Expatrick

I did, when both threads were a bit smaller than they are now!
I only mention this because, having tried to catch up this morning I found it quite frustrating to switch between the two threads to be fully informed!
Never mind.

Expatrick

Some personal thoughts on TIO - bearingbearing in mind that I joined BE back in 2017 so I don't have the experience of many or memories of the "better days" so can't join into that comparison.

I joined BE (as one of many directly & personally affected) to try and get information on the consequences of brexit. Of course as we now know there was precious little information available, but plenty of opinion! As one of those directly affected I confess to being an aggressive participant in the Brexit thread (& those which relate to Brexit in one form or another) but I make no apology for my participation, particularly my responses to those not directly affected and / or those who banged the "suck it up" drum. If some think my responses unreasonable or unpleasant, so be it, as I say, no apology.

Now, putting Brexit to one side, I have consciously ignored some threads on TIO (such as the two mentioned by the OP (BLM & Wokeness threads)). I gather those (& others) have become rather unpleasant.

So what to do? Should certain topics be banned? I think not. Should members avoid those threads which they find unpleasant, I think so. Some will say that they should be able to participate without unpleasantness, and so they should, however that is completely unrealistic, politics, etc are always inflammatory and passions will always run high.

Should TIO be discontinued? Maybe any topic or subsequent discussion which is not suitable for the Lounge should simply be barred from the forum? Again I think not. Without TIO there will be little left for long term members to take an interest in, other than the occasional foray into immigration threads, when appropriate.
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We are not allowed to talk about moderator issues but there are one or two tricks employed by other IB forums which might help, ie, excluding persistent miscreants from certain parts of the forum and / or subjecting posts to prior moderation. Obviously very subjective but then moderation, by its nature, often is.

Right now I do detect an occasional tendency for "If I want your opinion, I'll give it to you" (some may remember that quote!) but that stance is clearly outwith the spirit of discussion forums. Similarly I am seeing some generalisations in this (& the associated thread) which although perfectly valid sentiments don't really take us forward, the only specific area of attention I am aware of was discussion of the "off topic / thread drift" issue.

All a bit random, and I am sure there is more, somewhere!
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scrubbedexpat098

It's a simple case of putting over your opinion without being a dick about it.

Lion in Winter

Sometimes those two things can't be separated, though.

SultanOfSwing

Some of us are just dicks though. It's ok to say it.

Nutek

scrubbedexpat098

True, in the past we've seen hateful opinions put across in a "reasonable" manner, but I'm not really talking about those.

Absolutely, I've done my share of calling out people behaving like dicks and it's fun ti do

anotherlimey

The forum's not dying because a few people said white is black. It's dying because there's a small majority in TIO, and branching out into other subs, who make it very unpleasant for people that don't agree with everything they say; this isn't only tolerated by the mods but they also engage in the same behaviour. Then everyone congratulates all the others on a fine job.

Also there's no diversity here. Its laughable to suggest otherwise. This place is about as diverse as an English-village WI meeting, and behaves similarly toward "outsiders".

Intolerance and narrow-mindedness is all I read here now. So I'm not surprised no one new feels they want to participate.

Eta: you can hold the "we investigated and found we are the most tolerant broad minded and diverse group on the internet" garbage.

DaveLovesDee

I'dlike to split this in two parts I welcome anyone to dicuss why they believe the 2020 elction was stolen, but I am not going to sit there and listen when they repeat (for the umpteenth time), claims that have been tested in court and to be lies.

Same with antivax, invermectin and all the other claims I've seen around the internet As someone immunocompromised, I have notolerance for crap.

anotherlimey

This is TIO. It was more interesting when those people came and spouted that crap. And you don't need to read it: stay in the lounge of you don't like it. We're adults not school children.

scrubbedexpat096

If your an adult why such interest in the fairy tales?

amideislas

Misrepresentation and outright porkies should never be allowed to become the basis of common belief. It's become a massive problem leading to numerous damaging consequences. Especially in the US and UK.

And frankly, it's more of a school child behaviour than an adult one.

Bipat

1) To some extent-- but if more living in USA contribute they will obviously have similar views and points of discussion.
2) True but as above, if only those living in a few countries contribute, others will not join (unless they enjoy 'outsider defending'!)

BristolUK

An excellent example of the dumbed down "anything goes" expectations of enter at your own risk TIO

Current Affairs or something similar suggests greater civility. Even if that is less exciting for some.

DaveLovesDee

Like I said, I welcome discussion of why people believe these kinds of things, but not when those kinds of BS are pushed as facts when they've been extensively proven to be false.