Rant! Why I don't go to the HF forums at Amazon anymore

[boswellbaxter]

[quote=""Ken""]Michy, me too; You find lots of them on FB!


Edward 1's army in the final battles of Llywelyn's struggle, contained thousands of Welshmen (mostly, it has to be said, from South Wales) and in addition, so it is rumoured, he was led to his death by Welsh traitors! Today's Welshmen (on FB) will not (cannot) recognise these facts and continue to place all the approbrium on Edward. Any view to the contrary is treated with scorn and ridicule. Quite a bit of it in my direction! I'm actually thinking of abandoning FB as adult discussions on it seem to be impossible![/quote]

I once referred to Henry VI's son on my Facebook page as the "Prince of Wales" and got a reply from one of the regulars in the anti-Edward-I camp stating that I should not be referring to an Englishman as the Prince of Wales. I promptly un-friended that person. I wouldn't have minded the comment if it was relevant to the topic at hand, but it wasn't--just an effort by the poster to drag her own agenda onto my own site.

[parthianbow]

[quote=""boswellbaxter""] I promptly un-friended that person. [/quote]

To "un-friend" is now a verb? *Puts head in hands and begins to wail softly*

[parthianbow]

[quote=""Ash""]It is so much easier to say what you think with no filter when you are anonymous,* and hiding behind a screen. It also makes it much easier to bully, a situation that has made my friend's daughter's life hell the last few months.

I am not sure putting real names up is fair to those who honestly want to discuss issues without other people (family, boss) knowing who they are. Id also worry about freedom of speech - one person's heated conversation is another person's hate speech, so who draws the line? But something needs to be done.

So maybe requiring real names would work. Just not sure how you'd monitor to make sure that the 'real name' was really the real name. [/quote]

Hi Ash! To address your first point above: if the anonymity available on so many sites allows such bullying, surely that's a good argument not to allow people to be anonymous.

Second and third points: If the abuse is so awful - and I think it is, on so many sites - then people need to be more honest i.e. use their real names. Given the racist/hateful vitriol that is a given on many sites, I think that the whole argument of 'I need to be anonymous so I can express my opinion' is just not good enough. If making people use their real names stops the abuse (and I believe it would stop 95%+, as these people are cowards) isn't that a better end result? It is in my mind.

Like you say, there could be rigorous checks on ID to register on a site (perhaps someone could set up a site similar to Paypal, but for ID purposes - so you have to use your passport/driving licence to register - and then one could register on other sites with the pseudonym given by the ID verification site). With any abusive comments, there could be a 'name and shame' policy whereby people lose the right to anonymity.

I believe that unless steps like this are taken by websites where people post, then the guttersnipe vitriol will only get worse.

[Madeleine]

[quote=""parthianbow""]To "un-friend" is now a verb? *Puts head in hands and begins to wail softly*[/quote]

Oh yes it's been around for a while now I hate all these type of words, like "staycation" and "bromance" - aaaaghh! - to name but two offenders.

[Michy]

[quote=""Ken""]Michy, me too; You find lots of them on FB!

[/quote] I'm not on FB -- you have given me yet another reason why I'm glad I'm not!

[quote=""Madeleine""]I hate all these type of words, like "staycation" and "bromance" [/quote] "Bromance?!" That's a new one to me. What, pray tell, is it?

[Ludmilla]

I've never given Ammy's boards the time of day... Browsing for books was enough of a time sink for me. I resisted FB for a long time and only caved to keep in touch with my family and a few friends who live far away. I rarely go there, and primarily only use it to post family pictures. I keep my privacy settings high and only friend people I know. I really don't find FB's format conducive for discussions of any depth. For that I come here and a few other boards dedicated to particular topics... In all cases I guess I also prefer forums where it is small enough to get to know the posters but frequented enough by them to have traffic. I know myself well enough to realize I'd be lost in the crowd of those larger boards.

[Ken]

[quote=""Michy""]I'm not on FB -- you have given me yet another reason why I'm glad I'm not! [/quote]

I am on FB Michy, but have only 'friended,' (Sorry Parthianbow!) 8 people, SKP, EC2, Katherine Ashe and a few others who are wholly related to Medievalism! There are some very useful pages on FB (eg. Medievalists. net), but there are a lot of nutters, who will brook no argument. When, in a recent exchange, I quoted a very eminent historian, who held a contrary view to an FB member, I was reminded that I was an amateur, should only quote from my own primary sources and not quote from other's works. On top, this member had a PhD in history and I did not!!

Well, that's me in my place then!!

[LoveHistory]

Ken, sounds like that person has a PhD in Jerk.

Michy, a bromance as I understand it is a close friendship between two men. It's a love relationship that is platonic, like that of brothers. Hence the smashing togother of the words brother (bro) and romance. Partners in a bromance are sometimes subjected to conjecture about the true nature of their relationship.

For an amusing oversimplification of a bromance you might want to look up "Guy Love" from Scrubs. I believe that episode predates the term bromance.

[Madeleine]

Yup LH has summed up "bromance" pretty well, it's the buddy-buddy type of relationship so beloved of certain films.

Like Ludmila, I only use FB very sparsely, as a sort of extra e-mail type of thing. I much prefer forums like this, where I do feel I've got to know some people and we have sensible (for the most part!) discussions and hopefully don't jump down the throat of someone whose opinion we might not agree with.

[EC2]

[quote=""Ken""]I am on FB Michy, but have only 'friended,' (Sorry Parthianbow!) 8 people, SKP, EC2, Katherine Ashe and a few others who are wholly related to Medievalism! There are some very useful pages on FB (eg. Medievalists. net), but there are a lot of nutters, who will brook no argument. When, in a recent exchange, I quoted a very eminent historian, who held a contrary view to an FB member, I was reminded that I was an amateur, should only quote from my own primary sources and not quote from other's works. On top, this member had a PhD in history and I did not!!

Well, that's me in my place then!! [/quote]

Ken, I hate that sort of arrogance. I have a close friend who has a PHD in medieval history and she is truly lovely and wants academia to be far more open and accessible than it is. She's a bridge builder, and she despairs of some of her ivory tower colleagues. Looks like you came up against one. You don't always need to have a degree to contribute knowledge of great value to a subject.