(shivers in horror) Its true, and other topics of conversation there are Celine Dion (vomits)

I think it we should start a revolt about it.

Celine Dion is illegal and so is semi-skimmed milk.

l agree.

Avril Lavigne as well, she is on too, make her illegal with her dirty white vest, tits like an ironing board and two canine teeth like a basset hound.

Wombat, can you do a list of all things that should be illegal, including semi skimmed milk and boring forums.

Blimey, get me a darkened room

You will have to give us all lessons on the art of good debate and pommy bashing

Of course on this forum we discuss the price of lettuce which is much more interesting

There has always been banter here, but in the last few months I have noticed the 'banter' has often crossed the line into personal abuse.

Which reminds me, I really must start my thesis on forum dynamics and the collective conciousness.

Someone call the mods...
Wombat's been body-snatched..!!

Yep will the real Wombat42 please stand up

Too late, already a Doctor of that

Gotta say, having had a while away from the forum, I thought it's really cleaned itself since when I joined last year.

There's always gonna be planks squabbling over the same old stuff. It's a part of the forum, but honestly, it's alot better than it used to be.

Paul.

Just read on another thread that Phoenixuk2oz has gone now
Bugger.... we had coffee in Brizzy lined up & everything!
What is going on????

Could you look at why poster1 calls poster2 "Mad" just because poster1 was losing the argument?

A

It's an interesting old group dynamic isn't it. I mean, you have people desparate to leave the UK (the sinking ship brigade) - the polar opposite of people who are keen to move to Australia (your better-way-of-life brigade). You have people desparate to return to the UK (I-never-felt-settled-from-day-one) and people who are being forced to return to the UK (partner's unhappy, death in the family, job hasn't worked out). You have the usual national gangs (Welsh, Scottish, Irish, English) all bickering with each other. You have happy expats (the I'd-never-go-back crew) and whinging poms (the TV's-shit-and-you-can't-even-buy-a-decent-lump-hammer-here crew). You have native Australians, native Brits, native mockneys and native twits. You've got singletons, families, retirees and moody teens. You've got every age, skin tone, political leaning, gender and favoured-margarine brand. There's PC lovers, and Mac lovers, sports fans and bookish swats, coppers and criminals, sporties and couch-potatoes. Add to the mix, that many of them are going through huge changes in their lives, some bad, some good and you get one mother-****ing great big tinder-box, ready to explode at any time.

I know that there have been some high-profile posters shutting down their browsers for the last time (or have they?), but many will return, and those that don't will, in time, be replaced by others who will also come to be valued by different people for different reasons.

And me? I just come here because it beats talking about my day-job and I always feel a few feet closer to Australia when I'm on the forums.

Just think of the board as a country: the leavers have "emigrated" and the incomers are "immigrants". Some of the current residents say "there are too many immigrants coming in here and changing the character of the place. I'm off..."

Sound familiar?

However, this board has 580,000 posts on it, *way* ahead of all the others, and this is a tribute to all involved.

The mods (probably) can advise whether there has been any statistical change in post volume recently. Whether there's been a change in post quality is a subjective matter though

How very true! That's life, ain't it!?!

Well the last form of defense is just abuse, so I'd guess calling them mad, or saying they're stupid would be it. Also, picking on spelling mistakes is a good sign they are losing the discussion.

Actually, having thought it through, I can't do my thesis, because I need to understand the corrolation between children bickering and forums. That would require watching children closely... I could get arrested for that