There are loads of threads that talk about Road Traffic Collisions on here. I know that there are positive points that come from them (such as traffic info and well wishing) but sometimes I feel they turn into an electronic version of rubber necking with people speculating as to whether people have been seriously injured or worse and trying to find out the details of such incidents. I think that as I have been involved in a lot of such accidents (attending through work - not 'involved' in a bad way luckily) I find it slightly crass and vulgar to enquire about them without due cause. But a lot of people do it so I may well be wrong - what do others think?

While I can undertand that people would want to know if someone is injured (what it was a friend or relative, for instance), the thread does start to lose the plot when people start speculating who was to blame, without knowing anything more than the fact that a road has been closed off.

Such as "Ifa white-van-man was involved, it must be his fault"

(emphasis added)

:roll:

Absolutely true. It wouldn't be the nicest way to find out (public forum) but it would be a means to an end. Like you, its the speculation that I don't like.

i do find this forum veers into a neighbourhood watch / gossip / vicarious living forum at times.............its like talking to my grandma sometimes :)

and dont even get me started on people asking where to buy things............dont people look in shops anymore? :P

Do you know what? This argument makes a lot of sense. I have been guilty of posting on here about accidents and often just out of curiosity. Would never have seen it as virtual rubber-necking until someone pointed out the obvious.

The forum is a gossipy, tabloid type beast on many occassions but it is true that there are some subjects that should be treated more soberly...

Will think before I post next time.

Originally posted by melthebell
i do find this forum veers into a neighbourhood watch / gossip / vicarious living forum at times.............

I don't know another forum like it, I know of some other forums where people ask the stupid questions, (like the 'how much is a taxi' thread, ring the taxi co = 10 second conversation, post topic on forum, wait for replies, read replies, work out if they may or may not be accurate = longer than 10 secs :rolleyes:, Or something else I saw somewhere, what is the web address of a company called XYZ? Answer, www.xyz.com, I mean how daft can some people get), anyway, off on a rant at a tangent again.

What I was saying was I've never known a forum like this for tittle tattle and gossip. It's like, I don't know what it's like, I tried to write down what it's like but I don't know.

Anyway, carry on with the gossip...........

Some posts following accidents have sickened me on here.

One that sticks in my mind involved the description of a smash on the Snake or Woodhead, and a description of the people (they said bodies) at the scene.

It was the middle of the night, the mobile coverage out there is limited. How would a forumer feel if they had friends or relatives off on holiday and flying from Manchester, they'd only said goodbye an hour ago, and they can't even get in touch to see if they're alright. They could be assuming the worst.

I think we're all guilty of forgetting the reality of the real people posting on and reading these pages.

Yes, it's a fair point that a bit of sensitivity would be welcome on this forum, perhaps a bit of forethought before converting wild speculation into print.

We live in a society that demands news as it happens - just witness the blanket coverage of the London bombs - and this, very often, is wrong. Do we need to see people running, fearing for their lives, as we sit at our desks or in the comfort of our own homes? Do we need to interview survivors of a bomb blast who have just managed to crawl out of a mangled, smoke-filled wreckage of an underground tube-train, cuts still bleeding, clothes torn to ask 'What was it like down there?'

We should all think for a while before we post (and yes, I most certainly include myself) and ask ourselves whether there is a real need to comment at this early time as dramas are still unfolding.

These victims deserve nothing less.

A good thread Hotty - a very valid point.

No worse than the media coverage of the recent bombing outrage. In lots of interviews with witnesses and victims alike the reporters always seem to be fishing for graphic descriptions of the horror.

Some of the BBC reporters seem to think viewers have a ghoulish fascination with how it feels to be blown up on the way to work.

IMO the facts are quite enough without dragging the anguish out of the victims. :mad:

Edit : sorry for the duplicate opinion - hadn't scrolled to the bottom of the page.

a forum like this enables threads to be conducted in a pretty similar way to conversations.
Since we aren't all likely to get on the phone or meet up in the pub except occaisionally, our conversations are held online and are available for anyone to see and join in.

It's the nature of people when conversing for the sake of it to talk about current events, to speculate as to why and how things have happened and to apply their own personal prejudices to the conversation (ala the white van dig in the example earlier).

If these were conversations going on in the pub over a pint, would you be complaining that they were ghoulish then? I'm sure a lot of people have been discussing the bombings and the ramifications, their own personal theories and everything else associated with them, we just happen to do this in a relatively new fashion.

its not the discussion i find abit over the top, its the speculation and posting the smallest guessed detail of a crime, accident, incident

take for instance the first TWO pages or so on this thread http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48150

i just find the whole gossipy / vagueness of the postings really annoying

admittedly the news didnt know anything more at the time BUT still WHY POST for the sake of it :P
apart from just gosip and to find out more and more gory details

gossip, exactly that. Just like people sat in the pub speculating about stuff they really have no knowledge off.

I find moaning threads even more annoying I think.

Its the same a reading about accidents in the newspaper.. I deal with victims of RTAs etc everyday at work too.. most of the accounts of the injuries that appear in the local newspaper the next day are incorrect... Does it really matter whether people discuss it on the forum or read about it the next day in the 'paper?

I suppose talk and gossip are both harmless usually and just act as an aspect of socialising. I would hate to think of someone finding out bad news about a friend or loved one on the forum but for the same token, there would be a very remote possibility of that actually happening.

The threads beginning 'Crash on (road name) at (time), any more info?' I don't really get... they most likely found out about it by passing the accident site, they know as much as they need to surely. Is that just morbid fascination kicking in?

Regarding the thread about the london bombing, I think the scale of the incident and the amount of uncertainty warrants such threads and conjecture because most people are likely to know someone in london and be worried for their safety. It was people trying to find out what was actually happening at the time. Coming off a night shift I managed to sleep through the whole incident and luckily woke to find most the facts of the incident already known which meant I did not experience a lot of the worry that others will have.