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11/05/2008, 17:38 woolybanana'sbrother Joined on 18/01/2008 Posts 979 Re: Balanced Forum Many are still quietly optimistic Quillan, yes.  Basically those who have been able to adapt and accommodate themselves to life here. It is similar to any expatriate situation anywhere really. As I think you know from past lives. The totally fluffy brigade seem however to be disappearing for the moment because, one suspects, of the economic climate and health cover issues. But recently there too seems to have been a lot of people who have become disillisioned and are hurting and there are a small number of people who seem to rub their noses in it. Which is a pity as I said before.    Report

11/05/2008, 18:38 raindog Joined on 26/09/2007 HERAULT Posts 761 Re: Balanced Forum Narbonne 13 - Toulon 31 sociability is just a big smile and a big smile is nothing but teeth    Report

12/05/2008, 11:43 Quillan Joined on 23/08/2004 Forum Moderator Posts 3,576 Re: Balanced Forum  woolybananasbrother wrote: Many are still quietly optimistic Quillan, yes.  Basically those who have been able to adapt and accommodate themselves to life here. It is similar to any expatriate situation anywhere really. As I think you know from past lives. The totally fluffy brigade seem however to be disappearing for the moment because, one suspects, of the economic climate and health cover issues. But recently there too seems to have been a lot of people who have become disillisioned and are hurting and there are a small number of people who seem to rub their noses in it. Which is a pity as I said before. I take your point but to be fair I personally have not noticed anyone rubbing people’s noses in anything or perhaps they have done in such a way that I never saw it. There are some professional people out there who are very articulate in their writing and you can almost hear them laugh as they type and I openly admit it goes over my head but then if that is how they get their kicks then it’s a bit sad. I personally think that this is a very nasty way to act but it takes all sorts to make a world, we all have to try and get along and in the end people start to understand and see them for what they really are. There are many, as you say, who are hurting, mainly from a financial point and are often living off of a UK based fix income which they have seen reduced effectively by 17 to 20%. In a way I pity them but normally I would not say that as it sounds condescending and is probably the last thing they want to hear. There are those that look through incredibly bright rose tinted glasses and are thinking about moving to France. Some people respond feeling they are 'putting them right' although I don't think there is any element of gloating or nastiness intended. The problem is people don't like it when their dream is destroyed but then do you think it right to say nothing and let them spend (possibly) their life savings on something that you know won't work for them? Don't you also sometimes read a question and think "are they mad"? It's a tough call at times and difficult to know what to do for the best. I am sure there have been times when you to have wished somebody had told you before you tried something and it all went wrong. You mentioned the moderators in your previous post. We are often put in very difficult positions. Of course we know about a certain forum where posts from here (and another French forum with a nickname ending in Farce) are often discussed and both this forum (plus the other one) and it's members are frequently vilified and described en mass as "morons". I am sure some of our members here would be disgusted (to say the least) if they saw some of the posts there. We see racist posts there and note that whilst those members that post on both forums jump up and down when somebody makes a joke demanding they be 'hung, draw and quartered' yet when a blatant racist comment is made there say nothing. It borders on being two faced or perhaps it is. We see harmless members who do excellent charity work in France rubbished on this other forum and yet we say nothing here. We have never discussed that forum in public here in the past neither as did we with its predecessor which closed down because of certain peoples behaviour (a problem when you have an unmoderated forum). In fact we know quite a lot about some things that have gone on in the past but deem it unprofessional to discuss it in public (some we are banned by Archant from discussing) which at times is particularly difficult when what we read is quite different from what we know to be true. This means we end up being ripped apart by members for something we know is not correct but can do little about. Before we became moderators we were just ordinary members who were later asked if we wanted to be moderators because of some serious problems with the forum about 5 years ago which nearly led to it closing down. It was a choice as far as I was concerned, see the forum close or help protect it and its members so it could carry on. I have learnt a lot from the forum, from people that are still here and from those that have moved on for which I will always be indebted. As many know we receive nothing other than a free magazine for our work, we don't get any uniform be it physical or cyber and we can't please everyone all of the time. We can't always be here although we try to have somebody around most of the time. Are we strict, no we are not, as current examples just look at the 'English' thread where after mentioning about banned words people are playing around to see what they can get away with and likewise we have not pulled this thread although some posters have 'dared' us to several times. In the end this is a forum about France, very few of us are professional writers or even typists and make mistakes but that is not important. What is important is 'being there' for people who have questions, problems etc and to help them out to the best of ones ability and hope that others will do the same when you have a problem or whatever. What it's not about is trying to 'get one over' somebody because their English is not up to scratch or to make nasty comments just because you disagree with something somebody has said and then to go and hide away somewhere else and ridicule them further. Oh and by the way in response to the original post I personally am a bad typist and often miss characters so I use a web based spell checker. The trouble is that it is a US product and often puts hyphens in when it shouldn’t likewise it often spells words differently like a ‘z’ in apologize instead of an ‘s’. If people find it annoying I apologise but perhaps they could point me to a UK version as I don’t want to spend time copy and pasting it in to word and back again. Life is too short. http://www.chambresdhote.com    Report

12/05/2008, 11:51 sweet 17 Joined on 05/08/2006 charente maritime Posts 2,043 Re: Balanced Forum Nice post, Q.  Considered, balanced and kindly put (as I would expect from you!).  And no, I'm not trying to curry favour if you are one of the forum's cynics and reading this.  I feel it's only right that the mods get the occasional bouquet as well as the more frequent brickbats.    Report

12/05/2008, 11:57 lorna Joined on 27/11/2007 the other Vienne - in Isère(38) Posts 82 Re: Balanced Forum Seconded.  I must be a real softy as it brought tears to my eyes. Seriously. lorna    Report

12/05/2008, 13:46 Puzzled Joined on 05/10/2006 Posts 367 Re: Balanced Forum I agree . Some people have poor grammer / spelling possibly because they didn't benefit from a 'good' education for whatever reason, their posts may be harder to read but it's not impossible and I don't find them offensive .  I do find that some posters on some forums can come over as a bit sharp (unless I am just too sensitive!) and I don't really see the need for that. IMO how a message is conveyed  is more important than the full stops.    Report

12/05/2008, 13:50 Benjamin Joined on 21/08/2005 Vendée South Posts 1,564 Re: Balanced Forum Part of Quillan's posting - In the end this is a forum about France, very few of us are professional writers or even typists and make mistakes but that is not important. What is important is 'being there' for people who have questions, problems etc and to help them out to the best of ones ability and hope that others will do the same when you have a problem or whatever. Says it all for me. Benjamin Snips, snails and puppy dog tails    Report

12/05/2008, 14:06 Dick Smith Joined on 23/08/2004 Surrey and Manche (Pays Mortainais) Posts 8,731 Re: Balanced Forum As someone who has been thoroughly insulted by Quillan in the past, in the most appalling terms, I humbly beg to differ... And Q might like to look at this site: http://www.buzzin.net/english/apost.htm Regards Dick Smith Nowhere is there warmth to be found Among those afraid of losing their ground    Report

12/05/2008, 14:32 Christine Animal Joined on 14/05/2005 Deux-Sèvres Posts 4,111 Re: Balanced Forum Quillan's post seemed excellent, with typos, errors and all, like any human being.   animalaidsaintaubin.monsite.orange.fr/ Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful    Report

12/05/2008, 14:34 Dick Smith Joined on 23/08/2004 Surrey and Manche (Pays Mortainais) Posts 8,731 Re: Balanced Forum Ah well... Regards Dick Smith Nowhere is there warmth to be found Among those afraid of losing their ground    Report

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