In a recently closed-down thread we saw the unwise act of linking to another thread (s) and, de facto, engaging in personal attacks. That is clearly out of order and if such action is left unchecked it could result in lasting damage.

This is bad for ANY discussion site.

On the other hand, the content of this particular thread, whist being controversial in that it dealt with uncomplimentary comments about Canada and bemoaning the fact that some think things 'over here' are not quite good as in the UK, did nonetheless contain some very valid points.

That, I my view, can not be denied.

So it boils down to the old story not such much of the content but more so of the means of delivery. It also emphasizes that some posters would be put off from coming to this forum and this is perfectly understandable.

But as was pointed out this is, after all, a discussion forum, and is here to provide for, and enable, even encourage I trust, diversity of opinion, provided the rules of the game are followed.

In fact I post here precisely because I see tremendous value in differing view points. I do not expect that when I start a thread, or post to one, that everyone and their auntie will agree with me or praise me. Better still the contrary.

So what think you of being sometimes controversial and, if so, how do you go about it? Are you intimidated of starting a thread, or posting to an existing thread, because you are deeply worried about offending others, or do you want to remain forever popular and never say 'boo'.

Having a free website for members to initiate threads or comment on them is always going to be a tough call as the site was developed with the best of intentions. The moderators are all volunteers so kudos to them but they cannot read every thread so they rely on the members at some stage to police the site themselves and report threads/members/comments to them.
What is acceptable and not acceptable is always going to be open to debate. What some find offensive others might not.
Personal attacks is again very subjective although any comment that is vile, unfounded or derogatory should not be allowed.
Yes some threads do cause tempers to rise but we should be respectful though I do find I have to bite my tongue at times and Im sure others do even at some of my comments/threads.
If somebody suggested say in the Immigration thread they were going to do something illegal or not disclose certain facts to Immigration then is it right to call them an IDIOT or say that would be illegal and if found out there could be consequences?
Im all for the banter that goes on between certain members etc but when does the banter be perceived as hateful or disrespectful and who should make that call?
Some will feel others get away with it whereas others are sanctioned.
The mods have a thankless job so lets try to be respectful without being too PC and encourage others. its a big enough sandbox in BE land.

On another, much much smaller site, many moons ago I was an unpaid moderator. It was an interesting experience. No regrets. Sure, we had rules but they were fairly liberal. I would read posts and judge whether they were offensive or broke rules. It was often a matter of interpretation. But if so I would provide a warning on the thread. If that did not work I would close it. But first I would usually wait for other posters to complain first. We tried to ban the really bad nasty posters. It did not work as they would usually resurface under different names.

moderating an online forum is always going to be a thankless task. One thing that DOESN'T happen here that I see on other boards I post on, is the what I call "invisible" moderation whereby posts are deleted from threads with no trace of them ever having existed. or even worse sentences are deleted from your posts, again with no trace.

This really bothers me as I feel it borders on wilful misrepresentation. You are altering what I said without any record. At least on here you see the <snip> markers.

On the whole I feel that the level of moderation here is about right. I post on a couple of other boards, one I feel is far too tight on moderation, being guilty of the points mentioned above. Another lets people get away with all kinds of personal attacks, to the extent that even I'm afraid of posting questions there.

As long as one doesn't engage in an ad hominem attacks and the type of discussion is in the appropriate forum sub-section, I think the wider forum members will tend to police themselves and bring balance and sense to skewed or illogical positions. Giant wildlife and the complete absence of cheese in the country, for instance. This is a British Expats website btw, so one should try and understand some of the more absurd statements as de facto pub banter rather than anything malicious.

I was surprised that the thread was shut down so quickly. It would have been a fab bun fight! Not only that, the OP (of that thread) had gone to much trouble in typing out his frustrations. I disagreed with much of what he said, but the one point I did share some unease on was the thread titled "Are Canadians the most two faced...etc" - that's an awful title for a thread and it pops up regularly. Some of the sentiments expressed in it (save mine, obviously) we're a bit warped too.

Getting back to bun fights, I think they are a good thing on a forum like this. If there's no banter there's less regular traffic, and the site then becomes less useful for those who use it. When newbies come on and ask a proper question, it's quite impressive that they can sometimes get a bunch of informed opinions and responses within an hour or two.

