# Misogyny on board **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617 "2013-04-13T17:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 22
**Author:** ![hansel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@hansel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansel)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/422 "2013-04-16T20:05:30Z")
Let me be more explicit about the problem: The racial IQ loons are allowed to prevent discussion of anything but their pet loon topic. We’re losing many discussions to avoid banning a particular discussion. We’re preserving an abstract ideal of open debate at the expense of its actual practice. We’re burning the village in order to save it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/423 "2013-04-16T20:07:04Z")
> [@hansel](#): > > So instead we’re forced to relive the same wrong viewpoint over and over again, to the exclusion of discussing other viewpoints, in order to… what? Keep alive the possibility of discussing that same wrong viewpoint? Apparently in order to spare you the effort of figuring out how to use the Ignore function and the scroll wheel. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/424 "2013-04-16T20:09:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Apparently in order to spare you the effort of figuring out how to use the Ignore function and the scroll wheel. > > Regards, > Shodan I’m so sick of that argument. It gets trotted out every time people want to have a discussion on how to improve the level of discourse on the board. How about we don’t just put folks on ignore, but we make systemic changes to actually make things better for the folks who are invested in being here? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/425 "2013-04-16T20:11:59Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Apparently in order to spare you the effort of figuring out how to use the Ignore function and the scroll wheel. **Shodan**. You’ve suggested these strategies many times. In addition, many of us are as smart as you. Some folks here are even smarter. **We’ve discovered these strategies independently of your advice**. This thread isn’t saying, “We cannot figure out how to use the Ignore function and the scroll wheel! Please help us find alternatives!” Instead, we’re saying that the board, even with these strategies locked and loaded, is not as high quality as it could be. You are, of course, free to suggest these strategies again. Perhaps it’s part of your campaign of self-amuse; I don’t know. But I do hope you’re aware that you’re not actually contributing to the discussion by informing people about these things they already know about. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/426 "2013-04-16T20:14:43Z")
> [@hansel](#): > > Let me be more explicit about the problem: The racial IQ loons are allowed to prevent discussion of anything but their pet loon topic. The only reason they have their discussion is because you are discussing it with them. Don’t engage them and their threads die. Or if they tard up an existing thread then ignore their post and continue the threads topic. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/427 "2013-04-16T20:16:43Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > The only reason they have their discussion is because you are discussing it with them. Don’t engage them and their threads die. Or if they tard up an existing thread then ignore their post and continue the threads topic. I won’t presume to tell you to use your scroll-wheel. Rather I’ll repost something from a few posts up: > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But if a racist comes in with crazy racist theories, a lot of people will feel that they’ve a moral duty to refute the racism, that staying silent about it risks letting someone else think the racism is persuasive. The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, and so forth. And if the racist is willing to answer every single post, then anything else will quickly get lost in the wash. > > Certainly you can argue that everyone else shouldn’t respond to the racist. But that’s not what happens, so you’re left with a board with no intelligent discussions of what’s really going on in Africa, instead discussion after discussion about whether the racist is right or not. Is that the board you want to have? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/428 "2013-04-16T20:17:53Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Or if they tard up an existing thread then ignore their post and continue the threads topic. This does not work. This will never work. You can individually ignore someone, but you cannot get everyone else in a thread to ignore someone, no matter how much you beg and plead, and no matter how many earnest posts you make in ATMB to convince people to just not engage the trolls or whatever. If this worked, we wouldn’t have the problem in the first place. Avoiding threads started by racist/sexist trolls: Easy. Having a discussion on race or sex that does not get hijacked by racist/sexist trolls: difficult. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/429 "2013-04-16T20:19:31Z")
