Other grandparent forums

[Gemini]

I was putting grandma forums into Google to see how low we were on the results list (Not far down at all so it's frustrating that we don't get more new members!)
Top of the list was the well known one. I have of course looked in a few times over the years, although I never joined or posted.
I haven't visited there in years, but I had quick look tonight.

The first thing you notice is how big it is and how many topics there are.
We never want to be as big as that, we all like the smaller more intimate format here. A bigger membership would lead to a more varied and lively forum though. Not big just a bit bigger.

The other thing I did notice, reading a few threads, was how few supportive replies I read. I read many brusque and offhand ones, some which seemed unkind. There WERE some nice replies and there must be many lovely members, but it wasn't obvious. I didn't like the overall feel there though, and am glad our members are so wonderful.

[Daisy]

Gem, I look in on that Grandparent forum fairly regularly - just out of curiosity - and I've noticed all the things you've mentioned, plus there are people who are not grandparents. I don't think that's bad as such, but I do wonder what they get out of it. I am quite shocked at how unkind some of the members can be to each other, and I think it's only moderated if someone reports a 'bad' post. Of course, there are also lovely kind posts, but it can seem quite bruising.

I wish we had a few more members as well, but we certainly wouldn't want any of our members to feel an 'outsider'. We are incredibly lucky with all our Grannies, even if some of them only post occasionally, so a very big

to all our lovely members.

[Oma]

I looked in a few times and I have to say I don’t like it .
1 its too big
2 I read some very nasty replies to threads , one or two quite vicious, not friendly advice like on here .
It would be nice to have more regular members but not like that site .

On here we agree to disagree and there is no nasty comments on threads.
we all are aware that not everyone thinks as we do so so must accept other views without getting offended or defensive.
I love this forum it’s my safe haven 😁❤️

[Plantaholic]

I agree Oma, some of the comments are quite spiteful.

[Nanto2girls]

I have looked in now and again, but i don't comment.

[Glammanana]

I have looked in on occasions and found posters quite unfriendly you either agree with the post or are dismissed with any reply you give.

[Oma]

Glamm not a nice place is it x

[Mimi]

I too have to look around that 'other ' grandparent forum from time to time and although its big it does tend to have a few regular posters whose intention seems to be as nasty as possible.
The more someone is having a hard time the greater the delight seems to come from others on there and the nastier they are with responses.

[Gemini]

Mimi, we said from the beginning that no matter how big our forum got we would not tolerate nastiness. We have a format of warnings etc we can give if needed, before banning if a member didn't comply. Disagreeing and having differing opinions is fine, bullying and shouting others down is not!

Our members are lovely so we have certainly never had to ban and I think only warn once maybe, a long time ago.

[Daisy]

As Gem says, we always want GransRus to be a safe place where members can be sure people won't shout them down or bully them.