to think that the average debating ability of Mumsnetters has dropped considerably over the past year?

[colditz]

I was browsing through some old threads earlier, and the general standard of debate has dropped. People here used to be able to follow a thread and give a pertinent response, backed up with careful research. Lately the response is likely to be completely unrelated to the original point, and passive-aggressive to boot.

Ooh - my favourite passive-aggressive joke for smallorange

How many jewish mothers does it take to change a lightbulb?

No that's alright dear, you go out, leave your old mother in the dark

Welll, yes, they have been done to death, but it never stopped people before! And shouldn't we have tired new topics that get people trawling through the internet?

Like politics - all we could think of to ask the prime minister when we got our fangs into him was "What's your favourite biscuit?" - I mean, come on, this isn't October's edition of MIzz!

I'm used to being surrounded by people much cleverer and better read than me, but there seems to be slightly fewer of them around, and I haven't got cleverer, that's for sure.

Have we, as a group, stopped caring about issues beyond who is fucking who and why?

Me too cornsilk- I think why on earth did I post that! I tend to get carried away on the spur of the moment!

colditz, I really feel you need some counselling.......

lol pisces. I usually think who is that fuckwit? Oh..it's me

My naval is an innie. It was briefly an outie when pregnant, and hasn't been pierced. It would look better if I lost a bit more weight.

That's me done. Got anything more interesting to talk about? [snark]

I think you have a point colditz, MN is a much much bigger beast these days (even compared to a year ago) so although the percentage of more/less eloquent posters will be the same, the eloquent posts get lost in a sea of uneloquent ones. And I lump myself in the less eloquent bunch before anyone jumps on me!

Is my hole deep enough yet? Can I stop digging?

Here is something for the naval gazing

Navel not naval.

Oh - I see now. I've just realised that I do that quite alot. Fuck.

Well thanks for that , you've made me feel terrible now. ( passive aggressive emoticon) ;)

You don't have a naval, unless you're the queen, in which case what are you doing on MN?

I did of course mean 'Gazing at sailors"

I prefer morningpaper's version, my belly button has gone all wonky...

since giving birth my naval frowns back at me

I am very poor at debate-I always have been. I let emotion in and am goaded into saying things that I don't even mean in the cold light of day!

Well actually the queen can't have a naval either,she can have naval vessels of course. Anyway enough rambling.

i spelt 'navel' wrong as an ironic comment on the thread's title

Oh yes. Colditz, you speak the truth.

(Will read thread now)

I remember when this used to be all fields...

i dont giev a shit and

4

HTH

I've preferred this place over the last year. It feels a bit like the bitchy yet glamorous upper 6th formers have gone leaving the lower 6th to take over. The quality of the debates seems about the same to be honest and the propensity of some to take offence just the same. Anyway, I'm not very observant, but haven't some of the big fishes returned?

You can pop into the wankers thread if you want poncy chat about ermmm Plato or some shit yeah

I just like staring at sailors, personally

ah the good ole days!boy them gimmers could bump gums

afraid that is a bitty of an urban myth. i recall some fine threads but also some dross and gratuitous use of bats too

like any dialogue - some good,some bad

i think spontaneous witty riposte is best and sometimes find the research waving particularly irksome.tiresome as some raver cites journal of home-making to demonstrably prove working parents are evil

and good save us from the feeding threads battering each other with quasi-research to prove some indeterminate point.so the research can clog a thread and get too competitive

research and statistics can say practicably anything.and some on MN cite research to assert any point zealously

i once had a whoel thread on piles

oh did i mention i once had my own topic?

it was called " what is so speical about IK"

Stupid phone. By the time I write anything the whole thread's moved on. How far in the future are we now? Do we have jet packs and tin foil dresses yet?