[quote=“Bassman”]I agree with private forums. My suggestion for one more that I mentioned before to Maoman is still a good one I think.
Good on the women too. Especially the one that I thought was a man, sorry Alien.[/quote]
It’s okay. I’m used to being treated like one by now.
And btw, ‘schnook’ is a term of endearment. My mom has always called me one.
I’d like to make two main points:
- I hope the women’s forum can remain private for the reasons outlined above. It serves a purpose. Although there’s not much traffic in the women’s forum at times, I hope the admins won’t pressure us to increase membership, or expect to see it frequented as much as the open forums. Women are often not as ‘verbal’ in online communities as men due to other interests, less time in front of a computer, etc. Who knows? It’s not been researched fully why, it’s just so. I’d refer you to the Sticky “Moderating” on the International Politics forum for links to research regarding this matter.
I must say that there has been some pressure to promote the women’s forum recently, I believe in order to ensure that the ‘privacy’ of that forum maintains a solid rationale. However, this issue is full of conundrums.
For example, if it’s private, how do we know some posters asking to join are really females unless at least one female on our forum has met them? So how can it be promoted, and how can membership be increased? Most of the members on the women’s forum now have been referred by other women in the community. This I think is the best way, rather than having a banner, or whatever. The happy hour meet and greet of women is another idea that has been tossed about.
I just feel like it’s not been given much of a chance yet as it’s been open for only a few months.
- I also think there should be other private forums here, especially one for gays. If you use the women’s forum as an example, most of the members don’t ONLY just post there, but MOSTLY on the open forums. However, the women’s forum gives us a ‘haven’ to talk about more personal issues that we wouldn’t discuss in open forums.
By the same token, so would a gay forum. Having private forums, I believe, actually boosts the interest of the site as a whole, and does NOT tend to segregate it. It’s very clear from our example that this is the case. And the main argument set forth in opposition to the private forums was that it would segregate. It only segregates if one feels that by not being able to participate, one is being ‘discriminated’ against. I don’t get the impression that the men of forumosa feel that way at all. Do men feel discrimination because they don’t have to shop for bras in Taiwan? Would anyone who is NOT gay feel discriminated against for not being able to take part in a gay forum? I wouldn’t.
Of course this cannot be justified by saying that there should be other factions (religion, race, affiliations), but sex and sexuality are two very real issues that set all people apart from one another, and an area that should not be overlooked on an ‘openminded’ discussion forum with the sole aim of offering the foreign community a place to gather.