On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:36:08 -0000, "Marilyn"
wrote:

Janet,
I have been lurking here for a few weeks but have not posted before. This
newsgroup seems to have its fair share of trolls and troublemakers, and I
can understand that you have to deal with them firmly.
I have to say though that you seem to have been very unfair to Spider in the
'gates' thread. From what I can see she has not joined in any of the
trolling, and I have learned several things from her helpful replies to
people in this group.
In this particular thread she made what seems to be an honest mistake, and
when you pointed this out she admitted it and apologised, even offering to
leave the group.
To apologise is a decent and honorable thing, but you seem to have turned it
onto a crime. What more could she do? If you had responded to me like that I
would be very offended.
There is a lot of interesting discussion on this group, but I will not be
taking part now because it is likely that at some time I might make a
similar mistake and I do not want to be treated in the same way.
I expect you will tell me to mind my own business, but I wanted Spider to
know that at least one person understands how she feels!

Marilyn

How strange...

I stopped browsing this group some time ago when I got heartily sick
and tired of the infighting and bickering. It was rather like opening
a gardening book and finding someone had stuck pages from a TV soap
script inside.

Just lately I had cause to refer to my archives from this group and I
noted just how many knowledgeable and courteous posters had slowly,
quietly drifted away.
But this being the season of goodwill ( and all that kind of thing )
I thought I'd drop by and see whether the group had rediscovered the
kind of atmosphere one used you get whenever Geoff Hamilton used to
pop up on the TV with the latest edition of Gardener's World.

And what do I find?
If anything it looks like things have deteriorated even further.

Ah well, best of luck etc. - maybe next year...

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk