By Fiona Grahame
As editor of The Orkney News I am proud of the wonderful diversity of writing and opinions we are able to publish on our website.
We may be peedie but we punch well above our weight and that is due to the great volunteers we have writing and reporting for us.
We stand by every one of our contributors and the work they are doing to share what is happening in Scotland and beyond.
Debate and discussion are good and healthy but when it becomes an onslaught of attack on any of the Orkney News contributors that will be condemned. Slagging people off on social media be it Facebook or Twitter is not debate in fact it shuts it down.
One of our founding principles is that we will not tolerate hate speech or abuse. Scotland is a country rich in resources and diversity but some have lost their ability to engage civilly in debate.
I realise this is a minority of people but they damage open discussion on issues of importance to the people of Scotland. This is Scotland’s era of a new Enlightenment when many voices are speaking up.
The Orkney News will continue to embrace diversity and allow those who find it difficult to be heard to publish their views and articles on our pages.
If you want to write to The Orkney News but need to keep private who you are we can protect your anonymity
To write to us email: fiona@theorkneynews.scot
Categories: Clarification & Rights of Usage
Well said!
Well said Fiona, the Celt is renowned for being argumentative individuals as I’ve found in Brittany,Wales, Cornwall, Ireland etc and is perfectly healthy but personal abuse is totally unacceptable. Apart from calling Tories a bunch of rich twats, LOL.
I am from Aberfeldy and I live in haghill in Glasgow and I check out the Orkney news every couple of days. it is an excellent website with excellent writers and deserves a wide audience.
Thank you
Trolls turn to stone, when light shines on them.
And – it can’t be very pleasant, being like that. It’s beyond me, why they do it.
By the by, Charles, you can include Yorkshire – Yorkshire folk say what they think, expect you to do the same, but it doesn’t mean you fall out about it. As a working class Northerner, going to University with a load of middle class Southerners – it took us a while to understand each other, but good nature, over-rides all.
I’m one of those middle class Southerners but I love Orkney. The few months that I spent living in Stromness was a highlight of my life. I met so many friendly people and I still keep in touch. I enjoy reading the Orkney News and it saddens me that a few people hide behind the anonymity afforded by social media to “vent their spleen”.
Thank you Marion, it seems like every few months I have to publish something similar
Like I keep saying – PEOPLE! Can be utterly dreadful – can be utterly wonderful.
Dealing with, let’s call them – unnecessarily overassertive – responses to my writing in TON, has helped me to learn to deal with negative responses in general. The first time, I swore I wouldn’t send anything else to TON, then I calmed down, Fiona was very supportive, and I learnt some lessons, still am learning. Mike said if I didn’t look under the bridges, I wouldn’t see the trolls – I think it’s better to see them, and face them, and, if possible, shine light on them. That’s the idea, these days. Every now and then, I get ruffled, but, generally calmer waters – seriously, helped by exchanges with folk through TON. I answer the negatives, and focus on the positives. That’s my advice to anyone thinking of sending things to TON, who might be a bit wary of the ‘flack’ – put on your flack-jacket, and face them out!
Well done you. I love reading your articles. I can picture you now, sitting at your desk in a bright orange flack jacket composing another entertaining piece!
Thank you Marion! It’s usually in furry slippers and wearing my spectacles, so I can, at a distance, look over them at these people.
Have you seen the film of ‘Paddington’? where Paddington gives Mr Brown the ‘hard stare’ that his auntie taught him for when people forget their manners. Bears rule!
Bernie, it’s as my mam used to say, ‘Bite your tongue, they’re not worth it’. Wise words still but sometimes very, very difficult to do.
Chas
Ha Ha my mother was from Newhall, Burton on Trent, and would never have bitten her tongue – always spoke her mind which could be tricky
I only found out after my mother died that she was more of, ‘Do as I say rather than do as I do’. She was a Head Teacher and I heard she was known for getting stuck into any HMI that fell foul of her, and there were a few.
My mum said “Tell the truth, and shame the devil.” My mum was a wise, kind woman, – my guide in life, and still my guide, in death. A quiet woman ( my Dad was the talker – that’s where I get that from!), but she took no nonsense from anyone, or gave any out, either.
Lord, but I still miss her – 26 years later. I was fortunate to have good parents, but the problem is, it’s harder when they go.
She had many sayings, which you may have noticed I quote in my writing – and….she didn’t just say these things, she lived by them, too.
I think my favourite is “If everyone sticks their hand in the fire, does that mean you stick your hand in the fire, too?” A good one for today’s world.
I’m heading into a rant! I’m awa’!
Bernie, no, carry on I love it when you rant, reminds me of myself, LOL.
Excellent editorial. 🙂