Why are some people so flipping cross?

Oh yes! The chocolate Easter Egg thread ( I called somebody a hot cross bun)
That thread did get hot under the collar, that's for sure.

I'm only on page 2!

Interesting, I am cross today, but another gastric flare up
?

Oh no it wasn't -

It's not just the politics threads though. One of the crossest threads I can remember was about chocolate eggs.

Anyone really wanting to get an answer to the op question:

"Why are they ready to be so offended?"

should look at page 3 post 21 on thread

"Is my son being naïve??"

As they used to say about children 'idle hands do the devils work' could be re interpreted as 'idle hands type the devils words'

Unjust = I just but actually both work

ana yes people are getting the two threads mixed up - as I'm being named and shamed on both, it all feels the some to me and unjust wonder when people are going to run out of steam - doesn't look like anytime soon but I expect someone will be along shortly to accuse me of fanning the flames anyway

Aren't we getting this thread and the 'Rules for GN Cafe' thread mixed up somewhat...?

Oh! Sorry! I will admit that I don't follow these type of threads as they are not really me, but I nip in and sort of reply to the post I've just read.

I will shut up and get back to killing someone on the politics thread

I wonder what people in the kitchen would say or feel if we who don't generally join in with them, took it upon ourselves to cast an opinion about their behaviour, posts, etc

Isn't that exactly what some people such as rigby46 and others have been doing, whitewave?

Ideal world springs to mind Baggs. I think far more of us would join in those threads were it not for the unpleasantness. I can often see both sides of an argument and find it interesting to read a comparison of views but not when those are acerbic and vitriolic against particular posters. Pity.

I think you might have missed the point I was trying to make, ww. I and several others I think, would join in much more 'generally' on political threads if we weren't snapped at so much and told what we think ("it's obvious that you...") or apparently should think because what comes under that should is what is right and no arguing.

I have engaged in conversations with you a few times and I'm not complaining about those. It's the almost inevitable derision from some other quarters that's the problem, being made to feel inferior for having a difference of opinion on a complex subject, or having doubts about something simply because it is complex and one recognises there are no easy answers, sensing an underlying assumption that you are judged as right-wing, stuff like that. Derision and dismissal.

It happens a lot on political forums (both ways), not just Gransnet ones. I'm saying it would be nice to have good debates where people argue points at issue, and don't focus on others' supposed faults.

I wonder what people in the kitchen would say or feel if we who don't generally join in with them, took it upon ourselves to cast an opinion about their behaviour, posts, etc.

I have an opinion which I keep to myself as I am sure do many others.

It is called good manners and keeping the peace.

Try it some time, it is good for your soul.

So, I accept that you didn't mean to imply that. But it's still what I think happens on political threads quite often

My thinking is that if you are (=if one is) prepared to discuss topics you feel strongly about with everyone, whether their views accord with yours or not, then it is not only unnecessary but pointless to mention like-minded people. That is why I thought it implied what I said I thought it implied. I still think it implies at least a strong preference for like-minded people and a certain impatience with opinions that differ or from people who aren't so sure of themselves. This view of mine may be based only on my own experience on political threads, but I do get the impression that there are other gransnetters who, on threads more open-minded and accepting of differences, would quite like to join in. People have said that they feel pushed off by the absolute certainty of being right that tends to prevail (I'm paraphrasing there, not quoting).

This is my opinion based on my experience and what some others have said. It's not an unreasonable viewpoint. It's what I feel is the atmosphere given off on many political threads and there would seem to me to be others who feel more or less the same.

Come on, Baggs, you used the word 'only'; I didn't.
No misinterpretation there.

Why not just say that instead of having a go at me? Asserting that this or that is "obvious" about me, etc. Have a go at the words and expressions you're using rather than having a go at those reading them and interpreting them.

Disclaimer: that's a suggestiion, not a command. i think you've said you're a teacher so you should, I think, understand.

That will be interesting MawBroon. What about the thought of electronic communications being available to view in 100 years time, though? Will it be possible? It's not like cave painting or oil painting. We only use emojis electronically, don't we?

If you say that your post wasn't meant to imply what I thought it implied, then why not just say that? I think it's important to accept that different interpretations of the same bunch of words is possible and even probable when complicated things are talked about?

My posts have often been misinterpreted but I take that as a sign that I need to make what I do mean much clearer. It's not the fault of the reader if they misinterpret what I write.

snap Maw LOL

ahhh now that's a question I can answer Durham smaller smilies generally are emoticons used straight from the iPad , the bigger ones are html script on GN....I think :-)

But Jen, you do mean only like minded people else why would you tell someone who disagreed with you to get off the thread ,

This one ? Was on my iPad. The other sort I get from those on offer at the foot of the message "box"
There was an article (?) recently that suggested we (well mostly the young but apparently grans too) are using emoticons/emojis/smileys/symbols so much we are beginning to develop a language not unlike hieroglyphics.
Who knows what future centuries will make of us?

Everyone interprets what others say in their own way. Everyone. That's why discussion of meaning is important.