread are deleted almost immediately

I m not sure of the answer but there have been some very upsetting ones like the one that maintained their dead mother was ringing their phone how upsetting was that for anyone on here bereaved Some are just drama seeking some so daft they can be ignored but when they are discussing really sad upsetting topics it’s jusr plain mischief making and shouldn’t be ignored them all

Ilovecheese…..I tend to agree with you!!
There is so much hysteria about fake posters!
It's very odd, the policing of GN by those who think they know best!!

BB I really think you are overegging the pudding. We had a discussion a few days ago about how talking about Mothers Day upset some people. If you’re getting cancer treatment and someone posts their tests show their tumour is benign you might be upset. We can’t protect ourselves from this whether the posts are genuine or not

No one is over egging anything, but some people are missing the point.

Trolls do exist. They are seriously disturbed people. They play on people’s emotions. Some of the reactions are from people who feel they have been duped. That’s exactly what a troll wants. But if you are happy to play their games then go ahead but don’t give them oxygen by doing down posters who see them for what they are.

Well, you and others who feel that way, look after yourselves anja. And let others who don't feel so strongly take their chances.

Anja there is a real over reaction very ill thought out to the issue of ‘trolls’. The word covers a multitude of different types. There are the very silly ones which are just so obvious, no emotional content and easily spotted, reported and ignored. They are just silly jokes. There are then some where the issue is a very believable possible one and people provide a variety of helpful responses. The OP may not post again but so what - the OP may or may not be ‘genuine’ but then again what
harm is done? The discussion can certainly have value for those reading and/or taking part. On MN I’ve seen a third kind where the OP posts about something very sensitive - emotional or sexual and keeps coming back and ‘stirring the pot’ so to speak. These are horrible and generally are deleted but not after some people have felt really hurt and abused. The bottom line is that we have to always bear in mind that this is a public open forum post moderated that anyone for any reason can post on. We should never give more of ourselves than we can spare and never give away identifying features ( although some are amazingly open re this) If certain threads upset us we should just avoid them. I really don’t get why some posters think it’s their job to troll hunt and risk all the upset that goes with that, especially false accusations.

I fully agree with maryeliza’s post at 17:49. These coded messages are very irritating. If I think a post is fake I either ignore or report it.

I must be missing something.

I haven't seen any 'dodgy' posts. What are they about?