Politics and Society Moderation Discussion Only Fans Thread
Hello everyone. I've closed the previous mod thread, and opened this to capture all issues related to moderation policies and actions going forward. I'll kick it off by reposting my intro post from the other thread. Again, I'm happy to be here and look forward to hearing from you.
Browser
Hello everyone.
I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to serve as a moderator in Politics and Society. I asked for this position because I believe we are experiencing a polarization in our politics and society unseen since the 1960s. We may well be at a juncture from which we will either make great progress or suffer great setbacks in regards to our democratic foundations and civil rights over the next few years. So I believe it is important to maintain a forum for discussing these important topics. When the other mods had to step back a bit due to their real life time obligations, I asked to join the mod team to help keep the forum going.
I have not followed this forum in the past, though I have been reading through threads the last few days and made a few posts. This has allowed me to get a sense of the initial impression the forum likely makes on new readers who are deciding if our forum is a place they would like to visit regularly and participate in. While I see some familiar names from the live poker forum, many of you I have not had any interaction with to date. I have no preconceived notions of anyone's posting behavior and will essentially start from a clean slate.
I will shortly post more about my modding approach and give my initial impressions of the forum based on my observations over the last several days. I will be soliciting your input on things you like about the forum that you want to remain, and things you don't like that you would like me to change. Your candid input and feedback is very important to me. Especially, please don't hesitate to let me know if you think a policy or a proposal is a bad idea. I'd rather hear it before it goes into effect than after.
My overall modding principle is simple: Be Nice. Disagreement need not be disrespectful, and everyone must be treated with respect. Calling a poster derogatory names or hurling snarky insults never usefully advances a discussion. It just bogs things down and turns off many would be participants. And it's not nice. Don't do it.
My goal is to have a forum where people with a wide variety of opinions along the political spectrum enjoy expressing and debating their views in a spirited manner, free from insults, bigotry and denigrating comments. If you enjoy discussing these important and often polarizing issues in a passionate, yet respectful manner, I look forward to getting to know you and working with you to create a forum people will enjoy visiting and contributing to. You can be as committed, determined and relentless as you like in advocating for your position. Be persuasive, thought provoking and challenging. But be nice.
I want to thank tame_deuces and King Spew for their support in bringing me onboard and for all the time and effort they have put into making the forum better. While I am taking over most of the day to day modding responsibilities, both are retaining their mod status and superpowers, and will be supporting the forum as their availability permits. And I personally welcome their continued advice and feedback.
Again, I am happy to be here and look forward to getting to know you.
Browser
1077 Replies
If I follow what you are asking clarification on, here it is. If it is something else, lmk.
The terminology often gets mixed. No one disputes that transgender women, for example, are biological males (sex). That's the heart of the matter. The difference between the physical body and the gender the perceive themselves as having. I dont think anyone thinks that gender affirming surgery and treatments makes a trans woman indistinguishable from a biological woman.
But society perceives and reacts to people not by their unseen genitalia, but rather how the present themselves to society. Many , but not all transgender people strive to present themselves in a manner that matches the gender identity. So when it is said that a trans woman is a woman, that is refering to their personal gender identity and their gender presentation being that of a woman. I dont believe anyone feels that it makes them a biological woman (the sex designated at birth.
So that adjective used before the word woman is important. A biological woman is a different classification category (physical sex usually assigned at birth based on things like dna and genitalia). But a trans woman is a classification tied to gender identity and gender presentation. So the friction arises when people use terms like "real woman" when what they really are refering to biological woman.
So making the correct distinction between those categories is fine. It certainly can come into the discussion about things like sports, where that physicality can make a difference.
But I bolded the part that is problematic and can kead to prohibited statements. While all transgender people have a gender incongruence, not all have gender dysphoria (a mental illness). Gender congruence is a necessary but not sufficient condition to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
So that's how I see it. If I have used a term incorrectly here aim sure someone will lmk. I didnt double check with the references as I type this.
Hope this provides the clarification you are looking for.
This isn't really moderation related, but I have a question about chosen pronouns that I don't know where else I could ask and it's related to what has been recently discussed here.
I recently met a young woman of somewhat androgynous appearance who seems to identify as a girl/woman, participates in a girls' sports team, and dates a boy.
