The Enid Blyton Society

Anita Bensoussane wrote:

Pippa-Stef wrote:I mean may a thread for the younger members may be in order, if it'll take the pointless chat off the other boards?

My own feeling is that the chat wouldn't stay in that thread because young members would still want to join in with the other threads and respond there. And newcomers may not realise that anything posted there will be deleted regularly, and might get a shock when their posts disappear.

I mean "pointless" for example, the two word chit chats that have been happening. not like the off topic stuff, like the babble.

This is hard to explain.

Like for example when you removed some of Icecream and 7up's conversation on the chocolate thread. That sort of babble. If that could happen on their own thread for example, then they join in with a discussion that links to that thread and keep the idle chit chat to their junior general natter.

I'm not making any sense am I?

And I suspect it's not an idea that's going to go down well.

I think I understand the idea, but much of the "pointless babble" in various threads starts off vaguely related to the topic and then strays. I can't see youngsters going off to a "chat" thread to continue chit-chat that was originally inspired by an existing topic.

Anita Bensoussane wrote: I suppose they could add their "boast" to one of the existing threads (and I could change the title if necessary), though personally I'd rather people didn't bother about their post count!

Well I will continue to 'bother about my post count'! I didn't post my 'reaching 10,000' comment to 'boast', just thought it was a bit of a milestone!On other forums I visit, I find the post count quite helpful. If a person has posted 700 times, it shows that he is committed to the site. If however, a person posts an odd comment, and has only posted three times, then he probably is a bit of an idiot! I know I'm not expressing this very well, and there are exceptions, but I know what I'm trying to say!

Moonraker wrote:

I'm afraid this forum is beginning to resemble a teen chat room

I am also afraid that this will put off some of our 'deeper' contributors. For example, MJE no longer posts - not necessarily because of the number of trivial posts, he does tend to disappear at times.

     Oh dear - does one become obsolete here as quickly as that? It doesn't seem quite *that* long to me - but I think my very sense of time seems to be changing.
     No, my non-posting has nothing to do with the incidence of trivial posts - it's just due to issues in my own life, which I won't bore people with here.
     I'm just sort of catching up now - which is getting more and more difficult - but I suppose this illustrates that it just is inherently difficult to have any forum which appeals to both adults and children: they really do have quite different ways of thinking, of talking about things, and what interests one will not interest the other. I don't know of any easy answer to this, though.

Moonraker wrote:This has been shown by completely random posts in threads - bearing no connection with previous posts.

     I've just come in on this rather late, but I think it's difficult to control this without it becoming a highly-policed, strict forum, which is not something I would favour. Also, I think totally off-topic posts are more acceptable if they do relate to previous posts (whether on- or off-topic) in the thread in some way (that just mimics the way human conversation takes place), or if they are amusing or interesting in themselves, than if they are totally random and unrelated to anything else.

     So you ignore the school series threads, do you, Nigel? Actually, I would normally find those interesting - but do they tend to attract trivial posts especially strongly? (I haven't looked at them for a while.) I must admit that that would cause me to pass over certain posts.
     And I see you've changed your avatar - and it isn't a moon picture, either. Have you run out of moon images? Why not start re-using some of the old ones again? There was one I thought was quite atmospheric (difficult to describe, except I think it was blue and yellow), but you told me earlier you'd lost it. That's a pity.

Regards, Michael.

It's a tough one. I really like the mix of ages and interests of the people on here. I don't necessarily agree with everything that's posted, and do sometimes just skim over a post if I don't think I'll find it interesting.

Unless everyone sticks rigidly to only Enid Blyton based topics I would have thought it would be difficult to draw a line between what is acceptable and what is pointless. Is the chit chat between some of the younger members any worse than a reference by some of the more established members which refers to a trip/meeting they have had together? Personally I don't mind either.

I know Anita probably has more than enough to do, but hopefully the current situation where she 'polices' the fourms and sends a gentle PM as and when necessary is enough.

MJE wrote:

Moonraker wrote:

I'm afraid this forum is beginning to resemble a teen chat room

I am also afraid that this will put off some of our 'deeper' contributors. For example, MJE no longer posts - not necessarily because of the number of trivial posts, he does tend to disappear at times.

     Oh dear - does one become obsolete here as quickly as that?

