Random Irritations

[Tashyboy]

However you dress it up, as people get older they change, priorities change. Sometimes you see things and at one time you may well want to talk/ argue the case. Eventually you realise it’s the same people ( be that work, pub, forums) that want to argue the case and not be open minded and you just think “ sod it let them find someone else to wear down”. They will eventually find themselves in ever decreasing circles of people to argue with.
Relate that to the forum and I am with Amanda, I don’t bother with them.

 

[PJ87]

However you dress it up, as people get older they change, priorities change. Sometimes you see things and at one time you may well want to talk/ argue the case. Eventually you realise it’s the same people ( be that work, pub, forums) that want to argue the case and not be open minded and you just think “ sod it let them find someone else to wear down”. They will eventually find themselves in ever decreasing circles of people to argue with.
Relate that to the forum and I am with Amanda, I don’t bother with them.

I think the main thing with those who leave is we actually know their ok and not going through something in silence. I think it's actually refreshing to hear people still talking to each other and meeting up. You would hate it to be something has happened to that person.

 

[Hobbit]

I think a lot of people who say the forum has got worse are just dismayed that a younger crowd joins and momentum shifts towards the more modern golfer who's actually aware of social issues and has diluted the typical old boy's club of grumpy old white blokes. Same thing that's (hopefully) happening in golf clubs across the country.

Isn’t this the sort of post that perpetuates the argument? Where’s the live and let live in this post? Where’s the respect for different likes, dislikes etc? The post is so very disappointing, ageist and just not appropriate. I could say more but I’d have to infract myself.

 

[Voyager EMH]

. Words fail me..

Lets hope so.

 

[Orikoru]

Isn’t this the sort of post that perpetuates the argument? Where’s the live and let live in this post? Where’s the respect for different likes, dislikes etc? The post is so very disappointing, ageist and just not appropriate. I could say more but I’d have to infract myself.

It's just obvious that's what some people mean. They don't like people coming into the forum who challenge their long-held views, while those that share them get banned or leave. I personally love a debate would get bored if we all agreed on everything, but plenty don't feel that way - they want their echo chamber and say the forum has got worse when they don't get it.

 

[Voyager EMH]

I think a lot of people who say the forum has got worse are just dismayed that a younger crowd joins and momentum shifts towards the more modern golfer who's actually aware of social issues and has diluted the typical old boy's club of grumpy old white blokes. Same thing that's (hopefully) happening in golf clubs across the country.

As a less than 3-year-old on the forum who is undoubtedly a grumpy old bloke, I thought this was a well expressed view and very insightful.

 

[Tashyboy]

I think the main thing with those who leave is we actually know their ok and not going through something in silence. I think it's actually refreshing to hear people still talking to each other and meeting up. You would hate it to be something has happened to that person.

Couldn’t agree more. My point was not just with the forum and people on here. I am in the RBL and people have changed since I joined. Predominately for the better. They have cut down on drinking having become grandparents and there are quite a few who have. There lives have changed.

 

[srixon 1]

Normally, a 7mm socket is best used for these things. It also helps to put something like WD40 on the worm drive first as well
Been there. got the scars

Couldn’t be bothered to go down to the garage to get the socket. Whenever I remove/install them on a car I always use a socket.

 

[Imurg]

The forum has been up and down since the day MikeH and a couple of others at GM started "talking" to each other in the hope of getting more people in.
Every year there are "battles", arguments, flounces and the like.
People have been being banned or leaving all the time.
What has changed, in my opinion, is there are more argumentative members than before, those who can't let go of the bone until they've had the last word.
There are also more who's sole purpose for being here seems to revolve around winding people up, arguing for the sake of it and not really adding much to the forum.
Hey, that's life, it is what it is and a dozen other clichés.
Stay or go....but here's a line many should take on board..
Listen to understand, don't listen to reply..

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think the main thing with those who leave is we actually know their ok and not going through something in silence. I think it's actually refreshing to hear people still talking to each other and meeting up. You would hate it to be something has happened to that person.

I stepped away from the forum for a while as I was having my own mental health issues (which are now much better) and didn't need the aggravation and grief of some on here so simpler to not interact. I was fortunate that a few on here contacted me via PM and for that I will always be grateful. It is actually quite insightful to view the posts, the topics and the tones when you know you aren't going to be getting involved and so with perhaps a less biased starting point

 

[Deleted member 35577]

I think a lot of people who say the forum has got worse are just dismayed that a younger crowd joins and momentum shifts towards the more modern golfer who's actually aware of social issues and has diluted the typical old boy's club of grumpy old white blokes. Same thing that's (hopefully) happening in golf clubs across the country.

I play in the same rollup as an old black guy. He is grumpy. Nice generic generalisation there

 

[Orikoru]

I play in the same rollup as an old black guy. He is grumpy. Nice generic generalisation there

Grumpy old men was the wrong choice of words but it was a replacement for a different choice of words that probably would have got deleted. The point was the attitude not the age or colour but I used a stereotype because I rushed that post before I got off the train this morning. My further reply to Hobbit explains what I meant.

