I am so confused at the back and forth insults between a couple posters here??
I clearly missed something that lead to this.
I know what happened is NOT my business but do you people KNOW each other, or is this bickering simply from knowing each other here?
Sorry, I know it is nosy to ask this BUT we can all see and read so, just asking regardless of my rudeness.

I don't know her, where she lives, who she is or much about her. I do know everytime I post, she picks it apart. You will see I never start or quote any of her posts. I posted twice this morning and see her quoting my posts and answering in a very negative way. I do not know why, as my posts have nothing to do with her. She attacked me and my daughters relationship, even her age...so, something is going on with her. I certainly would never attack anyone's family, it is very disturbing and I wish Jacob would step in.

I stopped reading that thread, but I second what Justme615 said. I don't understand the nature of some of the dialogue here, in what is supposed to be a supportive forum.

It's exceedingly unprofessional and arrogant for the game of one-upmanship to continue. Too many people I've met have had a need to get in the last word or develop a "meangirls" mentality. It's time that grown adults put on their big-girl panties and get over themselves.

Hmm, might this mean that boys are nicer than girls? Just teasing, be happy.

I am trying my best to rise above it starting now (Cettie's post), and not answer unless it's about MSing....in the big scheme of things, it just doesn't matter!

Good! Its about time you gave it a rest...:p

I agree totally with MrC. Rising above it is a good thing, but it is more important to not start trouble by being abusive to other posters. Most of this recent back-and-forth started with abusive behavior by one poster toward another poster; other shoppers then felt the need to protect the abused poster. Let's stop the pattern of abuse. Nobody wants to read it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2011 02:18AM by AustinMom.

If I may draw a comparison to something I often notice, namely user comments in Internet stories, often political--somehow it seems that anonymity breeds aggressiveness, or sadly, brings out the true personality of a person. I often wonder if the coworker, fellow church-goer, favorite cashier at Home Depot, is secretly a hateful person who posts such hateful comments on the Net. No, it's not quite that bad here, but nevertheless, I don't exactly understand the aggressiveness on this site to people who simply have a different opinion.

When you're online it's easy to remove a person's face. You loose empathy, and it's empathy that causes us to be nice to people. You also don't have to worry about facing them in real life. People tend to be nice even to the biggest @#$%& in real life because they'll have to face the consequences if they make an enemy (gossip about them, awkward moments, violence in some cases). If they make enemies online they usually face little retaliation.

That being said, if you want to stay out of internet drama, it's easy enough; just avoid it. When you see a conversation start to get heated, just step out of it. If somebody insults you, don't feel the need to respond, it simply feeds the trolls.

"Add a positive contribution to the community. You are responsible for all the content of your post." If you do that you have nothing to worry about. There is a lot of personal information that is better shared through the PM system with select recipients as the bulk of visitors to the forum are looking for information about shopping and sharing that. Obviously condescension and personal criticism never have a place on a forum and the more inclusive we can be in our discussions, the more we can learn from each other. There will always be those who take even the most constructive of criticism as personal, but even then there are ways to keep the insult quality out of that. It just means being attentive to what you say and how you say it rather than dashing off the first knee jerk you have.

I am still just floored at ALL of this.
Lets just say, as was said here, a person is "one up-ing" ..... I have to ask - WHO CARES?? This is a forum of so many different people with different life styles.
It is mind boggling to me that a person sharing there happiness, or accomplished (very often seen by unhappy people as a 1-up) would be turned into direct digs and insults.

I don't have a clue why this is bothering me SO much considering I don't know either party. I guess because I enjoy coming here, reading, and talking. I find this a place filled with smart people who are VERY helpful in any way (at least to me they have been). Maybe I am just bothered that this seems so simply MEAN.
It is SO easy to look the other way on a forum regarding posts made by a person that you dislike.
Bottom line I just don't understand, as adults, why on earth it is so easy to be MEAN. Regardless of anonymity, that is such a piss poor excuse.

Recent tit for tat postings have been unappealing and disrespectful. These have not been the first exchanges of this kind since I've been a member. The masses do not relate to personal, petty nonsense, nor want their time wasted. Forum anonymity has not prevented me from developing admiration and friendship with others whom I have not, and probably never will, meet.

This open forum has been generously provided to us. Unrelated nonsense should be taken private. The forum and its members should be respected.

What I found interesting about this, since it concerned me, is that Irene was allowed to continue to dis me, and when I tried to post that I was stopping the feud on my end, my post was removed, but hers was not. In my opinion, I will take blame for my part in this, though Irene seems to want to ignore the fact the the original poster stated "RUDE TO EACH OTHER", which implied more than one was participating in this.

That said, I find the posting from the NOTORIOUS "nichtoliver" pretentious, since he has been rude to many here. including me. But he can criticize me?

Athens, you might PM the administrator to discuss and understand. As you noted, there is a definite pattern here. One poster abuses another but then complains loudly of being "targeted" and "quoted" when anyone calls her on it. And this has happened before. I think what catches the attention of the administrator is the complaint by one poster of being abused by another. The OP who was called a liar replied in a hurt manner but really did not complain loudly in open forum. Frequently we express doubt or ask for clarification when a poster posts something that sounds "odd" to us, but flat-out calling another poster a liar in open forum is appalling and I think it should be grounds for deactivation. In this case, as in previous abuses, this abuser immediately responded angrily when called on the abuse and whined about being abused herself.

The back and forth that resulted was an unprofessional display of emotion that was painful and annoying to everyone. Although you did not start it, and although I did not completely disagree with what you said, it all became very personal and it seemed inappropriate and it needed to stop. I did make one comment, about a meangirls club, which I thought made it very clear that I thought the abusing poster was out of line.

I come to the forum to read, interact and learn from other posters. Since MSing is so solitary, this is my "employee breakroom." Reference to personal life from other posters is fun and interesting and helps us "know" each other, but CONSTANT personal information, BRAGGING about family members, etc., is boring and tedious. Let's keep it real and let's keep it MS-related. If I see abuse of others by this poster again, I plan not to make any comment in open forum, but I will PM the administrator. Athens, I would encourage you to do the same, and I hope other posters will also report abuse. If this poster continues in her pattern of abuse of others, requests from multiple forum members may prompt the administrator to take action. Repeated abuse of other posters should result in deactivation.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2011 05:38PM by AustinMom.

I just know that I come here to learn and share. Lately I've felt doused in cold priclies instead of the usual warm fuzzies weapped in the mysteries of mystery shopping. Have been having computer troubles for a week and couldn't beg for a stop to the pricklies, Glad it's been addressed and hope it's over. I don't willingly take sides or keep up with gossip so I would have just gone away to avoid "all appearance of evil".

It would be nice to have an 'ignore' feature available. Time to upgrade the forum software, Jacob! =)