carcajou

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.

spouse of scouse

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 (), 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

Kooky.

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.

Pollyana

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.

scrubbedexpat098

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.

comet555

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!

Kim67

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.

spouse of scouse

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.

Gordon Barlow

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.

Dorothy

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

Pollyana

I would just like to say at this point that this has been a problem on the Aus forums for several years now. The Mods do read other forums and attempts have been made to bring the Barbie back in line with other chatty forums like the Maple Leaf. It has even been suggested by Mods over the years that the main offenders in the barbie should be banned in the interests of saving the forum. I do not speak for the Mods now, I don't now the current feeling between them and the Barbie, or any other forum, but I know that on the occasions a few years back when I suggested naming, shaming and banning, it was considered unnecessary and the general view was that the forum would sort itself out and I should leave well alone. I resigned (not because of that) and now rarely post unless it is directly to do with visas.

(Note this is not in any way a criticism of moderators or admin, it is just an explanation in answer to the quoted posts).

Ozzidoc

G'day.
I'm still in the USA - citizen now - and as each year passes my Oz life seems further away than ever.
I do miss the banter and friendship of old times, but rarely come here due to family-related time pressures. And, to be honest, FaceAche is easier to navigate so find myself spending more time on there than I should.
Hoo roo (for now)

scrubbedexpat098

Fair point, but there are a couple of people on here guilty of both. TIO posts at least start out knowing it'll end in a row .

Amazulu

Still here Alf - just

Same old. Finished my MBA a while back and still working in mining electrical project engineering - with things really picking up in the industry and we are looking at a few good years ahead. Also trying to turn a, challenging, teenage boy into a man. We're on track but, boy, it's hard work! All good at the moment really

Hope everything is well with you

carcajou

Yep . . . some posters whinging loudly in this thread, far from being helplessly above the fray - actually have long histories of being happy to instigate, engage in, and stir up "crap."

More to the point . . . I was a lurker for about 10 years before joining. The site is still almost exactly as it was a dozen years ago when I first started lurking. There have been no new major offerings added to it, few innovations, and little added to stay up with the competition. So, little out there to entice new regulars who are now getting a lot of their information elsewhere, and increasingly little to keep people around once they have figured out where to get the Man U game, how much electricity is going to cost, and what is the best neigbourhood for xyz.

The Australia forum is not the only one failing to attract new members, it seems almost across the board.

The times the past few years when it seemed this site was turning into a left-wing political blog with just some expat-issue seasoning - well, that may drive off a lot of people, but at least that's an evolution and a direction and opens the site up to new types of people. I am not sure what the future of this site holds, as is.

It may feel good and gratifying to point fingers and say "it's all the fault of [name of poster x that poster y doesn't like]," but the Australia forum has never been rainbows and unicorns - there are stickies telling people to start playing nice, dating back to the start of the decade - and I remember a year or two ago when it was all supposedly the site redesign's fault and the very minor changes that went along with that. There's only so many times you can answer what the market for police officers is like in Adelaide, which is better Sydney v Melbourne, and yes if you want the points you need to take IELTS even if you are British, before people's enthusiasm starts to wane.