Given that the comments section of this blog continues filling up and spilling over I thought I’d revisit the notion of a Man Boobz forum, as a kind of supplement to the comments on posts here. Let me know what you think by voting in the poll over there to your right, and by commenting below. [NOTE: The poll vanished from the sidebar for a bit but is back up now.]
The pros, as I see them: A forum would make it easier for you all to introduce topics or non-topics of your own, to do things like plan Man Boobz get-togethers, to pimp your own blogs and other projects (like Ami’s magnificent cards). The cons: it might draw energy and focus away from comments here.
I really like the dynamic we’ve got going in the comments here – the mixture of serious and not-so-serious, on-topic and off – and don’t want to screw that up. (I also think the Weekend Open Threads are working out pretty well and will keep them going.) But I’m sort of thinking we can pull this off.
I’ve already got a forum set up on proboards; all I need to do is click a button to make it public.
What say you all?
PS: There’s an obscure lesbian folk song reference hidden in this post. (Not so obscure, I guess, if you’re into lesbian folk songs.) Whoever can identify it first wins an Internet.
Hrm.. I think if there’s a forum, almost everybody here would be on there, and this site might wilt : or it’d be split and ppl would feel v stressed trying to keep up w/ both :
When I first voted, I was a brand new commenter so I felt uneasy voting. Now that the new commenter smell has worn off I have no problem saying that I’m pro-forum. They’re a great way of keeping track of topics, it’s easier to find where you left off if you go away and there are a hundred new posts, and there’s room for more discussion outside of the blog posts.
That said, I can see how it would quiet down the comments on the blog posts, especially when they go off topic. But as long as you have MRAs who would rather just post a blog comment without needing to sign up, there should always be activity.
That or just move the whole site to a forum system >_>
I am highly pro-forum. I think it’ll make it wasier to have all kinds of on and off topic discussions, and I still think we’ll keep the energy here. Can I get my Aceriman vampire minions to vote in the poll too?
I love the comment threads here, but it is can be a pain to track the convo.
OTOH, I loathe the whole interface/feel/look of forums, and never participate in them.
At the risk of splitting even more things, anybody interested in a LiveJournal OR Dreamwidth Manbooz spin off? (I voted Whateves on the poll because if people want it, they should darn well get it!).
Oh, and I thought it was v. funny that one troll (don’t remember which, they were spewing all over the last few threads) thought there were MODERATORS, ahahahaha.
Way to show you don’t know the space you’re spewing in.
(Although if David has a whole sooper sekrit team of moderators locked up working nite and day on this blog, I will have to admit my error).
I would like to see an actual forum for the off-topic stuff. I usually read the comments on blow that I follow, I’ve given up reading the comments here. Mainly because it’s so tedious wading through hundreds of comments that have nothing to do with the actual blog post.
Man, I wanna be a sooper sekrit mod. It’d make me feel important, and conspiratorial… >_>
Cris Williamson?
Hi, I’m gabjoh; long time listener, first time caller.
I would totally frequent a Man Boobz forum. Especially if there were threads about $MONEY$.
i should admit that i might well follow you all to the forum if it’s a go because, um, well BACON!
but i may grumble.
@ithiliana
I’d be on with a LJ comm – we could co-mod! 🙂
I gave up on forums after TWoP had so many people that the forums no longer remembered the last thing you read (I’m totally dating myself here, aren’t I, but whevs, I’ve been on TWoP since the MBTV days, my login there doesn’t even have the 5 on the end!) so I’m iffy. I mean, if it means I could totally get Ami to make me a magyc card, that would be teh awesome, but watching people take down the ridiculous trolls is my favorite part of this site.
Maybe give it a trial time and see?
Against ’em. I happen to like comment thread based communities. Fora don’t really work for me,and they tend (IMO) to be harder for 1: new people to feel comfortable in, and 2: become a bit closed in terms of opinon.
As a class we happen to trend (strongly) toward a feminist viewpoint (i.e. people should be equal). We get a fair bit of traffic from people who are not as strongly of that opinion… because they see the top post (or namecheck themselves on Google… say DKM) and come to see what the fuss is.
That will be a lot less on a forum. If it were a forum, I’d not be here (because my housemate would never have mentioned it to me). But we’d not have gotten the annit’s, the MRALs, the EWMEs, etc.
OT’s and topic drift are good enough for me (and there are any number of quite successful blogs that do that. Ta-Neisi Coates, Making Light, Slacktivist, Balloon Juice, etc.).
Please, get a forum and leave the comments section to the adults.
Unfortunately, only women count as people under feminism, so yes, you do believe in equality among humans, you’ve just defined away men.
I find it amusing that you girls always reject the notions of your female natures, but all of this clamoring over wanting forums pretty much confirms the differences in how women and men think. Men want to debate, women want to gossip, men want on topic discussions, women want to sit around and make silly cards, men want to discuss rights, laws and equality, women want to share stories about the Alpha somebody had sex with. I do hope you all go off to your chittering, and maybe we can get some real discussion going.
I think you could fill up a forum just with Ami’s multiple personalities… (:
So you’d no longer be in the comments section?
I’m even more for it now!
I do enjoy the fact that you keep deliberately using the word “girls”. Even if your posting history shows that you have no idea what actual debate and discussions involve, your use of language shows that you have no real interest in actual debate or discussions.
You may consider yourself an intellectual giant, but you’re nothing more than a pestering gnat.
But please, keep feeding the MRA stereotype. You make it easier to not take you seriously.
They SHOULD! xD I’ll be the ENTIRE FORUM >:3
I like this idea! We should get rid of ALL the commenters here and just replace them w/ me XD
Amion
Pecunami
Kamirby Wamirp
Darksideamicat
AMIslave
AMI
Ami A. Angelwings
That was rude Ion, even for you.
I did want to post something funny that happened at work today to demonstrate a marked difference in how men and women approach feeding a lot of people but there is no place to put it at the moment and it will not be as funny by the Friday Dance Party.
Post it here. This should be good.
Aww put it here Elizabeth! You know you want to.
I changed my mind. Nobody wants to hear your inane female squawking.
All of a sudden I feel like a complete dunce.
Errrrrr… aMiRA?
That’s a bingo!
Is that how you say it? That’s a bingo?