fatbrit

I don't think I'd give it more than a 2/10 for provocation. This board has become soft over time.

materialcontroller

The major point is that the post in question did nothing to address the OPs concerns. It was little more than a gratuitous and caustic piss take. That's why people get upset with the attitude in here.

fatbrit

The board is busy so the content is about right. If folks want to contribute with fluffy kittens and sweetness and light, then there's nothing to stop them doing so. They should practice the difficult cases as well as the easy ones though -- see if you can tell Kev (registered Corgi gas fitter) and Babs (hairdresser) from Basildon that there's no effing way in hell that they and their brood can move to in Ho'rlando without upsetting them.

lansbury

I thought that post addressed the OPs concerns very well. Didn't see it as a piss take just a comment that life here doesn't match a fictitious dream but is the same as everywhere else. Thought it quite funny really.

materialcontroller

There are lots of ways to make a point to somebody. You found the post funny precisely because the person who wrote it had the intent to be a smart arse at the OPs expense. It's like so much else on BE which seems to be excused as "just Brit humour". But that doesn't mean it was the best or most appropriate way to make the point does it?

zargof

So your suggestion is what? You get to decide if a post meets your exacting standards, and if it doesn't then it's deleted?

materialcontroller

My suggestion is that if people want to help others they do so respectfully and thoughtfully, without resorting to sarcastic jibes. It costs nothing to be polite.

Sally Redux

That's how I felt.

lansbury

I don't know the persons intent. I found it funny because it summed up in a very few humors words what I thought the OPs problem was when I read his message. Lack of research, over expectations and minimal perception of reality. In other words they had bought the American dream fantasy, and discovered that life is much of a muchness anywhere.

zargof

And I'm sure Kev from Basildon will be just as polite when he's told there is no way he's moving to Florida...

Seriously though if people get offended by something the nasty people on the Internet said, then they need to grow a thicker skin.

materialcontroller

There's a time and a place for everything. And I might suggest that posting sarcastic comments in reply to anybody who has come looking for help and advice is just incredibly bad manners. Yes, and that does include "Kev from Basildon".

If you all want to take the piss and slap each other on the back at how on the edge your cutting satirical retorts are, you can do that in other parts of the forum without subjecting new members to a barrage of scorn and ridicule in the immigration section of BE.

Sally Redux

A comment about the American Dream is hardly a 'barrage of scorn' - get real mate.

zargof

If you're using this thread as an example of what you see wrong with this forum, then you've picked a very poor example, as what you say does not reflect the reality. The OP did in fact get a plethora of advice which I would consider helpful, and I really don't see a "barrage of scorn and ridicule" anywhere.

scrubbedexpat097

I think the OP actually did see the funny side, eventually.

But you have to remember that when you are feeling homesick and there is stuff going on back home that you really wish you could be there to help with then every little glitch becomes a problem. They are probably problems that you could deal with on a normal basis but being somewhere different, not knowing too many people and trying to come to terms with a move doesn't always make you think rationally.

I guess we should all remember our own feelings when we first moved and maybe lighten up a bit and make exceptions. It wouldn't hurt...

Just my opinion.

lansbury

We are not in the immigration section, we are in the USA general forum and you don't get to make the rules. The company that owns the forum has the privilege of rule making and enforcing. If you don't like others posts ignore them, I do. But I will continue to laugh at those posts I find funny, which includes posts which hit the nail on the head and make valid points in a humors way. Those posts by the way come from people who are actually living and experiencing the expat life in America.