Qui tacet consentire videture... I want it to be understood by MNHQ and by guests to this site that my silence on the subject of the recent speculative threads does NOT condone their existence.

[Aitch]

Aitch.

No, definitely not just you Anchovy

Mercy, i think its more about clear disassociation from such topics

But MB - aren't you more distanced from the threads by not saying a word? On any thread?

Yes, I understand now - reading the thread title properly also helped

not judging by what haychee said earlier about the majority etc, NKF. i think that's exactly the problem. if you say nothing, because you don't want to participate, then according to qui tacet etc it should be assumed that you give consent. and i don't, so i just wanted to record that in some manner, but without it descending into another big brouhaha.

No, because I tried just avoiding them, and then realised that although I wasn't posting on the threads, I had not made the point that my silence on those threads did not indicate that I found them OK.

I was looking away from something that I thought wrong. I was being (if you forgive the naffola comment) a moral coward.

Now you could argue that I would be less of a moral coward if I posted and told these people what I thought of them, but in all honesty I don't want to wade through the vileness, and some of them take abosolutly no notice of anything that anyone says that doesn't agree with them. TBH, the rest of my life has sufficient crap to deal with, without me reading more shit on a day to day basis.

The maxim of the law used to be 'Silence gives consent', well I don't consent to the horrific 'speculation'

They told me that If I didn't like the thread to just go away and not read. MN said we couldn't mass post to get rid of them. This is my way, and other peoples way of saying, 'Just because I don't post, don't think I agree with you, or think that your are 'right' to keep spouting crap'

It just seems a bit odd to me. As if people are saying "We disapprove thoroughly but we won't engage with you. We prefer to let it be known that we disapprove but silently over here. Can't you see us disapproving silently....?" etc

Like that "I am boycotting threads about the McCanns" thread. It was a thread about a thread about the McCanns. Don't you think it's a bit weird?

no, because I simply can stand reading that shit to argue with it. I've got enough on my plate ATM. and some of the people cannot be reasoned with.

I wanted to make a point. I want my position to be understood.

signed cerys

And I don't undestand what "consent" in this context means. I understand not liking the speculation but it's MN's role to remove stuff they don't want. We can object to individual posts and report posts but I don't see where "consent" comes in.

Do you mean that you simply want it known that you disapprove?

i think the visibility is the whole point, NKF. you and i and others tried four months ago to make the point to people that they were behaving in a gruesome fashion, but none of it 'took'. plus i agreed with thedogsbollox's point at the time that it had become a self-fulfilling circus, so i gave up.
but that doesn't mean i agreed with people, so to remove any dubiety on that point i posted this OP. that's all. because if (for whatever reason) we are a silent majority then i for one think it's worth pointing that out. you may not, of course, as is your right.

because silence is sometimes seen as giving consent.

So if the BNF walk down our streets, if we don't do something, they will think, 'Hey look, these people don't disapprove'

An yes, I know this isn't the BNF, but YSWIM.

If a kids throws litter and we don't say anything, how does he know he/she has done wrong. And yes, I could argue the toss with them at every post. But I don't have the emotional energy, and anywat THEY DON@T LISTEN.

The weirdy ones know that we all think they are stupid. Let them carry on spouting their rubbish they are going to bore themselves at some point.

I think we just steer clear of the MM threads and accept that MN has become infiltrated by weirdos with overactive imaginations.

Aitch, I suppose I disagree that none of it took. I think the ghouls go back in the dark when a they are either argued with or jeered at. What we have now is two threads -one with the wildest specualation and this one. There are probably others but these seem to be the two main ones.

Before, they did pipe down for days at a time and posted only rather nervously. Now, it's untrammelled.

Of course you might well ask why I don't go over there and speak my mind. And I suppose it's because I feel a bit weary of it too. I don't quite have the energy at the moment. But I can't quite bring myself to sign up to this thread (not that I assume anyone cares whether I do or not) because I can't understand why any visitor would give a toss what I thought or even notice I was here. Or MNHQ for that matter.

If the BNP walked down my street, I would protest to high heaven. Loudly and incessantly until they were cleared away.

Signed.

I have posted on the Madeleine threads in the past but always in support of the McCanns and with the hope that Madeleine would be found alive and well.

I couldn' agree more Chickhick on Sun 09-Sep-07 17:11:37

I would too.

I can understand why you don't want to sign, no-one should feel pressured into signing in any way.

For me it is just a way of showing that the majority of MNetters don't think that the 'debates' are acceptable behaviour. But, freedom of speech and all that. But we can say that we disagree.

and I understand the weary fatigue bit

And again why "consent." Nobody needs to ask for permission or a licence to speculate.

I think the ghouls' argument that those who dislike the thread should go away is silly. But it worked. Because those who dislike that kind of thread have left it and are over here. And the thread has gone mad.

coppertop

It's bumping, ll.

Who was it came out with that quotation about teaching pigs to sing? Don't try it, because the only thing you'll succeed at in such an endeavour is to frustrate yourself and annoy the pig?

Yeah, that's pretty bang on when it comes to most of these threads.