Regarding closed areas of the forum and the "safe" nature of them

[lorelai]

When you google etiquette hell the second listing that pops up is a thread on which the members who participate solely mock users of this forum. It feels really wrong to me. Obviously we cannot control what happens on the internet and should be careful about what kind of information we put out here on E-hell's public forum, but I feel that the bashing has crossed a line now that people's private threads on closed sections of this forum are now being put out for public mockery. And several of them admit to posting here too. So people who post on our forum who are here for whatever reasons (but I would like to think so we can improve our etiquette and find community) are also here to mock us.

I would like to know if the site owner or moderators will be doing anything about this? I hate to cry "safe space" on this but it feels really terrible that people can be posting about domestic situations, or other issues in "I need a hug" and anything really is up for mockery now. I would love to hear your thoughts.

[Zizi-K]

Whoa! I'm so glad you brought this site up, I would have never known about it otherwise.

I don't have strong opinions about the issues you bring up, but I was so excited to google myself (my EHell screen name) to find that someone had (only once, sadlyl) commented about me!

You have to give it to them: they devoted a whole blog to complaining about another blog.

Whatever, I couldn't care less. On the internet, nothing is truly private!

[Two Ravens]

I think specifically mentioning other boards (and it's very obvious what one you are talking about) is against policy here. No good can come of it, really.

[lorelai]

But I thought that the people participating on another forum to bash users here is against the policy. I didn't realize I was also breaking the policy. I don't mean to cause pain to people or to break policy. I'm not sure how to proceed now.

[Harriet Jones]

I think the policy is to not stir up wars between forums.

[FauxFoodist]

I think specifically mentioning other boards (and it's very obvious what one you are talking about) is against policy here. No good can come of it, really.

That's what I thought, too.  I think it's in the forum rules that you're now allowed to post about other forums here.  I did that once, in error, and my thread was deleted immediately (I didn't know about the rule at that time).  I happened to Google for Etiquette Hell and was surprised to come across several results regarding this forum.  I did the same thing as the OP and started a thread about it.  No one replied, and my thread was deleted pretty quickly.  I didn't hear from the mods, but I figured I must've posted about something I wasn't supposed to.

I think the policy is to not stir up wars between forums.

I think that's another forum rule, in addition to not posting about/advertising other forums.  I remember a few years ago there was a widespread banning here that happened as a result of some secret FB group of posters from here who were purposely targeting posters they didn't like.  I had no idea what was going on until after the banning occurred.  Didn't even know about the banning until I saw a thread about it.  However, I remember before that happened thinking the forum seemed to have taken a dark turn because there was a lot of rather mean posting going on for a few months.  Once I read the thread about why people were banned, the weird period of meanness made sense.

On the internet, nothing is truly private!

This is where I stand.  I certainly can't control people in my life to not say bad things about me; I'd be dreaming if I thought I could do that with the Internet.

I don't kid myself into thinking anything I put on some sort of media or recording device is safe or private, including hard copies, e-mails and voice mails.

[Sophia]

That is disgusting!  People should be ashamed of themselves. 

[cass2591]

It's the internet. I'm not really sure what you think Jeanne or the mods can do about that. People troll. It's up to you to maintain your own privacy, not the forum. In other words, it's the nature of the beast.