Men Posting in the Women's Views Forum--good or bad??

[Cacia]

I had no idea there was a Women's Forum.

I am puzzled that we have one in the first place....

You can't have it both ways, always wanting equality and then setting ourselves apart like a different species.

 

[trigfunctions]

It looks to me like people are talking past each other. Instead of talking about if there is a "need" for a women-only forum, I think the question is, do women want a forum where only women can read the forum or respond to the threads? It sounds like some people may want that and others don't see a need for it. Why on earth would a man be upset if women wanted to discuss issues without us butting in?

It's up to the Board to determine if such a forum should be offered. Personally, I could see where women might like to discuss issues without the threads being flooded with men telling them they are silly for discussing the issues. I could even understand if some women wanted a forum that only women could read. If a woman wanted to get feedback from men on the topic, they could always post a thread about the topic in the general forum.

 

[Damselfish]

The forum isn't exactly hidden on the New Posts screen - it's simply that the page shows the lowest subforum in the chain in the "Forum" column.

So "ScubaBoard > Community Forums > Women's Views > Non Diving Related" appears as "Non Diving Related." (The whole thing is at the top of this page but I suspect people rarely look up there, especially when jumping to a post further down the page.) It's just like "ScubaBoard > Regional Travel and Dive Clubs > Greater Caribbean and Bermuda > Bahamas" appears as "Bahamas." The difference is, "Bahamas" happens to be reasonably meaningful on it's own. "Non Diving Related" is not.

If you look at the list of forums, the 2 under "Women's Views" are the only bottom level forums with names that give no clue what they're about. One fix is simple, rename them even if the names get a little redundant. "Women's Views on Diving Issues" & Women's Views on Non Diving Issues." Or something like that.

This could also be helped by showing 2 or more forum levels in that column, but most of the time space will be a problem.

Not that either change is a guarantee people will notice where they are, but could be an improvement. Perhaps it should be opt in so people are more aware, but I don't think it should be restricted to women. Just like you don't really have to be a solo diver to opt in there and learn something from the discussion.

(Or heck to be fair rename "Women's Views" to "Gender Views" and make some men's subforums too. Would be interesting to see what people chose to post in those ...)

 

[The Kraken]

Ladies,

May I make a suggestion?

Send a PM to El Orans to see if you can get the relative position of the forum moved.

I think that the "Women Only" form serves a very real purpose and need on ScubaBoard in addressing those issues that women need to know about diving.

But please keep in mind that some men may want to frequent the forum from time to time so that they can preempt any issues that may inhibit their spouses or significant others from wanting to learn to dive.

Plese forgive me for transcending the boundaries of the sexes . . . !!!

The Kraken

 

[spectrum]

I hope you aren't saying that people are can find how to opt into DIR, Solo, Surface Interval, and Singles, but women would not be able to find how to opt in to the women's forum? Why do opt ins for work those?

Leah,

In no way am I slighting women and their ability to opt in.

As for the other opt-in forums I can assure you that for various and sundry reasons there are plenty of members who could benefit that simply have not bothered to join. It comes down to what you call working. At some level it will act as a filter and will not discriminate perfectly. There are always trade-offs.

And if you as a man wanted to opt in and ask questions for your wife, I think that would be fine. But why do men have to answer questions that women clearly want other women to answer? If the men jump on board and aswer for the women, one might argue it limits womens participation becuase the men already answered and there it no need to repeat it.

Knowing when "women clearly want other women to answer" is a pretty subjective thing to ask of a broad demographic. I will say that there are times when I sense this and lay back even if I have something to offer. Then again I have seen questions begging that I came back and responded to. It gets back to that focus and filter balance.

Sure there are times when the mixing of the genders on intimate topics gets a bit sophomoric. I see this instigated by both genders all over the board so why should we expect this to be such a rigidly PC enclave?

Nobody should ever be afraid to repeat something around here. There is enough dogma and misinformation that repeat answers are essential in sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Pete

 

[ArcticDiver]

As a matter of principle I believe all forums, including those now conducted in secret, ought to be open to anyone who cares to join and post in them. Of course, like all civilized discourse posts should be just that, civilized.

As for the secondary question that came up: Whether business behaviour should be considered when buying a product. Of course. When a person buys something they are not only obtaining a product; they are supporting the business with all it's roses and warts. When the warts obscure the roses it is time to spend the money somewhere else.

 

[ams511]

Have you tried emailing the powers that be and ask that the forum be restricted such as the DIR forum is? I am like Dr. Bill, I look at the new posts and don't really pay attention to the forum it is in. The Salvo thread caught my eye and I posted in it without knowing it was a women's issue until latter.

 

[ReefHound]

As a matter of principle I believe all forums, including those now conducted in secret, ought to be open to anyone who cares to join and post in them. Of course, like all civilized discourse posts should be just that, civilized.

Oh sure, open up the moderator forums to the public, that's the ticket.

One thing I learned today, I'm not the only one who visits SB by clicking New Posts.

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Well, I thought it would be better to open up a chat about the matter rather than try to get the mods to carry out some plan of mine. By bringing up the issue it lets others weigh in on the matter. More than one person has posted that they did not know they were responding to the women's view thread until after they were already here. Having people post that does a better job of exposing it than I could do. It also let's other post suggestions that might be far better than what I would ask the mods to do.
If the women's views became opt in like many other forums, I would suggest that it be open for anyone to opt in as many have stated they come to the forum to look for help with wives or girlfriends.

Here is a list of the current groups with opt ins and rules for each:

AZScuba
Member of the AZScuba Club. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: sjspeck, DaveAZ Join Group
Barangay Pasaway
Philippine local language forum Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: headhunter, Kim, Spoon Join Group
California Reef Check
Member of the California Reef Check group. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: headhunter, Glycerin, LAJim Join Group
Deep South DIR
Member of the Deep South DIR group. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: headhunter, Tanked Monkey, DIR-Atlanta Join Group
Hollywood Divers
Member of the Hollywood Divers Club. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: Hollywoodivers Karim, Hollywoodivers, Hollywoodiver, headhunter Join Group
Kelp Krawlers
Member of the California Diving Company Dive Club "The Kelp Krawlers". Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: H2OSensei Join Group
No Badge
No Badge (For people who don't want any user badge under their names). Anyone is free to join this usergroup Join Group
Oceanic Dealers
Oceanic Dealers Only. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: Doug Krause Join Group
Photographer
U/W photographers on ScubaBoard (gives extra photo gallery diskspace). Anyone is free to join this usergroup Join Group
Sandeaters
Member of the Sandeaters group. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: Glycerin Join Group
Scuba Instructor
Scuba Instructors - this is your place for discussing everything about what you do privately. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: Dee, justleesa Join Group
Single Divers
Single divers looking for buddies... the single kind. Anyone is free to join this usergroup Join Group
SoCal DIR
Member of the SoCal DIR group. Requests to join must be approved by a group leader.
Group leaders: headhunter, MHK, MarcHall Join Group
Solo Diver
A no-troll area for divers to discuss this growing trend in our sport. Anyone is free to join this usergroup Join Group
Surface Interval Forum
Interested in joining the Surface Interval forum? You'll need to opt-in to this group... just click the join button (no children please). Anyone is free to join this usergroup Join Group

 

[pennypue]

I don't think it should be women only, that's just kind of silly. And I really think that men should feel welcome to start threads on women's issues as well. The idea of a forum is discussion, not exclusion. If you want women only start a new board for only women, I'm sure there are some out there.

Now for those of us who hit new posts (guilty) and don't notice the forum they are in....could the women's forum pop up the thread with a whole bunch of PINK on it???? I really think that color would be easily noticed.