Bigotry etc.

[Lord Snot]

IS, I just want to clarify if things like misogyny and homophobia are going to be tolerated here like they are at VB? For me, one of the biggest reasons that I can no longer enjoy being there is knowing that I can see anti-woman crap posted all over the place and nothing will be done about it, even when multiple people have reported it.

I doubt there will be so much of it here to begin with as this place already feels like a proper community and that isn't a place that nastiness is usually tolerated, but I wanted to ask just in case.

 

[Envy]

Huh, I had no problems with homophobia.

I guess people interpret things differently.

 

[Second Summer]

My personal stance is that I don't like to have too many formal rules, especially not to begin with. Once something is clearly identified as a problem (as in it being reported by one or more members, or otherwise spotted by myself or the moderators (I don't have any moderators yet ...)) , then we will definitely consider amending the rules.

However, it's not like everything has to be in the rules for the moderators to make a judgement call and take action. I want to make that very clear. The rules would have to be very long and tedious if we were to try and cover everything that could possibly be a problem. I think I said something in the rules about everyone here being adults, so I expect everyone to behave like adults and civilised human beings. If someone is being a "pot stirrer" to the point that it crosses the border into the land of misogyny and homophobia, or anything else which is deemed detrimental to the community or its individual members (such as bullying which I find especially evil), then appropriate action will be taken, regardless of the rules.

On the other hand, I don't mind a small level of pot stirring. It keeps things interesting and I don't want this place to turn into a fascist dictatorship either. Tolerance is a virtue.

That said, this is simply my personal take on it, and I am all ears when it comes to input from members. Almost everything about the board is "negotiable".

 

[Lord Snot]

Thanks IS, a very sensible stance. I'm really excited about this board.

 

[das_nut]

Really, as some discussions on VB goes to show, isn't it better to confront some bigoted thinking instead of just banning it?

 

[Alice-Bee]

Confront all you like...it never seemed to make a difference!

 

[Lord Snot]

I've also never seen someone stop being a bigot because they were challenged about it on the internet, but I guess it could happen.

 

[Alice-Bee]

To be perfectly honest, I often felt intimadated by certain peoples opinions on TFTSNBN. I could quite understand how women in the 30's felt!

 

[Moll Flanders]

What I found so infuriating was that a certain person was repeatedly allowed to make offensive and sexually suggestive/violent comments about women on a forum that seemed to have some strict rules and was supposed to be family-friendly.

This forum is (so far) fantastic.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Thats pretty much what I was wanting to say but worried incase it was overstepping the mark.

 

[FortyTwo]

Looking back on it, the person in question was actually far more belittling and pompous than I had thought at the time.

 

[cornsail]

Examples would help. This is all very vague to me.

 

[FortyTwo]

Wow, you don't know who we're talking about? You must be some kind of clueless git or something.

 

[cornsail]

Wow, you don't know who we're talking about? You must be some kind of clueless git or something.

I was not referring to the CG talk. I meant examples of what constitutes intolerable homophobia, misogyny, etc.

 

[Pickle Juice]

I was not referring to the CG talk. I meant examples of what constitutes intolerable homophobia, misogyny, etc.

Well off the top of my head, without going back there, I recall posts about it being "that time of the month" whenever a female member voiced a strong opinion. I've always found that offensive.

 

[cornsail]

Well off the top of my head, without going back there, I recall posts about it being "that time of the month" whenever a female member voiced a strong opinion. I've always found that offensive.

I agree with you there.

This stuff just concerns me a bit, because there's a forum I've posted on from time to time where accusations of sexism, racism and so on are highly rampant. If you're not totally convinced George Zimmerman is guilty, you're a racist. If you disagree with majority feminist opinion on something or are pro-life, you're anti-woman. And so on. It's not a pleasant place in my opinion.

 

[FortyTwo]

I was not referring to the CG talk. I meant examples of what constitutes intolerable homophobia, misogyny, etc.

So you're telling me I wasted my semi-witty half-pun for nothing?

Well off the top of my head, without going back there, I recall posts about it being "that time of the month" whenever a female member voiced a strong opinion. I've always found that offensive.

Yeah, I remember that. He generally just treated women in a way that was rude and condescending. Dare I cite the abortion debate?

 

[Spang]

As an example: I think if you oppose same-sex marriage, you shouldn't be banned. But if you think gay people are faggots, you should probably be banned.

 

[Lord Snot]

That doesn't sound like a pleasant place at all, Cornsail.

I don't think anyone should be banned for saying abortion is wrong, but if they argue against abortion at the same time as saying things like women are to blame when they're raped, and women deserve unwanted babies for having sex, and women need men to make decisions for them because they're emotional and weak, and whenever a woman disagrees with a man it's because she's pre-menstrual, then that person isn't just displaying a different opinion to the feminist majority but is actually demeaning people and making a significant number of community members feel uncomfortable and insulted. For me, that's the difference.

Holy run on sentence Batman! And after all that, Spang said it in about 10 words.

 

[mlp]

Yeah, I think Spang said it quite succinctly.