Lee there are always weekends ;)

great discussion peeps

....Which perhaps tells us that however poor the quality of our discussion may be considered, the manners of those so pontificating may themselves be considered to be of a quality less than perfect?

I would rather participate in a hundred poor quality discussions awaiting a single gem of wisdom than waste my time more than once on those too ignorant or deludedly self-important to reply those who have taken the time to respond to them.

Those who splutter, waffle, divert from the subject, spout twaddle as wisdom and venture controversy are welcome at my table anytime: those too arrogant to speak to anyone but those they feel to be of their self-exalted quality, or of value to them, are not.

I have better people to speak to....

P :-)

In fairness to Amanda, chaps, I would point out that the membership year has rolled over.

Given her disappointment with the quality of our discussions, she may have felt it was not worthwhile renewing her subscription :-)

Anna

My sister emailed me an excellent cure for that Mike. Aimed at domestic goddesses, but probably works for men as well ;-):

Delia's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

The Real Woman's Way
Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and drop it in 8 ounces of vodka. Drink the vodka. You might still have the headache, but you wont give a ****.

Anna

Headache Cure (Male Version):

Tell Domestic Goddess (D-G) you have a headache: If no sympathy forthcoming immediately, struggle to feet offering to fix the creaking board in the bedroom floor she's been nagging about for six months. Struggle to shed with many gasps and groans of pain and suitable weaving to demonstrate blurred vision; fetch toolbox and various jars of nails etc.

Stagger upstairs clinging to banisters with one hand and balancing tools etc unsteadily with the other. Enter bedroom (It is important at this stage to eschew all offers of help). Drag bedroom furniture around with adequate noise and further groans of pain. Draw back carpet exposing loose board.

Take nail; hold to board. Take hammer; aim at nail. Miss, striking thumb.....

At this point pain from headache will cease to be noticeable and, if you have carried out the rest of this procedure correctly, D-G will rapidly ascend stairs with load cries of sympathy and remorse at having forced you to fix board in your weakened state.

Milk for rest of day while lying on sofa with hot tea (or something stronger) and further helpings of loving care and sympathy from D-G. Recover by bedtime. (It is most inadvisable for males to mention having a headache at bedtime as this may infringe a long-standing D-G prerogative).

(If uncertain how to milk situation refer to chapter one, paragraph three, of handbook "How to be a Man" received at puberty by all Martians and available at all good men-only bookstores.)

Warning: DO NOT allow this guidance to be found by D-G. Penalties for ignoring this warning are too terrible to speak of and may cause permanent harm....... 

A Nonny Mouse.

Dear Nonny Mouse

Are male only bookstores being addressed in the Single Equalities Act?

Curious of HR

Ony if they can be caught! :-)

(A list of locations is to be found in appendix 6 of the guide).

A N'mouse

As somebody who has never reported in to an HR Director or had any HR colleagues (as a stand-alone HR Manager), I can feel very isolated - it would be nice to be able to have face-to-face discussions with somebody else in HR however this is the next best thing!!.  I find these discussions immensely helpful and informative.  Whenever I need to research an issue this is often the first place I will look. 

It helps me to know whether I am thinking along the right lines when colleagues post problems and they are discussed, often at great length, by those with a vast amount of knowldge and, more importantly, experience in those areas. 

I also value greatly the support from colleagues here.  As I said, being in a stand alone position is often very isolating!

I am certainly not disappointed with the discussions. 

Heather :-)

Another most-valid contribution, Heather.

This ties in aptly with just what I was reflecting the other day - what a meaningless concept 'quality of discussions' really is !

What frame of reference ought one to use ??

- intellectual rigour and challenge ?

- cutting-edge HR practice ?

- scholarly / academic prowess ?

One might point a finger at say The Sun newspaper and say that their  quality of reporting, especially of political and economic events, is rubbish.

Perhaps so: if that's what a reader seeks, then perhaps they should go read The Times or The Economist.

The fact remains that, like it or loathe it,  The Sun provides most of its readers in general  with all that they require of a newspaper....

In similar vein, our Communities might be regarded as the work-related Facebook of CIPD members, and, unsurprisingly, it covers the entire spectrum of personalities / levels of expertise / levels of tolerance / senses of 'humour' / lightheartedness / pomposity etc etc etc

Not much point bemoaning this fact - it's somewhat inevitable that such a diverse / motley bunch allied with the similar nature of 'HR' problems will result in such a diverse and motley  range of discussions.

Rather, the question perhaps ought to be: Is reading and / or participating-in Communities Discussions at least sometimes useful in undertaking my tasks at work ?

Heather for one has I think given the answer.