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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that Off The Beaten Track was a mistake

414 replies

rolandweary · 28/01/2011 19:48

this isn't a thread about a thread, it's a thread about a topic, and some of the threads in it

so hopefully not bad form

I think it was amistake - it seems to be used for all the wrong reasons. For example the shiney crew feeling they ought to post on there because people were complaining about them being a clique - that seems wrong to me, MN is public and nobody should feel they have to retire to a private area. And the BoM thread which is full of personal attacks and insults - people seem to retire onto that thread to make the sort of remarks they wouldn't make on the main boards

I think it should be got rid of. What does everyone else think?

OP posts:
Original poster
rolandweary · 30/01/2011 13:20

um, I haven't "disappeared", I took my children out for the weekend

I don't think my op constitutes "having a pop at the shiney crew" mj - my point was that they (and others like them) might feel driven to post in OTBT just because it's there, and people complain about cliques on MN (even thought there are lots of them)

Mentioning the BoM thread as well - I don't apologise for that in the least, the thread was really shocking and very insulting and hurtful to other posters. If we have to have OTBT - which I don't think we should - then people need to remember that is is viewable. If you want to post nasty vitriolic remarks and mock other posters, do it privately.

I still think OTBT was a mistake, personally. And am not going to be derailed by the embarrassed lashing-out of those who were exposed as behaving badly there.

OP posts:
bibbitybobbityhat · 30/01/2011 16:21

You seem to have missed the point that otbt was created at the request of Mumsnetters who wanted somewhere slightly more private to post. The threads disappear after a certain amount of time - 3 months? am not sure - and they are not googlable.

The people who misuse otbt to have a little bitch about their fellow forum users are just being spectacularly silly if they think they can't be "seen" - so best to feel sorry for them for being so ignorant, rather than angry with them, eh?

GwynAndBearIt · 30/01/2011 16:42

Yes bib, we have seen the error of our ways, apologies have been made, some by pm.

We are wearing sack-cloth and ashes and have caps in hands.

The sorriest part is that OTBT and its threads and users past and present have been outed. Contrary to popular belief threads and collectives are not generally sent there, posters choose to take their business there because they don't want to chat with any old rif raf don't want to get in the way of active convos.

Time to let it lie.

Original poster
rolandweary · 30/01/2011 21:10

Fair enough, bibbity - if most MNers think OTBT is a good thing, fine. I was raising it as a discussion point, not clamouring for its removal.

I do think though that if posters are using it as a sort of semi-private area for discussing sensitive issues, they should take note of what has happened with this BoM nonsense - it may not be googlable, but it is in the topic list and not at all difficult to find if you are browsing/lurking on the site.

I haven't "outed" OTBT in that sense gwyn, it was public all along. If a group of posters forgot that and used it as a forum for slagging people off and mocking them, then they have no-one to blame but themselves.

OP posts:
DamselInDisguise · 31/01/2011 13:20

The messages on OTBT also don't appear on active convos, as well as disappearing in 30 days. Few of us on threads in there forget that it is still accessible to MN members, or that there may well be lurkers, but it does let you discuss things you'd rather not do on the main board.

If you really wanted to discuss it as an issue, rather than create some kind of controversy/start a witch hunt, then I'd have thought 'Site Stuff' was a more appropriate section to post this in than AIBU.

Original poster
rolandweary · 31/01/2011 16:09

I see Site Stuff as a place to ask MNHQ about things, rather than the general MN population

AIBU is always busy and everyone seems to post on it - and it was an AIBU question - hence lots of YABU replies

if I had wanted to start a "witch-hun" Hmm against the BoMs, I would have started it in stepparenting and then linked to it on chat

OP posts:
GwynAndBearIt · 31/01/2011 16:45

roland, you've asked AIBU to think OTBT should be got rid of, you got a majority YABU.

You should really let it lie now, otherwise you run the risk of proving those right who are suggesting this isn't your real argument.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 31/01/2011 17:34

I have just trawled through this thread, and have only the vaguest idea of wtf is going on. It's like trying to hold smoke. Anyway, all I really want to know is: who was being slagged off, and was it me?

EverythingInMiniature · 31/01/2011 17:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows · 31/01/2011 17:57

The bastards

Original poster
rolandweary · 31/01/2011 18:55

Yes, it's a majority YABU - which I have no problem with at all, I asked for opinions and I got them

I don't see, though, how posting further about it (and answering the acusations made against me) is proving anything though, other than that I haven't "disappeared" as stated, and I haven't anything to apologise for.

OP posts:
yogididabooboo · 31/01/2011 19:07

It did seem as though you maybe posted as a way to bring the BoM threads to light. Which i think was a good thing actually as they and everyone else needed reminding that OTBT is not secret and the rest of MN do still have access.

I think i was one of the priveleged(Hmm) few that managed to see the BoM thread before it went poof (was penelope until i realised there was another one)

they had been bitchy and they knew it. From what i have seen they have all apologised for their behaviour (except LadyT) and as sch i think it should be laid to rest now.

Oh and i went and hijacked the Shiney thread and they all seemed perfectly reasonable to me. I don't think they enjoyed the invasion much but then, i don't suppose i would enjoy some random wierdo popping up in the middle of my chit chat with friends either. Can't see why it gets everyone so hot under the collar realy.

GwynAndBearIt · 31/01/2011 19:44

yogi I love your new name, especially as I think your previous name could have been offensive to people called penelope who may have had gravity get the better of them Wink

Chickens it was all about you. We did get a bit naughty in response to a rather a lot of nastiness aimed at us, but were are now being very well behaved.

btw, I have always found the Shineys very hospitable (and delightfully witty) and would be glad to be neighbours with them again.

yogididabooboo · 31/01/2011 20:01

well yes i don't want to go abotu offending anyone, ill let the other Penelope do that instead.

Was a bit gutted though, i thought i was well clever thinking that up and now the other one will get teh credit for my fabulsouness. fuckers.

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