I think people can be unpleasant because they are unpleasant people. What you may consider to be unpleasant is not what I would consider to be. Again, c'est la vie. FWIW 2/10 for the troll. Pathetic attempt.

I fail to see any connection between this and what I posted 🙁

I've not read all the posts but I've always held the belief that if you post it on the internet, you should be prepared to say it in real life, and that works for me.

A friend once pointed out to me that he did the opposite, on the internet he was reasonably timid and would be far less confrontational online than he could be in real life. Now this chap is 6'3" and heavily built. It was a nice contrast I thought.

edit: Ooh, also, some levels of humour simply do not convey as well on the internet as they do in real life, for sure. That's a big reason for the arguments on here I reckon.

I do wonder if some people would still say the things they do if they were within slapping distance.

I do wonder if some people would still say the things they do if they were within slapping distance.

for me personally, Yep, but then I'm a little sweetie that never says anything offensive and I look cute and fluffy, so even if I did inadvertently upset someone they'd never have the heart to slap me. 😀

I do wonder if some people would still slap the people they say they would if they were within slapping distance.

do civilised people still really slap one another over badly/well chosen words?

sheesh and that..

and indeed crikey

"do civilised people still really slap one another over badly/well chosen words?"

Nah but i.t. bods, keyboard warriors and other assorted mit mots and meffs constantly threaten, as they can be fairly sure that they will never get called out on it.

Handbags at dawn and all that.

Cougar – Member

I do wonder if some people would still say the things they do if they were within slapping distance.

Me – pretty much I guess altho some arguments would clearly have ended earlier or not started if we were face to face as misunderstandings would not occur.

I find this place fairly intolerant of views that don't meet the consensus. I have been on both sides of this one

I also find some people resort to infantile mockery when they have nothing left to debate with – that annoys me.

I was shocked when I arrived on this forum at the attitudes of some of the more caustic members.. (all of whom seem either rather transient or often misunderstood)..

I have met with some unpleasantness and I now half expect some kind of rude and petty argument each time I post and so I'm ashamed to say that I have adjusted accordingly..

I agree that many times poorly judged humour is to blame or often the demand to try and construct a concise and suitable response to a rude and irritating Wally when we really have more important things to do!

Occasionally I have been threatened with a beating on here. Never had one to my face though. Funny that! 😆

I view such behaviour on forums as the same with road rage. Mild-mannered people who simply seem to lose it when someone takes their space on the road/perceived insult etc.

my opinion on it is when you seem to ask a normaly sensible question you get someone thinking their so funny, no doubt actually not really in real life glued himself to his computer thinking his the main man because he knows how to build a bike 😉

but then you get some people who offer great advise, its just a shame you get the ************ along with the forum.

its like any forum though tbh but this one seems the worst for it.

another forum i am on, a few guys act the big i am…. telling people how shit there cars are and how they should be doing it instead. but then you meet these people in real life and they wont say nothing all day even in a pub meet. which i find quite funny as when their home they give it all the chatter about how they think this person looks funny or their cars etc..

i dont see how these people think typing it is more safe than saying it in person~???

I haven't been around long enough to say whether or not it's worse, but I know many in the biking industry don't post here as they find it too snipey and inward looking. For me, the genuinely useful advice, observations, tips and bike related discussion outweighs the trolling, and occasional descent into bile and drivel.

Occasionally I have been threatened with a beating on here. Never had one to my face though. Funny that

if there was ever a challenge laid down on STW, this is it ;-)*

*not be me though, i'm a lover not a fighter

mild mannered…?

if there was ever a challenge laid down on STW, this is it

Arrghhhhhh!! run away run away!

