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Original poster

Can I make a bit of a plea to those of you who enjoy posting upsetting stories?

164 replies

hunkermunker · 29/11/2006 14:09

Can you please NOT put the subject of the shocking tale in the title?

Can you just put "An upsetting news story concerning children" or something similar?

Because I'm all for asking MN Towers to have a "Without In The News" button because I hate hate hate hearing about the terrible things that people do to babies and children and I don't want to see thread titles like that.

If that makes me blinkered, etc, then so be it.

Also, why do people feel the need to post links to stuff like this when it's just for people to go "oh how sad" to? I can understand if it's a policy thing, or there's a campaign that needs to be undertaken - but just for people to feel sad? Why?

OP posts:
JinglePrunes · 03/12/2006 18:45

Why the hell is it patronising to suggest that it might not be a very nice to talk about maimed/raped babies (etc) with people who are suffering from anxiety that their baby might be eg maimed or raped?
Jeez, a bit of sensitivity wouldn't go amiss, that's all. After all it isn't actually obligatory that everybody in the whole wide world needs to deal with these stories head on.
Whoever mentioned tabloid corner, I totally agree, btw (different issue though). Really crass to start threads like these if all you're going to do is go "Oooooh isn't it awful? String 'em up I say! No hanging's too good - red hot poker up the bum! etc"

zippitippitoes · 03/12/2006 18:46

it is true that depressed people are attracted to depressing things and it feeds depression..true for music lyrics anyway eg manic street preachers, nirvana etc and poetry of course

zippitippitoes · 03/12/2006 18:48

please read my jolly threads in news about mps salaries, smythson diaries and litvinenko and that very popular one on kitchen cowboys!

JinglePrunes · 03/12/2006 18:48

Am going to bow out because my experiences of depression have been fleeting (thankfully) so what do I know? I just think - there is a place for sensitivity, towards us all, not just people who've suffered depression.

HunkerTheInternetPhenomenon · 03/12/2006 18:50

I don't think it's patronising to say please don't put in-yer-face unpleasantries in thread headers.

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 18:51

There is nothing wrong with being sensitive or empathasising but not all depressed people want to be hidden away from crap, and the point I'm trying to make is that its wrong to say what about the depressed people? depressed people have voices and some like me don't like being seen as people that can't face the real world.

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 18:55

Zippi I think all people are attracted to some indulgence musically, I do think teens often use depressing music to identify with, although i would say in the main this is pretty harmless.
All sorts of things feed depression, my cupboarsd being wrong make me low I certainly don't get off on depressing news stories but i don't want them hidden from me in case they upset me either because for the main I'm just like most people.

HunkerTheInternetPhenomenon · 03/12/2006 18:57

Er, I had pretty bad PND and have had episodes of depression since I can remember - I am certainly NOT in the business of patronising people with depression!

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 18:58

I haven't said you do hunker, have I?

HunkerTheInternetPhenomenon · 03/12/2006 18:58

I started the thread though.

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 18:59

But I agree with the thread in the main, i just don't feel comfortable with suggestions of 'it might upset the depressed'

JinglePrunes · 03/12/2006 19:00

Quadrophenia, I didn't really mean that depressed people should be protected, I didn't think of it like that. Sorry if it read like that. I was more thinking of myself when I have been depressed: I wrote to a friend that I was more worried about ds being kidnapped and murdered than I was about real-life things. When I read the email back a year later I was shocked at my own state of mind. And I know that reading stories of things like abducted/abused/murdered children sort of fed my anxiety.

Anyway - the whole thing is about thread titles, and tbh I just don't think it's hard not to post the details in a thread title, for whatever reason.

HunkerTheInternetPhenomenon · 03/12/2006 19:00

It might though

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 19:02

Jingle prunes I agree re the thread title thing, completely and the point you made about being sensitive to all which is whatI was trying to say, all different types of folks depressed or not may find it hard to deal with, not just the depressed

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 19:03

This is begiining to feel like a python sketch, i give up

MerryChristmasfromQV · 03/12/2006 19:03

Its not about hiding them, its about wording things sensitively.

Quadrophenia · 03/12/2006 19:05

but i don't want people to walk on egg shells with me just cause they know i have depression in rl IYSWIM in fact itwould give me something else to be paranoid about!! Oh bugger it i agree on the title thing anyway!

kandi · 03/12/2006 19:19

As somebody who has posted a sad story on here, I actually did put in the title 'sad story' and I only did it because there is a campaign involved and the parents were trying to make things better for future parents/babies and it involves my local health authority.

But if the news story is the one I'm thinking of, then I totally agree. I had heard it already, my dh (bless him) read it to me from our local paper, and I really wish he didn't, as I can't stop thinking about it . If it's the one I'm thinking of, that's also really local to us, just on our doorstep really and makes me feel so sick.

divamummy · 05/12/2006 23:35

and also very distressing links too. sometimes i find people put very shocking links to photos and etc..

bctmum · 05/12/2006 23:37

don't think it's right to censor what someone wants to discuss.

Skribble · 05/12/2006 23:38

There is a difference between rubber necking threads and ones that have some sort of discussion or debating value. Or where we can learn something or improve something, not just all saying hang the bastard.

BahHunkBug · 05/12/2006 23:40

So all thread titles are OK then, bctmum?

bctmum · 05/12/2006 23:47

What can I say on that? Some stories are horrid but they come up on the news on tv & radio & internet. When there is a terible news item it's interesting to read others comments. Some are really for forgiveness others the opposite. I can see how my thoughts are compared to others.

Original poster
hunkermunker · 15/08/2007 10:48

Am replying to Totaleclipse on this thread rather than the toddler stabbed to death one, to save bumping that again.

I wasn't directing my "human decency" comment at you, but at RNF, who seems to think it's fine to put whatever you like in thread titles.

OP posts:
Aitch · 15/08/2007 13:02

oh, good to see you here hunker. i was going to revive this thread for the same reason.
TE, it's not really about you, truly, i totally get that you effectively cut and pasted from the paper, sorry if you thought otherwise.
i'm just amazed at RNF's position, though, that people should do what they want and show no consideration for the other users of this site just because the world's a crappy place. but then apparently if i am affected by seeing the headline 'toddler stabbed to death' in my eyeline again and again while i'm just looking for news of a friend's husband's heart transplant then i've no business being online at all.