May 2012 Non-Posters

What would you like to see? All feedback and suggestions appreciated!
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Fiona1986
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Fiona1986 »

Well my initials are FAB, so people would either think I was a Thunderbirds fan or that I was bragging! ;)
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Pippa-Stef »

Clearly bragging! 8)
"You're so sharp you'll cut yourself one day!" Hunchy said going to the door
"So my Mother told me that when I was two years old!" said Julian and the others giggled.

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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by lwindrush »

All together now, "Thunderbirds are go!"
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Moonraker »

MJE wrote:
Moonraker wrote:Since the latest batch of Society Picnic photos appeared on Facebook, most people now know of my interest in Enid Blyton! To my amazement, I haven't had my leg pulled at all!
On your Facebook account, Nigel, or the E.B.S.'s? Do your friends and family all inspect the E.B.S. Facebook page to see that you're there?
Because I am "friends" with the EBS Facebook page, all posts appear on my own page. Therefore "friends" of mine see EBS Facebook posts on where I comment.
If I went to Enid Blyton events and the pictures included me and got posted somewhere public, I might give thought to whether my friends and family would be likely to see them - and if they were likely to, I would be rather concerned.
Why on Earth would you be concerned? I find nothing to be ashamed of in belonging to the Society. Maybe if it was a BNP or other dodgy forum I might be ashamed, but not the Enid Blyton Society! I am proud to be a member and to have met so many wonderful people, and I don't care who knows it!
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Daisy »

It may depend if you had been teased about it in the past Nigel.
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by MJE »

     I was about to reply to Nigel's comments and explain why I feel the need to keep it quiet.
     Teasing may be a part of it, because I was teased at school for reading Enid Blyton only a week or two into my new school in Melbourne - before I quickly learned to hide the covers of the books I was reading.
     But, because I learned quickly that I had to hide it, that itself wasn't a major problem.
     There was also an incident maybe 20 or more years ago where my father openly laughed at my possessing a children's book that he happened to see (not Enid Blyton - but the same considerations apply). So people can react very badly to it at times, although it was true that we'd just had a bad argument, so he was probably feeling ill-disposed to me generally at the time.
     But it's just also that friends and family members and people like that just make comments in general conversation, not necessarily directed at me, that imply that they think it's fine for children to read children's books, but it might be a bit odd if adults did.
     Someone known to our family has mental health problems, possibly made worse by a life-time of necessary prescribed drugs, and she can be childish in outlook and interests (she doesn't read, so I don't mean books - but other ways in which she appears distinctly childish), and she is probably more open about it than I am - but people do sometimes make patronizing remarks about her childish interests - not to her or in her presence, but in talking about her. The way people refer to her interests in life definitely implies an attitude of, "Yes, that's where her interests lie, but you can hardly expect anything better of someone with her problems". Yes, they know about her problems, and sort of make allowance - but it's clear that people do think poorly of someone because they may seem to have childish interests. (This person is not liked by anyone, and is a very difficult person to get on with, and causes a lot of conflict with everyone around here - so that may increase this tendency to make belittling remarks about her.)
     My aunt looked at my web site once, while I was with her, and she looked at a review I did of an Enid Blyton book ("The Put-Em-Rights"), and she actually did ask me why I'd posted that, clearly finding it a rather odd thing for me to do, maybe not appropriate, and definitely not what she would have expected of me.
     It's not a question of being ashamed of being interested in Enid Blyton - I'm not. To me, shame is an internal thing, a thing you feel inside, and I am not ashamed of it in that sense. But you can feel embarrassed about someone else knowing about it, and that's an external thing relating to those other people, and it can be strong enough that you feel a need to conceal things from them.
     Nigel, are you quite sure that *no-one* who is aware of your interest sort of looks down their nose at it in some way? Or is just the case that maybe they do but you simply don't care about that, and ignore it? I suppose ignoring this is something some people do more easily than others.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by MJE »

Moonraker wrote:To my amazement, I haven't had my leg pulled at all!
     That you know about, at least? But do you think it's possible some people laugh about it when you're not with them, and put you down or belittle you? Especially people who may find things about you they don't like but you have to deal with, who may look for anything to act as a ground for criticizing you or putting you down (to your face or maybe just to other people).
Moonraker wrote:Why on Earth would you be concerned? I find nothing to be ashamed of in belonging to the Society.
     More a matter of embarrassed than shame - I don't regard the two as the same. I think my previous post explained it adequately.
Moonraker wrote:Maybe if it was a BNP or other dodgy forum I might be ashamed,
     BNP? What's that? The British National Party?

