This has been brewing in my head for quite some time and today a now deleted thread (in my opinion, rightly so) has prompted me to voice my observations for better or maybe worse.

Firstly I would like to thank @dsio and his partners in crime for allowing us to play in their Digital Disneyland for the WIS.

There in lies the rub, we are playing in their sandpit which is a multi national group of players consisting of a hugely diverse group of vocations, cultures, ages, religions, educational levels and interests etc. ( sorry @STANDY , we might have to make a special category for you) The one common thing that puts us in this pit together is our passion for Omega and indeed most things that tick.

What might be amusing or seen as funny or just banter in your culture can be perceived as abhorrent or deeply offensive in another culture. Maybe it is a side effect of this COVID thing that has turned the whole world into a horrible 2020 but recently at least to me there seems to be a minor explosion of a disregard for peoples feelings and a nonchalance in what we write and how it may be perceived(it has always been there but to a much lesser level).

Yes newbies ask questions that most of the more long term members know the answer to which used to garner a polite response with the answer and maybe some direction to where more information could be found. More often than not the current response is google or this question has been asked a million times(hardly friendly or helpful). In my opinion better off not responding at all, why not just ignore it and let someone a little more magnanimous respond?
The other part of this disturbing trend is that are lot of these types of responses come from the people with very low post counts or new members.

Maybe we should think why that questions is asked. This is a watch forum, if you can't ask here go to Google. Does Google then instigate a discussion on why it is this way, the frequency and the validity of the information? In fact this is to a lot of us also a tool for social interaction with others suffering the same affliction as ourselves. Who do you talk to about watches outside of this forum? For me virtually nobody as very few people get it.

I now have a group of posts by particular people that I don't bother to open or look at because I believe that I am not interested, not necessarily the content but how it is delivered and that is fine. I just move on. That may be a shame because it might contain some great information. I ask these people who bestowed the privilege for them to put posters in their place and alert them to their stupid question/s or post.

The moderators to me are the ones bestowed with the power to make sure that we all play nicely and recently I feel they may have been working overtime.

I still love playing in this sandpit and have no intentions of leaving, voluntarily anyway

Cheers

 

Was thinking along the same lines...maybe something has been put in the water

 

Perhaps reposting the whole post was a little in excess?

Perhaps I am old school, but I love this Disclaimer to one of the Watch Forum Groups I belong to on FB. But then, they are mostly dealing with a totally different generation than what I have read here these past 10 years.
Not too much to ask.
The Post below is from a Facebook Group and has nothing to do with Omega Forums rules etc.. Just to be clear..
"To all our new members,
Just to remind that we are a group of serious watch enthusiasts and collectors, and we simply don’t allow or tolerate any fake watches, or any jokes or humour around racism, gender-discrimination, or one that includes profanity, vulgarity or swearing.
To explain our culture here in one word, it’s - professional.
We are here for serious watch talks and not for any personal attacking, ridiculing or sarcasm, or as such any negativity towards the members or watches in general. We simply don’t tolerate that.
The posts on here belong to the poster and if any comment in the thread doesn’t seem to align with group values, it is reported to us, and we action not only the comment but also the commenter, relatively very quickly.
Thanks for being our members and we look forward to positive participation and contribution in building this great community that brings out positivity from something that doesn’t really have any negativity to offer - watches.
Have a great day!"

 

Maybe, but I just did not think about it at the time...I just hit the reply button.

Not too dissimilar to what I did here, only this time I decided to do a little highlighting.

 

I am new here, find this place to be awesome, thanks for having me. I share your sentiments and am glad you took time to craft this well-constructed, insightful and spot-on post.

 

Noted.

 

I'm so glad... and just to re-quote what I actually said "Maybe, but I just did not think about it at the time...I just hit the reply button."

 

I don't think it's unique to this forum. People around the world are experiencing lockdown fatigue, viral fatigue and are angry, lonely, frustrated and feeling helpless. They take it out on others, either by instigating or escalating protests, road rage, and forum rage. Yeah, I just made that one up.

It's interesting how certain forums develop a tone, a certain impression, which does evolve over time. I enjoy this as well as other WIS forums, and some car forums. The behavior, language, profanity, sexism etc. varies greatly between (for example) an expensive German marque and a less expensive domestic marque. I do try to just ignore things when I get offended rather than try to correct or educate the poster.

I'm reminded of a saying:

Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

 

I could be wrong, but isn't yande doing what Barking mad talks about? IMO, there's no need for "Perhaps reposting the whole post was a little in excess?" and "Noted". It's these types of comments that often generate lengthy back and forth between members.

 

The sensitivity level is approaching an all time high. If collecting and discussing can't include a little fun, what's the damn point?

 

Your point about how to treat new members is well-taken. It’s much better to be kind, and if you want to think about it selfishly, if they stick around because they are welcomed nicely, they may eventually cause your portfolio to increase in value, or they could even buy one of your watches.

The decorum question is a bit tougher to navigate. Even in the operating room, I’ve witnessed doctors crack jokes to lighten things up. So let’s all not take everything so seriously.

 

And that is my point, what is fun to you may not be fun to others. I love the fun, I enjoy the thread drift but more often than not it tends to get personal.

 

I understand what you’re saying, but it’s a lot to ask people to dial this in perfectly. And sometimes when you’re over-cautious, it just gets too clinical, repetitive, and boring. But agree not to let it escalate to a personal level - that’s never justified.

 

This.
-and I love your old saying! (Which I will shamelessly use from now on....)

 

That was my first thought as well.

 

It definitely was not meant to be. It was a mere suggestion, for I have learnt (read) before that reposting pics etc does get tiresome. It does for me at least. Scrolling scrolling... Why not just edit? Simple. And then he delights in doing the same thing again.. So be it..Sort of like asking the same old question again and again... I don't mind that, personally for I was a noob one day and I believe what you give away you get back....... etc.. But it seems most of here cannot handle that and come back at the innocent newcomer with all sorts of latent anger.. and the newcomer leaves..
But then again perhaps you all are right, especially considering that now closed thread.

This International Forum OF is well over a decade old, with around 60,000 members. I belong to FB groups, open to only Aust and NZ members, (invitation only) specifiically Omega, 18 months old, 25,000 members. (Suggested Rules above) . I would love to know the average age of each member here, and why it seems the younger ones, are no longer posting. They have moved to FB. Just a thought. Not saying I am right in any of this, but it seems there is a core bunch of people here that set the tone, and to me, after a break from here for the past couple of years, it does not seem to be gaining much new blood. But then again.. These are my mere observations, most won't agree with them, but I am more interested in those that do. Love to all..
and just to lighten it up... Some Omegas..

 

Doesn't have to be

 

You're absolutely right. However just like that gone thread on "Bullies", a topic such as this in inevitably going to encourage major disagreements...the very sort that you claim you would like to see avoided.

I think this and M'Bob's viewpoint sums things up quite well.

 

A little common sense can go a long way.....