In light of MNHQ's recent statement that the feminism section is in fact not a feminism section but a section 'about' feminism, perhaps we need to be warning people about this up front?

[Beachcomber]

I'm of the opinion that it needs to made clear that whilst the title may be 'feminism/women's rights', this section is quite different to other boards that deal with feminism/women's rights.

It isn't fair to mislead - lots of posters expect the section to be a place where feminist views can be freely explored without fear of posters' mental health being questioned, and a zone where misogyny is unwelcome. In reality, pretty much anything goes here and whilst it is, of course, MNHQ's prerogative to run their site as they see fit, some sort of disclaimer about the section seems only fair in order to forewarn posters (especially posters looking for support or exploration of sensitive issues).

Perhaps it would be an idea for there to be a header at the top of the section stating MNHQ's position?

All suggestions welcomed .

Aitch problem is we got called names on the main board or felt that we wanted to discuss things that not everybody welcomed. (We was hardcore redfems who hated men and took offensive too easily).

So we asked if we could have a wee space where we could hang out and chew the feminist fat.

And then we got called names here too.

And now we are kind of done with being called names (and trolled and stalked and insulted and baited and slagged off).

aitch has a point

speaking personally, when I am wasting time with the oxygen-thieves on here, I am not elsewhere

and I have wasted a lot of time on oxygen-thieves recently, that is for sure

AF

Fair enough though hen.

I'm nearly there myself.

not that the rest of Mn is getting on quite nicely without me, of course

isn't ?

is ?

I dunno, it's late

for you, BC

You are fucking mega on here though

Fuck of with those flowers already.

It feels like a fucking funeral otherwise.

I will graciously accept a but the flowers are just morbid (and a bit cheap looking).

and rather bizarrely, you now find yourselves the target of even more name-calling and nastiness than you ever did. incidentally, when this board started, i distinctly remember dittany saying that she wondered how long it would take to be colonised by misogynist weirdos, or words to that effect, and i genuinely wondered what the hell she was on about. now i know.

i do not have a fucking clue what is to be done about it, though. to get rid of this board would feel like a retrograde step, but it hasn't actually achieved what was hoped. but that was because of utter tossers for the most part so would it feel worse to capitulate? gawd.

all i know is that i stopped visiting, because it all seemed very angsty and aggressive. (and, well, if i'm honest, there were a couple of big hitters who were imo off putting, one of whom kinda chased me around the boards a bit. not dittany, in case you were thinking that.)

yes what is the story with the flowers? was there a POLL? hq seems v fond of polls these days. i'd have voted no. [hayfever]

BC, you will be glad to see the back of me

awesomely ungracious x-post there, prolesy.

excellent! double bubble.

I won't AF.

?

you dobber not [thanksycheapyfuneralfuckingflowers]

good night all

see yas around on the relationships board, and chat, and AIBU, and all the others in fact

YAY! one down... it's a sad loss to feminism, to womankind and to humanity, but Aitch is happy so 'raaaah!

"Leave me alone. You have no idea as to what I think. Your post is offensive.

Why do these people always have to get so personal?"

Jaysus. HOW was my post personal? It wasn't about you at all, it was about the way that language can mean vastly different things to different people.

Your previous post implied that I was calling you names, which I wasn't. I wasn't calling anyone names.

Who are 'these people', beachcomber? If you're equating me with derailers from misandry.com, that's unfair and intellectually dishonest.

"well i get it, but i think that if this is who you are dealing with then a message at the top of the board isn't going to deter them. can HQ delete fast enough, even if they are inclined to do so?"

Yes, HQ can delete posts very quickly. As the thread LRD linked to shows. But from the perspective of many lurkers like me - it is often the wrong ones that are being deleted - the responses to the trolls, rather than the trolls, and it is not just in this section.

I really wish they went back to the old policy which seemed to be not deleting stuff unless illegal. It meant that it was easier to see what was going on.

I've learned a lot from this board, though I've not been a regular poster here. I think it is time that I stopped being a regular poster anywhere on MN.

oh AF! this is why i got really upset at this place - my posts and username being bandied over hate sites and people reporting what was going on to mnhq and nothing being done. HELEN i'm sorry but the 'we tried to rise above it' thing is really quite upsetting - it was real posters here who were being targeted - my posts and name were thrown about on at least 3 hate sites (probably more as i don't go trawling looking for it) to say oh just rise above it is - well not very reassuring or satisfying.

this is why i had my history deleted - was i sad to lose years of my thoughts and interactions? yes of course - but no i can't leave them on here when i'm being targeted by haters who spend their whole time targeting women who dare to talk about feminism. feminist bloggers and the like have been targeted and threatened in real life by groups like this. that's just not a risk to take when you have a child/children.

i don't know what they could do about it but deciding to do nothing and say nothing wasn't the good option in my opinion. you can't help when that happens to assume that HQ just don't give a shit - which irrationally maybe is a bit upsetting.

anyway just wanted to say i understand why you're angry/upset/shocked by it AF. it is different when it is your name and your posts being reproduced and you know you individually are a target - it's all well and good for others not in that situation to say oh ffs rise above, who cares, they're just trolls etc. but the thing is we're real people with real lives to consider and guess what the trolls and mra groups are real people to with axes to grind and hatred to act upon. i'm not a sacrificial lamb

i've backed off loads, tried namechanging, realised how fruitless that was, mnhq offered to change my name on the old posts but there's really no point in that - they know threads you were on that they quoted from they only have to pop back and see the namechanged post to know where it all is. besides which their will be a post after saying, "good post/what a load of shit SAF". doesn't take a genius.

so i resorted to losing years of daily contributions to threads and groups etc on here. if that makes me hysterical or over reacting then fine. but these are not 'nice people'. they are men who hate women so much they set up websites about them, they target female spaces and reproduce individual women's posts and ID's on sites that try to attract more hater attention to those women. who googles i hate women or anti feminism and joins these sites and groups? no one i fancy bumping into.

sorry stupidly long post.