Sorry, CanadaJimmy didn't name anyone specifically in his rant, so I'm not sure any personal attacks were launched.
The linked threads all have multiple responses, so it's not like you can determine anything specific that way.

Unless of course this is all inside forum jokes, which new people won't
get right away.


Moving on to content:

Spaghetti - I live in Italy - shake head, move on.
Shopping - when the poster has right beside her name, 'is it time to leave yet ?', I can state without reservation the answer is yes.

Anyone who thinks for a second that Target is some kind of normal shopping experience, well ok never mind, let's move on.


The one thread I really don't like in this forum is the two faced thread.
I read a couple of pages, found it fairly offensive, and now I just stay away from it whenever it comes back.

One thing I found in my travels was that I could settle down a bit more in different places once I learned to stop bitching about different conditions
that weren't going to change because "I" had arrived. I'm just not that high and mighty, nor that important in the world.


I would prefer that particular thread be closed, but it isn't my forum.
However, if slagging off Canadians on this forum seems to be an acceptable thing to do, so acceptable it has it's own thread which is now up to 14 pages,
maybe we could also open up a thread on the shortcomings of UK people, and the UK in general.

After all, fair's fair.

I'd say go it with it, especially on a Canadian expat site. I'm sure it'll go down a treat.

I don't think it's worth it. Just about every thread on here (including the 2-faced one) exposes the shortcomings of UK people.

But then we would have to sign up to that site and then read the comments

Lets be honest people of all nationalities take the piss out of others. Some of the comments we see on the Frogs I mean French, ze Germans, the Italians etc etc is funny and some not as much.
I guess it is perceived by others that the Brits do sometimes display a sense of arrogance as we have invaded the odd country or 2 and do feel superior to others.
Im not adverse at telling a new whiny Brit bitching about Canada that you are free to return back to the UK.
Canada is different to the UK in a lot of aspects some stuff Canada does better some stuff it doesn't. We learn to put up with it and have a little moan but the longer we spend here then the less we moan as we become detached from the UK.

I respectively () disagree, I think we moan more the longer we're here as the novelty wears off and the crushing realization of the bleakness of the place becomes the everyday. Still, moaning on here serves as an outlet and so we tend not overly annoy the locals with our acute observations.

. How well put. I'd never really grouped myself with the 'British' until I joined BE....and I only joined because I couldn't make head or tail of the sponsorship forms, and needed help...I've stayed because in general there are a very nice bunch of people on here, I feel a sense of community and shared experience. There are a number on here who I would greatly enjoy spending the evening with and who have been supportive when all wasn't rosy.

I was a bit surprised that it ended so quickly....I was about to settle in and enjoy the skirmish.

I have a feeling that Canada Jimmy may have been quite cross altogether about life in general, as he'd been a bit edgy on tea in another thread earlier. I have to say I fully understand the impulse, there have been a couple of times when I have been in a foul mood and somebody's post has really touched a raw spot, and I've felt like hurling things from the pram myself. Come back Canada Jimmy, there are no hard feelings....but you must get more choosy about the threads you choose to read.

When I first joined BE my husband used to look at this site and get really mad...some of the humour he just doesn't get and doesn't want to and he did used to get pretty defensive about his country. He seldom looks on here now and I give him edited highlights.

I hate the 2 Faced Thread and find it embarrassing, I don't look at it, and if people see it as a good place to vent their bile and laugh at the funny Canadians, it seems a safe outlet to let them get on with it.

I don't have the energy for gratuitous sex, so my passions turn to my stomach, it's safe and nice to have a gripe and groan about the food, it's a uniting factor.
My favorite threads are all food related...maybe I should find a 'food obsessed anonymous' forum to join...but then they wouldn't know me like you mob on here do.

Food, passions, raw spots, gratuitous sex...this thread is starting to get interesting.

An important thing to remember when posters are rubbishing seemingly trivial things is that when you are feeling low then you latch on to such trivia giving them an unwarranted importance. They become symbols of a greater discontent, or difficulty in settling in.

Telling people to go back home is an overly simplistic response, for one thing moving here doesn't mean you can't criticise Canada.

Funnily enough, mine too.