I am feeling very grumpy!
and it has nothing to do with my health.Sometimes people say incredibly negative and provocative things which can be guaranteed to stir up discord and perhaps hurt feelings. To fall back on the 'it's my opinion' ploy is specious.
I was happily chatting away in the forum this afternoon. A thread I found interesting that kept returning to topic after little excursions into social interaction and then a bucket of cold water, supercritical, judgmental, rude (this is my opinion, I was not actually the only one of that opinion, but it was mine)post was added.
I asked if he meant to be rude or was he having a bad day. Not my most tactful moment, but I have limited patience for nonsense at the moment and I have had a bad six weeks.
Others queried the tone of his post and presented their opinions. I thought everyone was very polite. 'Cept maybe me.
What has ticked me off is while the member thought it fine to make scathing comments about the thread and our posts to it any negative response to his stance meant we were attacking him for not agreeing with us.
Although there was nothing to agree or disagree with.We were exploring behaviour in the threads and whether old timers needed to change things so as not to scare newbies.
Then the second wave came aboard and castigated all of us who had been posting for attacking this rather impolite person.
Then it started to get personal. I came out here because maybe it will calm down. It felt as though battle lines were being drawn and i can just see it all turning into one of those slanging matches that sends regulars to seek shelter.
Just because you feel something does not mean it has to be said. The same information can be imparted without being rude, unkind or hurtful.
I am grumpy because I was relaxing and having fun playing in that thread with a topic under discussion interpersed with banter and fun. And it was good for me.
This is definitely a bah! Humbug! moment.
oh boy , I lost my temper. Tough.
Comments (2)
And why I disappear so frequently.
Real life is hard enough without adding the negativity of the forums to the mix.
I think that many members have no idea how much they anger or hurt those who participate in the forums.
Or they know and just don't care.
Someone mentioned that the forums are like high school.
And they are - full of egocentric people stuck in that stage and never destined to grow up.
But the only way the forums are worth anything is too keep trying to post interesting, informative and elevating words.
And that's why we need you to stay.
Does the dancing banana make yo feel better?