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Sorry I haven't been around for ages. Life has been sooo busy.

Anyone still around?

:beer:

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Nah, they're all out on chicken parade.

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Unfortunately not many. The forum has been killed off by a few assholes whose constant bickering and "left vs. right" arguments drove everyone away. It's a shame really; this used to be a great place for information and just a chat.

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I pop in from time to time, but like Dorothy says, it's not like it was.

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Ozzie and I are. He is left and I am not but we agree on plenty.

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Nope, so bored with the pissing contests that I've just moved to the US.

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I hoped you had made it to Bali :)

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Oh I wish - not sure I'll get there now until we move back to Oz. (And as for when that will be - 3 months, 6 months, two years, who knows?) But a whole new continent for me to explore, oz - maybe I should take a leaf out of your book and get me an RV instead of a job :)

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I'm here, well reading mostly, but even I don't remember who I am.

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Plenty of adventure and new experiences on the road, Highly recommended.

My wife loved it, LIke a bleeding gazelle she was up those rocky hillsides.

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I'm here lol Real life sometimes distracts me. I spend most of my day chasing a 12 month old around and fishing remotes out of the toilet. Just been told yesterday my aches and pains are not flu or old age but blood tests confirmed Ross River virus.

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:wub:

The best grandad in the entire universe are you.

I hope you feel far better soon as.

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The 12 month old sounds great. Ross River not so much. I got it in February 2017 and it was a bitch!

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I was wondering how things were going? Such a wonderful thing you have done :wub: Hope you feel better soon Xx

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The Doc recons complete recovery in 6-12 months. Bloody scary as I've spoken to a few others that have it & they reckon it never goes away. A mate of ours swears she's crippled with it after two years. My initial thought was that she was playing upon it, now I'm not so sure lol. Some are back to normal in 6 weeks others 3-6 months I'm guessing it has something to do with how fit your body is prior to infection.

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I should do an update really but in a nutshell the parents are slowly improving and the baby is at this point going to be returned to their care before July 2020. She [daughter] is expecting again due September 12th. Oxygen thief still using periodically. Older two girls really traumatised and refusing contact with parents as they feel as though they've been replaced with new children. Sad really but on the positive side I worked for an RSL Advocate recently & they have sorted out some mental health counseling for the girls, based on our son still being serving RAN personnel. Eldest GD diagnosed with PTSD. It's been a long three years lol.

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No I've pulled the pin . At least with the Australia section. The forum has been in decline for years if the truth be known. (sometimes rather stimulating even back in 2008) Nothing or little to do with right/.left postings(as one peep suggested) as that was specific few postings, but easy for some to appropriate blame. Far fewer interested in immigrating from UK, besides I guess and forums are increasingly yesterday by the looks of things., along with so many other forms of social media to steal time.

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I was relatively lucky that physically I was fairly healthy so it only lasted about 6 months. My very good friend is a diabetic and she was really crippled with painful joints for a good couple of years. Apparently once you have the virus it can flare up years later. At least according to the GP who I saw when I got sick.

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Yup, still check in from time to time. It's a shadow if its former self though...


S

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Typical lefty response :p

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Evening Alf.

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Congratulations! Citizenship next?

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Here sometimes - usually when I'm avoiding uni work, house work, etc (so probably more than I should be LOL)

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Good morning MP.

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And trying to cross the road safely. 😉

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Indeed. I agree.

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Simple fix, and one in place on other forums for the same reason, people frustrated by political bickering..... Dedicated "Politics" subforum. Ergo a Moderation issue.

Try it and you'll get the Aus section back within 18 months.

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The politics stuff isn't any worse in the Australia forum than in the others. It's better now than a year ago, the worst offenders have now mostly bottled themselves up in TIO.

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It's not just political bickering that's the problem though Ozzie. It's the all pervasive nasty, sneering manner in which a few posters choose to weigh in on almost any topic. They've Taken Their Position and Made A Stand (:lol:), and they're quite justified in their nasty, sneering, dismissive behaviour because their opinion is The Truth, dammit!

Most of us avoid this 'big myself up', bullying type of person like the plague, whether in real life or online and with very good reason - they're just not worth our time. There are so many more useful things and decent people to spend our time on and with :)

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Yup, it's not going to be contained.

For me, we hit rock bottom lately (at least I hope we can go no further) when a long time poster with some personal problems posted a couple of times, asking for advice - and I suspect just somebody to listen - and his threads have been overtaken by the usual shitfight.

The annoying thing is, on an individual level I know most of those concerned have a lot of knowledge to contribute to the community - they have and they do - but collectively they do love a scrap. When that happens, the good advice gets lost or people stop posting.

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Got it in a nutshell.
And thats why many long term posters have left the site, and several others only pop in once every few months. The friendship side of the site has virtually ceased to be. There was a time when this forum was a place to come for help and support - these days its the last place that most of us would turn to.

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Treat the barbie like a pub, ban politics as it spoils everything, even the most inoffensive of threads. I'm not sure why the sneering chest puffer is remaining anonymous though, it's the worst kept secret since Elton John was in the closet. Name and shame, shut em up and people will come back. This is the whole reason Timber set up his own forum in the first place, and it was glorious while it lasted.

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Hey there everyone! I've been away for ages as well. Once we moved back to Canada in 2010 I gradually stopped visiting as I got busy with work, kids sports and life in general. I've been poking around a bit off an on for the past few months or so since my daughter is going into grade 11 this year and has been talking about returning to Australia for university. She's been talking about it for years and as the date gets closer I think it might actually happen!

Since our return from Canada, we relocated to BC for better work opportunities. I image we will stay here for a while as we've bounced around so much it would be good to stay put at least at 5 years until the youngest finishes high school. If my daughter does go to Australia that will certainly make things interesting and I can foresee some extended vacations there since I'm a teacher and have two months off each summer (in Canada).

Since I've been lurking about the past couple of months I have noticed the forum is super quiet and posts stay on the main page for ages. So I'm glad someone posted wondering about this!

Anyway... a big hello to all those that might remember me from back in the day!

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I'm not around much these days. I pop in from time to time. But since you replied to the Zimbabwe thread that I was subscribed to six months ago, I've been sucked back in because I can't resist checking out what's happening in the BE world.

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Sneering and/or chest puffing from one person isn't the problem though Steve. Even threads that are just confined to those who seem to only use BE as a platform to trade insults about personal opinions aren't the main problem, although bloody annoying they're easier to ignore when they're all in one place.

It's what Kooky said, a thread can be rocking along nicely with people responding to requests for information, or help, or a bit of support or just a chat, then someone (no particular person, there's a few) swoops in rabbiting on about how they voted for the right party, or live in the right place, or how people get too much/not enough financial assistance from the government, or how Australia is going to the dogs/is not going to the dogs, or how well they've done or how knowledgeable they are, or just 'my opinion is right and your opinion is wrong and I Stand By What I Said' (that one does give me a giggle), all laced with liberal amounts of nastiness, put downs, insults and goading - and there you have it. Not the sort of crap most of us would willingly engage with - so we don't.

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The basic problem has been - and this is a general statement - too much unpleasantness from certain members. The Maple Leaf (Canada's equivalent of The Barbie) is much more courteous and much less in-your-face, and therefore much more popular. Maybe The Barbie's mods could check that forum out and identify how its ethos (good word!) differs from this one.

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Ah, but Gordon, that's just the Canadian way. We're lovely people :)