[chickenfeed]

  i have just sent her a message

[doganjo]

Maybe the idea of a local section is not a bad one actually - how about it - we have something similar on a gun-dog forum I frequent - we have a sub forum for each HPR breed.

[woodlandproductsfife]

thanx Annie, see im not completely blonde, just bald lol

[Roxy]

The Grange has just told me she will not be coming back on here.  Thats a shame. 

I am sure we all want to wish her well with her new forum.

[woodlandproductsfife]

its all rather sad

[Jackie]

Im sorry to have to say it but I think you have been most unfair to a person who was trying to make a forum for smallholders in a specific area. 

If this is the attitude towards any new people who dont use the language YOU think is right here then we are going to be sadly isolated and exclusive.

I, for one, would have loved to have seen that website and all the help it could contain as being a new smallholder in the area specified I need all the help I can get.

Next year I will need different boars to use for my pedigree pigs and a tup or two for my sheep and that website would have helped me locate those. This year I will have so many apples that I wont use them all but I could have swopped them for something I needed!!! I need some hay for my animals in the winter, that site may have helped.

Im now worried that this forum is getting to have a small clique of people who think they run this forum and who think their opinions are the ONLY opinions that count and they have opinions on things that they have no hands on experience about, and when confronted they back down!!!

Please guys I love this forum and I dont want to see it go downhill from the welcoming place it has been but we must, must, must welcome all comers untill such times as they prove to be unstable.

Jackie 

[Jackie]

The previous link posted to that website is now not working so if someone could please send me the link I would be very grateful. 

[Hilarysmum]

Try this one 

http://fromfieldtofork.myfastforum.org

[Rosemary]

Jackie, Dan and I run the forum. If you're concerned about the behaviour of any member please let Dan or I know. We have always tried to preserve and encourage a friendly attitude to everyone and we'll continue to do so. As I posted earlier, the.grange had already cleared the post about the other forum with Dan but at the end of the day, it's very difficult to police every post and try to anticipate misinterpretations.

On the whole, I still think most of our members are genuinely supportive of other members, regardless of their acreage.

[WinslowPorker]

Hi everybody,
been following this for the past couple of days and i think now the whole post should just be removed, its gone far enough and obviously people have been offended by some comments which i believe is not the aim of this forum and although i am a relatively new member i have not seen a topic similar to this before. Dan perhaps you should just delete this whol board and everyone can move on.
I think it i s a terrible shame that The Grange feels she cannot return, as everybody seems to be offering an olive branch and leave this in the past. perhaps we can bombard her with emails and say the come back all have an 'online' cup of tea and move forward.
I think we are all in agreement that local groups all knowing who each other is to share equipment or has Jackie has said for different stud boars for her stock, i am in Buckinghamshire and if Langdon (in Scotalnd) or JulieS(in Cornwall) had something i needed then perhaps it is a little far, but the only one i know who is close-ish in Plumseverywhere (midlands), so there is a good reason for these local boards to maybe feature on here.
From what i have experienced as a 100% novice at this pig-rearing game (and yes i only do it for a hobby and it forms no part whatsoever in my income) this website and its members have all been fantastic, friendly and only to willing to help. I really feel this topic has run its course and is 'black cloud' amongst all the other topics and really should 'tap it on the head' now.
WP

[Wizard]

Sorry WP hope you look better than I feel Hope the Princessess are well and off out I am more or less confined to the house More later

[WinslowPorker]

feeling better Wiz, you? thought i had noticed that you hadnt been on for a couple of days??

[loosey]

Goodness, I don't believe I have ever experienced such a thread on TAS!

I agree that the actual and the roll of the eyes made it easy to misinterpret the statement ... such are the joys of the internet!

By the same token, I'd love to be put in touch with people local to me ... I know there are a few members in Cornwall but I don't think there are many of us?! 

[doganjo]

I thought the members map was a great idea, and that it was set up so members to find each other locally.  But not many people seem to use it.  I can't see any down sides and it would be a great help, and might have avoided this whole issue.  After all you don't need to put your exact location if you are concerned about security, you could still put a pin close enough so that others in the area would know roughly where you are then get in touch privately.  The idea of sub forums for areas would help too, I think.  Perhaps WP is right about deleting this thread but I would be more inclined to lock it, so that it serves as a reminder to us all that the written word is not always the same as the spoken word, even with smileys.  Perhaps if The Grange could be persuaded to come on and just look through this thread she would see there was no malice or cliquieness involved.  If she still feels too sensitive to do so then all I can say is I am sorry it has turned out this way, because I feel life is too short for such sadness.

[WinslowPorker]

Is the Grange the administrator on her forum? coz if that is the case i will email her as well. I think whatever has happened we are all similar people and all have a common interest being smallholders, whether small like me who is going to have 10 pigs once a year as a hobby or someone who is not necessarily bigger but this is their employment.
I can only state what a nice time i am having on this forum talkling to like minded people who have held my hand all the way through my 'silly/beginners' questions about starting to be self sufficient.
I agree Doganjo that perhaps its time to put this one to bed, and yes a members map sounds great, i mean you cab even just put the county as a location which i think would be great, not just on the co-operative side, but for me being such a small fish with big fish aspirations i would love to meet up with other members either at shows/farm sales/livestock markets and just enjoy a cup of tea and maybe even a cake......................