Nothing unusual there, except that this person wants to be referred to as he/him. Is this person considered to be trans? Has anyone here met someone similar or have any insight into what is going on? I don't want to be disrespectful to this person, but I do have a tough time using he/him to refer to a girl, much more than I would to a trans man.
If that person wants to be referred to as he/him, then simply out of courtesy do so. There is no need to try and decipher whether this person is gay, trans, cis or whatever. And it certainly isnt appropriate to ask the types of personal questions that would be needed to make a determination. Frankly, it's just none of your business. Just interact with the person as a person, call him, him, and that's it.
I know
Lol. It's like the outrage when someone who has never stepped foot in a Target store in their life says they will never shop in a Target again because they had a rainbow display in the front of the store.
The only reason I am even wondering, and consider it (somewhat) my business is because the boy she is dating is my 16yo nephew. Obviously I don't know the person well enough to ask personal questions, but I do think my nephew should know what the answers are, partially because I don't want him to end up heartbroken. Maybe it's just not a big deal to teenagers these days, though both of their mothers are hoping it's a temporary phase.
The kids will figure this out, don’t worry about that.
Idk any actual statistics about how many kids who date someone at 16 yo end up staying ss a couple long term are but I suspect they are very low. So unfortunately I see a broken heart in your nephews future.
Yeah, I do as well, but just don't want another reason for one. His parents were high school sweethearts from when she was 16 though.
Presumably your nephew has spoken to the person he is dating more than you have and is aware of the pronouns that the person he is dating uses.
My little brother is married to a man. I presume that he knows that his husband is gay. Never felt the need to ask anyone on the internet to clarify it for me.
As an uncle, if you express disapproval about who a nephew is dating to the nephew or who he is dating, the only effect you can expect to have is a change in your relationship with your nephew. The likely change is going from "uncle" to "uncle who nephew doesn't talk to."
Rugby or roller derby?
The only advice I have would be to keep that soldier squarely on stand by, unless you like jail food delivered through a straw.
Water polo! I had never heard of a high school water polo team. Wasn't sure it was even a real thing.
those people love target though
Discord has banned deadnaming and so do an increasingly large number of sites. This kind of discussion overall will grow further and further away from the mainstream. Furthermore, it should grow further away from the mainstream, it should be ostracized.
Is referring to "Kanye West" considered deadnaming?
no
That pretty much covers what I was seeking clarification on, thanks for your post, browser. To clarify my own post, I actually wasn't aware of gender incongruence and that's what I actually meant instead of dysphoria, I just wasn't aware of that term, cheers.
Sure. It's called "empathy". I feel bad for the parents of these murdered children. They are already mourning over the horrifying thing that happened to their children, and then, on top of that horror, now they have to deal with Alex Jones and Luckbox Inc. calling them CRISIS ACTORS, which, beyond being deeply reprehensible by itself, could very possibly lead to some unhinged QAnon type committing further violence and/or oppression on the parents.
When Alex Jones does it, I get it. That's how he makes his money. When you do it, I'll be god-damned if I can figure out why, other than that you are a deeply diseased sicko with a paranoia-stricken brain.
Very easy solution: Stop writing pro-trans posts.
So, browser, with the benefit of hindsight, how do you feel that this strategic play worked out for you?
I don’t have a persecution complex. Although, I think if you’ve read my posts long enough it is true i’ve talked about it too much early on( not super early on) . That’s because I came out on twoplustwo before I came out in real life because it wasn’t safe to talk about these things irl at the time. and I also continually tried to be straight unsuccessfully. I also was temp banned and nearly permanent banned for making up stories, stories that were later proven true. And am somewhat combative because when I originally started posting the main debate around my posts was that I was too stupid to post here.
As to the allegations of ageism there is something you aren’t considering about my point of view because I agree at times I have been overly critical of some older posters and i’m sorry. It’s not my fault most of the posters I debated on stuff were older than me before and still are older.
But you have to realize something i’ve also repeatedly articulated about myself many times over the years is my interest in older men. A typical person who sees a 55-60 year old man as a good candidate for the nursing home might be sweet and bubbly to those men, but someone who considers them a potential love interest might be a bit more critical about their job, hair, bad breath etc. I am subconsciously flirting sometimes which gets misinterpreted a lot on here.
Anyway be nicer to trans people and stop saying they aren’t who they say they are bye for now.
Be nicer to future generations of young people with weak gender identities who otherwise wouldn’t be persuaded to become transgender if it were not so celebrated by activists like yourself.