Apparent bullying on this forum?

[ausername]

I've been a lurker on here for a long time, I have another account that I've used a little (not since last year), but created this throwaway for this post because if I decide to use that account again I don't want to be targeted.

I read this forum a lot, and there will be countless other people who just read and don't contribute - that's the case with forums these days, I own two big ones and participation is way down in recent years but page views aren't. There will be many more 'lurkers' here than you might think, people who are all potential contributors.

But for a very long time now I've been noticing that a group of contributors to this forum are picking on another member and its left a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm sure there are other lurkers who feel the same about it.

There has been a thread on here about people getting lonely and depressed due to the isolation of working on the net, but paradoxically people don't appear too sensitive to the feelings of somebody who is probably a prime candidate to fit the description of a lonely homeworker and therefore potentially susceptible to having a fragile mental state and more sensitive to feelings of rejection.

I've got got a couple of simple questions:

1. Does the new owner of this forum think that allowing that blatant bullying to happen is the right decision, perhaps because he doesn't want to alienate three or four regular posters in the process, or could it perhaps be argued that there may be far more than three or four people who have decided to refrain from posting because they see the sometimes toxic atmosphere on here?

2. Do the people who ridicule and mock this individual not consider the damage that they may be doing to their own reputations, and the business that they could potentially lose by being so aggressive and unkind to that individual? At least one of them offers professional business services and clients will find his posts on here very easily.

And yes, I'm talking about the chap who owns lowprices.co.uk.... looks like he has all but been driven away, but what did he do that was so bad? Now that he has gone will you find somebody else to start on? You could be next?

It is more than apparent that a select few were actively going on all of the threads that he started just to have a pop at him, apparently with the blessing of the owner of this place. It doesn't reflect well on this place and I'm sure it has lost this place new users.... had much fresh blood recently? No? Well perhaps we know why.

I know about 40-50 current and former professional boxers if anybody fancies pulling on some gloves to see what it feels like to be bullied for a few rounds? Know some in the North and some in the South, can fix that for you no problem.... we could call it a "free experience day"...

 

[RobM]

'I know about 40-50 current and former professional boxers if anybody fancies pulling on some gloves to see what it feels like to be bullied for a few rounds?'
Classy.

If being 'bullied' on a public forum upsets you so much you have to create a fake account because you fear what people might say to you I think you should probably get thicker skin or just possibly this is not the medium for you - you don't have to log on if you don't want to.

Your questions are really not questions - they are loaded because they are actually just your opinions/rants phrased as questions to give the impression that you are inviting discussion and being productive. You ask basically if the owner condones bullying (which of course nobody is going to say yes to) and if 'people who ridicule and mock this individual consider the damage that they may be doing to their own reputations' (again nobody will say yes to that without admitting they are people who ridicule and mock others ignoring your obvious negative opinion that they are damaging themselves). You then end a thread about bullying by suggesting that people get physically beaten up by people you know.
The more I read your thread the more I see how it is wrong on so many fronts. I could say you are trying to intimidate and bully yourself with veiled threats and insults but, hey, I don't let things get to me like you.

The upshot of it is - if you repeatedly spam in an attempt to increase value/turnover of your sites on this forum people will call you out about it. There are plenty of other forums that allow spamming posts - it can be done there. If people calling out spam offends anyone (or they think it's bullying) then the answer is simple.... don't do it, don't logon, or ask admin to delete your account.

 

[dazc]

The person alluded to has been warned about self-promotion on 3 forums that I know about but he persisted anyway.
On this particular forum, I noticed that when he did post something useful, or of general interest, he always got a fair response. Of course, there are a few exceptions where it is fair to say there was a bit of bullying when 'safety in numbers' came into play (one person stands out particularly) but that is par for the course with any forum really.

 

[MikeJDS]

What's the point of this post?
This nonsense has gone on for sooo long (years in fact) it's just cringeworthy whenever it keeps coming up.

 

[RobM]

I guess someone has been reading through the forum and is angry about posts from a year or more ago.

 

[Admin]

BTW When do I stop being the new owner? . Nearly 2 years now. Anyway, this is a strange post because I've not seen any bullying on here in recent times. I was very surprised to read this thread because it's so harmonious on here at the moment and in recent history, for a forum that's not a small thing.

I don't know what your agenda is by posting this publicly and with anonymity when you seem to be talking about history. When accelerator was ribbed for certain posts I did get involved on 2 levels, I spoke to some members and asked them to lay off and I spoke to accelerator and tried to give advice on how to avoid it. The fact is, he did post to drop links to low quality sites...all over this forum and I largely tolerated it (for a while, until it become blatant and unbearable). I will remove this thread shortly because as others have said and Mike above, nobody wants to read this now. If you cannot see that there is no bullying or harassment going on at this forum these days then I don't know what else I can say.

 

[Lovekraft]

Careful Steve, if you remove the thread you may have this chap turn up at your door, one of 50 such friends ausername can choose from:

 

[gimpydog]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

I will remove this thread shortly

Is that really necessary?

forum
ˈfɔːrəm/

noun:

a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

 

[gimpydog]

BTW When do I stop being the new owner?

When you sell.

 

[ausername]

If being 'bullied' on a public forum upsets you so much you have to create a fake account because you fear what people might say to you I think you should probably get thicker skin or just possibly this is not the medium for you - you don't have to log on if you don't want to.

I'm not being bullied on this forum, I'm not lowprices.co.uk. The boxing statement was my way of saying that it is very easy to use the internet to bully people psychologically, and its usually from people who wouldn't say boo to a ghost if you stumbled across them in a pub or at a conference or other event.

I've got no interest at all in using my real identity because cowards could go cowardly things like identify my own sites and click bomb them, which would take food out of my children's mouths. The internet has a different set of rules.

And yes, you are one of those that I perceive to be somebody who likes to throw their weight around on here.

 

[RobM]

Lol ok. I think worrying about people clickbombing your sites and taking food out of your children's mouths is a little paranoid - you may be giving yourself a little more importance than others do. I do believe you were the only one here advocating violence. Anyway I won't be losing any sleep over your opinion on a public forum - I suggest you don't either. Notice though I don't need to make another username to make my comments. Anyway knock yourself out - ignored by me.

 

[ausername]

B

I don't know what your agenda is by posting this publicly and with anonymity when you seem to be talking about history.

Look I don't come here every day to read the ins and outs of everything, I just pop in now and again to have a butchers, because I'm not really a "domainer", I'm more of a "developer" these days, and this forum serves the former a lot more than it does the latter.

But I was disappointed to see that accelerator had been driven away, because every time I've come here previously I've seen him being picked on a bit.

There isn't much by way of an agenda, if you must know I couldn't remember what email address was associated with my last account, it is possible that the email address doesn't even exist anymore. You have my name.... I'm not hiding from you.

Anyway, I'm hope the old chap is okay, has anybody asked him? Perhaps this forum at least owes him a bit of a welfare check if anybody is connected with him? Loneliness is a killer, and that really was my point, dropping a few links may be irritating to some but its hardly a capital offense.... the forum is nofollow anyway..... and perhaps his own sites is really all he has to talk about, and perhaps he is short of people to talk about them with.

 

[ausername]

Oh no I've been ignored on the internet by somebody I don't know.

Anyway, I've got nothing else to say. I'll sleep well knowing that I've not picked on some old geezer, and the owner can worry about possible reasons for this sites traffic appearing to take a serious nosedive in 2017.