A request

I recently joined this forum thinking that it was a place to discuss all matters Surrey CCC and cricket. It appears that some think it is somewhere to vent one’s spleen over matters completely unrelated and, indeed, denigrate the Police en masse. We are all entitled to a view, even ridiculous ones. As a career Police Officer I am used to having mud slung at me. It is water off a ducks back but please can we stick to cricket, refrain from extremist views and comment on those matters on other forums

Will EVERYONE on here take careful note of Dave's comments above. Thank you.

Welcome to the forum Dave.

Hi Dave

Firstly, it's good to have you on board. As you will have seen, the vast majority of posts ARE about cricket and our shared love of Surrey (other than our resident Middlesex authority). One thing that annoys and frustrates some of us is that the club itself have increasingly (mis)used their social media channels to segue rather clunkily from cricket into promoting wider "societal issues" which come under the umbrella of 'identity politics'. Many of us have become rather sick of this, and this board has therefore provided an outlet for members and supporters to put alternative perspectives.

We have created a separate thread where people can discuss anything and everything which isn't 'cricket-related'. This seems a sensible approach: if it doesn't interest or concern some people, then they don't need to visit it. It enables us to keep the rest of the board on-point: unfortunately, that didn't happen on the Somerset thread recently. I have visited numerous other sporting message boards, incidentally, and it is quite usual for contributors to discuss all sorts of stuff that is 'off-topic'.

Of course, we all have a responsibility to watch our language on any part of the board. That is sound advice, and there are the usual checks and balances that apply (we are lightly moderated, but accountable for what we say). But it would be interesting to know what you have in mind by "extremist" views to be avoided. For example, I would respectfully suggest it isn't "extreme" to comment that the policing of protests we have all witnessed in London over the last six months has too often been inequitable, favouring one community at the expense of others, and that the buck stops with the Head.  (I have no doubt that you, personally, are one of the good guys!).

Once again, welcome to the board and I look forward to reading your contributions on cricket.

Dave sounds like a very sensitive scouser to me. There is no extremism on this site - yes a few daft views, but extremism do me a favour.  Honestly why join a cricket chat site then go around acting like a woke moral policeman. Seriously if he gets upset by what he’s read on here then no wonder the police in this country is in the state it’s in

Sir Winston Churchill wrote:Dave sounds like a very sensitive scouser to me. There is no extremism on this site - yes a few daft views, but extremism do me a favour.  Honestly why join a cricket chat site then go around acting like a woke moral policeman. Seriously if he gets upset by what he’s read on here then no wonder the police in this country is in the state it’s in

Well that's very welcoming. Dear me.
No extremists I think, but a few dumbos.

I not here to act as a mentor to a socially sensitive policeman. I think it’s rediculous that someone’s first post is to abuse posters for extremism. Sod him.

Sir Winston Churchill wrote:I not here to act as a mentor to a socially sensitive policeman. I think it’s rediculous that someone’s first post is to abuse  posters for extremism. Sod him.

He wasn't. Read the ***king post!

“….  but please can we stick to cricket, refrain from extremist views and comment on those matters on other forums”

This is precisely what Mersey David said, clearly saying by implication that there are extremist views on this site. Indeed if he wasn’t it was even more daft to bring it up. Why the hell would he have mentioned it if he didn’t think it was extremist?!!!!
You can get as arsy as you like I’m really not bothered.
In fact I don’t know why he even started a new thread about it when we have a non cricket thread.
I simply don’t know who the hell he thinks he is with his list of do’s and dont’s on his first day at school .

He has a point about HOW views are expressed, and there are a couple of examples on the Somerset threat which in my view could be considered offensive and insulting. I fully understand why Dave would have been upset by that: I would be, if the service I work for was being called s..m.

But in my view we should cherish and protect the opportunity to use the ABC thread in the way it has been created. That is why I asked for clarification about what the OP thought constituted "extremist" views. "Extremism" is a highly subjective concept, and it should not be lightly used by any of us to try to curb a spectrum of opinion. On that, I take SWC's point, though it goes without saying I would have expressed it rather differently!

Dave, I feel sorry that you have had to face this nonsense and abuse from a few idiots on this site. I wouldn't blame you for running a mile, but we are not all like some here I can assure you (like the bloke above posting political YouTube videos for instance that probably should be reported to the site administrator.)
For a variety of reasons I will not be contributing to this site anymore, so this is now most definitely my last post for the considerable future. Have a good summer.

Don’t start me on Scousers with chips on their shoulders . It’s in their genes. I cannot abide Liverpool FC for this reason and it goes back to ‘65 Cup Final for me . Anyway back to cricket .

Chinaman wrote:Dave, I feel sorry that you have had to face this nonsense and abuse from a few idiots on this site. I wouldn't blame you for running a mile, but we are not all like some here I can assure you (like the bloke above posting political YouTube videos for instance that probably should be reported to the site administrator.)
For a variety of reasons I will not be contributing to this site anymore, so this is now most definitely my last post for the considerable future. Have a good summer.

Free Portsmouth.

Chinaman wrote:Dave, I feel sorry that you have had to face this nonsense and abuse from a few idiots on this site. I wouldn't blame you for running a mile, but we are not all like some here I can assure you (like the bloke above posting political YouTube videos for instance that probably should be reported to the site administrator.)
For a variety of reasons I will not be contributing to this site anymore, so this is now most definitely my last post for the considerable future. Have a good summer.

Can't help it. When someone is referred to out of the blue as "Dave", I can't help thinking of Rodney. Even though I knew it was SWC's real name.

Sorry to see you go, Chinaman. I hope it's nothing to do with me; we have disagreed respectfully most of the time, I hope. I suspect the real annoyance factor for you is coming from elsewhere and has been very visible the past few days.

Interesting to see the police out in full riot gear today. They must have lost it during the pro Hamas hate marches in the last few months.

Wonder what the reaction to someone holding a placard with a swastika would have been today? That was apparently fine during the anti Jewish marches.

The optics are depressing. No doubt there were a few who wouldn't stick to the prescribed route on this St George's Day gathering. But the scale of the response is entirely different to that used on the weekly "pro-palestine" marches, where there is clear evidence of racially-motivated hate.

And, today,  this too
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tommy-robinson-royal-courts-of-justice-metropolitan-police-london-b1153321.html

At the very least this reflects very poorly on the Met's judgement and competence, regardless of what you may think of the individual cleared of the charge by a judge today.

Vauxhall wrote:Interesting to see the police out in full riot gear today. They must have lost it during the pro Hamas hate marches in the last few months.

Wonder what the reaction to someone holding a placard with a swastika would have been today? That was apparently fine during the anti Jewish marches.

Beyond ridiculous.

Jackers wrote:
At the very least this reflects very poorly on the Met's judgement and competence, regardless of what you may think of the individual cleared of the charge by a judge today.

I think he is a very badly dressed man.