Why.......................

[Gluestick]

Over the past few months, I have become increasingly disillusioned and bored with this forum.

Not only has it gradually descended into the trivial, but perhaps more critically, random sniping and argument for the sake of argument has become increasingly the norm: and not pleasantly executed much of the time, either.

My recent thread on tenants is an excellent example: rather than instantly criticise, perhaps it would have been more valid to firstly read the thread and absorb the background information: too much trouble, I know.

If I could be bothered, I’d explain to the critical respondents the seminal criteria and aspects they missed, which If, they had taken the trouble to carefully read the thread through, ought to have moderated their comments: however I can’t – be bothered that is. I am presently far too busy with more meaningful tasks.

Additionally, assumption piled upon assumption allows too many posters to reach erroneous conclusions, which are then used as the basis for acerbic critique.

I have reached a similar conclusion to Chris pp.

One comment in particular sums up the current condition: a certain poster expressed surprise that a thread had taken up five pages: most of these were criticism. Yet, recently, one thread concerning the dire state of a silly little pop singer deep into drugs and booze and an obvious self-determination to excise herself occupied 33 posts; another on what is actually a children’s story took up 14: another on a moronic British (Note British, not French!) daytime TV show a quite staggering 36!

Wholly indicative of current trends and direction I feel.

Yet another worrying trend which seems to have recently appeared, is that when sniping smart rear-ends jibe at threads and the OP, or another contributor not unreasonably posts a reasoned riposte, the thread is soon removed. Not equable I fear!

Even in general courts martial, a coward or traitor is allowed the right to defend themselves.

I came here as a sort of refugee from another less informed arena which concerns itself overmuch with setting up illegal Sky systems, endless diatribes on football, soap operas, lack of English comestibles in a foreign clime (big surprise there!) and the lack of curry houses and other purveyors of over-salted grease-laden tripe.

Here, was originally, a breath of fresh air.

The oxygen content lately, seems diminished.

I shall therefore, in future, restrict my rare future visits to the valuable informative areas, but only when I seek elucidation.

 

 

[Renaud]

You have many friends here who will miss your contributions.

[cooperlola]

Well, it's a d*mned shame because fora only get boring if all the interesting people leave.

Just hope it wasn't something I said!

J.E.[kiss]

[Pads]

Yes I agree with you , Im really fed up with the sniping , especially those oh so clever people who know where to put there full stops and how to spell correctly. Then feel they have to point out others faults to belittle them. Or have to belittle some ones opinion but dont bother to put there own . Sadley these people are every where ... here and in the real world best thing to do is just pretend there not there and let them have there sad victories , it may be all they have to look forward to...... Oh my god its catching have I not just done the same thing ? !!!![Www]

Gluey shall we start our own forum and talk about travel and boating ? Ha Ha [Www]  

[mint]

Gluey, I, for one, am truly sorry you feel like that.  I hadn't realised you have become so disillusioned with the forum. 

Admittedly, it used to be more interesting but, now that you mention it, I do notice that it is no longer such a pleasant place in which to linger and pass the time of day.

[Russethouse]

I'm sorry you feel like that too, but the truth is that people will not always agree with you ( renting thread) or say what you think they should. Nor do I think the number of posts to any thread has much bearing - perhaps many people are not well versed on French taxation, finance, healthcare or work regulations but lots of people have an opinion re Amy Winehouse and similar.

As regards thread deletion etc, please remember we do not look in 24/7,  so while it may seem to you that something happens it may just be that no one was around, it wasn't reported etc.....

On a broader note : If you want lively topics then you must  all do your bit to post them -  don't always wait for other people....

[Russethouse]

I'm sorry you feel like that too, but the truth is that people will not always agree with you ( renting thread) or say what you think they should. Nor do I think the number of posts to any thread has much bearing - perhaps many people are not well versed on French taxation, finance, healthcare or work regulations but lots of people have an opinion re Amy Winehouse and similar.

As regards thread deletion etc, please remember we do not look in 24/7,  so while it may seem to you that something happens it may just be that no one was around, it wasn't reported etc.....

On a broader note : If you want lively topics then you must  all do your bit to post them -  don't always wait for other people....

[Gardian]

Gay felt that she had to tell you twice, just in case you didn't get the point.[6]

However, and returning to GS's original point, I wouldn't get too hung up over it. Sure, there aren't any (or many) of the rucks that there used to be and this place is probably the better for that. Reasons?  (1) I used to spend hours following them, not particularly contributing and despising much of the futile content & (2) they were just so time-wasting.

Without wishing to sound 'holier-than-thou', I now confine my incursions to the occasional foray, looking out for pieces of useful info, or maybe a situation where I can perhaps provide some input.

I reckon that GS is entering the 'Forum 2 Year Itch', when .......... well you know.  Accept it for what it is; not the be all and end all.     

[woolybananasbrother]

Plus one mod is seeing double ...

Seriously though, in the last few months, health cover has chased a lot of people out of France or forced them to rethink their plans, the property market has gone belly up and the cost of living has gone through the roof and many people are hurting and worried. Which means that enthusiasm may have been replaced by resignation or even panic. I do hope not despair, but I suspect it in some cases.

Which means that people won't post or post trivial stuff or have just drifted away.

And most people do not have the real in-depth knowledge of France to have serious discussions about the problems and changes here, and the good weather means there are loads of things to do.

So, logically, it has gone a bit quiet and perhaps off beam.

Randy (brothers pis sed in a corner, sleeping with a pile of dogs so I took the opportunity to post, but must get back to the cooking and ironing)

[mint]

You poor downtrodden creature.  Just throw some water over the lot of them!

[powerdesal]

GS,

Whilst I don't totally disagree with your sentiments,

I must admit to being somewhat trivial myself of late, particularly in

respect of my comments about 'cement' when people mean 'concrete'. I

guess its just one of those things that really get to me. No doubt there are other forum members who will consider my comments to be 'smart-assed' jibes. ( I claim that its stress related [:(] )

It would, I feel, be a great loss if you stopped actively posting as you are a valued and valuable member of the forum. As you no doubt would agree "you cant change the system unless you are part of the system".

May I suggest you just ignore the 'football', 'soaps', 'sky-box' et al type of  threads.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Just my 2 penn'orth. I read and contribute to two French fora. The other one has far more posts per day than this one, but I find that I actually respond to about the same (small) number on both. That indicates to me that (for my purposes) the other one has a far higher proportion of ignorable content.

I've been floating about here for a couple of years and yes, I read far fewer of the posts than I used to. This is partly down to repetition and partly to being more aware of which ones are likely to be of no interest to me.

I make a point of visiting any other fora that come to my attention, in case there's anything interesting, but most of them are either "Amy Winehouse to star in East Enders" or "where can I buy a traditional English vindaloo?" It's always a bit sad when you see a "last posting" date more than a month old.

[AnOther]

I'll be very sorry to see you go Gluey. You are undoubtedly one of the forum's more erudite posters and obviously have led (and presumably continue to lead) an interesting life and have moved in circles which the majority of us have little contact with or in depth knowledge of and the forum has been the richer for it.

I had read your original post and the first couple of replies but then hadn't taken much more notice of it as it was not of particular interest to me personally. Having now gone back and read it from top to bottom whilst I can completely understand your annoyance at the disrespect shown by your tenants unfortunately this is one of the inevitable risks of letting. You mention 'properties' in one post intimating that you have more than one on let but it's perhaps your long term personal attachment to particular one which has so incensed you on this occasion. Compared to your usual tone and gravity I think the content of your posts reflect the degree of upset that this incident has obviously caused you and some other contributions perhaps missed this aspect and came over somewhat unsympathetically.  

I do think some of the comments regarding your choice of toilet seat were unkind and uneccessary, for what it's worth it wasn't to my taste, but that's irrelevant and not at all the point.

In UK we had a beautiful 18th century cottage which we'd owned and lived in for nigh on 20 years during which time we'd gutted and rebuilt it, and by gutted I mean down to bare earth and all internal lathe & plaster walls and ceilings demolished, it was virtually an empty shell which we lovingly restored with period features. When we decided to come to France letting it was considered as an option but quickly dismissed as it would have upset us beyond words to have had it violated, far beyond the value of any income it could have generated, so we sold it and surprisingly it proved an astonishingly clean and painless process.

I for one sincerely hope you'll reconsider your decision to back off from the forum and continue to contribute in the future.

Best regards whichever.

Ernie

 

[Gemonimo]

[quote user="powerdesal"]GS,

Whilst I don't totally disagree with your sentiments, I must admit to being somewhat trivial myself of late, particularly in respect of my comments about 'cement' when people mean 'concrete'. I guess its just one of those things that really get to me. No doubt there are other forum members who will consider my comments to be 'smart-assed' jibes. ( I claim that its stress related [:(] )
[/quote]

As the concrete/cement 'trivia' was directed at me, don't worry Powerdesal, I'm not all bent out of shape - in fact I found it quite amusing.

But as far as the OP is concerned I certainly hope he doesn't 'retire' as his posts are always interesting and frequently informative.

[YCCMB]

Maybe it's not the forum that's changed at all, Gluestick. Maybe it's you. Have a look at the "membership life-cycle for virtual communities" section on this wikipedia entry. I think it very accurately describes what happens to contributors to this, or indeed any other forum

.[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community[/url]

[Cat]

A post of this thread has been deleted by the moderators.

