Is it me or is Local GN divisive?

I'm the only one on my 'local' site so I guess I could take my self off for tea and a sticky bun..
Grace isn't that the whole point of it being local? to meet up at short notice with your 'local' group.

I don't think it's deliberate cliquey-ness Gracesmum but I share your misgivings.
I have the choice of 3 local sites within 15 miles of where I live - Hexham, Newcastle and Northumberland. Then there's Tyne and Wear, Sunderland and Durham, not to mention North Yorkshire and Edinburgh
Embarras de richesses or what?
I haven't got time to follow all these sites so I do hope any meetups are posted on the main site.
I do after all occasionally venture out of my north-eastern hovel, and would like to go to meetups in other parts of the country too.

Boo hoo - I want a local site!

There are rather a lot of local sites around Greater Manchester and Cheshire, and I posted on one or two of them, as well as on the main forum, but when I went back no-one else had posted. The Edinburgh one has taken off really well, but I don't think any North-West meet-ups will flourish if we stick to the local forums.

We only have about six in Bristol as far as I can see.

It is rather a Catch22 situation. The local sites are great for local information and organising local meetups, but people from outside the area want to know what is going on and join in too. There are no glass walls between areas, and there are many friends further away. so the meet-ups are publicised on the main forum - and everyone replies on the main forum, even the locals.

That does not help the local forums to become established as local chatting places. It is not easy balancing the two.

There is another Catch22 in the forum/listings balance. The theory is that local firms wil list their businesses on the local sites, where zillions of gransnetters wil search for them and bring them extra business. This won't work without evidence of lots of vistors and a thriving forum.

But without the incentive of lots of listings, the zillions of grans will stay away in droves and not search for what they want or use the forums. A circular dilemma.

What does not seem to be getting promoted by GNHQ is that ANYONE can add a listing for a business they know of, whether it is one they run, one their Auntie Nellie runs, or one in their district which they like. Until the whole thing is self-perpetuating the listings slots are being filled by local editors either cold-calling until they are hoarse or filling in all the spaces themselves.

If each Gransnet member filled one listing slot on their local site, they would earn the undying gratitude of the hard-working editors.

As far as I can see, there don't seem to be any near Reading sob....

elegran can I say that the Edinburgh Local seems streets ahead of our local sites, as jane mentioned we are lucky to have many Locals in our area and seem spoilt for choice, but not much content on the pages.
If we arranged a meet up for the Hexham site it would involve moomin and myself posting the last time I looked.

I, too, share your reservations gm although nothing much 'local' seems to be happening in the East Midlands.

It is worrying that people who don't have much time will only post on their local sites and we could lose the brilliant range of views, opinions, support, advice etc we have on the national site. I, for one, would think that is a backward step.

Don't cry Greatnan. We'll set up an impromptu Wakefield site in the next year or so and a proper formal one in a couple of years time.

Looks like I too will be having fun in Gun Wharf Quays Portsmouth all on my own. What shall I talk about?

If you have posted on a thread on a local site, then it will be on your "I'm on" list on the main forum, so you can keep up with that conversation, at least. I think there needs to be a way to see quickly from the main forum what is being discussed on your nearest local forum, without a) finding it and b) logging in.

I'll try to suggest that to Lara. Poor Lara, she gets a dozen helpful suggestions or pleas for help and clarification every day.

What a good idea, absent - and we could invite all visiting members to join us.

I too have misgivings about the local sites. The same misgivings that I had about local meet ups, facebook and twitter.

I think they have made a difference, as people who are now friendly in person, do seem to chat almost between themselves sometimes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted for those of us who have 'mingled' and made new friends, but, in my opinion, that is not the purpose of being a member of GN.



It wouldn't do if we were all the same, would it?

Greatnan, you and juragran can set up an alpine site.

Not sure you are right there, Ella I chat with anyone who posts something I find interesting, so do all the people I have met.

Is it, perhaps, that those who have not met anyone else feel that they may be missing something by not seeing people face to face? That they are second-class citizens because of it? If so it is only in their minds, it is not so to those they chat to.

That's not what I mean Elegran, it feels as though Gn is being diluted almost.

I don't feel as though I'm missing anything at all, I could go to local meet ups if I so wished,and I certainly don't feel like a second class citizen because I don't go.

I know what you mean, Ella. Since the meet-ups started some members who posted a lot rarely do so these days, as though they don't need Gransnet so much now. I don't feel I'm missing anything either, but I was one of those who expressed misgivings when meet-ups were mooted and I do think the balance of Gransnet has changed subtly.

Surely it is entirely up to members who, when and where they choose to meet? If some people have made personal friends from the site, that can only be a good thing. There is nothing remotely exclusive about the local meetings - anybody who can get there is welcome.
I have only met five members in person and one of them was an old friend anyway, but I have many more Facebook friends with whom I can discuss matters which I might not want to talk about on a public forum, especially about my family.
I fail to see how anybody can feel they have lost out in any way because some others have made good friends.

I don't think anybody has said that they feel they have lost out in any way.

O.K. Ana feels that the balance of GN has changed subtly and Ella feels it has been diluted. In what way? The forum is approaching its second anniversary and it is bound to have changed as many more people have joined and more have begun to post. Some people post very often (like me) and we are bound to start recognising each other's style and views. We will have discovered which members are 'on our wave length' and which are definitely not.
I have been/am a member of several expat sites and this maturation or mutation, however you care to view it, has happend on all of them.

I do think it changes things when you have met people, in the sense that it seems easier to interpret their postings

I don't think it is true that meet-ups have caused members to post less - the meetups are not very often, the forums are there all the time. I certainly do not post less, except for a spell when I was too busy at other things. If anything, here are more reasons to post when something is being organised.

Perhaps people who post less than they used to have found something else more personal and interactive to do with their time.

Perhaps during one of the surges in negative posts that have occurred they decided to keep a lower profile.

Perhaps there are more members than there used to be so there are more names to be seen on the post boards.

Agree with you about the effect of the negative postings, Nextstop