Just wanted to raise the issue of niceness on this forum.

Some of us have developed clear favourites (including me incidentally!) and are very emotionally invested in this programme. Every week now, a great and talented girl is going out, and I'm sure it will be painful for the fans. I know it is not life and death (and there are things I like almost as much as OTR, like sushi for example).

Also, people here are also family and personal aquaintances of these girls.

I was dissapointed tbh at the response to Emilie leaving last week. Lots of us including me felt that she should have gone - but there is no point kicking a dog, and its family when it is down...

also I find talking about the contestants personal appearance or the thread like 'ding dong Emilie is gone' are offensive IMO

I realise this is a fun forum and some ridiculing is necessary, and I know there is a dedicated thread for that, but just wanted to say just because we are invisible people on a forum, doesn't mean we should behave like biatches!

Just a thought.

^I agree. Criticizing performers based on their abilities or performances is one thing, and even saying things about their personalities is all right I guess, if it's done politely, but outright insults are inappropriate I think. Remember, these are real people we are talking about.

Very well said, DanielleHopeFan. It is amazing how territorial we all become during these competitions, but all of these contestants deserve a bit of respect. I, for one would never be able to do what they do, and as I enjoy the shows they take part in, I wish all the contestants success.

There is a fine line between a comment that is amusing and something that is offensive. You need a really strong sense of your own abilities to fend of some of the remarks on these forums, and as you say - friends, families and sometimes contestants themselves will see these posts at some time.

A very good post Danielle Hope Fan.

In the past I have put on some very scathing comments - but these have not been about the girls as I feel, without exception, they are all extremely talented. Some may not be right for the role of Dorothy.

Let's face it they have all reached the final - and how many people applied. So we are seeing the cream of the crop.

Obviously there are some contestants who are weaker than others.

My view is that three girls could carry off the role - Danielle, Lauren and Stephanie. Steph is wonderful but is not right for the role and the others are weaker.

I too do not like the way some people rounded on Emilie and were making very personal remarks about her appearance. She is a very pretty girl - somehow I think the people who made these asinine comments were either jealous or just plain ignorant.

Yes - of course we should have fun on this forum and it should be lighthearted. But please, don't forget the contestants could read our meanderings and some remarks could cause a great deal of hurt.

Did you just call Emilie a dog and an 'It' tut tut

Yep Not meant it that way of course...oops!

Its ok, I know what you meant

I'm not a fan of personal attacks on performers for things they can't help - such as their appearance. For example, I felt really strongly that Emilie really shouldn't still have been in the competition but didn't join the only Facebook group I could find that said that because it referred to her as 'Gappy'.

I think we are fine to criticise their singing/acting/dancing abilities because they have entered a competition (and an industry) where they should expect to be criticised for those things.

By the way, I lurked in Digispy BB forums for a year before I signed up (I'm not a prolific poster but I read the forums pretty much daily) and even when I signed up, it was a truly savage place - even the most well thought out and reasonable post put you at risk of being flamed and attacked by other posters, it was a real dog-eat-dog kind of forum!

Over the years it has mellowed due to different kinds of posters joining up - but, given how harsh it was back then, I'm not surprised that it isn't exactly a haven of 'niceness'!

So, though I can see (and sympathise with) the argument for not making personal attacks. It's never really been the kind of place where we all hold hands and sing peace songs together! An element of bitchyness has always been part of the status quo here - so you can't realistically expect posters to adhere to an 'if you can't say anything nice don't say anything' philosophy I'm afraid!

In an industry where appearance is extremely important then appearance is going to be criticised. The girl has to not only sing dance and act but has to look like 'Dorothy' or whatever role they are going for. Appearance can be changed to some extent and for Emilie a bit of orthodontic work would help tremendously if she is serious about being in musical theatre. I thought she was quite nice and admire anyone who has the guts and talent to do what they are doing but couldn't take my eyes off her teeth when she sang - very distracting and not what I'd pay to watch - and if she gets nothing else out of the competition than knowing she needs to do something about that, will probably be the biggest help to her career of all.

I agree with your last para. By all means try to be nice but if no-one mentions the things that they dislike about any of the girls then how will they know what to improve. Of course some people do go a bit far but people should by now know what to expect on a forum such as this and if they don't want to hear the bad as well as the good then they don't have to read it. You can't expect people to go tiptoeing about not saying things in case they hurt someone's feelings. It doesn't happen in real life so it sure as h**k ain't going to happen on a forum.

It's not really clear, who is your favourite?

Your favourite is my least favourite at the moment. But it's her performances I stick to criticising, not her, not what the other girls think of her or anything that we can't possibly know from the short time we see them on screen.