Users must not post messages which:

• Are insulting, abusive, racist, sexist, or derogatory in any way to others, whether they are individuals or companies, users of the Forum or not. This includes material sent via personal e-mails through this forum.

Anyone who doesn’t feel they can abide by these guidelines should not sign up to them, or post on the forum.

Can I also remind users that posting the personal details or real names of other members, without first obtaining permission from the person involved, is not allowed, and such posts will be deleted. 

[woolybananasbrother]

good Frith, you mean someone takes these things seriously. an even greater waste of time.

[Cat]

You're welcome [blink]

 

[woolybananasbrother]

no Cath, not you, I was responding to the Wikipaedia research

[Cat]

Ahh, gotcha now Wbb.

It also has to be said that a few people are rather twitchy at the moment due to the deliberate efforts of some recent, prolific (or should that be troll-ific) troll-like entities to disrupt the forum by asking questions bound to put the cat among the pigeons (so to speak [:$] ).  This then leads to a few well intentioned people wasting their time answering questions that the OP has no actual interest in, a few people to vent their spleen at the apparent stupidity of the question, and a few people to roll their eyes and consider leaving the forum.  This leads to arguments, posts or threads getting pulled, and people getting huffy, which is of course just what the OP intends.  This is not aimed at you Wbb, take that cap off, it doesn't quite fit, I am talking about a quite different breed of banana.

It also puts genuine newcomers at a disadvantage, as they suffer due to the suspicions aroused.

 

 

[Catalpa]

 

If individuals come to the conclusion that a forum no

longer fits their needs - but are tempted to think they must tell other members that it

is their fault that this parlous state of affairs has come into being -

it is definitely time for those individuals to take a step back and maybe a

vacation from forum life. Ideally before they compose the portentous

announcement and certainly before they post it.

 

Indeed, when people – via topics of which this is only

one example…

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1/1275496/ShowPost.aspx#1275496

 

…set themselves up as commentators on the fall of civilisation as we know it, then they

had better be sure that the pedestal on to which they climb doesn’t have a

curly top. [6] If an individual enjoys criticising popular culture, that’s fine and frequently entertaining…

but they should also check that they have the class and humour to accept less fawning responses too.

[odile]

I tried to challenge the principle that posters should feel they have the right to ask for advice on very controversial subjects, or subjects which may be illegal either in France or in the UK- without being challenged.  In that particular case, it was about the Pamplonna bull run in SPAIN - this would be definitely illegal in the UK, and even in France. And yet I was mocked and insulted for making the point, and the thread was cut...

I did post about favourite cheeses, and was told off because I mentionned a Normandy cheese called 'coup de pied au c    u   l' . I can't be responsible for the name of a cheese. Here we don;t call a long steamed pudding with raisins a spotted sausage, nor a enclosed street on another street, an enclosed street, or in France the bottom of a bottle, un derriere de bouteille. Swearing and rude words for the sake of it shouldn;t be part of a forum, but in genuine stories or real words, it is silly to avoid them. And anyway, animal or other cruelty are much more important. I am confused with this thread - I fully agree that so much trivialty ofn East Enders, Amy wynehouse, etc, is a waste of space. I just don;t open them or waste my time on them. If people enjoy them, it's up to them, at least it does no harm. However, whenever more 'meaty' interesting subjects are posted - any challenges are met with derision or even insults, and a request for nosey, no life, opinionated people to leave well alone. See posting on Dinner etiquette - in French culture it is 'de rigueur' to be informed and able to conduct a debate on any subject. In the UK it is considered almost rude to talk about politics, education, healthcare, social issues- lest one should offend the sensibilities of somebody (especially if you are a woman in some parts of suburbia - a la Stepford wives).

So trivia, or interesting subjects. I definitely choose No 2 - I agree ensuing debate should be polite BUT OPEN-

[Catalpa]

[quote user="odile"]In the UK it is considered almost rude to talk about politics, education, healthcare, social issues- lest one should offend the sensibilities of somebody (especially if you are a woman in some parts of suburbia - a la Stepford wives).

[/quote]

No it's not. [:-))] Or not at any dinner party I've hosted or been to. How many British dinner or supper parties have you attended, Odile? If your answer is "lots" then I think you need to find a new set of friends. [:P]

[woolybananasbrother]

Well, I went to one last year and felt really out of place. My sister cleaned me up, ironed my good pants, cut my hair, cleaned my teeth, but it was all those Brits. And this is not as nasty as it sounds, I have had nothing to do with them/you for years, not a dinner party set anyway. Since my breakdown really.

[Cat]

And the bull run, or encierro as it is called in France, is most certainly not banned here in France. It may often use "vachettes" rather than bulls, but it does exist, quite legally.