Harassment in the Gardener's World Forum

HARASSMENT IN THE FORUM.

Harassment :  Subject to aggressive pressure or intimidation.

make repeated small-scale attacks on

harass Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/harass

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harass definition: 1. to continue to annoy or upset someone over a period of time: 2. to annoy or trouble someone repeatedly: 3. to repeatedly annoy or upset ...

harass (third-person singular simple present harasses, present participleharassing, simple past and past participle harassed). To fatigue or to tire with repeated ...

harass - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/harass

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When you harass someone, you bother them to the point of exhaustion. It's not that each attack is so severe, it's the constant small attacks that wear someone out ...

Does any of this sound familiar to you Hostafan, Obelixx, punkdoc, and nutcutlet in particular?

I have been reproached, hounded and ganged up on by a small but tight group of members for days now over publishing a picture of a plant in my gaden which I thought people may enjoy, with a caption which did not meet their strict self-imposed standards.  By not naming the plant in the manner which they deemed appropriate they have repaeatedly insulted and harassed me to the point where I feel ostracised and totally unwelcome.

I would like to commend the brave people who have spoken up in my favour , Chris 11 in particular for his very eloquent post yesterday on the subject –(which of course was immediately attacked by punkdoc). Like Chris, I have also received backstage support from people who are afraid to make their names public for fear of reprisal . I understand their fear but it would be more useful to come forward so that together we can fight this kind of bullying both in this forum and wherever it exists.

I really looked forward to joining this forum, gaining advice from professional gardeners and perhaps making a friend or two.  I have a busy life so I am not likely to become a regular poster more of the spasmodic kind. But I have made a couple of worthy contributions to the forum one in “Troublesome Cats” and another about the kind of ferns to grow in the sun.

It is a pity things have turned so sour that I have been considering leaving to find a more welcoming environment. But then, the bullies will win, and we can’t have that can we? 

Chris has also assured me that there are better people than these on the forum (of which he has proved to be one) so I may just stay around a bit longer, if only to help to do a bit of cleaning up and weeding. 

Happy Gardening.