Meanwhile, Elon Musk has apparently posted a picture of Starmer in a bikini. That is a headline I am not clicking. Once seen, never erased, I imagine!
I'm sure there are worse sights out there, some of Ralph Steadman's Thatcher Reagan cartoons for example.
The reminder from @Fat Controller is timely but what worries me is if some of our political leaders decide to take up gardening and join this forum. As members, they should not be criticised and then many of us will be totally stuffed when posting on some threads Joking aside, people are understandably becoming more and more frustrated with what is happening around them and perhaps don't always come across as polite. This is the only form of social media I use and so far it has proved to stand up to it's description of the "Friendly" garden forum. Long may it continue
It is very, very difficult indeed. The world is currently in a place that is so volatile, and frankly so unpleasant, that people are virtually guaranteed to want to discuss it. Whether it be at work, in the pub, with family or with friends, events are such that they will surface as a topic of discussion one way or another. This is primarily a gardening forum, however other things are also discussed quite widely - indeed, lively discussion is exactly what any forum needs to keep it going... I've seen forums where the content being discussed was continually narrowed and the net result was that the forum simply died a death. The harsh truth is that there is a cost in financial terms to hosting a forum like this - whilst all of the Admin team are volunteers, the businesses that provide the server space etc do not do so for free, so the small amount that is generated from the adverts that appear on the site go some way to easing the financial pressure that @Webmaster has to bear to keep this place running. This is probably even more critical in the coming weeks and months as there are plans being discussed as to what we could do to modernise the software a bit and make it both easier to use and a bit more reliable. However, I digress... There is nothing wrong with disagreeing, there is nothing wrong with robust debate, but we draw the line when we descend to the levels of "you are this, that or the other" or "username is this, that or the other" It is vital that we play the ball, not the man. For absolute clarity, if this happens, the Admin team have already discussed at length what the course of action could or should be - one of the options very much on the table is to simply close the thread. But, we do not want to do so as we believe strongly in everyone's right to have a discussion on a discussion forum. Let's keep it civil please.
@Tinkerton there used to be another rating that represented disagree/don't like type of rating. Using the funny button on a serious subject is a quiet way of disagreeing and it isn't indicating naming/shaming style judgement, just different views. If I get one of those where I don't think it's appropriate, I usually try to figure out why. Sort of step outside of "my" box of normal thinking to understand it. Heck most of us have never met so how can we have any true animosity? Hugs, Lori
I do find that sometimes I want to rate a comment, but there doesn’t seem to be a rating that quite says what I intend. I do like to acknowledge to the writer that I have read the post, but sometimes have to leave it blank. I use friendly for commiserations, and sometimes informative just as an acknowledgment, ( although not for @NigelJ, as many of his posts are genuinely informative and much appreciated!) I must confess that I am capable of developing true animosity based on the views posted by an individual, but I always given them the benefit of the doubt and continue to read their posts in the hope that I may have developed a false impression. After that, I won’t respond directly to anything they post, or rate it. Not worth the effort.
Basically that is how it should work, if someone is not on the same page as you, just ignore them, admittedly its not always easy, but I bet a fair few of us have written the odd post and then deleted it without posting after that second thought.
The point I made earlier was, there has been no family members come forth to say, how she was wonderful, missed ect. But, instead a family member stated, we told her not to get involved. And, CNN finally admitted on their news that it was in self defense. I know you guys do not like FOX.
Meanwhile the media is focusing on the wagging tail. Me, I am going to watch and wait for the meeting soon in Davos.
I think in fairness @redstar, there is an increasing number of us that don't like (or wholly believe) the output from many media outlets. This is a somewhat harder pill for us to swallow on this side of the pond as most of us were raised with the BBC being trusted, so much so it was quite often referred to as 'Auntie Beeb'... to see the output from it and indeed others is supremely disappointing and I know for myself, has made me extremely cynical of all media.
From my own experience on the forum I think @CanadianLori does have a point re the ratings/emojis. Some are quite obvious but others not always so and I imagine it can be easy to "rate" a post which may be taken completely the wrong way by the receiver. I was never quite sure in what context "Friendly" was used but @Ergates suggestion helps. There doesn't seem to be a single straightforward one for "I Disagree" other than perhaps Creative ? I'd also agree that it can be difficult to truly Love or Hate someone you don't know and have never met. You can like/dislike or agree/disagree with someone but Love and Hatred are usually too strong and personal a term to describe your actual feelings - perhaps particularly on social media platforms ? As for news outlets, I have noticed that the BBC (TV and Radio) has recently begun to say Thank You to it's licence fee payers on the odd occasion - getting a wee bit worried ?
We did have (actually still do, although it is switched off) a disagree for post ratings; that one was switched off a LOT of years ago as it caused some folks to take umbrage when it was used. As for the BBC being a bit worried, they should be!
