The Decline and Fall of GN?

It's all got too flippin' serious IMHO

I used to laugh out loud -at- with some posters. It's a long time since I've done that.

I was just thinking this morning how boring GN has become recently.
I have to acknowledge that I'm probably guilty of writing uninteresting posts and comtributing to this .

I used to enjoy reading the more acerbic posters, too afraid now to respond , after getting it in the neck on several occasions.

And there are nasty people who give offence

Thanks for starting this Trisher.
As I posted near the end of the threads I was upset about it too. And thought I'd 'put my foot in it'.
But Gransnet has a relatively high profile, as far as forums go.
Remember it was once quoted in the Daily Mail? Also often asked to contribute to radio programmes?
There are nasty people out there who take offense easily.

That was to jura

Huh! And where would they be without us?!

It is not a case of being PC....that rather silly term is overused.

What does it mean?

Who are the so called PC brigade?

Not sure what happened - but in the case of the comparison between French and British children- this was not racist as a basic idea. It was not about the children being different per se, but about different behaviour resulting from growing up with a different culture and different attitudes to discipline and manners.

But fgs - this is (just) an internet Forum, no need to get all knickers in a twist about what Mods decide to be acceptable or not. Difficult job, and I thank them for their effort, even if they don't always get it right.

At the moment Scottish kids are top of the list for me after those two girls saved that man and toddler.

Sorry to digress.

We have a joke which refers to boring conversations.
We call it ^ have you seen the price of eggs in Tescos^
So as not to offend: other supermarkets are available ?

Watch it Riverwalk You'll get us deleted. The ubiquitous "Thread about a Thread" will be invoked!

It's a wonder any Americans ever make return visits to GN!

They're very stoical considering the comments that are often made, usually ill-founded assertions on their use of the English language, or the biggest gripe, 'Americanisms' invading these shores

Smileless
being reprimanded by your peers can sometimes be more productive
Absolutely. After all, who/ what is GN: we are.
If there are offensive posts we have more than enough intelligent articulate women who can put these 'offensive' posters back in their box.
I feel that we 'know' other posters far more than HQ.
Sometimes I see posts by people that I 'know' These posts might seem 'offensive' to posters who don't know them but because I do, I know it's not meant in the way it's come across in the virtual world.

In any case, it led to an interesting discussion, which is what keeps the site going, surely?

It's stretching the imagination a bit to think that the OP really thought that ALL British children were noisier, fatter, whatever than French children.

The OP is a grandmother to British children as are most of us here.

Lots of sweeping statements are made in relation to behaviour, habits, etc., and people pick up on this but it's surely not against the rules?

Many a time posters say how in Mediterranean countries very young children are out late at night with their parents, in restaurants at midnight, fall asleep where they drop, etc.

In the main, British children go to bed much earlier.

Both sweeping statements but not really saying that one style of parenting is better than other purely based on nationality.

Lara can you explain why it is racist when quite obviously a remark was made tongue-in-cheek. The problem with deciding something is racist when actually it is a form of comedy is that you shut the door to so much sarcasm and humour which let's face it most of us on GN recognise and enjoy. Just because some people don't recognise when somethng is a joke means we are unable to enjoy the humour. It is playing to the lowest denominator which really restricts GN's audience.

I'm a fan of 'tad offensive' as well. I think a lot of us are. But recently we've turned 'being offended' into a national sport.

I think the “tad offensive” threads are the interesting ones, Gonegirl.

Like Smileless I also understand the need to delete threads which are homophobic or racist (although I would prefer just the individual post being deleted rather than the whole thread).

No-one wants GN to become soft and cuddly discussing only knitting, kittens and unicorns and whilst it is true discussions can become heated when people hold strong views - isn't that just a reflection on real life?

I don't like it when posters start insulting each other, but in that case if the person being insulted complains then I think GNHQ should consider that post and then if necessary delete just that post leaving the rest of the thread.

I'm certainly on GN much less these days. No point in getting into the same old arguments about brexit among other political topics. Nobody has anything new to say about it all anyway.
I was pissed off to discover that there had been PM ing about potential meet ups and, when actually discussed publicly here, I decided that I wouldn't go under the circs. I had always enjoyed GN meet ups before now. Oh well. Things and people change and move on. So I will too.

Lara can you please tell me where in the rules it says a thread may be deleted because it is a "tad offensive"?

As said in my post deleted just now, this is posted with all due respect.

I understand Lara especially regarding homophobic and racist comments, but when it comes to personal attacks perhaps GN's responses would have more of an affect on the offender than deleting the post.

Being reprimanded by your peers can sometimes be more productive.

I'm a lurker and I've been following with great interest a couple of threads which seem to have disappeared. In RL contentious subjects are debated without censors hovering in the background waiting to put their fingers on the button. I mourn the freedom of speech GN used to bring. We have opinions and should be able to express them without risk of being censored by the unknown and unseen. Big Brother's not too far in the background.

Not well expressed, but I feel very uncomfortable with this 'us and them' atmosphere....