Regards, Michael.
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Fiona1986 »

I'm not ashamed of my liking Enid Blyton or having attended the day, but at the same time I'd prefer certain people I know (mostly my work colleagues) weren't aware of it. I don't think a lot of them would understand and it would just leave me a bit embarrassed. Most of them are not big readers, they are more the 'watch reality TV and go out and get blind drunk' types.
"It's the ash! It's falling!" yelled Julian, almost startling Dick out of his wits...
"Listen to its terrible groans and creaks!" yelled Julian, almost beside himself with impatience.


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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Daisy »

MJE wrote: BNP? What's that? The British National Party?

Regards, Michael.
Yes.
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Pippa-Stef »

Fiona1986 wrote: I don't think a lot of them would understand and it would just leave me a bit embarrassed. Most of them are not big readers, they are more the 'watch reality TV and go out and get blind drunk' types.
This about sums up some of my school friends. Some not all. Most of my uni friends understand the need to read and I've not had the problem at work because I work in the library. We all read what we want and it doesn't matter.

I've never been teased what I've read. I've been teased for reading in general, but never what I read. People in fact tended to keep well clear of me for the most part. I'm just gunna assume that I don't look like a friendly person! (In fact my personal opinion of myself is that I look like the back end of a bus, but thats another story!)

Everyone at school knew I was a big reader and thats who I was. I never spoke to the people I didn't want to, and generally was either left alone or treated like a distant friend by most people. At least the decent ones.

As for photos on facebook, I'm not worried in the slightest what people think. There was one person I was worried if there would be a negative reaction, but thankfully, no problem.

I'm a lot less forward about the Julianity page mind. :oops: I think its best for me for the moment at least to keep that a little quiet. :wink:

As for the non-posters, I think we've had conversations about this before, forgetting passwords, no automated responce cause Tony's an amazing one man band etc. And for people who register to post, or maybe check the parts of the forum that aren't open to the public... you know the children's letters, maybe prefer to read posts or lurk because they're comfortable that way. Of course if they don't log in for a long time, then it does- as Fiona has pointed out- make problems with potential usernames.

I don't think there could be a definate answer to the solution of non posters. Everyone uses forums and internet for different reasons, so I don't know. its up to the admin to choose what to do if anything. I'm just glad that the EBS has such a range or active posters to keep the forums going frankly.

Huzzah for active posters! Three cheers! :wink:
"You're so sharp you'll cut yourself one day!" Hunchy said going to the door
"So my Mother told me that when I was two years old!" said Julian and the others giggled.

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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Gingeroo »

I don't understand why you have made this list, picking out the people that have joined but have not posted immediately. I am included in it and the reason that I didn't post in the first month that I joined was because I wanted to get a 'feel' for the forum and the people on it. (All of which I have found to be very friendly.)
I can see that it would annoy you if the username you wanted was taken up by someone that had never posted on the website, but I think it would be wiser to publish this list after a year of inactivity, when if the user had made no posts, you could be forgiven for thinking that they were unlikely to do so in the future.
Oh, and by the way it's Gingeroo :)
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Jack400 »

To be honest I'd rather someone only posted if and when they have something to ask ( or tell) us. Quotas would just get in the way, create an 'atmosphere' and waste time with pointless posts.

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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by MJE »

     Without going over the entire thread again (which I don't have time to do now, with only 10 minutes or so left before the library closes), I can't tell if the suggestion is being made seriously by anyone to have rules about remaining active to some degree if you want to remain in the forum. I hope not, and believe not - I think this is just one of those "idle chat" threads.
     But if it were to be proposed, I would most vigorously oppose it. I have been on one or two Yahoo groups (on totally different topics) where the owner put pressure on people to "contribute", and sort of regarded them as freeloaders if they didn't - and it is just bad news, and creates a horrid atmosphere. One group owner even removed the membership of everyone who hadn't posted for a while, which was the vast majority of members - it's just a really, really bad way to run a forum or group of any sort. (I personally think there was something a bit strange about the owner in that case.) Needless to say, that group was never really successful.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Moonraker »

I joined (in a moment of madness and euphoria after watching a film) a Harry Potter forum once, and never posted. Until quite recently, I frequently received emails saying I hadn't posted and any posts I would submit would be looked forward to.

As all the posts can be read on these (EBS) forums without registering, it does seem strange that people register and never post. Why register if you don't intend to post? :?

As for frequency of posting, I agree totally with Jack 400. On another forum on which I post, people have status names, Newbie, Junior Member, Senior Member and so on. Whilst that works on that particular forum, I don't think it would work here. We have had idiot children in the past who have posted prolifically for a few months, most of it rubbish, then disappeared. They would be Senior Members, whilst a poster such as tiq who only posts intelligently would probably still be a Newbie! It would be an encouragement to post rubbish in order to raise the post count to get a 'senior' status.
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Re: May 2012 Non-Posters

Post by Poppy »

That list must have taken you a while Abi !

Never mind about the Newbies not posting. Some of them might just be happy to browse... :)
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