Women's forum

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i agree with neilson_wheels that taking control of the women's forum autonomously is probably the best solution as I doubt that any accessibility restrictions will come into place. or at least, it's a good thing to try for now even if some kind of restriction is in the future. maybe a sticky could be posted about the issue and an agreement as to how to react to disrespectful and nonconstructive behavior, because no matter how much it hurts to not respond to a completely backwards idiot, I think proving that they won't get a reaction from it would be a better deterrence than trying to explain anything logical to them. I also don't wish for men to be excluded from the women's forum because the men who do have or could have positive discourse are important, at least to me.

Hmm.
Could the discussion of men be considered a 'women's issue?'
Or indeed, a 'woman's interest'?

Oh, it's easy for me to ignore the "backwards idiot" aka the misogynistic troll. I've had plenty of experience with one in particular, who comes across as a mal-adjusted, frustrated loser whose whole and sole purpose of hanging around these forums seems to be the derailing of any discussion that gets their panties into a wad. It is to block these infamous creatures that I seek at least a block button. Because although I have learned to ignore such slime, the fact remains that other people may react -- which is exactly what these creatures want -- and the discussion ends up getting derailed anyway. Then the little green monsters move on, looking for the next thread to target.

And, if Alex won't set up a private sub-forum for us, then I believe we could get one over at OOM's forums. Worth a shot. Far from the maddening losers, says I.

Where is OOM's forum? I can't imagine her allowing this nonsense to go on.

http://rightplanet.proboards.com/

There have been numerous requests over the years for a Men's forum, at least as many as there have been to exclude men from the Women's forum. IIRC, there was a Men's forum at one time, but it got too juvenile and obnoxious or something to that effect, and was removed by Alex before my time here. As to the unpopularity of the Men's thread, it's one thread, which makes discussion of multiple topics cumbersome, and it's sticky, which makes it effectively invisible.

Last time I spent a significant amount of time in the Women's forum, it was because a couple of now former members were attempting to gather support to lobby Alex to change the rules of the entire board in a way I disagreed with, and I felt it was important that they be challenged on the claims they were making. Arguably, those threads belonged in WP Discussion rather than Women's, as they concerned the whole board, but that's where they were started, presumably both to drum up support and fly under the radar, so that's where I had to argue them. I've been in there recently because a member was trying to make the case that the men of WP were treating her poorly because of her gender, when I'd personally witnessed enough aggressive and abrasive behavior from this person, some of it drawing warnings, that I felt fairly confident that gender was not the issue, and that the male users here were being unfairly impugned. In neither case did my gender play any role in what I was saying, those were criticisms I would have made of any member of any gender in those situations, though I do think my gender did color the responses to me, ironically enough. I can understand adopting a more general hands off position on explicit support threads or women's body type stuff, but when the threads are political, having to do with greater WP policy, or critical of AS men, I don't think anyone should be prevented from participating because of their gender.

^ Thank you, Dox.
I wasn't aware that there had been a men's forum previously that failed.
This would make the hope for a women's forum slim to none.

Clearly women who wish to complain about men should post in The Haven from this point on.
From what I've seen, it's perfectly acceptable to wish death on every member of the opposite gender with impunity in that forum.

And why would this be ? There is absolutely no reason to assume that a women's forum would also fail just because a men's forum failed by becoming too obnoxious or juvenile. Just look at this very thread ? Who's posting the majority of the juvenile / obnoxious messages and spewing 19 conspiracy theories to the dozen ? Not the women !



I assume that you are being facetious.

Thanks...looks like its not very active though

What I read here is that the men's forum was given a chance, and it was removed because it was becoming too adult.

Could someone give me a few examples of topics that could be discussed in 'female gender only' forum, please?

I understand the need to get the purposely inappropriate derailments to stop, or at least dealt with before it becomes a mans topic. I am just stuck for ideas on what would be discussed differently if only people who identify as women could view the threads.

Not sure if I understand your question, or maybe it just seems obvious to me. I think we would discuss the same kinds of topics we have now, but more gals would feel comfortable participating if guys aren't involved and maybe the discussions would be more in-depth. And maybe sensitive topics like sexual assault or other sexual issues could be discussed more openly.

I understand that sometimes women want input from men, or men want input from women, but that can be done anywhere else in the forum. And it seems more appropriate for in-depth adult discussion, or perhaps L&D or some other section depending on the type of question it is. Maybe a thread could be stickied like the NT/AS hotline in general autism discussion. I just don't see why the women's section should be left open to men for this purpose.

You understood and yes to some extent I was asking a question with an obvious answer. Its not obvious to me though, I rarely relax in an all female environment.

Me either. But I feel more or less relaxed about different things depending on who I'm around. There are some things I feel more comfortable discussing with women only participating.

There have been a lot of discussions there I've held back on, or chose not to comment at all because I don't feel good about doing so if there are men around.

Most revolting though is when a guy is allowed to post their masturbatory fantasy as something that looks like it could be a serious question. This is an autism forum so many people obviously take things literally, and some might be very naive or young so they may not recognize the underlying intent. That allows predators to take advantage of disabled females due to the very nature of their disability. And leaving the women's section open to public view and search engines is only going to attract things like that.