Wasn't there a general consensus that we were going to try and steer clear of upsetting news stories?

[DingdongMegaLegsonhigh]

OK - I'll admit I'm feeling particularly sensitive today but there are currently two really upsetting thread titles in active convos. Didn't post on either as a) I didn't want to read them and b)it would have put them back up the top

censorship even. Not that I can talk I can't remeber if it's effected/affected

Would you say things like this in real life conversations in the company of people who turned grey, cried and felt sick and asked you not to say things like that in front of them?

Your right - the C has moved on the keyboard !!

Of course you would, 'did you hear about such and such' (thread title) and then if they said 'don't tell me anymore' you shut up (don't go on the thread).

Slighly differnt in real life conversation but we are in the world wide web and this is public discussion forum - so you expect to hear things that you may not like or agree with.

exactly Scribble

It's just ghoulish, imo. I'm not particularly 'sensitive' but I just can't see the point of those threads.

The thread titles are too much.

I can't get my head around this thread title thing.

Hey, Jools - remember quoting this?

"If you want to turn MN over to the 'I'll say what I like brigade' then do, but I think you will rue the day that you did so!"

Soapy posted it, you quoted it

True but I as soon as I read that title, just the title not the thread, a terrible image of my own 7 year old ds came into my head. It's human nature, and especially when you become a parent, that when we hear stories of this nature we can imagine ourselves in some of those terrible situations.

OK, so say I post a thread title thus:

Toddler gang-raped by eight men, held down, bag on head then kicked to death

then that's OK, because if I don't want to be upset by the story, I don't need to read the thread, right?

Fucking hell!!

And can I just say my stomach's churning just thinking of something shocking to write as a made-up thread title.

It's not rocket science, mummydear. Grim, graphic thread titles about vile things happening to small children are upsetting and, what's more, completely unnecessary.

Actually the possibility that I might be personally upset/have my day spoilt by a news story on MN isn't my only priority, when I object to people posting endless dreadful harrowing news items with an OP of " here". My response is more frustration than personal sorrow, at the sheer pointlessness of inflicting bad news on people just for the sake of spreading it, when you have no social comment to make, no constructive suggestions to offer for ameliorating the problem highlighted in the news item, nothing to offer but "". It smacks of self-indulgence and, dare I say, voyeurism. It's a lazy waste of emotion. It doesn't belong on MN IMO.

I feel much the same about having deliberately grisly images of tortured bodies and screaming blood-spattered casualties beamed into my home as part of the "news" reportage every evening. It's not intended to achieve anything, I can't do anything - in fact often the images aren't even properly interpreted, they are just flung into the public domain, the gorier the better, and what a bonus if they can get a picture of a child suffering in a very obvious way! It's a very distasteful and renegade development in journalism IMO. I put up with it in news reports, because I still want to extract the few shreds of actual "news" that remain amid the madness of ghoulish sensationalism and journalists interviewing journalists about journalism. I will certainly carry on doing my little bit to keep this tendency at bay on MN, where there is no need for it at all (by doing what I do best, ie complaining )

Hear,hear Greeny.

Oh, and Merry Fucking Christmas

I think the title is awful on the 8 yr old boy thread. Could it not have been 'Terrible story on news - very upsetting', or something like that? I just glimpsed it and it made me think how awful it would be if someone hurt ds in that way. That was from the title alone. I suffer from depression so am prone to thinking dark thoughts. These titles can cause me great heartache and paranoia.

Now, I'm not saying that posters need to consider me when posting threads, before you all jump on me. Just that some consideration to us more sensitive and less hardened readers. And no, I don't watch the news either, for that very reason.

Yes ther are upsetting but do you close your eyes when you walk past the news stand ? Do you cover your ears when the news is on Tv or radio ?

Do you suddenly forget a story headline as you flick through a newspaper ?

The eight year old boy being raped thread - I would like to know about - as this is close to wher I live - so I would like to know about it, not because of the grim detail but to be aware that it has happened and the safety of me and my children .

There is a bigger picture out there besides people getting upset about a real life issue

Greeny, totally agree with you.

I remember seeing a prog on TV where a journalist saying to his photographer words to the effect of "get the pretty one crying" so they could use it for the front page...

And as for brief news items with tenuous links to long-past tragedies (a mention of a roll-on/roll-off ferry recent review of protocol showing the Herald of Free Enterprise on its side, for instance, or talk of the trials involving rail crashes and harrowing aftermath footage, when they could be less "in-yer-face" with the flashbacks for people)... It's lazy journalism - oh look, let's make it relevant and shocking by showing dead people.

i understand some thread titles are upsetting but how do you post without offending anyone? what may seem like a normal thread title for me to post, may upset someone else! for example 'my ds/dd keeps banging his/her head' would upset a mother who's child did this and suffered a serious head injury. iyswim where do you draw the line? and how do you post without explaining what kind of replies/opinions you want in the first place? none of us want these bad things to happen but they do...its a fact and everyones opinion differs. i dont know....difficult one.

Right, I've said my piece.

I'm off to deadhead my begonias

Mummydear, yes, I did actually put my fingers in my ears and la to myself the other day when I heard about one particular story - there was a thread about it on here, so I found out more than I wanted to about it from the fecking title!

I tend to use something called "common sense" when I'm posting thread titles

(Greeny )

There is a world of differnece in:

8 year old boy raped...and

Terrible story - really upsetting

I would read niether. The latter does not make my stomach clench with fear that someone could hurt my lovely little boy.