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As the GBHL’s Management Committee, we look after the events, Tournament Organisers and Players who make up The Great British Hobbit League. Our aim is to encourage the growth of MESBG by supporting a community of independent TOs in putting on events that contribute to cultivating a whole ecosystem of friendly competition, creativity, and camaraderie.
The League Committee is separate from the GBHL Facebook page (which has its own voluntary moderators), and we also have no direct “jurisdiction” over the multitude of hobby chat groups that exist. From Discord servers, to Facebook chats, Reddit SubThreads and WhatsApp Communities; MESBG players are everywhere. Nevertheless, the MESBG social scene on such platforms is also heavily linked to the day to day existence of the GBHL. People meet at GBHL events or on such online platforms, interact, form relationships, form friendship/communication groups, and this feeds right back in to the social scene at GBHL events, informing the very way attendees will interact, and the cycle continues.
As such, these social spheres have cross-over, and online interaction in a social group can have ramifications for GBHL attendees and events. Therefore, we feel it is of the utmost importance to issue a reminder to everyone in the MESBG scene, and especially anyone linked with the GBHL League, to be mindful of the way you conduct yourself in the world of social media - be it on platforms or in group chats etc.
Whilst some of these can be minute, many more will have dozens, or even hundreds of members who are privy to the content. When people form online social groups that start off as groups of friends and acquaintances, it is natural that the members of such will generally get familiar with each other, creating and sharing standards for acceptable interactions; this generates an 'in-crowd' - comprised of people who are 'in' on the day to day jokes, chat, tones, viewpoints, and characters of their fellows. However, this familiarity can also unfortunately lead to general standards for baseline social interactions to slip. As people get more comfortable around each other as part of the 'in-crowd', light-hearted “memery”, 'banter', trash-talk, and even (what others/outsiders might view as) problematic sentiment/behaviour can be water off a duck’s back between close friends. Whilst such groups can start off as noted, they have a habit of growing - new members join the scene and are introduced, founding members make acquaintances and invite them into/onto the chat/platform, people just join an established body etc. As a result, the 'in-crowd' has a greater audience who are exposed to the behaviours described above - and these on their own, or combined as described with the lax standards in effect from before can suddenly be perceived as mean-spirited, toxic, bullying, discrimination etc.
Some will ascribe to the adage 'treat others as you'd want to be treated', others to 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything', and still others to 'if you wouldn't say something to someone's face, should you say it online/behind their back'. It is general good principle to be mindful of your online social interactions anyway, and to consider a filter of 'would I say this at work or on meeting new people' when in the growing online groups we've described, and sometimes even when in a chat solely with your established mates. Additionally, we have all had tricky games where the dice have punished us, or a rules interpretation left us feeling hard done by, but it’s important to shake that off and remember that your opponent is human and probably has an awful lot in common with you, as well as their own stuff going on.
So, whilst the GBHL Committee cannot police your freedom of speech and don't wish to be seen as cracking down on the enjoyment/banter/relationships between others, we wish to strongly encourage you to take the above into consideration before typing out a jibe or remark about someone you actually may not know well enough to know how it could be taken. Furthermore, take a moment to take stock every once in a while of how you yourself and your social groups are interacting with each other and consider applying a 'health-check' if standards are slipping and/or as the group is growing. Even though the GBHL Committee don't have such direct responsibility, we will take corrective steps where appropriate, possible, and applicable due to the cross-over between social media interaction and League events/attendees. Bullying and discrimination etc. are unacceptable, and unfortunately the line can be quite fine between such and 'banter', whilst the perception of what constitutes these behaviours can be quite open to interpretation and mired in 'grey'. Ultimately, we would like to think that we in our community would want others to be happy, and to provide a place they feel welcome and accepted.
Therefore, please assist us in being vigilant on behalf of the feelings of our fellow MESBG community members.