Behold, a Man Has Arrived to Share His Manly View!

That's me told then Glovender, shall we also debate the merits of slavery too?

What no?

WhatWitchCraftIsThis has absolutely nailed this point.

The human race has evolved for thousands of years on the paradigm of two sexes and, consequently, men and women now have not only a differing sense of their own identity, but are also subject to differing perceptions from those around them. When these differences are taken into account within the norms and values of society, it results in patterns of behaviour. It is absolutely beyond doubt that these patterns of behaviour should not be open to debate! FFS! Men as a class have historically abused women and continue to do so. They've forfeit their right to be heard and just need to bugger off and do what they're told. Anyone that disagrees with this is a misogynist and must be publically shamed and silenced. Maybe there should be some sort of iron contraption that we could place around the head of scolding MRA's? Some sort of bridle....?

WWIT I think we mostly try and engage with and refute trolls because there is a large lurking population on the board. It does get bloody tiresome sometimes though. A while back we discussed doing a sticky with a sort of 'Feminism 101' thing.

Why should we engage with trolls? Women's rights aren't up for debate ffs.

The strong woman comment = goady
Posters should take responsibility for what they say and not come here just to goad. It's not up to women to constantly be inhumanely "strong".

I've just put this meme to good use, so thank for it.

I find the 'strong women' thing odd. What, so only 'strong' women matter, then? What about those of us who're not particularly 'strong'?

Trolls who taunt women about rape and violence prey on women who are perfectly legitimately not feeling terribly strong. Guilt-tripping us by saying we should be strong enough to deal with things is really underhand, I think.

Applefallingfromthetree2 - Not so sure about only debating with those whose views you value, therein lies the slippery slope, closing one's mind to that which you prefer not to hear.

You're making the assumption that I only value people's opinions if they accord with mine. Which is a bit of a weird thing to assume really. It's also a bit strange that you would assume that I believe that all men are incapable of forming cogent arguments on the basis that one man who is incapable of doing so posting on this board.

Strength is not automatically gained from facing unpleasant comments, this isn't a computer game where if you manage to face someone telling you to die in a fire without crying means you level up. All that's gained from responding to goady fuckers is the derailment of interesting and lively threads and debates, which means that the GF 'wins'. Why should anyone have to deal with unpleasantness and goading, here or anywhere else?

Not that I'm on FWR all that often, to be fair, but I haven't noticed the regulars here refusing to consider new issues or to discuss points of view they don't happen to agree with (see eg: various threads about Dawkins). But some of it's real silly shit; once you've read it and realised it has no substance there's no reason to keep on and on listening to the same non-arguments being rehashed for the sake of being annoying.

This is an open talkboard which most of us (I think it's fair to say) post on for interest, amusement, intellectual stimulation and any other reasons that seem good at the time. There is absolutely no obligation on anyone to engage in an argument they're not interested in. You may feel they ought to choose to; well, you're entitled to your opinion, of course. Whether anyone agrees, disagrees or can even be arsed to read your opinion is up to them. I, for one, am a good few decades past the age where anyone had the right to tell me what I ought to be interested in. (Doesn't stop 'em, of course.)

CaptChaos I do agree it is more rewarding to debate with those who can form a cogent argument (some men are also able to do this!).

Not so sure about only debating with those whose views you value, therein lies the slippery slope, closing one's mind to that which you prefer not to hear.

Vesuvius isn't debate a discussion of opinions and doesn't this lead to greater awareness and knowledge? What's wrong with that?

Skrumie I am not suggesting that only strong women should be posting on these boards. However I do feel that strength is gained from facing unpleasant comments and 'goading', not hiding and turning away from it.

What is the value of debate when everyone agrees with each other and feeds each others egos?

This would be fairly reasonable if, as Vesuvia says, MN was a debating society or if the people on my list of people to ignore were capable of debate. They aren't. In one case, the person is a MAN and his MANLY thoughts should always take precedence over everyone else's, if they don't, he starts using arguments which he doesn't really understand to back his case up and ends up looking like a tool, in another the woman will fixate on a tiny sub-clause in a sentence and, despite things moving on, will try and bring all conversation back to that tiny and irrelevant point. These people don't help debate to flow, they do all they can to stifle debate. If I can put them into an ignore pile, I can continue to debate with people who's views I value or those who can actually formulate a cogent argument.

Applefallingfromthetree2 wrote "What is the value of debate when everyone agrees with each other and feeds each others egos?"

Is Mumsnet supposed to be a debating society?

"As for goading, strong women can handle this surely."

so are you suggesting that only strong women should be posting on this board? that if you can't handle goading you shouldn't be here?

ps The gentleman depicted in the OP is oddly reminiscent of XH, except he was thinner and often not wearing pants.

Just because we can handle it doesn't mean we want to be bothered by it. I can handle nettle stings but I'd really rather avoid the bastards in the first place.

That said, I do like to goad back on occasion, depending on mood and time available.

Hi CD!

As for goading, strong women can handle this surely.

Yes, because there's nowhere else we can go in life to experience this(!). We're choc-a-block with opportunities to talk about feminism though, without being silenced.

why would you want to 'ignore' the opinions of others?

I don't think it's opinions of others, it's faux naiveté, goading etc. It's certainly not debate.

What is the value of debate when everyone agrees with each other and feeds each others egos?

I don't read these boards to get my ego stroked. I read because the thoughts inform me, they teach me and quite often they challenge me.

For the same reason you want to ignore a bluebottle when listening to a particularly gripping cricket commentary on the radio.

Some goady posters are just noise.

Really don't get this, why would you want to 'ignore' the opinions of others? What is the value of debate when everyone agrees with each other and feeds each others egos? As for goading, strong women can handle this surely.

would like...

That is an impressive power indeed Solid

Personally, I am of the CBA school and woud like an ignore button

How about if once you've ignored someone, they appear on a "posters I'm ignoring" list and you can then unignore them if desired?

Or, threads could appear with "ignored post" where applicable, so that if you felt you were missing anything you could click on "view post"... But all the other ignored posts would remain ignored.

(The word ignored now makes no sense in my brain, BTW)

Not sure. I like arguing with fuckwits and making them so cross they shit themselves.