QOTW: What did you buy on Black Friday?

[Saracen]

I'm not ignoring your point at all. you mentioned it several times now. but mine is quite simple. if you don't like it, you don't need to participate in it. just like you don't need to participate in anything else you don't like

the whole idea of not liking black Friday or trick or treat because they are American screams of xenophobia. before trick or treating was popular, kids used to go guising, knocking on doors asking for "penny for the guy". I'm not sure if kids still do that, but it's not much different from trick or treating in regards to bothering people at home. but there's the same solution. don't answer the door, don't participate if you don't like it

if you really don't like something when simply avoiding it is a solution, it's ironic and hypocritical to participate in a discussion about it when the discussion won't lead to any removal of what you don't like. it just comes across as trolling when posted on a forum. had the thread been do you like or dislike X then fair enough, but when asking what did you buy, what's the point of moaning about it?

the other idea of the small business day instead of the Americanised black Friday is a laugh considering the small business day started in America by the huge global credit card company American express

You can avoid participating in Black Friday, by not buying anything in it. Which is what I did, because I think it's largely hype. But I have no problem with companies doing it, or people trying to grab bargains if they want. I really could care less.

But you can't avoid participating in trick or treat when the mere fact that you get pestered, in your own home, despite notices asking people not to, and that pestering is enough to have a detrimental effect on some people. That's the point you are either missing, or ignoring, because you keep saying "don't participate". That's simply not an option when people bang on your door anyway.

So please advise how my mum-in-law is supposed to "not participate" when she has something near to a panic attack simply by rowdy strangers banging on her door at night, despite explicitly having been asked NOT TO, and against her clear wishes?

Nor is it xenophobic, or anti-American. I dislike the practice because I dislike being pestered in my own home, entirely uninvited, by people merely gratifying their agenda, not mine. I object to trick or treat on that basis, just as I do to Jehovah's Witnesses. Trick or treat is, in my opinion, a thoroughly obnoxious practise, for the reasons given, that HAPPENS to be an American import. I don't, personally, object to it because it's American, but because it's obnoxious.

If there was some widely accepted convention for trick and treat, like only knocking on doors where lit pumpkin was on display, and it was kept to, I'd have no problem with it, because it wouldn't be pestering people that didn't want to be pestered. It'd still be naff, IMHO, but people are entitled to do things I think are naff if they want to. They're not entitled to scare vulnerable people witless simply as a lark for their kids. If ALL trick or treat groups were responsibly supervised (and many are) and don't pester people that don't want to be pestered then, again, let them go to it. But not all are.

That's the core of my problem with trick or treat. Some people DO NOT have the option to not participate, because they're pestered despite having said they don't want to be.

As for it being "hypocritical" or "trolling" to participate in a discussion when it "won't change anything", just how many forum discussions on virtually ANYTHING do you think will lead to something being changed, or "removed"? By that measure, we can't discuss politics, religion, business, international affairs, inflation, economic policy, or a vast list of otner subjects.

However, by calling people trolls or hypocrites for doing so, you are not just insulting me, but a number of other members. And you've been around long enough to know our rules.

So this is the one and only warning you are going to get - think VERY carefully about your next post because if it includes, or justifies, that tone or those remarks, you WILL get an immediate account suspension.

This is a discussion forum. Within the rules, people are free to discuss whatever they wish, and the Mod team will guard against trolling, thank you very much.

[Unique]

You can avoid participating in Black Friday, by not buying anything in it. Which is what I did, because I think it's largely hype. But I have no problem with companies doing it, or people trying to grab bargains if they want. I really could care less.

But you can't avoid participating in trick or treat when the mere fact that you get pestered, in your own home, despite notices asking people not to, and that pestering is enough to have a detrimental effect on some people. That's the point you are either missing, or ignoring, because you keep saying "don't participate". That's simply not an option when people bang on your door anyway.

So please advise how my mum-in-law is supposed to "not participate" when she has something near to a panic attack simply by rowdy strangers banging on her door at night, despite explicitly having been asked NOT TO, and against her clear wishes?

Nor is it xenophobic, or anti-American. I dislike the practice because I dislike being pestered in my own home, entirely uninvited, by people merely gratifying their agenda, not mine. I object to trick or treat on that basis, just as I do to Jehovah's Witnesses. Trick or treat is, in my opinion, a thoroughly obnoxious practise, for the reasons given, that HAPPENS to be an American import. I don't, personally, object to it because it's American, but because it's obnoxious.

If there was some widely accepted convention for trick and treat, like only knocking on doors where lit pumpkin was on display, and it was kept to, I'd have no problem with it, because it wouldn't be pestering people that didn't want to be pestered. It'd still be naff, IMHO, but people are entitled to do things I think are naff if they want to. They're not entitled to scare vulnerable people witless simply as a lark for their kids. If ALL trick or treat groups were responsibly supervised (and many are) and don't pester people that don't want to be pestered then, again, let them go to it. But not all are.

That's the core of my problem with trick or treat. Some people DO NOT have the option to not participate, because they're pestered despite having said they don't want to be.

As for it being "hypocritical" or "trolling" to participate in a discussion when it "won't change anything", just how many forum discussions on virtually ANYTHING do you think will lead to something being changed, or "removed"? By that measure, we can't discuss politics, religion, business, international affairs, inflation, economic policy, or a vast list of otner subjects.

However, by calling people trolls or hypocrites for doing so, you are not just insulting me, but a number of other members. And you've been around long enough to know our rules.

So this is the one and only warning you are going to get - think VERY carefully about your next post because if it includes, or justifies, that tone or those remarks, you WILL get an immediate account suspension.

