Be Excellent To Each Other

So we can just lock the thread until then then.
Great!

MODS?!?!?

Yeah after we deal with the big fat lie about post editing. Actually I have proved that to be a lie so no need for discussion.

Cor. We haven't had a good conspiracy since Dudley left.

It's not a conspiracy. It was stated as factual that posts can't be edited after someone replies, they clearly can.

That is all. No blue aliens or secret CIA plots involved just a basic untruth.

No, it was stated that they can't be deleted, which they can't.

FFS, Nemmie, learn to read.

Well, when you find the land of milk and honey, be sure to let the rest of us know.

You idiot

edit: I've edited the part where I called you an idiot.

It was stated that they couldn't be edited, but that was edited to say 'deleted'.

(for clarity, that's not true. Davpaz is a wise and all-knowing, giant-headed mod.)

*impales palm with face*

I leave teh forum for a few days and this happens

What is wrong with everyone...

It seems that a certain few people can't read properly. I'm not going to name names though, because I'm morally superior in every way and that kind of thing is beneath me.

Yeah and of course that makes a lot of sense considering the context of the conversation at that time. Next time I will have to quote everyone before people change their posts. Or you could actually change forum settings but then that wouldn't allow those who enjoy retrospectively adjusting their posts to do so and would ruin a lot of your "fun"

Less of the deflection and the name calling. Apparently that isn't acceptable (unless you are a circle jerker). Although if I was of the mind to I might call you the same as there is little difference between removing an entire post and replacing it with something completely different and deleting a post.

I think I have made it clear to everyone other than of course the circle jerkers that certain elements here are openly nasty about things they have no real understanding of, so job done.

Until next time.

I'm not sure you've ever made anything clear.

He has made one thing quite clear.

I have a new, more clear avatar for Nemmie to use.

I love you so much right now.

So where does this show up?

Edit - Nice timing Grim...

IDGI!

This thread's shit now.

You started it, you massive racist!

Yeah but it was good then. Now it's gone all gay.

KONSPIRRY-SEE!

I blame (ooh, who's next... hmmm) Zio.

HOMOPHOBE!

You're discriminating against his right to be intolerant. We don't put up with that around here.

You've just used the word 'right' - LIKE RIGHT-WING! You Nazi.

I don't like the use of the word "unfactual" a couple of pages back.

Just sayin', like. Now carry on this fascinating car crash of a debate.

Oh, it so nearly worked. Say something about 'the gays' next time and we'll try this again...

What type of device do 'the gays' use to communicate with each other over a long distance?

Something went wrong with my meeting with Medusa.

I'm blaming the gays.

The... HOMOPHONE?!

de drugs?

Isn't that a CS map?

You horrible, disgusting, homophobic person, you. What has their sexuality got to do with anything?

Oh... HOMOPHONE!

See, this works.

I'm quite proud of that one.

This is what the landlady of the pub said.

With my previous comment, I was attempting a poor joke about her sign, and the fact that the Morris Traveller used to be built in Abingdon. Whihc jsut sort of served to amuse me, a bit.

Top of the heap, baby!

Top. Of. The. Heap.

Not a lot of people know that.

I didn't know that, and I used to live in Abingdon...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15021425

They're moving more caravans on site now. Looks like either they're being total dicks or there's very good reason to believe the council will lose tomorrow.

Place your bets.

Odd-on for Council victory and enforcement of the law.

Hope so.

I don't know how I feel about this. I think on the one hand, it must be difficult for them to find places to stay where they actually are allowed to be since most councils appear to try and refuse them permission as much as possible which only serves to alienate them
However, in this instance they have an area which they are legally allowed to live on and one they are not. They cannot be allowed to remain on the illegal area simply because of the precedent it sets. If they are allowed to remain then travelling communities up and down the country could take this as a single to pitch up wherever they like and completely disregard planning laws. It would not be fair and it would be cause more trouble than it would be worth so money spent on this case is a necessary evil in my mind.
The government would be better spending time trying to resolve problems with current arrangements. Apparently there are targets in place for sites that councils must provide to travellers but councils seemingly disregard these and few actually meet the targets. Shouldn't this be enforceable in some way by the government, by perhaps fining councils amounts which would make missing these targets very undesireable?
I don't have any experience of travellers really however I am aware that there is a site in my area and that when the police are called it they need to take multiple cars because it is too dangerous for just two officers to attend the site due to the reaction they get from the residents. This is ridiculous, they should respect the rule of law in the area they live in. however, if this was 1960s America and it was a black community I was talking about, would I think it ridiculous that they hated the police? Hmm, I'm not sure that works as an analogy though because I don't think the police are mistreating them physically. Perhaps they do stereotype them, but I don't know if that's a good enough reason for the reaction they get from travellers. *
On a personal note, I live next to a field. If I found out that a group of Irish travellers had moved into that field, I think I would be a bit more careful about what stuff I left lying around the back garden when I went to bed at night and I'd take extra care that any metal was locked in the garage. This makes me a bit uncomfortable, as I admit that I would be doing that simply because of the reputation some Irish travellers have for stealing scrap (I don't know if this is a UK wide reputation or just one local to this area). So now I have to really ask myself if I'm being racist, which isn't a nice thought.

They are a community who keep to themselves. This causes problems as without most people knowing a traveller, how can we judge for ourselves?
There are undeniably criminal elements to the traveller community. Coupled with the fact they keep to themselves, in family type units, this makes it hard for others people to distinguish between criminal elements and honest elements as if they are so tight knit it would appear that even if it is just one person in the unit committing crime, the others do not appear to have a problem with it.
They have had poor, seemingly biased, coverage in the media. The documentary on the other night did not appear to be trying to paint them in a good light. Programs like the one about the wedding which I saw once or twice were really bad for their reputation and it made me question firstly, where they get all their money from and how they handle taxes and secondly, if the way they were shown treating women is real because it was ridiculous.


I have just rambled on in a not particularly structured fashion so I apologise for that but I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Overall, I don't believe they should be allowed to stay at the illegal part of the site but I would believe that regardless of who they were or why they were there.
I would like to think that I am a very inclusive person but if I really think about it, I would be lying if I said that I would be happy for travellers to move into my immediate area. I don't know how to solve this.

* I phrased that really poorly. I mean that perhaps the police are more inclined to mistrust them, or believe a bad story about them. The police are only human though and it is something of a vicious cycle if they are constantly attacked verbally and sometimes physically when they visit the sites, but on the travellers side they feel persecuted by the police.

Travellers aren't a race, so you're being prejudiced, not racist.

Well, I'm not particularly comfortable with being prejudiced like that either. When decorating, I have left radiators and stuff out in my garden although now that I think about it I did lock them away at night because I was worried about scrap theft. SO maybe I just don't trust anyone

Predjudice is a word with unpleasant connotations.

There was a programme on the radio last night about arranged marriages. There's actually a government scheme which notifies schools in areas with certain demographics to educate children about what an arranged marriage is, and what to do if you think it's happening to you or someone you know.

Is that predjudiced, to have such a scheme? If there's enough evidence, anecdotal or otherwise that group X is likely to do Y given half a chance, it's not that unreasonable to at least be prepared for the possibilty, when encountering such a group.

Again, it seems less reasonable to apply such judgements to individuals than groups.

Racism doesn't come in to it anywhere as far as I can see. "Stop the ethnic cleaning" banners at Dale Farm notwithstanding.