Do You Notice More Civility on the Posts?

People are still really mean. Like its there job to be the mamapedia police. And don't dare call them out on it. Then you're the one who "can't handle the truth" yada, yada, yada

Elle:

It's the same as it always is. People ARE giving thoughtful answers. People ARE being themselves. There's still sarcasm. There's still a bunch of stuff. It's all in HOW YOU INTERPRET IT!!

There are "hot" topics and there are "cool" topics. When people ask for the truth - they get it. When people ask for people not to judge or be harsh - they aren't ready to hear the truth and they want people to blow sunshine up their dress.

What MANY fail to realize is this is the written word. IF you do NOT like what the person is posting/saying - you will read it as nasty, mean, etc. If you LOVE what they are saying - you will read it with a smile on your face and like it.

As to spell checks? Don't see a change in that either. Or the use of && and one long paragraph that hurts the brain - still here and still happens.

Hope this helps!

Nope. I still see answers given in an overly aggressive, self important, think they know everything sort of way vs still saying what needs to be said without attacking...

I think what frustrates me the most sometimes when I post questions is the nasty and totally off-base comments I will encounter from people about a simple question. In fact, it forced me to close down my account with Mamapedia for a year not so long ago because of the downright rude and unsupportive answers I would see when I'd ask a question that I really needed help with. Some of the answers I got were also really hurtful too. Is that what a troll is? I have seen those words thrown down in here a few times and wondered what that meant...LOL! I do feel like my second time around on here is much better, so far. I am always waiting for the meanness to come out though. It is a terrible thing to feel but once you've had that experience, it doesn't go away overnight. I would like to say thank you though to all the nice and wonderful Mom on here that have listened and helped me greatly. You never have to agree with me, but it's nice to just treat everyone with respect and regard when answering a question. After all....we ALL are always struggling with something in our lives. none of us are perfect!

Funny, I was thinking the opposite! Answers seem to be as "flip" and self-righteous as ever. Posters still getting insulted when answers dont validate what they want to hear. Interesting "first time questions" still coming through regularly... I agree that the general volume is down, of questions and answers. Could be summer... Or could be that this site is now scaring a lot of people away.

I appreciate blunt answers, snarky humor, sarcasm etc so I'm not going anywhere, but if I were a more delicate soul I might be less active on here.

I wish I could say the answers have been less flippant, but I do not believe that is the case. I really get tired of hearing people say that the responses people give are not nasty, they are simply truthful and people need to have a thicker skin. There is a way to be truthful, even critical, without being nasty. And just because a poster says others are being nasty, does not mean they were looking solely for validation.

I see too many answer in which the responder makes assumptions and they criticizes the poster for it. Someone asked a question about watering down juice, and one response said kids shouldn't drink juice all day and should drink water and she needed to change that. Ok, but she didn't say her child drank juice all day long, just 4 oz a day. Another mom asked a question and mentioned that her kids liked drinking milk and someone said they shouldn't drink milk all day long. Again, the poster didn't say they drank it all day long, just that they liked it.

Yes, I think some of the responders are very highly critical.

I haven't noticed much difference one way or the other. I do think the volume of questions is down though.

I have been trying to be a little more "kind" in my answers. Sometimes the written word comes across harshly imho.

Good subtle way to get people to be nicer! Praise the good.

I am glad there are fewer trolls- people who just want to jerk people around with an inflammatory question. Can you believe people do that?

Thoughtful answers come from fertile minds, sometimes they are also sarcastic and flippant. That's what helps them in a world that sometimes cares less about the truth than they ought. Or they are trying to evaluate motives and miss the point because their minds jump ahead or stick to a turn of phrase that provokes a closer look. See my first sentence. Sorry about that.

I care less than some about paragraphs and spelling. I've known many wonderful people that have poor writing skills..including me, lol.
If someone can pour that much out of their heart then I can slug through it and read it. I guess I have better reading skills, than writing skills.

I think that the amount of questions is smaller, therefore by default there are less troll or crazy questions.
I have always tried my best to convey a civil tone as best I can in a written forum. But there are some questions that just, By Gawd, I just can't. I can't take it seriously if it really is serious. I find it harder to be patient with someone that's been asking the same question multiple times for over a year or two who really seriously needs help yet keeps on and no amount of advice will change their stupid. So many of the answers that people complain about I don't really see as bad as others do. Sometimes the truth hurts. The world isn't all rainbows and sunshine. Occasionally I think it could have been said a little better, but that's the problem with the written word. And if this is an ongoing problem, there are those that have less patience having to deal with it yet again, because obviously the person did nothing about it the last time they went on about it.
The weekend is young. There is no telling what may still come.

Ditto Wild Woman. I'm still seeing the treacherously-long one-paragraph posts with poor grammar from folks who treat punctuation as though it were something to be avoided (or merely superfluous to their 'flow of thought' post).

I think the traffic on this site has slowed somewhat. Someone got a bit peeved at answers last night and misinterpreted a piece of advice. It's hard to help those who only want validation and not constructive criticism or advice.

Maybe you are getting some very good questions, Elle?

I agree with wild woman.

And with respect to trolls...

The weekend is young!

lol

all of a sudden I have an autocorrect spell check thing that I didn't have before. no idea where that came from.

I would say yes, less obvious trolls,

AND NO still some really nasty answers and people that totally missed the point of the question. It's like they saw the title and made up a question in their head to answer. guess i'm still frustrated about that.

Whoa, I bet you wish you could recant that statement now, don't ya? :)

I think I see the same amount of snarkiness that I have always seen. I think most people try to offer helpful advice, but certain types of posts just tend to bring out the snide comments from some posters.

I also still think some of the questions are impossibly hard to read - no punctuation, no caps, no ability to spell, etc.

I still enjoy the boards and just tend to ignore the posts that are either snarky or too hard to read. : )