I’ve Decided to leave the forum.

Wish you luck with your project in Cornwall and I hope it all turns out perfectly for you in the future. 

Oh Roy, I will be really sorry to see you go but respect your view on this. You have been very kind to me and I have really enjoyed chatting with you. Would love to stay in touch if possible? 

All the best my friend 

Roy, I'm sorry to see that you're leaving, I've thought of you as an integral part of this place, along with other members who are, sadly, no longer here. 

I wish you well Roy - Pegg

Please refer to my reply in that thread.

Bunny said:

I’m glad to see the thread has since been quarantined, and I hope it stays that way.

Please refer to a helpful informative that I have posted for your benefit within your "thread" that you speak of here during your kindly response to Roy above about his decision to leave this place (and his reasoning for doing so) after his 4 long years of happy and constructive presence here in this COMMUNITY.

In short - and to summarise for other members - we all have the unassailable option to delete any thread that we start in this place - by simply emailing the community manager and asking for it to be done.

I'm very sorry to hear that, Roy. 

I hope that you will return one day.

Good luck and good will hunting friend. You’ve been a solid base of support and community to so many people here and I’m sorry we couldn’t provide the same to you. I hope you know you can return at any point you see fit, and that nobody will hold it against you if you don’t (they shouldn’t).

wishing you nothing but the best,

max

Hello Roy,

so sorry to read your post as I have enjoyed chatting with you here on the Community. You will be missed. I hope that one day you may wish to re-join, take care. 

Dear Roy,

Rather than say "good bye"; I hope use of a French phrase instead offers the hope that we might meet you here again sometime.

I use: à la prochaine,

...meaning see you next time, or until next time.

"This option for goodbye in French can be used formally, or informally, and is for when you’re not sure exactly when you’ll see each other again."

Hi Roy

I’m truly sorry that my thread upset you, and I do hope you’ll stay.

It came from a place of considerable upset that I was experiencing at the time.

I used AI to check my perceptions and share its findings about an accusation against me and a specific type of behaviour towards me. (I see this as very different - though I know some might disagree - from a character assassination, insult, or personal attack.)

I did so in good faith, with no other available sources of advice, and with constructive intentions.

Before posting, I sent it to the moderators, as I wasn’t sure whether it was acceptable. With hindsight, it's clear that a better outcome would have been a different approach - perhaps the matter being addressed privately by them. I’m glad to see the thread has since been quarantined, and I hope it stays that way.

Again, I’m very sorry for the distress this has caused you and others.

I sincerely hope you will reconsider and stay - perhaps after taking a short break, if needed (as I might do myself). Otherwise, I wish you all the very best on your onward journey.

Bunny x

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Fair points.

Beautifully expressed.

Roy is one of the nicest blokes I have ever seen in this place....and one of the most peaceful, constructive, measured and tolerant members of this community.

He has now posted this thread....and is leaving.

I hope NAS have eyes to see, and ears to hear.....and the requisite gumption to, perhaps....have an URGENT review of some evolving "policy matters" and some of their more recent decision making.

Just my opinion....obviously.

The way that it is written and the comments that follow it very much comes across as a personal attack. The original issue was a disagreement and I really don't care who was right or wrong in it. But it makes me very uncomfortable to think that if I have a difference of opinion with someone on here then an entire post may be made about me in a negative light. It also massively encourages side taking which is also against the rules. I know my comments here may come across as side taking but as I say I have zero interest as to who is right or wrong in the original disagreement. I just disagree with the mods allowing the follow up thread.

I have never understood why people make a point of posting the fact that they intend to leave this site.

When I'm fed up i just don't look at the site for weeks or months.

Dearest Roy!

A chum alerted me to this post....so despite generally keeping well away myself these days.....I couldn't not "pop-back-up" to say goodbye and to send you a VERY sincere thank you.

I feel like we shared a very important portion of our respective journeys here together....or at very least, enjoyed a warm and comforting parallel existence here "just chilling and chatting" and I am tremendously grateful for that time we were able to enjoy whilst we settled into our new found personal realities.  Like you....I am incredulous of how this (once) safe and (relatively) peaceful haven is being allowed to "grow".....like a frigging Darlic/Hydra cross-breed!!!

I will always be able to see your old workshop in my minds eye [without that topless bloke mind (God rest his soul)] and recall our discussions about move-v-stay and I'm absolutely  delighted that everything appears to have worked out.....just as you'd hoped....and that I got to "see" that happen.  I LOVE happy endings!

You're a very good man Roy, you helped me a lot, and it has been a genuine blessing to have known you here.  I wish only excellent things for you and your wife, whilst the world clumsily clatters "forward" around us.

Assuredly yours

Number.

Is it a disagreement, citing examples with additional info, or a personal attack?

Since it has not been moderated there has to be some reason or interpretation that allows it.

I do not think it is marginal at all and if mods continue to allow people to post such things, I do not think there will be many members left.

I am sorry you are going, as I enjoyed engaging with your posts.

I think I understand some of what you feel, as I thought I was seeing things when I first read the post and I also found it very disturbing. I don’t like anybody making personal attacks because I believe people are worth much more than their deeds and words, whether they are virtuous, immoral, or anything in between. I also didn’t like seeing a derogatory term used to characterise some women.

I don’t think the moderators can ban anybody using AI quotations in their posts, and I don’t they they should either, as that would be stopping freedom of expression in the same way as it could in posts without AI content. 

It would be a different matter if the person posting was not making it clear that AI was the source. I do not agree with an attack on a person, rather than on an argument, but I don’t believe AI was used to deceive, it may have been used to make the personal attack as vitriolic as possible, or there may have been another reason to make it such an imprudent assault. Ultimately, the post was made using words understood and approved by the person who posted it, but that is a different argument. 

I believe that in this case the more important question to ask is “Should attacks  on the personhood of members of this community be permitted?” 

Community rules would suggest otherwise.

Rule 7: Be respectful in discussions. Disagreements are fine, but personal attacks and insults are not. Swearing is not allowed. Please respect other viewpoints and avoid taking sides in arguments. Comments can be misinterpreted, and posts may come from users who are anxious or distressed. If something upsets you, take a break before responding.

Politicians are increasingly using emotive words and engaging in personal attacks in an effort to attract votes. Many are unable to listen, dialogue, argue and discuss without resorting to personal attacks and they are poorer communicators and ineffective because of it.  I would hate it if we descended to similar depths as I believe we have a massively valuable resource in this community. 

Perhaps Rule 7 should be enforced?