Sorry Michael, I should have said "MJE hasn't posted for a while" rather than "No longer posts". It's good to see you back.

And I see you've changed your avatar - and it isn't a moon picture, either. Have you run out of moon images?

I found this picture whilst searching my old photos for something else, and thought I'd use it for a short while as my avatar. It is of me when I was about 5 years old. I know some people like familiarity, so I will revert to my 'usual' one soon!

There was one I thought was quite atmospheric (difficult to describe, except I think it was blue and yellow), but you told me earlier you'd lost it. That's a pity.

Is this the one, Michael?

Katharine wrote:Is the chit chat between some of the younger members any worse than a reference by some of the more established members which refers to a trip/meeting they have had together? Personally I don't mind either.

Good point, Katharine.

Moonraker wrote:Sorry Michael, I should have said "MJE hasn't posted for a while" rather than "No longer posts".

     No, Nigel, I wasn't taking offence at your choice of words - merely commenting on the way one tends to get thought of in the past tense after a (to me) surprisingly short period of non-posting. I'm beginning to think time goes slower for me than it does for most people.

Moonraker wrote:It's good to see you back.

     Thank you - glad you like to have me post. (I lack a bit of confidence about this at times, especially after I was rubbished by a few brainless people on a Facebook page where I posted what I thought (and still consider) to be relevant and thoughtful messages. They were reduced to saying stupid things like "Get a life", but it hurts all the same, even though I think they were wrong, and just rather arrogant and intolerant. But I've decided not to waste my time further in the company of such people, so don't post there any more.)

Moonraker wrote:I found this picture whilst searching my old photos for something else, and thought I'd use it for a short while as my avatar. It is of me when I was about 5 years old. I know some people like familiarity, so I will revert to my 'usual' one soon!

     Well, what is your usual one? You've been through a few, not repeating any as far as I recall. But I think they all included both a moon and a rake - surely not an easy combination to find!
     Mine really is me, although about 10 years ago - it is the only digital photo of me in existence, so I have none other to change to. (I've probably changed a bit since, but I don't think hugely.) (I mention it, because I have encountered people who used a picture of a person; but it wasn't them at all.) And I really can't think of anything else I could use that would be suitable - just some random Blyton picture doesn't seem to cut it for me, somehow.
     And I do wonder about changing such a thing anyway. Since it's meant to represent you in a sense, *should* it be changed or not? Or should it remain the same (without good reason for changing, at least), because you as a person remain the same? (I'm not criticizing you for changing it - just asking the question as a philosophical proposition.)

Moonraker wrote:Is this the one, Michael?

     No, it wasn't that one. My memory of it is vague, as to describing it in words, although I'm sure I'd recognize it without difficulty if I saw it - but could it have feature a man standing in a swamp or field with a rake, and the moon is in the sky above? Even that, I'm not sure of - but does it ring a bell?

Regards, Michael.

Good to see you back Michael. with your usual common sense posts. Yes, Nigel has used quite a few moon pictures as his avatar, but this latest really does show us what a monkey he can sometimes be!

Moonraker looks such an angelic child, I wonder if he was!

I feel you've been away for a long time too, but I suspect it's not so much a case of how long you've been away from the forums, more a case of missing your well constructed posts. Good to see you back again.

MJE wrote: I think totally off-topic posts are more acceptable if they do relate to previous posts (whether on- or off-topic) in the thread in some way (that just mimics the way human conversation takes place), or if they are amusing or interesting in themselves, than if they are totally random and unrelated to anything else.

I absolutely agree with this.

MJE wrote:So you ignore the school series threads, do you, Nigel? Actually, I would normally find those interesting - but do they tend to attract trivial posts especially strongly? (I haven't looked at them for a while.) I must admit that that would cause me to pass over certain posts.

The school series are particularly popular with some of our youngest members (in fact they've often only read the school series - and not always the ones actually written by EB) so there are often more 'trivial' posts in threads about them.

Groucho Marx once said he would never join a club that would have him as a member.

I don't mind the shorter trivial amusing posts I'm probably guilty of these mixed in with the more detailed informative posts.

I would hate to feel I face the axe unless I have something interesting to say. I tend to feel as I get older that people are more endlessly fascinating especially when we share similar interests.

I know it's been a long time since the last post, but I really think it might be good if you remove the post count, because at least then there won't be much competition!