Hi Saggy.

I'd fight to defend anyone right to free speech even if I disagree with their views but I also agree with much of what you've said.

Like others have suggested I stay away from threads designed to caused nastiness but it's difficult to avoid it all as some of the posts on general discussion threads are quite horrid too. The solution to this is to always have a supple of chocolate handy when I log onto DS to help me recover from any unpleasant shocks!!!
Last edited by Cat Balou : 21-10-2007 at 22:00

Quite. And Zoe Ball the year before. In fact is still continues.

Ditto.. Kelly Brook and to a slightly lesser extent Gabby Logan.

I try not to 'attack' but I will give criticism if I think it's fair, I don't believe in personal nastiness though

for e.g. I thought Emma was a good dancer, just not as good as she was marked

I think Gabby is very good technically but I don't feel she's particularly likeable or that there's much of a spark there

I think those are fair comments and I would stand by them wholeheartedly

But you DON'T have to read them now do you? I happen to like the old threads - it is nice to have a bit of a banter, my gripe is the repetition of threads on the same subject, of which there are many - and I agree like I said I don't have to read them - but people please check before you start a thread to make sure it hasn't already been covered, I too think it is getting very intense on here and I did mention this last night elsewhere, but in the main find we are not straying too far from our lovely pink and fluffy site

You mean like CRH calling Patsy a "Scrubber in a Puffer".

One rule for one and one rule for the others...

Did I say I agree with Craig's comments on the contestants???

My point is that what is good enough for the judges on air in front of millions of viewers, is good enough for DS forums.

And that includes people who dont like the attacking.
Surely?
If an opinion is rude and nasty then people have every right to object to it, they also are stating their opinions.

Ive only just started watching this show, its something I dont usualy watch but this year I find it really interesting.

yes that's right of course we should sheep like follow the masses rather than trying to be oooh different in how we apprach things

Hmm. Not true. I don't think the judges blasé comments about Kate sitting on the couch is helpful.Neither is Bruno calling others a Gozilla or something to that effect useful.

It made matters worse. I thought last Saturday their comments of Kate's lack of passion was not that bad, but they did undermark Kate a little. Having said that, Kate WAS the worst dancer on Saturday so no complaint on the overall placement in the leaderboard.

I digress...

From what I can remember, when I first joined this forum the only nastiness on here was aimed at four people..the judges. So I think Mr Blair might have a point..no-one seemed to mind that because you can almost say, "they started it" on the show. Then it spread to the dancers and celebs and everything else.

I have a feeling the fluffy pinkness has been a victim of it's own success in some respects, the more people that join the more things will change..seen it happen elsewhere and am beyond getting upset about things on forums. (Contrary, perhaps, to the amount of posting I have done in this thread)

Saggy ---- I agree that there is no need for the nastiness and vindictiveness that has become rife on DS. And it's sad to see that even on this thread there's sniping going on.

I would fight to defend the right to free speech even if I don't agree with the platform/argument, eg. the BNP party I think are despicable but I would defend their right to campaign.

However, free speech is not a right to be rude, nasty, vindictive or just plain mean. It means you have the right to hold views and voice them but it does not mean you have carte blanche to be insulting, rude, or defammatory.

As I've said before on other threads, people who are nasty and vindictive are actually revealing something more about themselves and less about the person they are attacking.

Very well said. I agree with you on this.

Touché.

I still see people posting negativity, allthough hoping the personal insults via the judges, and ds stop! there is no need for it to pick on people because they simply arent as good, they are all still elarning, and thatas what I love about this show! but to start picking and insulting before the show even aired (as some threads did the bbc one was example of this) is really not called for!

ok... rant over for now!

Many people think that the judges go too far, are too personal, too discouraging.

Arlene judges the celebs as if they are professionals, and on her personal likes and dislikes, and how much she wants to s**g someone. A judge is supposed to be impartial.

Craig is a complete wet blanket, pouring cold water on a week's hours of training. (Bit of a mixed metaphor there!)

Sometimes, it is not good enough. Two wrongs do not make a right!

With the best will in the world, people aren't going to do what you ask them to. And in all fairness why should they? If someone has an agenda, or a chosen way of expressing themselves, they're going to continue to do that.

