Don't even go there!

Nor do I, Emily - with the exception of LinkedIn for work purposes and the occasional foray in to Pinterest my life thus far has been mercifully free of "social" media.

It was a foolish impulse that led me to Farcebook (as I call it!), fuelled by the apparent demise of the old forum and what seemed the mass decamping of its members to there several years ago. Imagine my surprise and dismay, then, to discover that the group set up to replace there seemed so sparsely populated and far less busy than the old Sheridan. The way FB is set up means that posts and comments quickly get lost in the feed as new ones are published so quickly afterwards, so the discussion aspect is nullified and nowhere near as involving as on a traditional forum. Not to mention the constant bombardment of irrelevant posts on my home "feed", despite my best efforts to find subjects of interest to me to follow.

I lasted barely two weeks before I threw in the towel and deleted my account; it felt like a blessed release and the best thing I could have done. Never again, say I, and that goes for Twitter (X, or whatever Mr Musk wants to call it now), Instagram and all their ilk.

I'm afraid that I succumbed to the charms of social media long ago, or rather I've stewed in the juices of Facebook as a means to keep in contact with people who I would gladly meet in person when the opportunity arises but cannot for a variety of reasons.

It's either a testament to the pernicious nature of the beast, or my weak will that I used to be a regular visitor to the previous incarnation of the Club but tailed off in favour of the bright lights and flashing images available elsewhere in the ether. I look forward to enjoying a more civilised discourse here.

Civilised discourse seems to be something that social media lacks. I'm sure that the Sheridan Club shall once more redress the balance.

I do have a social media, but I tend to avoid it in general. Usually used to keep up with NSC events.
I am more and more against it. This forum shall be a much better option.

I detest social media, which is why we have Fluffy... Ladies and Gentlemen. I thought the idea behind Facebook was that it was a place to keep in touch with family and friends, share our life experiences, share photos and videos of our loved ones and vacations, and that sort of thing, which is positive. Instead it's been repurposed as a soap box from which vile people can preach hatred, bigotry, discrimination, misinformation, and so forth.

I was in over a hundred Facebook groups about mountaineering, motorsport, and entertainment, and one would figure such places should be populated with like minded individuals sharing common interests and more or less get along. The final straw for me was getting personally insulted for no reason but being vile for the sake of it when discussing vehicle race performance. A person posed a question and I tried directing the conversation towards a meaningful answer and was childishly insulted for it. That was completely uncalled for.

It's like people believe that behavior, that gross treatment of others, is expected online. I wanted a place that was better than that, where we can disagree and still be respectful about it, where ad hominem attacks aren't acceptable.

The internet is a wonderful resource with so much information a few clicks away, but simultaneously a wretched hive of scum and villainy.