I also think there is a way to challenge someone's opinion. I've asked Danielle fans, as have others, what makes her so special, a couple of people who's opinion I respect have said Danielle is their favourite, which made me think there is something there I'm just not getting it. Done in the right way makes for interesting debate.

It should be remember to that a lot of these contestants have family and friends reading these forums. So if you wouldn't say it to them don't say it on here is a good rule of thumb.

^I don't think DanielleHopeFan was just talking about people's comments about Danielle. She was talking about their comments in general, and specifically mentioned Emilie as well.

I think that disagreement and polite criticism is perfectly acceptable. We all have such varying opinions and that's frankly part of what makes this board so fun. It would be kind of boring if we all agreed on everything. The point is that some people seem to take it too far sometimes, to the point of sounding nasty or insulting.

As an example of how to do it right, I think Icedragon's post above about Emilie is something I would call appropriate criticism. The poster makes points about Emilie's appearance, but they are well thought-out and politely stated and constructive rather than being insulting. The Facebook group (pointed out by mirandaweb) that called Emilie "Gappy" is an example of being insulting. It's one thing to point out an obvious issue with a contestant's look, or how you think her personality is coming across, or limitations in singing or acting or dancing or whatever, but if these are politely stated without being framed as personal attacks against the contestant then I think they are OK.

It would be hard to really communicate our opinions of the contestants if we can't say what we don't like about them as well as what we like. Still, when we do have something negative to say, I think it should be done in a constructive manner, maybe as if we were the judges on the show and speaking directly to the girls, because I know that some of their friends and relatives read this board and maybe some of the contestants do as well. These are real people we're talking about, and they're all in a really high-pressure position right now and they all deserve our respect. Constructive criticism is helpful--insults are not.

Good points everyone. I read the stage today and I realised how critical things can get!!! I guess its just the reality and maybe the line between appropriate criticism and being abusive/offensive is hard to define. I do feel that alluding to a contestant being a witch or namecalling related to appearance is beyond the line IMO. Whereas having preferences and debating your favourite and least favourite contestants in a spirit of debate and dialogue is exactly what we are here for. Thanks for your thoughts.

Awww but being nice is soo boring.

Ok, so is making jokes about them ok, as long as it's not serious.

I don't like the silly things people say, like, "Jessica's a cow becuase she sneers at people..." absolute rubbish.

"Danielle's smug..." ok, don't actualy see it at all.

"Lauren's smug..." she isn't, she just wants to win and is pushing the confident image, or was.

"Jenny's ugly.." she isn't. unless you think most people are ugly.

I think people should watch their comments, it's hurtful, to me and my delicate nature . But making jokes is fine by me. and saying you don't like the way someone performs is ok. I certainly had a few things to say about Emilie, becuase of the way she sang out of tune. becuase it's the truth.

I have to say that while I agree with the OP about nasty personal comments and I feel this is a forum and we are not in the girls living rooms .
If the families wish to read the forums they must understand that people have views , comments and take the pee .Its what forums do and in fact its what people do in their own houses .
Its a little pointless to ask a forum to be all sweetness and light , the majority are not here to gush but to share thougths , be they negative or positve
I for one find Jessica irritating to watch and will have said so , I am sure she is a lovely girl and her parents love her but I am here to comment on her performance .
Equally I will say if I find a girl brilliant or woefull on the night .
And defend my right to say I find ALW the oddest man on teli .!!

I think some people on here were really horrible about Emilie. I wasn't her greatest fan, indeed I don't think she should have been voted back as the wildcard as there were others who were better IMO.

However, whilst she might not have been as good as the others, she wasn't "awful", "dire" etc as some on here tried to make out she was and it was a real shame that she messed up her last note in OTR, I didn't find it remotely funny

I didn't have a problem with the gap in her teeth, you probably wouldn't even notice that from the middle of the stalls with all the action going on on stage. Having said that, the poster who suggested that Jessica was mouthing "I'll get you my pretty and your gappy teeth too" with her facial expression during last week's OTR made me laugh

For the most part, none of us know these girls apart from what we see on the VTs and they aren't necessarily the most reliable source of information. Lauren, in particular, was made out to be a total biatch through careful editing of her VT and yet everyone who has reported back from the recordings so far has said she is really lovely and very popular with the other Dorothies. What is so bad about wanting to win anyway? None of them put themselves forward with the objective of losing!

haha yes that was funny.

i did feel bad for her, messing up her note at the end.

I thought she was pretty bad, in three out of four of her songs. moon river was ok. I found 2 of them bizzar to watch, and actualy feel sorry that she had to do these songs on live tv, when she clearly wasn't cut out to sing them. I'm surprised she made it past the first week.