A lot of people don't like some of the comments, which is fair enough. You have three options: ignore, respond, or hit the alert button. But is asking someone who is a born cynic to be "nice and fluffy" likely to work? And where is it decreed that the board MUST be "nice and fluffy" ~ nowhere in the DS guidelines that I can see. When does something become not nice or fluffy enough ~ who adjudicates?

To be honest I find the schoolmarmish tone of this board rather irritating at times ~ I'll express my opinion how and where I like on what is a public forum, and lets leave it up to the mods (for that is their job) to decide what is acceptable or otherwise.

Also, it's not always good (or right) to do something you have a right to do -- or to go up to the limit of what the DS rules allow.

Then, nastiness begets nastiness and (cliché alert!) what goes around (to dancers / judges one dislikes) tends to come around (to ones you like).

When people read dancers they like being slagged off, some of them may start to feel that if the ones they like are going to get that, why should they hold back about the ones they don't? It also changes the "tone" of the forum; and if it looks like a forum for slagging dancers and judges, people who like slagging will feel right at home, and people who don't will stay away.

Fine but by joining the forum you agreed to abide by the following T&Cs:


"2.1 You must not post or transmit through the Digital Spy Site any defamatory, threatening, obscene, harmful or pornographic material or material which would violate or infringe in any way upon the rights of others (including intellectual property rights, rights of confidentiality, or rights of privacy) or cause distress or inconvenience or which do not comply with all relevant laws. You must not post messages that are vulgar, crude, sexist, racist, homophobic or otherwise offensive. Always treat other Users with respect."


So since you've already agreed to abide by these regulations by signing up to Digital Spy, I don't think you can say you can express your opinion how and where you like. You can express your opinion, yes, but within the confines of the clause above. And I think that's the point Saggy was trying to get across.

Agreed ~ as I said, it's up to the mods to decide if something contravenes the DS guidelines. Not me, or Saggy, or anyone else posting on here. If I chose to post something that fell outside those guidelines (which technically I could do, if I was that way inclined. It would get me banned, but I have the choice to risk that, or not, hypothetically speaking) then the mods would deal with it in an appropriate manner.

The above from the DS does not decree any necessity to be "nice and fluffy" at all times. No-one has the right to dictate that that will be the default mode for all posters on this forum, I'm afraid.

To be honest most of this alleged nastiness seems to be passing me by ~ but I do tend to steer clear of the rampantly fan-based threads as the few times I've looked in on them they haven't really interested me. I prefer a more generalised discussion. We all have it within our power to simply ignore posts / threads that are not to our personal taste.

Edit: and of course there's always the ignore list for posters you find repeatedly riling you ~ I've stuck a fair few persons on mine as life's too short to get yourself bothered by opinions on a message board or narked by people who are simply out to get a reaction.

I don't like these threads - the SCD forum manages to be generally good natured (with nasty comments being confined to non-nasty threads instead of people starting nasty threads) without this sort of hand-wringing.

(this forum has a LONG way to go [downhill] before it gets anywhere near as savage as the BB or X-factor forums)

How true, and I've put a few on mine as well. There do seem to be a fair few people around who simply post in order to get a reaction whether it be good or bad. Makes you wonder what their life is like outside the forum

As this is a discusion forum, not everyone is going to like the same people or have the same views, so for that reason I don't mind if people post their dislike for someone. What I do think is taking things a bit far is when they revert to personal comments about the competitors or personal attacks on other forum members.

I don't look in all the threads in this forum but I must say I haven't really seen any nastiness, compared to some of the other forums this one is all puppies and butterflies

And I agree....

I have always followed this creed. You will not find one vulgar, crude, sexist, racist, homophobic or otherwise offensive remark in any of my reples.

Just because I hold strong opinions and may disagree with many forum members does not mean I cannot conduct myself in the way I choose....As long as I stick to the rules....

Trouble is that many liberal members say they all agree with free speech, this is only as long as free speech is as they define it and in accordance with their opinions.

Sorry, free speach does not work that way.

I also depsise groups like the BNP and Socialist Worker Parties but will defend their right to free speech within common decency grounds. i.e no vulgar, crude, sexist, racist or homophobic comments.

Thank you.........