 

[chrisd]

In my opinion there is an element of truth in a lot of the views taken by the older and younger forum members, it really just reflects life as we find it these days. The thing I really liked was that I could travel and play with people I'd never met, other than in writing on a forum. I went to "a day out" at some meets, and also "a few days away" with others. The Forest Pines trips were brilliant and long term friendships made there still exist today, there were many others like the Cooden Beach meet which is still happening. Back then Golf Monthly did a fair bit more to support the forum which has now gone by the wayside

Eventually I even got into helping organise some meets and, yes, there were young and old forum members attending but I never saw a problem between people at any meet, that doesn't mean everyone liked everyone else they played with but that can happen at one's own club too. Also the meet up in the pub in Deal after play in the 3 day Kent Links Meet were great fun.

It may be that people don't want to have meets any more and that's their choice but imo the forum was better because we, the then regular posters were not all strangers.

 

[Deleted member 35577]

I've only been on this forum for 5 minutes and already I have discovered and used the ignore function for 1 person in particular that just can't seem to let anyone else have the last word. I imagine it is things like that which drives people away. I was on the verge of leaving until I discovered that wonderful little button

 

[PJ87]

In my opinion there is an element of truth in a lot of the views taken by the older and younger forum members, it really just reflects life as we find it these days. The thing I really liked was that I could travel and play with people I'd never met, other than in writing on a forum. I went to "a day out" at some meets, and also "a few days away" with others. The Forest Pines trips were brilliant and long term friendships made there still exist today, there were many others like the Cooden Beach meet which is still happening. Back then Golf Monthly did a fair bit more to support the forum which has now gone by the wayside

Eventually I even got into helping organise some meets and, yes, there were young and old forum members attending but I never saw a problem between people at any meet, that doesn't mean everyone liked everyone else they played with but that can happen at one's own club too. Also the meet up in the pub in Deal after play in the 3 day Kent Links Meet were great fun.

It may be that people don't want to have meets any more and that's their choice but imo the forum was better because we, the then regular posters were not all strangers.

I joined in 2016, wouldnt have been comfortable at first going to meets. My golf was a lot worse lol 2017 my kids started arriving so travelling became out of the question, then COVID came . More kids. Cost of living increased.

I'm finally in the position to go to a meet so I've picked h4h as it seems a good charity aswell.

My point? That's just one example of how just my situation has been over the past 8 years

I suspect there are similar stories and differences to attendance to things.

 

[GB72]

People come, people go, the forum, at its heart, is no better or no worst than it has ever been and I have been here for a while. There are less meet ups, sure, but Covid helped with that and, really, they became a pain to origanise (the one time I tried, it failed miserably). Part of that was because people started expecting massive meets at top 100 courses for next to no money and meet ups at more 'regular' courses just did not get any real traction.

The almost non existent involvement of GM these days is another step backwards. It really felt the forum was part of something then, now it could be on any server.

As many have already said, the point of debate has also seemed to skip a few people. Just hammering on about the same point until the other person just gets tired and gives up is not a discussion or a debate.

But, the people are different and are no better or worse. It is easy to lament those who no longer post on here but fail to celebrate the new people who have added just as much or even more.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

You know what they say, if you can't see the idiot in the group, then it must be...................

Ignorance is bliss

 

[rudebhoy]

Back in the early 90's Newcastle University used to stick an A4 notice on the drivers side window of cars that were parked on site in places they shouldn't have been. The glue on those was phenomenal. You could see remnants on windows of cars all over the city where people had tried and failed to scrape them off. Evil things but highly effective in getting the message across. People rarely fell foul twice, they learnt.

I don't see it anymore, probably not allowed to stick something that wicked on a screen now, but I often thing of those being used in scenarios as you have described. Revenge if nothing else

When I worked at the Ministry in Newcastle, there was not enough parking spaces to go round, you had to wait years to get a permit.

So people used to park in a nearby housing estate. A lot of residents didn’t like it, and there was regular conflict. One guy I knew got back to his car to find a resident had used wallpaper paste to cover all his windows with newspaper.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Covid isn’t the main reason why people aren’t sorting out meets - the meets are still happening but being arranged elsewhere now

People didn’t want to start what’s app groups to sort out meets or even to talk about golf stuff but it’s happened because of the way the forum has gone.

You just need to look at the reaction from some when a bunch of forumers went on a trip and put pics up here.

At the end of the day this is a golf forum - but the golf talk is now seem secondary

 

[Billysboots]

Two observations Phil.

First, a meet arranged elsewhere is not really a GM meet, and whilst I didn’t subscribe to the view that it shouldn’t have been discussed here before or after the event, I can understand why some weren’t happy.

And second, it’s not yet 10am on a Monday morning and there are already 11 active threads in The Lounge. So plenty of golf chat if people care to look.