Being new to all this, (just used to ride, now have a wife and child) I'm still trying to find my feet regarding how much attitude and ego to inflict on everyone, because that's what most of the threads and comments seem to contain. I would guess there is quite a lot of misjudged ramblings by people like myself who havn't been on here long enough to have developed a proper feel for the forum, and they just come across as rude.IMO

Apologies if I have done this, I do drink a lot before coming on here in the evenings, just after beating the wife and child to sleep! 😕

I also find some people resort to infantile mockery when they have nothing left to debate with – that annoys me

but then you kick off so much it makes that fun :o)

*not be me though, i'm a lover not a fighter

FYI Hora would prefer the beating…

Being new to all this, (just used to ride, now have a wife and child) I'm still trying to find my feet regarding how much attitude and ego to inflict on everyone

You have a lot to learn Young Padawan!

Its brilliant on here, fact !!!! Lets just all play nice and feel the lourve 😉

You have a lot to learn Young Padawan!

Being a Padawan is harder than I thought!

How-do Nick

Lets just all play nice and feel the lourve

hmmm, it feels more like a metaphorical Chinese burn…

When you say beating. What type of 'beating' do you mean? 😯

I get there first, then drink and surf the net whilst in bed.

Ermmmm, or a metaphorical nipple twist even .
Morning Jason. Surfing the net ? beating ? to much info there….

do people really get so upset about the things that other people say on the internet?

"blimus!"

In my experience the mouthy forum gobshites tend to be the ones that are shy and don't really get that involved in banter when you meet them on a ride.

I guess they have more confidence when sitting behind the internet.

Surfing the net ? beating ? to much info there….

I can now make a mean chocolate souffle though, thanks to jamesmartinchef.co.uk

In my experience the mouthy forum gobshites tend to be the ones that are shy and don't really get that involved in banter when you meet them on a ride

that'll be me

In my experience the mouthy forum gobshites tend to be the ones that are shy and don't really get that involved in banter when you meet them on a ride

wrong. I'm much gobbier in person 🙂

SOOBalias – Member

well that really is the shocker for the day, padded-**** gets yet another ban.

:yawn:

TandemJeremy – Member

padded**** Que? Obi twa was smee. Who was fred masquerading as now?

I knew it wasn't Fred, different style completely. What I hadn't picked up on was that it was Smee, throws a slightly different complexion on it. Some people seem to think I aggrevated the situation and feel that it's ok to joke about my reaction. I objected to the comment being made on a public forum and gave Smee the opportunity to edit, possibly not a reflection of my own views, as Mark says it's a public forum and that crossed a line. At no point did I threaten to report him, only point out that I felt the line was serious enough to be reported. If anyone was aggressive and abusive, it was he (re-read the thread). If he had removed the line and said no more, that would have been the end, but we all know that that's not the style of a troll.
He made a direct threat to report me, and didn't. He apparently is banned, I am not. If the mods think I'm restarting they are free to wipe this.
I don't see why we should tolerate racist, anti-semetic, abusive, aggresive language and then get over it or be accused of not understanding the joke. I see a wrong and will say something. I will stick to my point of view as I believe it is right for me. Some of the comments in the F1 thread have bordered on (1970s) racism and I got over it!!

If, as someone said on the "oh dear" thread that 90% of the threads here follow in the same vain as Smee, then this is not a place I want to be, fortunately that is not the case.

I feel that many of the comments here are banter and that the level of discussion is generally good and not personal and doesn't abuse the forum, occasionally the fun is spoilt by a few.

I don't think there has been a rise in rudeness, or am I just less sensitive to it?

I really wanted the "oh dear" thread to continue but I lost interenet connection and it was closed. 😥 not in an antagonistic way, but when the level of abuse was controlled, it was good fun. Smee was offered the rope, he took the rope and hung himself.

Please don't stop the debates…. 😉

Argentina for the cup!!! 😆

People have always been rude on here. The way I see it is that there are two basic types of folk. One, and this includes me, realises that the internet is just a communication tool like a phone or a letter or a human voice and consequently treats it like any other human interaction, viz, as Samurai says, I'd not say anything on here that I wouldn't say to someone's face.

The second type of person thinks the net is some sort of advanced video game first person shoot-up – the other posters aren't 'real people' and you can say what the hell you want because it's all a game and there are no consequences in the real world.

When either group interracts with like-minded people, the results are fine:

1. People have civilised conversations.

2. People swap endless abuse, but neither side thinks it's real.

The problem comes when the two types squabble, at which point Mr or Ms Reasonable gets really upset and Mr or Ms Video Game can't see why.

I'm highly impressed by the advanced street-fighting abilities, vigilante tendencies, sexual prowess of the average STW poster, but it's a bit Walter Mitty isn't it 😉

2. People swap endless abuse, but neither side thinks it's real.

I see you read the comments on Youtube as well then.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Please, not James Martin, because he's a cyclist hating tool of the highest order.

At least Delia only gets bladdered at Norwich games.

It's the same reason we don't watch Nigel Havers anymore:
Oh dear.

Or listen to Matthew Parris on Radio 4 any more, as the smug Tory-boy thinks decapitating cyclists is ok.

Shame, I used to quite like 'Great Lives'.

A place with so many posters, and only 2 forums, seems destined to implode.

There's a 2 hour attention span.

Just to be clear re: my post above,

I wasn't for a moment suggesting that I'm the sort of person that'd give anyone a slapping. The point I was trying to make, in what I thought was a jocular stylee, was that it's easy to be rude when you're nice and warm and safe at the other end of an Internet connection. It's a bit like road rage, people feel indestructable and untouchable in their little metal boxes.

It's possibly also worth mentioning, I'm rarely serious. If I say something that can be taken two ways and one of them makes you angry, I probably meant the other one.

Cougar – Member

Just to be clear re: my post above,

I wasn't for a moment suggesting that I'm the sort of person that'd give anyone a slapping. The point I was trying to make, in what I thought was a jocular stylee, was that it's easy to be rude when you're nice and warm and safe at the other end of an Internet connection. It's a bit like road rage, people feel indestructable and untouchable in their little metal boxes.

It's possibly also worth mentioning, I'm rarely serious. If I say something that can be taken two ways and one of them makes you angry, I probably meant the other one.

Are you calling me a cock?
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That, clearly, is a joke. 😉

I knew it wasn't Fred, different style completely. What I hadn't picked up on was that it was Smee

Oddly Fred got it as Smee within a few days of him starting to post 😯

Being on here is a learning curve. You learn how to understand posts and to tolerate others views whilst becomimg more sensitive to attitudes which may be different to your own ? Oh my god I sound like a bloody mtb'in hippy…..

Jason which pack ? I was first norton and then did 12 years as a leader as they struggled for adult assistance when my two boys were young. Did you do bob a job week ? how scary was that.

I'd have set his woggle on fire………. 🙂

To be fair, his publicity people have done a fair job of trying to rehabilitate him. Is the bike in the picture his? Probably picked by a publicist to match the useless extension he's standing in front of.

However, the look of absolute terror on his face when he realised that his smug comments had endangered his 'career' was priceless.

He then retracted his claims, claiming that he made the story up, after calls for the cyclists involved to come forward and press charges.
Hmmn, comes across as a lovely chap, doesn't he?

I came here after bowing out at BikeMagic as it had become so personal, caustic & unnecessarily malicious, mostly from people who had no good intentions. Met a few and was disappointed in most of them TBH.

However, STW does seem to have gone down that route more and more of late. Over there the moderator (YKW) gave everyone a very free hand, resulting in so many of the threads degraded in front of your very eyes. Also, the moderators seemed very pro-active in their own opinionated posts and were simply mini-me's of their web forum. That, in my opinion is an error as people were getting death threats, verbal abuse and all manner of very unpleasant behaviour & the moderators though it wise to allow the behaviour. I know a few considered legal action against Magelica the parent company.

STW strikes a far more realistic balance and that's why their forums are more informed, more populated, balanced, lively and less clogged with the same-old-same-old aggressive long in the tooth trolls. I’ve met plenty of mtn bikers from these forums on biking events and none (bar one) are actually as bad as their barks. Strange how many on-line personas are out of sync with their real life personalities!

We just need to keep things in perspective and not get riled – easier said than done on occasions, I know!