Nightchat Wednesday 29 June 2022

there's already a Night Owls thread......

Ah, yes, the most recent started by you.

LINK > www.gransnet.com/forums/chat/1311860-any-night-owls-about

Posting to an existing thread seems to imply reading it all before posting, and, perhaps, being someone who has been participating since the thread started.

A Nightchat thread would start afresh anytime on or after 00:01 UK time on the day and be dated, with the date in full, no abbreviations used in the date.

Taking care to do that would facilitate looking back at something, simply by remembering the date of the particular Nightchat thread.

Unlike the Good Morning thread that starts new every morning, a Nightchat thread would only be started as the wish or need to do so arose, and the Nightchat could be started by anyone.

Typically each Nightchat thread would drift away as the day gets going, though not an absolute necessity if something arises.

In the past (2020, during the pandemic) we had Night Owls threads which went on for pages and pages.

I think that we had at least two full threads.
There were lots of regular contributors, including some in Australia (including nanna8 ?, and GN legend Rufus).

We got to know each other well, which is of course beneficial for chat.

There’s more to chatting than starting a thread. It’s a conversation.

On the whole it seems that maybe either people are sleeping better now, or the site in general is quieter.

Mollygo revisited one old NO from April this morning.
And what’s wrong with using Lemsip’s thread? (Sorry, Lemsip, I haven’t seen it myself yet, as I too been sleeping better of late).

But you can’t tell people what to post SD, it doesn’t go down at all well.
Sorry, my own post is all over the shop, I hope that you get my drift!

Good morning, Fanny

> But you can’t tell people what to post SD, it doesn’t go down at all well.

And I wasn't.

Here is a link to the thread to which you refer.

LINK > www.gransnet.com/forums/chat/1309613-Open-All-Hours-Friendly-Night-Owls?pg=2

Maybe this Nightchat thread acted as a catalyst to that thread starting up again.

There does seem to be a bit of a contradiction though as very often people advise not to post to an old thread, but rather to start a new one.

So it is a balance - continue an existing thread or start a new one.

I tend to think that if a conversation in a thread is a continuing conversation over a number of nights, sort of on a roll, then keep going; or, if it is a matters arising from a previous conversation, then go back to the thread and continue with it - yet if it is really starting a new conversation, then start a new thread, as otherwise going back to an old thread and a bygone conversation could be cliquey and anyone new arriving might feel hesitant to post as not being one of the members of the in group and perhaps feeling that it is necessary to first read the whole of the thread up to then before posting, and perhaps feeling best not to intrude on an existing group.

I have found that if I put forward ideas that I often get shouted down.

Maybe rather than be lively and proactive I am expected to try to be grey and that the sound of silence is what is best.

LINK > Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence (from The Concert in Central Park) (3 minutes 58 seconds)

or should there be colours (English subtitles available)

LINK > Geschwister Hofmann - Alle farben dieser erde (3 minutes 5 seconds)

I really didn’t think that I was ‘shouting you down’ SD.
And although you insist that you weren’t telling folk how to post I still think that your initial premise was somewhat proscriptive (date format etc).

You were dismissive of previous, existing Night Owl threads, both mine and Lemsips.

To be honest, I can’t help but think you are being somewhat mischievous SD

Anyway, you just ignore me and carry on being ‘lively and proactive’.

If readers like a thread they will post on it. It’s as simple as that.

As the great man Ray Liotta said,
‘If you build it; they will come’

Hello, Fanny

> I really didn’t think that I was ‘shouting you down’ SD.

Oh not you Fanny, it was a general comment, not just of Gransnet.

Sorry if you thought I meant you. You're alright Fanny.

And although you insist that you weren’t telling folk how to post I still think that your initial premise was somewhat proscriptive (date format etc).

Well, yes. I tend to feel that tight, formalised structures give the best results, that if one has a free format then things can be all over the place. Like if song lyrics are written so as to rhyme then the result is better than if not.

> You were dismissive of previous, existing Night Owl threads, both mine and Lemsips.

I did not know of most of the Night Owl threads - I think that I had seen your thread some time ago as I seemed to remember it when it was mentioned.

I was not intending to be dismissive, more that they were of the time when they happened, so I tend to consider that unless it is a matters arising say, reporting the result of something that had been in the future at the time of the earlier thread, then it is better to start a new thread.

> To be honest, I can’t help but think you are being somewhat mischievous SD

I don't doubt your honesty, but I am not being mischievous, that is not my style at all. I know that my views may not be always liked by some (many?) people, but I do always mean what I write. I have sometimes been accused of trolling, but I have never done that.

> Anyway, you just ignore me and carry on being ‘lively and proactive’.

I will never ignore you Fanny, you welcomed me back.