Oh, dear.
I've never been in a clique, though I'm sure people have other opinions on that. I'm happy to disagree with someone in one post who I was all over in another with empathy! It depends on the subject, for me, not who the person is.
I've also got a habit of seeing a dodgy post and going in to defuse, instead of reporting and it's only afterwards that I think I could have reported it...but then things settle down, so it's not so bad I'd rather see a situation resolved maturely in a thread than have things removed and deleted - it breaks the continuity and wrecks it for people reading the thread later who see that there was a spat (and curse that they've missed it) or who were reading with continuity until they get to a section that starts to look really tattered an uneven.
I love a group hug in a thread that has threatened to explode
I remember the days when 'cliques' left BB en masse and started up their own forums to stew in their negativity somewhere else. They were 'interesting'!
SB - men get to network quite a bit throughout their lives, mainly professionally, with peers. Women who don't return straight to work don't. You get women increasingly isolated at home when they're with their kids, even if they live in suburbs packed with people. One of the aims of BB has been to connect women not just online, but also in person if they're able, to break down that isolation. Not sure if you were a member or a lurker or what at the time, but it wasn't that long ago that a BB member went MIA from her normal BB activity after the birth of her twins. She'd been a member from previous children. Well, the twins died and were found quite some time after they had passed away. She had PND and it wasn't picked up by anyone in her real life - NO ONE. If people in her REAL LIFE couldn't pick up on something going seriously awry, how can people who rely on someone logging on really know what's going on? So, it was reiterated and encouraged at the time to meet with people in real life from BB. Since then I've noticed a significant increase in member meet ups - and not just big city ones, but now more localised groups, especially as the membership grows. It's really important for women to connect, because once they leave the workforce they run the real risk of becoming 'nobodies'. People may think it's 'pathetic' for someone to place so much emphasis and energy into an online forum, but I and many others see it as a contemporary way to reclaim some kind of village, where people don't fall through the cracks. It's just different for men - you guys become fathers and that's the change in your social status; you retain jobs, friends, wardrobe, social engagements. It's not a criticism, it's just the set up of ours and many other societies. I get that you don't hinge on being a member of BB and that's fine. We benefit here from the input of fellas. And we vary from high income professionals to young girls who start families without even having finished school.
As for cliques within categories - I'm friends with Platinum and non-Plat alike. For me it's about resonating with someone, not recognising that they have an avatar or not I think it's like that for most members, paid or not.
I've been on the receiving end of a ganging up situation or three and come off pretty well. Most don't and they end up leaving. But I'm a bit Teflon-y