The following post was written whilst under the influence of a rather fine bottle of Veuve Clicquot.
A few years ago a forum was born - Birdforum. It seemed a good idea at the time and I signed up. I was pleasantly surprised that it was full of like minded individuals with a genuine interest in all things birding. We swapped tips on digiscoping, trip reports and all the good things in birding. There was the occasional light-hearted banter that was always tongue in cheek and was taken with a pinch of salt and never got out of hand. However during the last few years the light-hearted banter has changed to downright nastiness and in some cases nothing short of abuse. And after several comments on here and social networking sites I have been banned from posting on there. I'm glad that I've been banned from posting but what I really want is to be banned from viewing it. Today I glanced over the Slaty-backed Gull thread. All seemed well for, amazingly, the first four pages. Then the bile began. All because some birder claimed to see it on Saturday. So what if he's happy then let him think he saw it even if he didn't. I wasted twenty minutes of my life reading the last five pages and if Steve wants to email me I'll gladly provide him with the various I.P addresses to ensure I'm banned from the vile shit that is Bird Forum!
There's a fine line between satire and abuse and some posters and indeed some bloggers need to learn that. I might have taken the piss out of other birders but that's as far as it goes taking the piss.
Lee has been the subject of several posts of mine during the three years of ramblings, but not once have I meant him any harm - in fact I'm sure that Lee has found some of it amusing. I actually like Lee, he's a character and life would be boring if we didn't have characters. Personally I hope that his 'moving to Spain' is a bluff and that he continues to entertain us for years to come.
Praise Be
4 comments:
Not looking at Birdforum is like giving up smoking, or twitching - you just need a bit of willpower. Deleting it from your bookmarks would be a good start though.
As for Lee 'moving to Spain', I think that can safely be filed in the same drawer as his claims to be bankrupt, having a brain tumour and his announcement only a few months ago that he was going to give up birding....
I've only been on BirdForum once so far this year - I found it bringing out the worst keyboard warrior tendencies in me as I kept wading in when people were talking obvious shite (and sometimes I ended up taking enough of it myself in return). Every rare bird thread seems to turn into mean-spirited sniping from people who just seem bitter because for one reason or another they're stuck at a computer while others are out actually birding.
My new year's resolution is only use BirdForum occasionally to find/share information, and steer away from anything that counts as opinion...
Well said. I love people taking the Pee but way too many can't see the funny side of things. What really gets my back up is the folks that hide behind their keyboards and spout stuff they would never say to some one in person. A rule of thumb, if you wouldn't say it to their face, DON'T POST IT!!!!!
Keep up the crap work ;)
I couldn't agree more. I went on there for the first time in months the other day to read about the SBG.Its embarassing and sad.
I still have trouble admitting to being a birder because I think my friends will consider me weird.Hardly suprising when you read all that bollocks.
Mind you not going on twitches (big ones at least) because of all the associated aggro does give me an excuse for my pathetically small UK list.
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