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.

RustyBear

tigerschick

Pesha

Edam.

God, I feel soiled by those threads. Got pulled in trying to tell the nutters that they were contemptible. And regret playing any part in it now.

MB - I've 'only' been here nearly 3 years, but haven't failed to notice it changing too. Like you, I'm heartened by this thread.

TBH Mcedam, it was watching people like you , trying to argue some sense, that made me feel so totaly helpless in the situation. The madness was overwhelming, common sense was being shouted down and told not to look.

Signed
StarryStarryNight

Personally, I'd rather try to introduce an element of restraint and sanity into the madness. It doesn't stop the ghouls but I feel better.

Oh, agree with mb, McEdam. You and LittleBella in particular were doing a fantastic job- you have nothing to feel bad about.

I have avoided the threads as I don't want to take part in a public form of speculation about this matter which is there forever or at leats until we all fall out again someone calls someone a name and it gets pulled.

I have speculated in private with my dp as my words there cannopt hurt anyone and I think many of us may have done that. TBH though I ahve not heard it being discussed much elsewhere it is never raised at work apart from between the kids and yesterday whilst at the hairdressers and out in town I never heard mention of it once until I got in a taxi!

I do think it would be unusual for there to be no mention of it on here as we are all parents and therefore we can relate to it, we discuss other news issues and therefore it seems natural that we discuss this one.

I had not thought about our reputation outside of this site although to be honest I ahve enough to think of mantaining my professional reputaion, running a house and family etc so don;t really think of how some anonymous site I contribute to now and again appears to others. Although having said that if I though the site was full of bosom shifting narrow minded gossips I probably wouldn't be here - I do think a lot of us bosom shift though but I am not sure if that belongs in weightloss, style or breast bottle feeding

adding my squiggle

IN fact I have avoided the threads to such an extent that I have not even read them I may be back in a moment to say yes total madness!

I don't understand all this "oh woe is Mumsnet. How thou hast fallen" business.

please tell me what you're all on about?

yes NKF, but the tricky thing with that is (as we both found out when this case started) that you effectively find yourself forced to become just as obnoxious as the opposing side of the argument just to try to knock some sense into their silly little heads.
hence my 'silence' this time, because otherwise the whole thing becomes a circus.

Flame.

I speculated when those two children died in their hotel room - and felt like sh*t afterwards. That was just over a couple of hours before we found out how they did die. It taught me to try not to judge without the facts and not to try and work out what happened when I clearly know sod all!

trouble was, the people who were trying to do that got shouted down and told not to read the threads if they didn't like it. The 'critical mass' of those threads was such that reason was bitch slapped into silence, because the people who forund the threads vile were avoiding them.....myself included.

Whuch is why, when the bump out of sight chance came, I was so angry at myself, and sickened by some of the posters, that I took it.

Like when I swore at the BNF candidate. Not something I'm proud of, but at the time it did make me feel better, and at least left them in no doubt as to my feelings

it means,NKF, that with some honourable exceptions, the tone of the posting has changed. i can see it too, and i've only been here just over a year. it's less discursive and more argumentative, imo.

Suzy,

Its about a recent foul thread discussing the developments in the Madeleine McCann case.

signed

that's very kind of you, MB and Tamum. But I do feel guilty.

thanks dejags, how's your little girl now, fully recovered I hope?