To think MN is getting nastier?

[MaggieJoyBlunt]

So far this week we've had giving birth referred to as 'calving' (in the context of women having children while young). Someone loved that one so much they immediately commented on what a great expression it was and repeated it.

We've had someone propose that Prince Phillip should be 'humanely destroyed'. swiftly followed up by a similar suggestion about taking him out to a barn or a shed or some such and shooting him.

We've had a thread about the death of a convicted murdered where several posters queued up to tell us they were, smiling or "laughing gleefully" or simply to post "lol" as a one word comment. (Okay she was a vicious killer and will not be much missed, but really?)

Add to all of that the Budget threads where in the midst of people worrying and calculating the cut to their household budget, other people came to gloat and make helpful observations such as "If you can't afford DC, don't have them."

MN didn't used to be nasty. Vigorous, challenging etc; But not nasty.

What's going on around here?

I try hard not to be rude, aggressive or nasty but sometimes I slip beneath that ideal.

I think we all get impatient or defensive sometimes Fizz. I'm really talking about the posters who make unprovoked nasty attacks on people, or spiteful personal comments when they've run out of arguments.

The meet ups I went to were always great fun - it was afterwards, on here, or if you got to know them better that the true personalities shone through. Not always nice, and there are definitely some people who garner positivity on MN but who are pretty dark at heart.
One of them really hurt my family (feelings, not physically!) so I swore never again.

A funny thread, where the OP was blatantly winding everyone up and not pretending to be genuine, has just been taken down.

The pros and cons of being faintly recognisable on here is that you can be judged by your worst moment. I've written thousands of posts over a decade. If I hadn't been a twat many times, or rude or unsympathetic it would be bloody miraculous.
The flip side is that I think sometimes if I post something dumb, especially if I apolologise, then people think 'oh that's not like her'

I think if you are on here a lot and get negative attention a lot that's probably to do with the body of your posting rather than the occasional spat iyswim.

We all post in a context. Sometimes I'm quite nice sometimes I can be a massive bad tempered twat. I have no doubt that bleeds into my post.
I just try to log off if I'm in a shitty mood.

I think it's a bit off to mutter darkly about the secret evil lurking within ostensibly pleasant posters just because they've said something to piss you off at some point. That's people for you, and unless they are Rose West or something, it's unlikely they are any more sinister than the next person. Is it not enough any more to just say "Meh, I'm not so keen on that one"?

It seems to happen a lot on this kind of thread: if you or one of your friends comes off as sarky or abrupt, it's about "having a bad day", but if it's someone you've never warmed to, they're an irredeemable cunt. Now, if it's someone you used to like but went off, they might as well be running North Korea.

God that's true BOF
I got sent a PM along with a comment on a thread about how this person would never forgive me because I once said something on a thread.

Apparently I had been joking but she was upset. I asked her when and what and apologised. She wouldn't tell me who she was or what I had said and insisted I didn't deserve to be forgiven.
It was very strange and at the time quite upsetting

And let's not forget the 'posting after too much wine has been taken'.

Very easy to

a) get the wrong end of the stick
b) get the tone wrong

on those occasions.

Allegedly.

I think I've only ever had one run in on here with years of posting. I wrote something clumsily with what I thought were good intentions but someone took a lot of offence, and I felt awful. I apologised but I'm sure they avoid me like the plague now! Words on a screen without the nuances of speech sometimes don't work...

let's not forget the 'posting after too much wine has been taken'.

That must be awful BIWI. I can honestly say I can't ever remember that happening to me

No.

Do you not have a klaxon OfficerVanHalen?

All the smartest kitchens have one.

Mine is metal in WWII bandage coloured enamel with a pleasingly retro 'Arrooogah! Arrooogah!' siren.

I honestly don't know how people haven't noticed her

I have cultivated an ability to ignore any thread relating to naice interior decor, grammar schools, being an 'author', capsule wardrobes or how to be fabulously popular

A funny thread, where the OP was blatantly winding everyone up and not pretending to be genuine, has just been taken down.

I didn't see that thread but, yeah, this is one thing that definitely has changed - since NYEgate - for the worse I think. Even with "lighthearted" plastered all over the place :(

The sweary threads are still going though!

I have sometimes encountered a poster being a really nasty arse on a thread and thought 'I'll give that one a wide berth in future' and then discovered them being perfectly nice and reasonable on other threads so definitely some posters just have really off days where they bite the head off people.

But there are other posters and you know, before you even read their post, that it is going to be something snide or unpleasant or belittling towards someone else on the thread, often followed by as if that somehow makes it witty and acceptable. It doesn't!

I never frequent that sort of thread either, and also haven't spotted her.

There definitely seems to be an increasing number of posters who have no sense of humour whatsoever and come plodding glumly onto any thread where posters are larking around and having a bit of fun, sniffing around suspiciously for trolls or moaning about the school holidays etc.

Honestly, if a thread doesn't float your boat and you think it's silly rather than fun, just avoid it.

gosh meet ups with name badges.\I have been to lots of local ones(a few years back) we never had badges , but plenty of wine

I don't think I could go to a meet-up, I am rather circumspect IRL. I've let way too much dirty laundry hang out here.

Time for a name change.

The name badges weren't compulsory at the meet ups I've attended Samcro.

They were just part of a thing I believe is called fun.

Hi there! Look, we don't mind general chat about all this but bringing up specifics and specific posters particularly, really isn't cricket. If you see something you think is nasty on another thread please hit the report button - it's starting to rust up here. We don't trawl back through threads to spot these things so if we don't get reports, well... we'll just sit around drinking gin and photocopying our bottoms onto pictures of bats and stuff while AIBU burns.
Thank you!

photocopying our bottoms onto pictures of bats

What a great idea!

Everyone lies about who they are at meet-ups anyway. At the last one I met four LaQueens, two Bonsoirs, and one not-terribly-convincing scottishmummy.

I've been reading through a couple of really funny tongue in cheek threads on 'Classics' and thinking sadly that so many of them would have been zapped after a couple of pages nowadays because someone would have reported them to MNHQ for not being genuine (despite the fact that they clearly weren't meant to be genuine).