Not a complaint or challenge. I’m not here to argue or invite anyone else to argue. This is a good faith question to those most invested in this boards operation to share their views as individuals. The individuals’ backgrounds that inform them are welcome but not necessary to a well-expressed point of view.
What is the positive possibility to be realized?
I hope to help keep the place going until our new non-profit overlords figure out what they want to do with the place. I’m hoping something good and fun.
In the meantime, I hope we’re making the place more welcoming to; well quite frankly; non-{white middle-aged men} while keeping it inviting to them also. I hope the place remains fun for people to hang out in.
I sorry if this comes across as terribly unambitious, but in the end, I’m little more than a hall monitor or crossing guard.
Remember, this is just me as an individual, not an SDMB policy.
Any hopes for those of the female or non-binary persuasion?
???
I thought that was what I implied. Does it really not read that way?
Does this cover it better: People of color, a wider range of age groups and the full sexual spectrum.
I thought it was clear and I thought that was a good answer. FWIW, I think the mods have done a good job addressing sexism and misogyny here.
Not the way you hyphenated it.
I’d maybe add more punctuation:
And i agree with what-exit.
I read it the way you intended (non-white, non-middle-aged, non-men). But Czarcasm’s reading is valid too, so your clarification is helpful.
I appreciate that you focus on being welcoming and not on content or the kinds of discussions you want to see. That second part is up to us.
I’d amend that to making progress on doing a good job addressing sexism and misogyny here. I’m seeing progress and I appreciate the steps that have been taken, but let’s not fool ourselves that the work is done. Same point goes for racism and things that create an unwelcoming environment for other disadvantaged and oppressed groups.
Agreed, but it is streets ahead of where it was just a short time ago. Streets ahead.
I doubt Ed_Zotti has a five year plan or anything, as far as I can tell he’s just trying to keep the hamsters fed until a permanent admin comes along.
Cecil_Adams had plans to revive the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, and fund new content for columns, but that crashed and burned.
~Max
Agreed. Vigilance is still needed.
I’m white and old but at least I’m not male.
I think we’ve done better on the sexism, than the overt racism here.
I think so too, but both still appear more than I think they should. Definitely going in the right direction.
This place reminds me a lot of Metafilter, which is another 20+ year old community known for heavy moderation and a left-leaning viewpoint. Amusingly enough Metafilter is also going through a transitional period with new site ownership. I think the goal for both places should be the same:
Both the SDMB and Metafilter have experienced a declining and aging userbase, but honestly I think y’all do a better job with moderation here than Metafilter. They take a much stronger “Sweep it under the rug” comment deletion stance that may leave a nicer looking discussion for posterity but can allow bad actors to continue to post garbage for longer than is tolerated here. I think the best way to make new folks feel comfortable coming to old guard places like here or Metafilter is to show a community that does moderation transparently and takes it seriously, but I also feel like making this a pleasant place for the folks who are already here is going to be a better strategy in the long run than trying to appeal to new people who probably aren’t very interested in an old style text-only web forum.
If we just expressed all this in NAND and NOR logic gates rather than English, it would remove any ambiguity about exactly who we are trying to welcome and they’d be far more likely to show up.
I would say, nothing sums up this board better in that in a discussion about being more inclusive, most of the discussion is about punctuation.
Compared to what? I’m not aware of non-text web forums. Note that this isn’t really “text only” anymore, since we can post imbedded photos and videos (as well as animated gifs).
Specifically what I had in mind was apps like TikTok and Snapchat, which are as unlike text-only web forums (or even graphically rich text forums like this one) as possible. They’re admittedly not forum-like, but they do still host discussions and conversations in a form more appealing for some folks than a place like this. The mostly-text format does persist for young folks elsewhere, but mainly in the form of discord servers. These present a very different vibe from what places like here and Metafilter provide.
Don’t worry. It really reads that way.
That people could take it in any other way, or claim to do so, is a big part of the problem here.
Well, yes, I was a bit shocked by his interpretation of my post. Even if the punctuation was poor, I would think the context made it clear anyway.