Why so much negativity?
Discussion
It cant just be me thats noticed that the negativity and vitriol that has nearly saturated most other areas of the forum (excluding of course NP&E where its always been present)?
No matter the subject there is always multiples that pile in with the negativity. Is it just the aging and decaying demographic of PH on the whole - new members dont seem to hangaround long once it is apparant. Lots of PH'ers seem to be living in a past that just doesnt exist anymore and that sparks a lot of the negativity.
I have to admit, I am finding it wearing and using the site less because of it which is a shame as there are some super helpful pockets and people on here too. It cant just be me though surely?
No matter the subject there is always multiples that pile in with the negativity. Is it just the aging and decaying demographic of PH on the whole - new members dont seem to hangaround long once it is apparant. Lots of PH'ers seem to be living in a past that just doesnt exist anymore and that sparks a lot of the negativity.
I have to admit, I am finding it wearing and using the site less because of it which is a shame as there are some super helpful pockets and people on here too. It cant just be me though surely?
Some of us still remember the site as it was originally. What you describe isn't that. There are plenty of members me included who miss how it was, and I can definitely be quite acerbic (but hope I help people occasionally too) but the two are mutually exclusive.
The sites become commercialised and "modern social media" like. Is it any wonder that the other characteristics that go hand in hand with social media transfer across too?
I don't think any amount of posts will change things, it's very much become a case of if you don't like it leave. I don't spend that much time on here any more. It was a small group of like minded people who had nice cars and enjoyed them, it's grown in to something different, there are actively anti car people on here now who aren't just lurking they are active members of the community. Had you suggested that 20+ years ago you would have been laughed at.
If Petrolted forum 2.0 came along I'm fairly sure a lot of people would migrate/enjoy it.
The sites become commercialised and "modern social media" like. Is it any wonder that the other characteristics that go hand in hand with social media transfer across too?
I don't think any amount of posts will change things, it's very much become a case of if you don't like it leave. I don't spend that much time on here any more. It was a small group of like minded people who had nice cars and enjoyed them, it's grown in to something different, there are actively anti car people on here now who aren't just lurking they are active members of the community. Had you suggested that 20+ years ago you would have been laughed at.
If Petrolted forum 2.0 came along I'm fairly sure a lot of people would migrate/enjoy it.
( I am joking it was a brilliant day)I've noticed it quite a lot recently and it did occur to me that there is a aging demographic on here who are very angry at the world and society in general.
I avoid NP&E in the main because that sub forum definately attracts the worst of it with Speed, Plod and the Law not too far behind recently.
I avoid NP&E in the main because that sub forum definately attracts the worst of it with Speed, Plod and the Law not too far behind recently.
x5tuu said:
Is it just the aging and decaying demographic of PH on the whole - new members dont seem to hangaround long once it is apparant.
Almost every post I read is from somebody in their 30s so there must be a stream of youngsters joining.The site is s
t though compared to what it used to be. Over moderated and very commercial. I used to come here to mock idiots for fun but you cannot do that without somebody complaining and receiving a ban. Banter it seems is no longer allowed.The new auction part of PH is funny though, somebody put in a £5k bid on a Noble m600.
Is it a mirror to what society is generally doing?
Most conversations I have include a dose of negativity and cynicism. For instance, asking someone how work is will more likely result in them telling you how busy it is, rather than how well they are achieving. The weather is too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet. Prices are too high, they always feel tired, they hate their neighbours because of some petty dispute. "We live in tough times", said by everyone at all times in history.
I think we are convinced by too many sources that everything is worse than it was and that we are hard done by, often as that is the tone of the media we consume because it is also the media that grabs more interest and sells more. I have also noticed that almost everyday I need to have my awareness raised of some issue, tragedy or injustice.
Factor that this negativity seems to easily fracture society along tribal lines and we seem to end up with large portion of society competing with each other, also at an individual level. Does self worth more easily follow from putting someone else down then from achieving?
There is a theory about asking questions online. I shall now butcher it, but it goes along the lines of: the best way to find out something is to make a false statement about it and be corrected, rather than ask a question. Fewer are interested in answering whilst more are interested in correcting. We certainly see that all over the forums here.
Most conversations I have include a dose of negativity and cynicism. For instance, asking someone how work is will more likely result in them telling you how busy it is, rather than how well they are achieving. The weather is too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet. Prices are too high, they always feel tired, they hate their neighbours because of some petty dispute. "We live in tough times", said by everyone at all times in history.
I think we are convinced by too many sources that everything is worse than it was and that we are hard done by, often as that is the tone of the media we consume because it is also the media that grabs more interest and sells more. I have also noticed that almost everyday I need to have my awareness raised of some issue, tragedy or injustice.
Factor that this negativity seems to easily fracture society along tribal lines and we seem to end up with large portion of society competing with each other, also at an individual level. Does self worth more easily follow from putting someone else down then from achieving?
There is a theory about asking questions online. I shall now butcher it, but it goes along the lines of: the best way to find out something is to make a false statement about it and be corrected, rather than ask a question. Fewer are interested in answering whilst more are interested in correcting. We certainly see that all over the forums here.
lizardbrain said:
I thought the forum consensus was that the negativity is mostly the fault of new users, hence the 1000 post thing?
Nah, that was to prevent banned users creating new accounts so they could carry on arguing....Anyway, as tradition would have it, the OP is always wrong, so f
k him, and the horse he rode in on.Sorry Stu, love you really... xxx
wildoliver said:
If Petrolted forum 2.0 came along I'm fairly sure a lot of people would migrate/enjoy it.
He did, and it fell on its arse as this place was too established.Must have been about 10yrs or so ago, he even dished out stickers, I still have mine somewhere.
Can't for the life in me remember what it was called though.
