Bullying

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Lemming
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Joined: Sat 5th Mar 2005 07:17 am
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Bullying

Post by Lemming »

I'm very sad to be having to write this but it's something that seems to happen every few years.

There have been a couple of instances of new members suffering bullying just for not being members of the clique. This is obviously wrong in any circumstances but it's worse when those under attack are actually valuable contributors.

In one case a victim resorted to extreme measures to try to force me to delete their posts. This is obviously equally unacceptable and childish.

This is supposed to be forum about coffeeshops. It's cool that some use it more as place to chat to their mates but it's not cool to chase away new members just to keep it exclusive. If you want that then something like a WhatsApp group would be more appropriate.

People who post coffeeshop reviews and new information are exactly what we need here. They should be encouraged, not attacked.

For most of the long history of this forum I've been impressed by the positivity and tolerance of everyone here. When conflicts have occasionally flared up, most often people have tried to diffuse the situation with love and understanding. Much thanks to everyone who has helped out in this way over the years and recently.

However, just occasionally, a kind of gang mentality does seem to arise. Someone who's having a bad day picks on something that someone else said, they react, the other overreacts and then more pile in to support their mate.

As a bunch of stoners we're probably more inclined to paranoia than most and it's very easy to misinterpret typed words. It only takes one person to take offence at something innocuous and make an offensive reply to start a spiral. A new member might feel that this is an unfriendly place and either disappear or lash out. Once a bad atmosphere gets established, everyone views everyone else with suspicion.

All I can say is please refer to my Golden Rule and give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Thank you.


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