Over the years of coming here I’ve enjoyed the banter, the recommendations, and the astonishing ability of the STW collective to come up with an answer to even the most obscure query. However, what I’ve enjoyed most is witnessing the support extended to each other in challenging times. I was so moved today by the kindness shown to a struggling fellow rider, that I felt compelled to post …

STWers, I salute you! Thank you for reaffirming my faith in the goodness of folk. Heartwarming – and something worth celebrating in these strange times.

I’m minded to agree that when it really matters then that is true, but I’m also minded that there does seem in the past couple of years that there’s been a bit of a pack mentality developing.

We saw it on Brexit, we now see it on CV19. These are times when people have different opinions and a discussion on them, and a chance to see other people’s point of view as they challenge your entrenched positions has to be good? Yet diverge from the pack and quickly people are singled out, isolated and ultimately as we saw on Brexit, driven away.

STW can be very good, but at times it can be nasty. Discuss, challenge and disagree, but appropriately; an echo chamber is not a useful sounding board.

The support when genuinely needed on here is amazing and humbling.

The Yang to that Yin is that the badgering and hounding can get out of hand. I’m not sure if people don’t flag it up to the mods or the mods sensibly try and minimise their involvement. The pressure cooker of lockdown and the importance of the virus threads seems to be adding to that as well

I do not see the brexiteers as being driven away – they left because they realised how stupid they looked and couldn’t cope with their bollox being called out
I agree that those with daft / unpopular opinions can get a hard time. Been on the receiving end myself.

I’m not sure if people don’t flag it up to the mods or the mods sensibly try and minimise their involvement.

We can’t read everything. That’s what the ‘report post’ link is for.