Hello mods,
Just wondering if there is an EF rule regarding the use of the 'groan' button.

For example, is it reasonable for someone to groan at a newbie's very first post. Is that considered acceptable (even if some find it amusing)?

Is it ok for someone to groan continually at a person rather than at content?

If 10 out of the last 16 groans have been specifically directed at one person, would that not start looking a little like some form of harrassment?

What do the mods do (if anything) in cases like these ?

(Don't naughty boys have their sweeties taken away?)

Write rubbish, you get groaned.

Take it like a man!

Tom

I have only groaned at someone's post twice, I think, and that's because they were pushing some ridiculous rant way too far. But aside from very extreme cases, I find this groaning feature quite childish and just don't see why I should use it. I feel groans here are often given out if people have an opinion different from their own. But this is a discussion forum - discussions are based on different opinions and arguments.


Now bring on the groans

It is like this topic has never been discussed before.

If I write rubbish, I expect to get groaned at.
If I write something perfectly reasonable (it happens), I don't expect to be groaned at just because of who I am. That's not heckling, it's abuse.

The use of the groan button to "get back" at people is not allowed (often referred to as "serial groaning"), and if you think that someone is targeting you unfairly by abusively groaning, you can privately report the situation to the moderators. The mods will then consider the facts and decide what action, if any, should be taken.

Obviously each situation is different and there is no hard and fast rule as to consequences or outcome.

Better to be groaned than ignored.

Hey, it's not Friday yet ... not even on the EF!

At least, what my superior has told us.

That's the great thing with newbies ... they make everything seem wonderful and new ...

As Burner found out the other day (and many others have before him), overuse the groan button and the mods will exercise the ban stick

You deserve an Oscar for that, it's pretty Wilde.

I would be careful. I heard he's back ...

Just getting this in early, so as to be ready for tomorrow's onslaught.

Though it has been 18 months since the last one..

http://www.englishforum.ch/search2.php?q=groan+

Oops, then the mods missed someone.

It is also worth remembering a Groan can mean many things - and the meaning can be individual. One user could groan you for posting what they believe is garbage, another for insulting another user, another for breaking forum rules that no one cares about, another for insulting Switzerland, another for asking a question that has been answered 1000 times before and another for asking a fumb duck question - and finally another for simply disagreeing with you.

Thanks covers the reverse.

Thanks and Groans breed though - you'll have an excellent thread with very few - and then you'll get the car crash/mud slinging/popcorn/Friday threads where users will have 20 thanks and 10 groans for each post.

Easy when you know how.

__________________
"Don't believe everything you read on the internet" Abraham Lincoln

Bwahaha
Laughed at that (yes, self-deprecation is healthy).
Vile, mean, seeking people out just-to-be-nasty however is not acceptable.

To have people disagree means there has at least been a level of engagement.
Someone hiding behind a groan button is just a bit sad really imo.

Anyway, at least everyone knows what to do about it now. Provided they can PM, of course ...

He without sin casts the first stone in the greenhouse

Alas, tomorrow I have to drive to Trieste, so I have to get in as many groans as possible today, as I probably have to go bitch at Wind on Saturday to get the internet working again!

Tom