Not for me

(17-12-2023 19:36 )Boomerangutangangbang Wrote:  Having your posts scrutinized, dissected & picked over by vultures gets tiresome. In some cases these vultures don't even have a voice of their own. Undermining others is not a talent to be proud of.

I did not pass comment on this specific bit of the post at the time because it resonated so much with previous experience on here and I did not want to come across as a bitter and twisted old fart.
But in the light of ongoing mental health recovery I feel enough sense of freedom to speak out.

In the posts of a certain group of posters I get a sense of great pleasure being taken in discreditting posts on this forum and then the 'usual suspects' turning up in sneering, sycophantic and supercilious support of such discreditation. The whole tone of some posts is pompous and lecturing in nature. Too much apparent glee in telling folk they are 'wrong' or 'incorrect' or that they should get their facts straight.
A constant insinuation that everything has to be matter of fact and that opinions mean nothing.
Forum life is it appears to me treated by most as an exchange of opinions. Sometimes such exchanges can get a bit heated but behind it all there is an appreciation that the entitlement to different opinion is perfectly right and proper.
However there are some whose sole purpose seems to be to jump on every innocent error of fact or interpretation however slight in a quite unnecessarily harsh fashion. There is a time and a way to point out innocent mistakes. Unfortunately it seems to be the solitary occupation of a minority on here to tell others they are wrong with the use of belittling tone. It almost seems like vultures waiting to pounce on every mistake however small and all ganging up to inflict maximum damage on their prey.
And when such posters get caught out for making errors themselves of whatever kind they don't like it and their cronies come marching rather pathetically to their defence. Lets get one thing straight here.
These are folk who have been on the forum a long time. They have made relatively few posts during that period. They seem to have pitifully few original opinions or ideas of their own so instead they choose to pull other peoples posts to pieces knowing perfectly well that it is not strictly against the rules.
But make no mistake this behaviour is noticed not just by me but by others too.
To my mind it has no positive value and merely stirs tension and negativity in quite needless fashion. There are ways and means to engage reasonable, good humoured debate. Most on here understand that. Regrettably there is a rather feeble minded minority who do not and have no wish to.

If there is one thing to appreciate more than ever now it is the imminent value of the 'Ignore List' . Ignoring on the basis of a refusal to be antagonised and irritated by the high and mighty style utterences of those who have a statistic or a 'You are wrong' assertion as a snooty response to post after post.
Forum life being so much more enjoyable for not having to bear witness to such appalling condescension and better still for the absence of any temptation to argue the toss with those who appear to always have to be right about everything.

An object lesson in humility and human decency is the responsibility of all in life and not just on forums such as this.
I for one believe social media and it's ensuing keyboard warrioritis has emboldened folk to think they can behave however they want and get away with it. At times they get away with no sanction.
But be in no doubt such behaviour is noticed. The culture of pompous, arrogant, self righteous belittlement will eventually have had it's day and seen it's value quashed forever. For those responsible for demonstrating such behaviour the day of reckoning will come only upon realization of ones own culpability. For those people I hope that day does come. Not because I wish ill on them. But so they can at least try and see the impact of their behaviour on others.

We all need to listen to one another rather more. Try and understand each other better. Show more compassion and empathy. That applies in all walks of life. Social media, forums and all.

^^ The way people can behave in the on-line world & the lack of repercussions seems to have filtered into everyday life, the lines are very much blurred for some, they have lost the skills of interacting with any remote sense of kindness & thought.