MaryJane wrote:

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I love this forum for many reasons, I've said it before and I shall say it again. "techies" is where I run to with a problem and I always get an answer. 

More people are leaving the forum. A wise contributor to the forum recently suggested that if you have a 'beef' name yourself, and your issue.

So I will.

I am MaryJane. My family nickname for me. I left the forum once due to someone, but I missed it and decided to come back as me. I regretted leaving and realised that a big issue with one person ( who I felt bullied me) was a dumb reason to leave. I felt I needed to be stronger and not let that person screw with my head.

I HATE, with a passion, the negative People. The ones that hide behind a name, remain anonymous cos 'they got no balls'. The sun could be shining, they are alive; but no, they have to pick, destroy, bully and ruin someone's day. And many seem to sit at home, no clue to the open road. 

As an observer, there are a minority who contribute regularly, openly and honestly. IMHO they make the forum. They are like a 'forum family' for me; now as a proud and optimistic nomad. 

And I miss them. i wish they all would return, in a 'United Front'. Because it's such a great forum. What if all the positive, happy folk could drown out the ones that will NEVER contemplate looking at life through rose coloured glasses? 

Why are you, me, allowing ourselves to quit because of them? 

Are you quitting because you are insecure against the bullies? Or just because the bullies are winning because of today's world of being 'diplomatically correct'.

And just for the record, I damned near quit over the recent debacle over the 2 people who complained over 'those avatars'. 

But I decided not to give them the satisfaction.

So, before anyone else quits, I ask you one question....

"Are you Man or Mouse?". And I'm picking you are Man... But just over the bullsh*t. Just know you are not alone in those thoughts. And please, you good guys, don't quit. 

MJ

PS. It's taken guts for me to write this. To the anonymous weird folk ,that will try and destroy me with your nasty comments....You won't... Don't even try. Shut up FOR ONCE in your peculiar anonymous lives. And get a life.

 

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 The operative words in this post are - "But I decided not to give them the satisfaction."

Totally agree with these words MJ!

Well said Mary Jane.

I don't hide and I take great satisfaction in what you say,,, ie don't give the bullies the satisfaction they need to survive.

I and some others on this forum (thanks guys), have tackled bullies in the past 2 years or so, and 2 of the worst offenders have left, so you don't have them to worry about at least. We exposed them for what they were and we did hound them a bit ,,lol,,,  but what we did was give them some of their own medicine back and they couldn't take it and left.

The forum is a better place without them I can assure you.

So in essence we do care when others are bullied and some of us do tackle it,, AL BE IT QUIETLY WITHOUT FANFARE,,,,,BUT THEY ARE GONE.

They may reinvent themselves who knows.

-- Edited by Baz421 on Saturday 1st of November 2014 08:37:25 PM

I get a lot of information from this forum and others. I hope people continue to contribute. No matter what your experience may be, there is always something new around the corner.
Pete (Middo)

I must say I've not had any problems with bullies on this forum. There were a couple of pathetic attempts to ruffle my feathers but I ignored them. But you're right MJ... giving into bullies is dumb.

Well said MJ, I love this forum, love the ppl here, love reading about ppls adventures.  I am learning alot from techies, still have lots to learn, like the fact that no one judges me that I don't understand some stuff, but hey I'm here to learn, I'm staying, may not be able to contribute much, but I'm here if anyone needs me - Fran.

Frangipani wrote:

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Well said MJ, I love this forum, love the ppl here, love reading about ppls adventures.  I am learning alot from techies, still have lots to learn, like the fact that no one judges me that I don't understand some stuff, but hey I'm here to learn, I'm staying, may not be able to contribute much, but I'm here if anyone needs me - Fran.

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You are contributing by simply being here. Kind words and acts in support of others IS contributing IMHO. 

Bless you, Mary Jane.

IMHO

MJ, please understand that, in a forum with 9000+ 'members', there will be many examples of human behaviour on display (and I do not for a moment condone any bullying-type behaviour you may have felt BTW). My point is that this forum has good/bad/indifferent.... no more, probably less than most web-based or society-based comparisons (again cheers, Cindy).....

Meanwhile, positive thoughts for you regarding your point-of-view here and please consider remaining part of the 'good'.

The 'first step', indeed!

 

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  (Lao-tzu)

 

 

Like all the rest here so far MJ,I agree with you!!!

A few get really personal and critical - even nasty - towards those who didn't know (often the newer members), or ask a question that may have been asked and answered many times before - but how many of us (especially if you are actually on the road) have the time to scroll back many pages looking for a topic which might or might not line up with that persons question?

The best way to treat these tiny minded, too much time on their mind, bitter and twisted bullies is to simply ignore their unpleasant posts and let the pleasant and intelligent people answer the question as best as possible.

I was one of those deemed to have an offensive avatar and it was taken down. I left it for 24 hours to consider if I would pull the pin on this forum, but based on the reaction to most to the two who complained, I decided to stay. My signature will stay for a while - to make a point - then I will change it and maybe put a slightly raunchy avatar up again - maybe a naked cat or dog or even........a kangaroo!!!!!!!

Mary Jane,  I salute you and admire you for what you have just done, it must have been incredibly difficult for you to write what you wrote, and to take the risk of opening yourself up like that.

Not only have you shown your strength and determination, you have acted as a catalyst for many other (including myself) to think about how we exist on the forum, asking ourselves questions like am I a positive influence on the forum. This is all good.

And last but by no means least, you have given many of us the opportunity to express our support for the sentiments you express. Many, even the people who do not post will draw strength from this show of support, knowing the good people are here, and giving them confidence to ask questions in the future.

Well Done, and thank you.

 

 

Baz,

It seems that whichever forum you frequent that have members discussing the subject of generators, the use or not of a WDH, free/low cost camping v caravan parks, and that old favourite, electrical threads, polarization becomes rife very quickly. In these such instances the site owner, manager, administrator, moderator, webmaster or whatever needs to take a hand to prevent all out warfare and fair enough. Maybe a lot of side issues such as you have raised have been simmering away in the background and it only needs a spark to ignite a flammable situation.

This avatar issue, if one may be so bold as to use the "a" word, seems to have touched an already inflamed nerve with those who appear at least, to be a bunch of pretty laid back characters under different circumstances.

 

Cheers

Rod

jezz im stuffed im a mouse haaaaaaaaa

Travel Bug wrote:

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Good on you MaryJane

I'm not travelling at present so I haven't been posting as much over recent times (that's soon to change) but I am still proud to say that I am a member of this great forum.

I admit that I thought about leaving over the "avatar debacle" but there was no way that I could allow the "faceless few" to claim a victory.

I am really sorry that so many good members have decided to leave...I hope that in time, they might have a re-think and come back. 

Cheers all. 

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 well said. rocket.

You raised some good points MJ and I admire you for it. I too was one requested to change Avatars, Wombat, Dougwe and myself. Dougwe has made his Post in this thread. Although I was very annoyed at the outcome, especially with the loss of good Members, like Wombat for example, I just took it in my stride.

Bullying I never will condone, but some of us do take pot shots at each other, but it's done in fun. I plead guilty to that, but I also feel that I contribute to the Forum in areas where  I have expertise. If you are bullied, I believe you should report it immediately to Cindy. I'm sure you can count her to take remedial action. If someone pokes a bit of fun at you, poke back. I've always believed that some of the best humor is if you can laugh at yourself.......Take Care.