So. That thread.

[BertrandRussell]

Before this I gets deleted, too, did anything happen to make it worse in the last 50 odd posts?

I reported and asked for comments earlier this morning.

Have patience - some poor sod at MNHQ is presumably going to have to read the bloody thing before rendering impartial judgement.

That's not a job I'd wish on anyone

Don't WANNA wait!

I'm guessing, since a certain poster is no longer doing his pissing-up-against-the-lampost territorial game, that he's been suspended. I'm sure he couldn't have resisted putting in his two-pennorth-worth repeatedly.

I did say "when you've got a moment" or something similar. There's no rush.

I don't think anyone should have been suspended, unless there really were abusive texts. As I said, the thread was practically an object lesson in what feminists deal with practically every day- lots of people think and talk the way the individuals concerned do.

Actually, there are two (male) posters who have left ... the gaming thread is now quiet as a result.

A few weeks ago, I saw someone make the suggestion of making FWR work like the sex topic - that you would have to have been a poster for 3 months before you could post on it. What do people think? Would it be worth pursuing with MNHQ? (It might cut down their workload and lessen the number of trolls they have to handle... of course, it could misfire, because a dedicated troll could then put 3 months into establishing a fake posting history and would be less obviously a single-issue GF).

If they have been banned (and both prolific posters disappearing today is odd) it would be useful to know why. Bob had been posting teachery stuff on school threads so appeared to be a genuine poster. Having a massive row and making a tit of yourself on a thread isn't a bannable offence is it?

Crumbs, all that sounds very trying, with associated high atrittion rate.

Having a massive row and making a tit of yourself on a thread isn't a bannable offence is it?

Imagine the tumbleweed blowing over the deserted site if it was

That's an interesting idea about the 3 month rule. I'm torn on that. One the one hand, yes, it would cut down on the drive by trolling. But on the other, the anti-feminists who periodically invade and get their arses handed to them can end up being a kind of public service in a way. We often get quite good feminism 101 threads out of it, and they can sometimes handily demonstrate a point, like with the benevolent sexism/bus seat thread, where men were unable to accept that men are generally unable to accept that a kindness is not always a kindness...all very meta...

I think I'll just be grateful they're gone, and hope for another couple of quiet months before the next man rides in to tell us what we're doing wrong/should be focussing on/that we're sexist/gaslight us/tell us that we just want to be an echo chamber/whatever.

It's not like we don't have some dissenting posters that we know and love, that have actually read and interacted and learned and thought.

I don't think I'd want a 3 month wait in this section. Not least because we have a fair few members who have deregged owing to f4j etc then re rigged later.

Chocchoc - yeah "read and interacted" is precisely it! It can be interesting and challenging and informative to argue with someone who actually takes your arguments seriously and forces you to defend them. But 1000 posts of "But what about the gender pay gap"... "There is no gender pay gap"; "But what about rape threats online"... "Men get threats online too, no biggie", etc. etc is just exhausting. (As an example, stuck record "There is no gender pay gap" is a very different argument to one which centres round the exact way to interpret ONS statistics, the granularity of the data etc.)

I find it annoying when somebody posts something vaguely feminist on Chat, for example, and others come on saying "oh, there are feminist boards for that sort of thing- why are you posting on here?" A three month wait would make feminism seem like an even more niche topic. Which is bizarre on a site largely frequented by women..........

What we really want is to be able to create a safe space which is also very welcoming and inclusive to genuine people who may be asking some fairly obvious questions.

OR - do we only want FWR chats to be among people who have some kind of credentials/knowledge?

I get a bit fed up with going over some of the 'basics' sometimes (like the existence of benign sexism) but also would never want to exclude someone who really does want to know something. How to achieve that anywhere on the internet is pretty impossible to set up.

Sort of... I hate the 'safe space' thing which seems to have taken over campuses, leaving people in echo chambers - very unsafe. And erasing the importance of actual safe spaces like refuges. But yes, sometimes you do want to discuss a topic with people who want to engage properly, and who have some idea (or are willing to go away and read when it's suggested.

Must it be either/or? I've only just starting posting and have little knowledge but have learned a lot from these boards.

I've had several light bulb moments through reading posts here and would like to start a discussion on feminism and autism, once I've got my thoughts a little more coherent. The MN Feminist board is the only place I'd feel comfortable doing so.

Welcome potoroos sounds like a good thread

I don't think I'm very knowledgeable either - but willing to learn. Thats the main difference maybe?

I don't mind the "let's discuss the basics" threads at all - they almost always throw up a new way of thinking about things. And I certainly don't want tumblr style echo chambers - I think we've all seen the dangers of those in recent years. But I do get fed up with people who don't engage, but simply come on here to hector.

Feminism and autism sounds like a great idea for a thread, Potoroo.

Well - it depends - if there is a particular subject on the card, and someone arrives and wants to use that thread to discuss other feminist basics, thats not so good.

It's usually obvious quite soon that a poster is doing it for shits and giggles. We should in theory be able to ignore, surely?

Mind you, I tried that yesterday and failed spectacularly.........I was like a moth to a candle.

I've been wondering if one of those chrome plugins that lets you hide adverts/random chunks of pages could be used to ignore based on username - Fark style....

Wouldn't help the app