i*ve been proud to read British women*s tennis forums as long as men*s. firstly i*ve never come across the same vitriol  i*ve seen on men*s forums about changing nationalities. infact the exact opposite. Secondly, I find them as passionate and supportive and constructive but way less destructive as some (same posters) on this site

Forbsman!  do you know how many sportspeople have quit sport / developed mental health problems because of some of the horrible things / expectations  that are

said about them and how they are perceived. perhaps look at the bravery of Ms Caveday / mr Mcglagan amongst many. Troll lol  

From some small truths in the initial post, Jiwan to my mind is going farrrr too far.

Let's first deal with this ridiculous "undercurrent racism" issue. Yes, there were issues regarding comments about Aljaz. But the only thing to me that was offensive there was the inuendo directed by one particular poster against RJA, just because he said he would for now continue to support many / most ( ? - it doesn't matter which ) Brits more than Aljaz. And he went on to explain this was understandably really because he'd supported and followed the others for years. Bedene seems a very nice guy, and he will probably grow on us. Most of us support some players more than others, mainly players we have followed for some time, though I did read some nonsense ( to me ) that we should support all Brits equally. For now I have much the same feelings as RJA so can we drop this "undercurrent racism" crap, thanks.

Right, the small truth ( then taken too far ) is that I agree some people read too much into live scores ( good and bad ), and I would agree that it is worse to say bad things when really you don't know.

But this is a discussion forum so feel free to challenge anything you disagree with eg. I challenged comments on a player's supposed "choke" from having been seen to lose 5 points in a row from *6-3 in a tiebreak. While never saying that I discounted the possibility or that it was unusual to lose from that position, I did challenge that it was as extremely rare as was being made out and reasons why, eg. citing that runs of points in games, even against serve are not that unusual. So don't be shy, challenge folk with reasons why, and as in that case they may challenge back again and we have what is called a debate. The relevant thread may then have a number of balancing points of view and others can make their mind up or further contribute as they see fit.

One thing though that also has worried me is the occasional intolerance to people being negative at all, so thanks for giving me a lead in to say this. We are a discussion forum, not a chearleading forum. These negative comments usually arise from reasons further much more than livescores, eg, on a few weeks or months of results. or sometimes seeing the player live. I realise that a few folk prefer just to stick to positive aspects, almost seemingly as their policy, and while I prefer more balance, I largely let that go ( we are all individuals, and that is good ) until they tell the forum night is day or black is white regarding such as a player's form, then I quite often will let it be known that I disagree and why.

So personally, if I disagree with good or bad I often say so, but try to say why, eg. more than "that is harsh".

Discuss, debate ( and even any players looking in can see that we have balance here ), and if folk go too far, we have moderators, though thankfully this is actually generally a really tolerant forum compared to so many.

scottie1 wrote:

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paulisi wrote:

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I sort of understand what you mean Jiwan in terms of negativity, but I don't always agree.

It can be frustrating when people second guess based on scorelines when games are not streamed or make assumptions without backup.

A lot of the players read the forum and you can see some of the frustrations that this causes i.e Dan Cox with all the rubbish about his car, Katy Dunne about her serve etc

I've no problems with constructive criticism when streamed or with some knowledge behind it.

Also some people's sense of humour don't always come across in the way they intended. I'm sure Jaggy's - Bogdanovic quip is supposed to be funny, but I find it mildly offensive to both Alex and any player mentioned in the quip.

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To be honest I am sick of the slagging off of Bogga their are loads of other British players who have never reached his standards 105 in the World ok not top 100 but still a good player at his peak.  

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And probably more folk have publicly disagreed with the anti Boggo sentiments and why. I hope you have if you feel that way, 

The folk who make comments without being able to substantiate them often get rather exposed.

Challenge, discuss, debate !!

But let's not have be suggesting some code of conduct, particularly since it is so not needed here !!

In fairness I don't think the "anti Boggo" comments are really about slagging anyone off. I think Jaggy's point is that Boggo and Ward have had a very similar career with both pushing close to the top 100, both probably having been just about good enough to be in the top 100 but neither of them having quite made it (hopefully Ward does eventually make it)

Of course we might have got it completely wrong and being compared to Boggo should be considered a compliment.

Jiwan wrote:

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RJA I am born and bred English with a masters degree in teaching....don*t let me or my *foreign*name or my crap PC distract you from my my IQ or inability to have a voice on a forum. big hugs x

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 A masters degree in teaching yet unable to differentiate between an asterisk and an apostrophe. Interesting.