ETA - blatters.com
Edited by Dave. on Sunday 13th August 09:36
wormus said:
The site is st though compared to what it used to be. Over moderated and very commercial. I used to come here to mock idiots for fun but you cannot do that without somebody complaining and receiving a ban. Banter it seems is no longer allowed.
It used to be that if your face fitted then you were OK. Now the mods seem to treat everyone the same - I’m on a few forums but this one is in a different league for mod interventions. I get the impression some people devote their lives to reporting posts, as things move or disappear very quickly.t though compared to what it used to be. Over moderated and very commercial. I used to come here to mock idiots for fun but you cannot do that without somebody complaining and receiving a ban. Banter it seems is no longer allowed.Definite change for the worst recently and i've seen it in all sorts of forums around the site.
Some of it is due to people posting absolute codswallop in various forums and other posters cannot ignore them, so it creates negativity, some of it is just people in general being a lot more miserable since the whole pandemic and lockdown came along
I tend to limit myself to a couple of sections where there is generally not much negativity and one or two specific threads in the Lounge, otherwise i just ignore the forum as a rule
Some of it is due to people posting absolute codswallop in various forums and other posters cannot ignore them, so it creates negativity, some of it is just people in general being a lot more miserable since the whole pandemic and lockdown came along
I tend to limit myself to a couple of sections where there is generally not much negativity and one or two specific threads in the Lounge, otherwise i just ignore the forum as a rule
It used to bother me - it doesn't any more.
If someone wants to pick a fight, I just ignore them.
I often come on for help or advice and there's plenty on here who are happy to share their knowledge.
I sometimes say something stupid and have no issue with someone pointing that out.
There are threads which seem to have been started with the sole aim of picking fights, I'm surprised they're not closed - although I guess I wouldn't know if the majority of them are.
To me - PH is a great general site. No worse than 10 years ago.
If someone wants to pick a fight, I just ignore them.
I often come on for help or advice and there's plenty on here who are happy to share their knowledge.
I sometimes say something stupid and have no issue with someone pointing that out.
There are threads which seem to have been started with the sole aim of picking fights, I'm surprised they're not closed - although I guess I wouldn't know if the majority of them are.
To me - PH is a great general site. No worse than 10 years ago.
wormus said:
Banter it seems is no longer allowed.
.
So it seems..
I was suspended for this:
Poster: I don't look much, but I can do 100 press-ups"
Me: Well if you're ugly, you probably try harder.
It was a good-natured thread and I struggle to believe that the Poster (long-established PHer) is so insecure as to think the comment was anything other than entirely good-natured fun, which required a witty response. But a suspension it was. I laughed.
My account was previously suspended for "Charity, Promotion blah blah, as were the accounts of other old lags on here. Still a mystery to all of us what that was about.
Unfortunately, I have seen this cycle before on a few now defunct forums. It tends to go:
1 - Healthy and busy, growing forum. Light-touch moderation, proper community feel.
2 - Owner struggling to monetise site, sells.
3 - New owner appoints unpaid moderators who become a bit too hands on. Increasing levels of post / thread deletions. Minor fiddling at the edges with site "improvements".
4 - Community feel diminishes, multiple original members banned, site becomes moribund.
5 - New owner has failed to monetise chat forum, thinks it is important enough to survive without it. Closes forum.
6 - Remaining business ceases to be of relevance and either closes or is swallowed up by someone else.
slopes said:
Definite change for the worst recently and i've seen it in all sorts of forums around the site.
Some of it is due to people posting absolute codswallop in various forums and other posters cannot ignore them, so it creates negativity, some of it is just people in general being a lot more miserable since the whole pandemic and lockdown came along
I tend to limit myself to a couple of sections where there is generally not much negativity and one or two specific threads in the Lounge, otherwise i just ignore the forum as a rule
Agree with all of the above. Some of it is due to people posting absolute codswallop in various forums and other posters cannot ignore them, so it creates negativity, some of it is just people in general being a lot more miserable since the whole pandemic and lockdown came along
I tend to limit myself to a couple of sections where there is generally not much negativity and one or two specific threads in the Lounge, otherwise i just ignore the forum as a rule
The contrast between the readers' cars or pictures of you dogs threads and NP&E or SP&L illustrates you point perfectly.
When a thread about a potentially ruinous car is started in readers cars there is usually a small amount of gentle piss taking and large amounts of admiration and advice. The dogs thread consists of people posting pictures of their dogs and those of us without dogs demanding more pictures of dogs
The vitriol in NP&E is a sad reflection of a (hopefully) small subset of society and as someone else pointed out, if posters could be identified there's a few plod that would be in trouble for their attitude and how their posting style reflects on the police as a whole.
Cockaigne said:
I've seen quite a few threads people being quite helpful.
There has been one in particular I've used a lot over the last 2 years and received some very useful financial advice (which I've then gone on to further investigate to confirm). It's a pretty friendly thread and yet I recently saw another poster having a dig about it on another thread (as an indirect way to insult those of us who he knew posted on it I guess). Just the way it can be at times though. Some seem to come on to brag or generally put down other people. I find it distracting because I want to ignore those comments, especially if they land in the middle of a thread I'm otherwise interested in. Shame we don't have an ignore function on here as other forums I use do.
I do think there are some who just want to take their frustrations out and the anonymity of the forum perhaps make it easier: Someone doesn't like SUVs or EVs, etc so it's a way to have a dig at those owners, or 'renters' if they have a thing against PCP/credit perhaps.
Maybe the forum has changed in the last 10 years. I know I have, so what I read and want to get out (and hopefully add to) on here have changed too. I do hope that I don't come across as negative though, at least generally (I'm sure I must have posted something negative even recently, but can't think off hand).
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