I found this site after we arrived in Canada, home alone and bored I went surfing and came across a load of nutters. I check in with the nutters a couple of times a day, just to see if anything is going on, it has also become my main news source which is terrifyingly sad, I still know more about the rest of the world than most of the Canadians I know though

As you'd expect, I had to google those, but no, Harry H. Corbett it is.

Joined in the summer of 2006

Can not quite recall how i am came across this maple leaf site

I did briefly post at an american site which had a British connection such as this one but the topics I chose were far too controversial and I eventually became 'persona non grata' .. quite humorous now I think about it

At least at this BE site most people are quite tolerant I find

One poster above writes 'but I tired of always having to justify my existence and the continual attacks eventually wore me down, and so I contributed less and less.'

I find that sad and I figure one must have thick skin to withstand this sort of nonsense.

Then there is always the 'ignore button' if one is really desperate

I joined the site when planning our move to Canada in 2010 I think. I found some of the practical advice really useful - especially about things like electrical goods and what you could and couldn't bring in your container etc. Since then I've recently discovered maple leaf and I've started to enjoy the "community" and English humour of some of the more acerbic posters.

I would agree, however, that what is perhaps intended to be provocative and challenging posts by a small minority are actually rather rude and offensive. It's one thing to have a joke and a wry comment; it's another to make personal attacks on someone simply because you can. The information on here can be invaluable, but I suspect there are quite a few posters who are reluctant to put their heads above the parapet for fear of having them shot off!

Joined when moving, one of the first I look at in the morning and last before bed. Use it now for some sense of Brit humour and normailty in a strange weird Canadian backwoods world.

Coming up to my tenth anniversary as a 'BE-er'!. Like most I was looking for information while filling out all those bl**dy immigration forms. At that time, the only other source of info was the Canilink discussion forum!

Although the same old questions appear from time to time, some of the info does change, and there have been some cracking threads that have had me in stitches. I can't bring myself to let go in case I miss a good 'un. I still check in to read the posts every few days.

I've met a few people from here in real life, and for the rest, I have a mental picture of what I think they look like

Keep posting, folks!

Joined Loonlounge and found it rather...boring...so went looking and found this site. On my first post I was knocked back by the die-hard BEers for asking a question that had been asked time and time again... Which of course put me off a little for a while.

I try weaning myself off every so often but even with the rather acerbic comments on here at times I always find myself wandering back... I shall no doubt be on here forever

That being said, I love getting the Karma for saying nice things on here so as long as I get a kick out of it I will come back for more no doubt!

Fell upon the site whilst investigating moving to Canada, It has been very useful along the way to getting here and can foresee it coming in handy for PR questions once my app goes in. Also a nice bunch of folk on here and usually there are some funny threads

Thank you so much, I had never been on an Internet forum before...my husband, I fear, thinks it makes me strange, the being on BE thing, ...without you mob over the years, I would have been nuts by now, as opposed to the hanging on through the freezing rain that I'm doing now?....my husband and son now read BE and realise that part of my reality is part of me, so very many thanks

And congrats to you on being BE's "newcomer of the year"

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=819320

Best Newcomer – MillieF

A Cinderella story for this newcomer. Well done Millie!

When I need to screw more information out of people in the know, FL, the good mods, people that have quality information that I can use. I don't come on here to make friends, it is too impersonal. In real life I would not have the urge to throttle someone I do not agree with, but in real life, I wouldn't get some of the childish responses face to face that one Has to deal with here. So I make my posts, try not to get to involved in the prattle, and try to live a good life, a real life where it does matter what you say and when you say it.

If you have the "urge to throttle people you disagree with" or find responses "childish" then clearly the problem lies with yourself.

Discussing topics on an Internet forum is in some ways a purer form of discussion, precisely because the participants can say exactly what they think, and are not/less biased in their judgements of others.

Yes, I feel a bit that way Shard. I do 'need' some of the people on here, I fear. On occasion BE has been the only thread that seems to have made any sense. Apart from the fact that...as you all know...I'm devilishly attractive and a great wife and mother the odd thing is that all the crap that you can pose behind in day to day life, doesn't seem to matter on here, and it's 'me' without the facade, which is remarkably liberating.

I have wondered what it would be like to join under another name like 'Hyper Bitch' or even be a male like 'Big Harley' and take on another persona for a bit, it might be fun, but probably far too much work.

When I first arrived in remote, rural NS I needed BEs... That and Facebook kept me sane-ish... If it hadn't been for these online escapes I would have been sent off to the asylum very quickly.... I hated this place... Now I come on to see what strange or amusing things people are discussing...you guys are a bit like family now... You can't live with them but can't live without! Lol

Glad you have been kept from going nuts