lehua - you can't see the problem now as the posts have become scattered with time but originally, when the comments above were made there were 6 general comment posts, one right after another, all within a couple of minutes of each other, all by the same person, all on only a single example of the same topic, all of which could have been and should have been combined into 1 post by the author as such discussions usually are. The effect of multiple posts on the same topic is a domination of the first page of the forum by one person. It also bump 6 other people's post off the front page and 6 other posts off the forum's last page permanently. We are only allowed a certain amount of forum storage/server use. That is why it is frowned on and prohibited. It is a type of posting that is prohibited by the forum guidelines here and on most public forums simply because it it infringes on the rights of the other participants to have their post read and answered. General forum etiquette considers it Spamming (something we all know about, or should if we spend any time online) - a negative form of intrusive communication usually practiced by those wishing to interfere with or even block normal forum operation and activities. That clearly was not the case in this instance, we knew that, thus the kinder words from some. But harsh words directed at the person are often the result when this is practiced in most instances the intent is not innocent exuberance. It pays to be familiar with the Forum Use Instructions linked on every page and to think twice before hitting the submit button. ;) Dave

My ex wore his ring to work one day- a no no for plumbers- and he thinks it fell down the drain in the back of Safeway. Whatever. I gave my band that matched his to my bro. They disliked each other so bro and I thought it would be funny. Bro used it to go to bars in San Fran. He would use it if creepy guys tried to hit on him. He lost it after putting it in the pocket of his Member's Only coat. Yes it was 1986. I kept the engagement ring and took the 1/4 stone out and some emeralds from an antique ring I purchased while married and on my 21st birthday made myself a ring to celebrate my divorce. I still wear it and my dh of 20 years does not care. I still have the setting and was told it would be worth not a lot because it was a mix of white and yellow gold. My husband was married before also. His ring cracked just after he learned she was having an affair with one of his old friends from school. We still have it. I could probably take the two, along with my gold crown I had removed and make at least a few dollars, ya think? I did keep one item and still have it. For our first anniversary I went to an antique store and purchased an Elgin 5 ruby pocketwatch guts and had it set into a gold case. It was really cool. I had engraved "for all of time" on the back. He never really appreciated it or me so I kept it when I left him. He understood. I paid $50 and had to save every dime to buy it. He gave me a little heart ring with a chip in it. I still have it too. Thought of giving it to my dd but I think I would rather sell it and buy her something else. I took watch to an appraisal show in town a few years ago. They told me it was worth about $300 and that they would buy it but really suggested I hang onto it as it would appreciate a lot. Even if I sold the case separate from the guts, the guts were pretty unique. They said it was still valuable even with the engraving. I still have it and will probably get around to selling it. Should take it in again just to see. There are not a lot of master watchmakers around these days but there are a few in town that are reputable.

I'm going through that right now. She's a neighbor which makes it worse. This woman calls me every day on the phone expecting to chat for an hour or two or three. My handset has a speaker so I just let her talk away while I clean the house. Nothing I hate more than a person who talks AT me instead of TO me. Have you met people like that? You start to appreciate there is an art to conversation when you meet people who don't understand that it should be TWO WAY! She talks, I listen. I have no sympathy for her problems because she's so self-serving. Has no interest in my life. Day after day she calls mostly to repeat what she said the day before. She lives alone. Talking on the phone is her favorite pasttime whereas when I'm bored I turn on the TV or get on the internet. When I tried to ween her off of me by not answering the phone she started calling at odd hours like 10pm or 9am in an effort to catch me. She would even show up at my door if I didn't answer the phone after a couple days. I can't not ever answer her calls or she'll think I've died or something so now I "return her phonecall" with an email. She hates email because she can't monopolize the conversation and you're in control. That's what I recommend you try. Don't answer her phone call, instead reply by email so you're still being polite. With a properly scripted email you can impart a message without being overtly rude. Doesn't require brutal honesty. The shorter the response the quicker she'll realize you aren't interested in her. If I'm not home when my neighbor calls she'll have a conversation with MY ANSWERING MACHINE! She doesn't just leave a message she will talk until the machine cuts her off. DH laughs that even the machine can't listen to her for very long. She's the only person who has ever run the time out on my machine. A couple of times she's run the battery down on my handset because she's talked so long. I thought we had been disconnected but a slow walk to the other end of my house to pick up another receiver revealed that we hadn't. I just wanted to call her back to explain I didn't hang up on her when I realized we hadn't been disconnected. She was still talking! Completely unaware that there was no one on the other end. Didn't matter a bit to her. LOL The problem comes when people are too dense to pick up on "social queues". Those are the ones we all loathe because they force you to act in a way you'd rather not ...rude, curt, or the bearer or the silent treatment. But when polite hints fail you do what you gotta do!

agree with coleen. there was this story on parents forum. This one lady posted her story as estranged parent and how her DIL treated her poorly and that's why she does not talk to her son or somehting of the sort. It did sound like a real story. But people made suggestions to her that she might be too harsh on her DIL and her son, so she should try to treat them nice because they sure cannot be as evil as she decsribed. She got upset and dissapeared. But then as time passed some newly registered member posted a thread about her MIL, in this thread this "young lady" was telling the same story but now from a position of DIL. and she portrayed herself as selfish and mean DIL. Now everybody is yelling and screaming: how dare you be so mean to your MIL, you are so evil and selfish. As time passed though it turned out that that same original poster (MIL) created a new name and decided to impersonate evil DIL as to convince everybody that DIL trully is evil. When it was uncovered both posters (or actually one under 2 names)dissapeared. So people do bizzare stuff to prove the point or waste everybody's time. On the other hand it is OK to discuss hypothetical situation with the wedding or with whatever else even if it is made up. Who cares if it is real, it is not like it makes a difference for us, right? The only difference is that with real story people can provide clarifications and true details to help with discussion but in made up stories we don't have that.