Midsomer

sg steve

HelenM - do you think that this stroudgreen.org forum should be shut down by it's owners because it could potentially be used for bullying? For example people attack local businesses with comments made here.Local business men may find it hurtfull or damaging to their livelihood to be criticised.Because you can't be sure that the forum will be properly moderated. It's up to the people who run this forum to moderate it in a decent way,but people who run forums have their own agendas so we can't be sure that they will stop libel etc

carry on

delaware1

SG

I think you have raised a good point altho shutting the site down is probably unnecessary - I agree with Helen M in the sense that there should be a unoffocial house rule that comments identifying local residents or people's homes are not acceptable. Businesses are in a slightly different category as they are inherently public in nature but even in their case the moderator should remove posts that attack or deprecate identifiable individuals who work there.

sg steve

HelenM - you say that you are concerened about the way people describe other people on public forums. As you can't guarantee that forums will be moderated in a way that meets the standards that you want ,surely the only solution would be to ask for central government to censor forums or switch them off from the internet altogether.Are you saying that you want forums banned from the internet or censored by central government a bit like the Chinese government does? In my opinion the internet should be censorsed by the government and all public forums should be illegal as they can be used for malicious attacks on businesses etc.I am being serious.

carry on

sg steve

The people who run Harringayonline forum started a thread recently describing their policy on how they don't want people to start threads naming the name and address of say their neighbours who they are having a dispute with. Because obviously malicous intent can be there. Perhaps lessons can be learnt from the way harringayonline do business with regard to the rules that the forum states for its users?
Also harringayonline deete more malicious comments that this forum does.And they are policing their forum more than they do on this forum.Maybe Andy and David who run stroudgreen.org can have a meeting with Hugh and Liz from Harringayonline to discuss the issues that HelenM raises.And to work out ways on cutting down on libelous and malicious comments aimed at local sales assistants in local shops and bullying etc.I didnt like the way the guardian reading "haters" on the forum attacked Tollington Tom on that thread which caused him/her to leave the forum he wrote.Tollington Tom said he was Australian - and the "haters" were just attacking him because he was a bit different in the way he expressed himself i think

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

miss annie

I think that this forum is moderated in a very adult manner. Andy and David are more than capable of defending themselves from your sniping SG Steve, although being rational individuals they'll probably consider it your right to express yourself as you see fit and leave you to it. I'm sure that the people that run harringayonline are splendid individuals but this forum seems to be a lot livelier and more interesting and I consider myself very fortunate to be allowed to be part of it. I quite agree that people shouldn't be naming neighbours that they are having real life personal disputes with, but it strikes me as entirely different to publicly name businesses or services that one loves or disapproves of - Islington Council for example.

andy

If this site gets turned off, it'll be because we're tired of eye-bleedingly tedious threads and dreadful trolls who attack everyone. Not some vague and incoherent legal threat that, if it applies to us, applies to facebook a thousand fold. Carry on.

HelenM

I think language is important - the language we speak and the language we write down in public forums. I also believe that the words I use reflect and reveal my views and thoughts on many issues. How do I come across and how would I like to come across? In terms of describing race I wouldn't like to come across as thoughtless and clumsy - at best - or as someone who holds racist views - at worst.
The Press Complaints Commission advice is long-standing and seems to me to be sensible - clearly one person's sensible is another's 'PC gone mad!'
For me, this has turned out to be an unsettling thread but also illuminating. Unlike a face to face conversations between two people, these written conversations in public remain 'on the record' for better or worse.

sg steve

HelenM - I've never seen anyone write "i wouldn't like to come across as...someone who holds racist views"

ive neve seen anyone write that idea on this forum before.

are you concerened that you hold racist views?

most people are racist to a greater or lesser extent - whether they like to admit it or not.So it would be normal if you did hold racist views and odd if you didnt. Although I am not saying you are going to discriminate against people from different races or be unpleasant to anyone.

why is it an unsettling thread? human beings are racist - thats human nature - it would be childish to pretend otherwise - and they will express their poltically incorrect views on forums - censorship would create a nicey nicey vicars tea party atmosphere - i think that would be a good thing - but others wont. also you say you dont want to come across as thougthless and clumsy - everyone is thoughtless and clumsy sometimes and a bit racist sometimes thats being human . hopefully people arent nasty about it though.

carry on

sg steve

from harringay online forum:

this is what hugh (the man who runs harringayonline forum) writes:

Site policy on identifying individual people and propertiesPosted by Hugh on March 22, 2011 at 11:55pm in About the Website
Send Message View DiscussionsA couple of issues arose recently where I've had to think about whether it is right to identify either a specific person or a specific property in connection with a neighbour problem. The site code of conduct seeks to deal with this as follows:



5. Neighbour Disputes & Issues


From time to members use the site to ask for support in resolving issues that arise with neighbouring properties where the issues require particular knowledge and expertise or action by local public services. HoL can be useful as an information exchange and means of neighbourly support at time like this. We welcome the site being used in this way. However, we have concluded that it is best if members do not use the site to pursue disputes or resolve problems on the site by identifying particular people or properties. Please discuss the issue in general terms by all means, but avoid mentioning specific individuals or properties.

Whilst I totally empathise with the instinct to identify a particular neighbour in a 'neighbour problem' post, I've had to think about this issue on and off recently and I've concluded that there may a real downside to doing so. Most posts that do so may be fine; some will cross the line. There may also be legal issues involved for the site too if libellous statements are allowed. So it seems to me that a universal policy asking people not to do this is the only choice.



I'd really welcome your thoughts.

sg steve

Tollington Tom was the best creative writer I have ever seen on this forum,yet the yobbo element metaphorically booed him off,he/she was right to leave as the guardian reader / ASBo element on the forum gave him such a hard time that he felt he had to leave - maybe if metaphorical asbo yobs hadnt ganged up on him he would have had time to develop his creative writing skills on this forum.And he/she has probably got better things to do such as to write a best selling comic novel. Some of the guardian reading liberals like to think they are liberal until they come across someone they dont understand - then they arent so liberal.Nothing so un liberal as a guardian reading so called liberal. How about having some respect for people who dont bleat out some politically correct 2011 mantra. at least andy/dave had the decency to "sink" the thread which was a disgrace to young stroud green people - and the yobbo element who are so intolerant they attack young people who are creative writers - shame on you.

taff bach

@HelenM-whisper-I love your style, and a Happy April 1 to you too. You get 'em.

sg steve

HelenM - are you going to comment on the thread that you started,or are you going to bottle it?

HelenM,you wrote: "in london2011,if i just say a black teenager with a hoodie mugged me,well it all gets a bit midsomer murders at that point".

HelenM - why do you write this?

Is there something wrong with telling the truth about what you experience?

Have you read the crime reports that the met police write and that are available to neighbourhood watches and to the general public via emails from the met police. The met police tell you on their email what the ethnicity is of robbers on these crime reports as described by the victims of robberies (muggings). And if you read these crime reports for long enough you can make up your mind who is or isn't robbing people at knifepoint in london.

Midsomer Murders is a TV fiction programme - londoners are interested in the facts about who are doing the knife point robberies

you have gone quiet so maybe this is just a wind up from you? You certainly use daily mail reader language such as "well it all gets a bit midsomer murders"

you started it so you finish it

tosscat

Who can we expect next? Hanley Harold? Stapleton Stan? Are the IP addresses the same?

Ali

would they not be random ?