Like I said in the title.
Please discuss.
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Users can learn a lot from these forums, particularly the moaning and groaning.
Everyone has their own way of communicating though, that’s what makes us individuals.
I know you can’t reply though as you have given up on these forums
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Giving up, not given up yet.
Some people enjoy arguments and my post might make them happy actually.
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Are you technically not moaning about the moaning? 
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You’ve probably heard me say this before @andrealovesanimals, but us humans are 11 times more likely to complain than to compliment. Just a fact. On forums, in shops, in restaurants, everywhere. It’s natural to seek support, advice & help when things go wrong not when everything is super duper fab so it will often feel like a moan fest even if that isn’t the intention. The help new members get is amazing and often makes me smile at such great humanity in an oddball community (me included). I had a month off to “detox” from this forum and that really helped. #nowtimetoretox 
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@Hallt64 True. Perhaps the tone has rubbed off on me and I need a detox too like @Cuttlefish suggests.
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I love THS, we think it’s brilliant, but the forum is a very negative because people only post when they have a problem. Not at all like our experience, it’s been amazing, it’s changed our lives, it’s fantastic.
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On the positive side, how many people come on this forum to help others? I think I’m a little bit addicted to try to help others find a solution.
I think there’s loads of us on here like that. We don’t moan, we just add help where we are able.
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The forum has some very helpful information so I would not leave it altogether. I simply avoid threads that I am not interested in or have already run their course with little else to be said. Inevitably there will be “moaning and groaning” but it is easy to skip by them unless of course you want to add your own moan to them!
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Meh. It is nice to have a lightweight question occasionally
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@Catme a topic about hairdryers may seem trivial to you but to some people it isn’t. That’s what forums are about, a place to discuss anything and everything, no matter how anyone feels personally about it. There IS no right or wrong or trivial. We are a huge, diverse culture on THS so one day you might post something that someone feels is trivial, who knows 
It’s all about listening to everyone’s thoughts and opinions and if we don’t like them, we just scroll on by. And to be honest, it’s a nice change to have such a trivial topic after so many heavy, in depth and sometimes heated discussions on here, as mentioned by, and the reasons behind, @andrealovesanimals topic here now. Chillax
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I’m passing on this thread after reading the OP, as I do others, but you would not know that, so I’m posting that is one I would ignore, which is how I pace and taylor my forum exposure.
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What I find, well how do I voice this politely…a little unnerving, are questions like the one about a blow dryer
If you’re a sitter who has low confidence, or who has experienced a situation where a HO has treated you like unpaid help, asking for things that are specifically for your own comfort may be difficult and a huge source of anxiety.
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@Pips
This is exactly the kind of empathy that the forum needs more of, in my opinion. 
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The Irony of this thread being in the “ Fun” section of the forum ? 
Fun Stuff
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I love that this is under the fun stuff title 
@Silversitters @Reliablesitter
Yes, I love that category for my topic too, that’s why I selected it! 
I enjoy all things THS and the forum was a fabulous concept to bring us all together and share our experiences, good and bad.
It seems to work in waves. At the top of the wave, everything is light and positive and we all love each other. Then things get darker and darker till it hits rock bottom and someone gets banned or suspended. The mood will be lightened by a silly topic or two and the wave starts to going up. Everyone catches the mood and it gets better and better until we hit the top. But it’s never there for long cause there’s always something that brings the mood down.
At the darkest stage I stop looking at the forum for a couple of weeks. I just get angry and frustrated and become sarcastic and picky. I’m sorry to sa we are on the down word sloop at the moment so it will get worse before it gets better.
Don’t give up. Chose the threads carefully and you’ll find the fun again.
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@ElsieDownie
Thanks for that thoughtful post. I think you’re right. I have been reading this forum for quite a while and stopped participating for a bit when it got very negative. Then it got better… and maybe now we just need to wait it out.
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@Catme I was reading a review this morning of a pet parent giving a negative review to a sitter because she ate a bowl of a cereal in the house and didn’t ask beforehand. I’ve also seen negative reviews here and there over the last year and some of the pet parents’ comments seem trivial to me. Complaints about using their soap supply. Complaints about opening the closet to get the wrong blanket. Complaints about arriving to the sitter sleeping when the pet parent was the one who came home a day early without communication. No wonder sitters sometimes walk on eggshells. These are things that I never even worried about when I first joined.
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