I’m all for equality between the sexes, and would like to start with a campaign to get sofas into men’s rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/430 "2013-04-16T20:20:19Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If someone is interested in why Africa is economically behind the other regions of the world, or whatever, there are a host of interesting issues to discuss: is it colonialism’s residue? Is it related to diseases like malaria and AIDS? Is it related to an abundance of raw materials? Is it due to specific cultural norms? There are a lot of interesting ways to discuss it. We’ve modded these posters for doing this kind of thing in exactly these topics. If you think that’s still going on, hit the report button. That said, I’m going to ask people who want to discuss the race issue to start a new thread even though I doubt there is anything to say there that we haven’t said in lots of ATMB threads about that topic. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/431 "2013-04-16T20:25:05Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > We’ve modded these posters for doing this kind of thing in exactly these topics. If you think that’s still going on, hit the report button. That said, I’m going to ask people who want to discuss the race issue to start a new thread even though I doubt there is anything to say there that we haven’t said in lots of ATMB threads about that topic. Fair enough. I’ve long been avoiding such threads exactly because of how appalling they became once certain posters showed up, so I’m not really in the best place to talk about what’s currently going on with them; if the racist posters are being shooed away from threads that aren’t explicitly about their favorite topics, that’s excellent news, and maybe I’ll start reading such threads again. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/432 "2013-04-16T20:27:33Z")
I think he’s asking _us_ to start a new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/433 "2013-04-16T20:29:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Fair point, if I’d said anything like what you’re addressing. You did - I quoted you. > [@](#): > > But if there’s a thread called, “Turning a developing country into a developed one,” there are many different viewpoints on the question. And you would like to ban one of them. For no reason, apparently, other than you just don’t want to hear it. Or you believe Dopers need to be saved from themselves, because they cannot control themselves on the subject of race. You are trying to rule some arguments off limits by fiat. That is rarely a good idea. **IF** there is any link between race and intelligence, then it is entirely possible that it is a relevant factor in the problems of Africa. **IF** it is true that No doesn’t always mean No, then it is entirely possible that this is a relevant factor in all kinds of male-female interactions. You just want to rule it out, just because you don’t want to hear it. I thought this was called the Straight Dope, where we look for the truth without fear or favor. You want to pick and choose which truths we can examine. All this reminds me so much of the struggle against heresy in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t so much that they were wrong - it was that the presence of heterodox thoughts was considered a danger to the community. And had to be wiped out, and never spoken of again. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/434 "2013-04-16T20:32:13Z")
God, seriously? You’re comparing the request to stop letting people post misogynist trolling comments to the _persecution of intellectuals in the Middle Ages_?? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/435 "2013-04-16T20:32:31Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > All this reminds me so much of the struggle against heresy in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t so much that they were wrong - it was that the presence of heterodox thoughts was considered a danger to the community. And had to be wiped out, and never spoken of again. Yes, I remember the terror of Torquemada and his horrifying use of the “give warnings on messageboards” torture. Let us never repeat those nightmarish days. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/436 "2013-04-16T20:32:44Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Instead, we’re saying that the board, even with these strategies locked and loaded, is not as high quality as it could be. You are not using those functions. If you were, you would not see many of the posts about which you seem so concerned. So what you are saying is, ‘yes, we know we could avoid these evil naughty posts. BUT WE DON"T WANNA!!! BAN THEM!’ Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/437 "2013-04-16T20:33:59Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So what you are saying is, ‘yes, we know we could avoid these evil naughty posts. BUT WE DON"T WANNA!!! BAN THEM!’ It’s astonishing the things you read me saying. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/438 "2013-04-16T20:34:08Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > God, seriously? You’re comparing the request to stop letting people post misogynist trolling comments to the _persecution of intellectuals in the Middle Ages_?? I’m guessing it is about as relevant as boob jokes are to rape. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/439 "2013-04-16T20:35:25Z")
What the fuck are you even talking about anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/440 "2013-04-16T20:36:41Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s astonishing the things you read me saying. So, if you have offensive posters on your Ignore list, and you scroll past posts with nothing new or interesting to say, how is it that you know what they are saying? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617/441 "2013-04-16T20:37:43Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So, if you have offensive posters on your Ignore list, and you scroll past posts with nothing new or interesting to say, how is it that you know what they are saying? > > Regards, > Shodan How precisely do you scroll past posts with nothing new or interesting to say without reading them? You can’t. That’s why suggesting people do that, rather then work to elevate the tone of the board, is useless and a stupid “contribution”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogyny-on-board/655617.md?page=23)