when you engage with the trolls

[MitchiestInge]

. . . is it a personal thing (actually engaging emotionally) or are you communicating with a wider, more silent audience or are there other motivations?

I can't work out why more people don't ignore them, but every now and then the exchanges are unintentionally funny or interesting - although mostly it gets very dull very quickly. Wondering what's in it for them too.

Bob, I don't think one can be banned for making what imho (and stress again, my opinion) creepy posts, unless they cross the site rules line. But, I don't think I can be banned for posting my impression of other peeps' posts, or the feeling they gave me either.

"Thinking that accused rapists are guilty be default, that men are ok to be banned from seeing their chldren and made to pay, attacking men/fathers etc is all misandry"

Aaaaand, here it comes, the real agenda. Shock, horror.

I'm an avid reader of the Feminist board, and the last few days have been awful: interesting discussions derailed, relevant issues sidelined.

What are you here for, edd? Because you clearly have no interest in discussing Feminism, just in putting the odd lame flag in the wind and seeing where it'll fly. This isn't to do with your gender, it's do do with the fact that if you're not a Feminist (it seems clear you're not), and you're not here to learn and discuss (because continually making remedial and unrelated points is not discussion or rebuttal) then the only conclusion it is logically possible to come to is that you're here to disrupt.

Desinationzero makes a pertinent point, that I've seen at play on other forums.

It can be difficult, but the nature of discussion on the open internet is that it brings in all kinds of people and some of them will appear to be coming from a completely different universe from others. Pretty much every forum i've frequented has had situations like this where a core of people who dominate much of the discussion start thinking "if only we could get rid of [X], then things could be tailored so much more to how we want them to be".

I think you just have to accept it as a limitation of the medium - the flipside of the other things that the medium excels at. There was a group on one forum I frequented who did respond by going off and starting their own closed forum. I didn't go there but from what I hear, it's still going and they're happy that way.

It sounds like that's what some posters here really want, and there's nothing to stop them from doing it.

Ayebelieve - If a man does not want to get a woman pregnant, then he should ensure that his sperm do not meet her eggs. How complicated is that?

It's not complicated at all. Childishly simplistic in fact. But hang on - why should he need to do this? Dittany has just assured us that no woman EVER tries to trick a man into getting her pregnant. You seem to be suggesting that she might do. Are you a misogynist?

People communicate and negotiate around relationships and sex, what they want and what they expect. If a woman says to a man "I am on the pill, I don't want to get pregnant", while deliberately not taking the pill because she DOES want to get pregnant, then she is tricking him. That's even simpler - it's what "tricking" means: giving someone false information so you can get something out of them that you couldn't get if you were honest.

As I said originally, how widespread this is or what attitude one should have to it is a whole other conversation. All we are arguing about here is whether it ever happens. Which is a bit like arguing about whether Christmas happens.

UMS. What frightens me is there is some myth that rape is apparantly a womans fantasy. I know i've read that on other boards

Very informative site though

SGM. If I quoted stats from antimisandry, are they any different?

REmember antimisandy doesn't hate women, just disapproves of man-hating

TheCrackFox - I wouldn't trust my DH (who I love and respect) if a new male pill was invented. If some men are so stupid to place all their contraceptive choice with someone else then, frankly, it is hard to muster sympathy for them.

OMG - so you ALSO think there are some women who would trick a man into getting them pregnant? Dittany says you're a misogynist.

I'm getting worried now. Her claims of widespread misogyny on the board seem to be more real than I thought.

Dear oh dear. Back to normal in the feminist section I see. And it was all fairly peaceful and good natured up until recently as well.

Thing is, if you're so desperate to have a feminist friendly space with none of these awkward opposing views, why dont you just set up your own a la mouldies, then you can ban anyone you dont approve of, control the conversation the way you like it and chat away to your hearts content. Feminists cant control who posts here, it aint gonna happen.

I guess the problem with ignoring it all is that the posts get ever more outlandish in an attempt to get people to engage, the postings get ever more creepy (well, I find them creepy).

It's a dilemma and no mistake. Eh? MNHQ.

sock pupperty at its finest.

SGM -

Ayebelieve and theCrackFox may believe that women sometimes trick a man into getting them pregnant, but it's going a bit far to call them "stupid" because of it.

I'm not aware anyone's made statistical claims about this. Obviously the relevance of statistics depends on whether one is talking on a general or individual level. If somebody claimed that "X% of unplanned pregnancies are the result of dishonesty by the woman", then I'd certainly question that information and want to know whether they got it from. But if someone just says "my friend tricked her boyfriend into getting her pregnant", then statistics have nothing to do with it.

Like me SGM?

There are quite a lot of posters who are showing their true colours - being pleased that the feminist section is being trolled and its members insulted, attacked and harassed. Some of the posts are of a 'put the boot in' nature.

No surprises really on the names that pop up.

I for one am reporting the personal attacks - I hope others are too