This is a discussion forum. Within the rules, people are free to discuss whatever they wish, and the Mod team will guard against trolling, thank you very much.

well firstly, I wasn't calling anyone a troll, certainly not yourself, so if anyone feels that way, I apologise for the misunderstanding. as I pointed out before, I wasn't even moaning, I was simply participating in the discussion, being in a good mood from obtaining some bargains. when you ran with the topic I presumed you were engaged in what you considered an interesting and enjoyable discussion, which is how I considered it as the conversation as far as I'm concerned has never been at any heated level at the point of my post. I wasn't even only referring to people on this forum, or on forums in general with some of my general remarks. secondly, there is a huge difference between discussing a thread about what someone bought on black Friday, which was presumably intended to be a light topic where people happy about participating in black Friday and wanting to discuss their bargains, and a thread discussing something like politics or religion or those other subjects you mention where differing points of view are likely to clash and to which people may opt to avoid participating in if they don't want to enter an argument. the long and short of my comments is you don't need to be bothered about certain things, so no need to be bothered, and explaining how you can avoid being bothered by simply avoiding them

take todays metro newspaper for example, the comments regarding black Friday appear to revolve around xenophobic remarks in that the issues many have with things like black Friday, trick or treat, and thanksgiving is they consider them to be American in origin and they dislike American traditions being followed in the uk

as I've mentioned before a number of times, if you don't like those or other traditions, you don't need to participate and you can leave other people to participate if you like

in regards to trick or treat, what you are describing is not participating, but essentially being harassed as a result. two very different things. however as the QOTW is relating to black Friday, you can quite easily avoid participating without being harassed. the issues you describe are those which aren't specific to trick or treating, but sound like personal issues with the individual to which they can be harassed in a number of ways by any type of unannounced caller or noice etc outside, which wouldn't be stopped if trick or trick hadn't crossed the pond to the uk. the mention of trick or trick was simply another event like black Friday which people don't need to follow if they don't want to, just like xmas, or most other celebrations. if people want to bow to peer or family pressure to participate in things they don't want to, it's ultimately a choice they've made. any subsequent actions that may arise as a result of not participating is another thing

anyways it sounds like what I've said has been taking the wrong way, so apologise again, I certainly didn't mean it. let's draw an end to any further discussion on trick or treat or anything other than the actual topic of what people bought on black Friday. any further discussion topics raised may make interesting discussion on another thread perhaps, to which I may opt to avoid if I think it may be taken the wrong way

[Attila the Bun]

I have to admit that I didn't even know it was black friday until I popped into the Sainsburys branch next to work at 7:10am to get some breakfast.

When I walked in I saw the recently released Linx 8" full fat windows tablet that was being sold for £70 and includes a years subscription to Office 365 (retails about £45-60 on it's own).

Now I had read a review of this particular item a couple of weeks ago and have to admit, at £99 from Amazon, I was thinking this could be my first foray into tablet ownership. At £70 well I thought why not. I have to say I'm mightily pleased with said item. HD IPS screen, which I tested by watching England beat Australia at Rugby on the BBC iPlayer, ran very smoothly. It also has 32gb flash memory (28gb free) expandable by SD card, mini-HDMI socket which isn't mentioned in the review (bonus), 1gig RAM. Case is a bit plasticy but well fitting, although I will be getting a protective cover for it. I'm still getting use to touch screen only operation but all in all am happy with the metro interface in this situation.

Also I'm sure that I read somewhere (HEXUS I think) I could get a free upgrade to Win 10 which would be another bonus

[aidanjt]

...I really could care less.

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

[Saracen]

well firstly, I wasn't calling anyone a troll, certainly not yourself, so if anyone feels that way, I apologise for the misunderstanding.

....

anyways it sounds like what I've said has been taking the wrong way, so apologise again, I certainly didn't mean it. let's draw an end to any further discussion on trick or treat or anything other than the actual topic of what people bought on black Friday. any further discussion topics raised may make interesting discussion on another thread perhaps, to which I may opt to avoid if I think it may be taken the wrong way

Fair enough. Consider the warning matter closed.

If you want to know why it looks specific to this forum, consider the inference of the bits in the following quoted in bold.

if you really don't like something when simply avoiding it is a solution, it's ironic and hypocritical to participate in a discussion about it when the discussion won't lead to any removal of what you don't like. it just comes across as trolling when posted on a forum. had the thread been do you like or dislike X then fair enough, but when asking what did you buy, what's the point of moaning about it?

When we're participating in such a discussion, about what to buy, on a forum, it sure looks like it refers to comments made, whether by me or others.

Final comment on trick or treat. I agree that such nuisance behaviour is offensive and bordering on harrassing, but that's WHY I, personally, object to that particular US import. Maybe it's deeply enough embedded over there for it to not be an issue, but it's a new fad over here, and is certainly not rmbedded. Yet.

As for Black Friday, I thinm my comment in my initial post covers almost my entire view - which is that I think it's clever marketing, and I have no interest in indulging, but if others want to, and maybe even score a good deal or the occasional real bargain, good for them. It doesn't affect me either way, so while I feel it's exploitative hype, if people enjoy it, fine.

The one thing I'd add is that some of the more ludicrous TV scenes suggest a very clear need for stores to employ MUCH better, or larger, security teams, if for no other reason than to maintain a semblance of order, and restrain the more ferral instincts of some customers, for the safety of both other customers and staff.

[Saracen]

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

That is a particularly well-implemented rant, isn't it?

But maybe I could care less. Hard to tell without the context. And not by much, but maybe I care a tiny, minuscule, almost infinitesimal little bit. So, I could care less. Just barely. Did Mitchell think of that, did he, eh? eh?

[Garridge]

Nothing, I don't live in the US .

[reyrey761]

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[robhunter3]

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