Crossword Help Forum
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Sorry folks, but I'd rather just carry on using my imagination.
Have fun, but remember zoom pictures can be very unflattering!

I generally don't like to pour cold water on things but I'll speak plainly as someone who isn't so well known to you all. I personally have a lot of work on so clue setting is a welcome diversion but cannot be more than that.

I worry this meet-up may have the unintended effect of turning the thread into a clique that others feel they can't join.

Speaking perhaps more frankly than I prefer, all of the clue competitions are already a little bit 'clubby' and very occasionally this does even seem reflected in some of the scoring.

Please don't shoot the messenger.

I've been on the forum since 2012 and some of you have been on longer.
I don't really feel the forum is clubby. A bit of chat and banter is part of the fun and through that we've got to 'know' each other.
I think the voting is pretty fair on the whole. (I do miss the occasional good clue which is why I don't take part in Clueless!).

However, we were warned not to give out too much information about ourselves so we could remain anonymously safe. Presumably from Norah. Maybe I have taken heed of this because I'm a female, which is sad.

However, I'm sure you are all lovely people and hope that the zooming lives up to your expectations. It's just not for me.

I got involved last year (I had a bit more time available!) and found it all very friendly and welcoming. I found the scoring to be fair (I even managed to win 2 or 3 times)!
At first sight it may appear that the participants have been around for ages but I can think of at least 3 current regulars that joined after I entered for the first time. That suggests that people can easily become part of the weekly battles.
If I have a 'complaint' it's that the standard of clue has gone up and, even when I think about entering, I look at them and think 'Ah....um....can't beat that one/those'. I still read them all though - and look at the prizes (:o)

Enjoy the Zoom, it could be quite global!

I have been emailed by a regular contributor who is extremely concerned about users, and females in particular, giving out or sharing private, personal information .

The User who contacted me was stalked on a different Forum which culminated in the male stalker turning up on her doorstep.

Zooming is the latest craze but remember that anyone can do a screenshot of a participant taking part in a Zoom meeting which could be then be posted elsewhere on the net.

This Forum is a friendly Crossword forum, I'm not sure that its purpose includes arranging Zoom meetings.

BE WARNED - PLEASE BE CAREFUL, STAY SAFE

I was NOT the one who was stalked and emailed Norah.
It does show, though, that the dangers are there and it's not just me being paranoid.

In view of Norah's advice, I'll give it a miss too.

As I think I've mentioned before, for many years I have been a poster on the English Chess Forum where it is compulsory to use one's real name. I blithely used mine when joining here before realising I was very much the odd one out. Anyway, many refer to me as paulh and I am happy with that.

I can see the point of real names, which are easier to verify in the comparatively limited chess community. It keeps a check on potentially abusive posts if people cannot hide behind a pseudonym. The chess forum does have moderators, of course, and a mechanism for reporting unsavoury posts. However, I haven't encountered unpleasantness here on the Crossword Help Forum - perhaps that's thanks to Norah.

The other contrast is that chess is very much male dominated (despite the Netflix success 'The Queen's Gambit') and female posters are rare despite there being a forum section for Women's Chess.

I can understand the reservations expressed by many about a Zoom meeting. Zoom has never been suggested on the Chess Forum, so, while thanking Paul for a sociable idea, I will also give it a miss.

I know that Norah will pass on email addresses to anyone who wants to make contact, as long the other party agrees.

I've been here for a shorter time than granama (I assumed everyone here had been on for ages when I joined in). I have found it to be a welcoming bunch (or at least they tolerate my presence) and the scoring has always been scrupulously fair except when no one votes for my clues, in which case the fix is clearly in.

Posting a Zoom link on an open forum is not a good idea, since then anyone in the world can zoom-bomb the meeting. (The host can check a box that says all joiners get sent to a waiting room to be vetted by the host before entering, but the host doesn't know who we are in this case.)

I will also give the zooming a pass as it would blow my cover:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_you%27re_a_dog