As always, a slew of short-n’-sweet posts were made while I was pointlessly laboring over my own, so I’ll just say: “Hide your misogynists, hide your racists, cuz I’mma start reporting everybody in here!”
And props to the mods, especially Marley and Ellen.
Too long. Don’t read:[spoiler]I’ve been following this discussion, in this thread and the related ones, but haven’t said anything in any of them because, argh. It’s a frustrating and contentious issue, and there are already more than enough people talking, some of whom are saying exactly what I’m thinking, so I wouldn’t really be contributing anything new to the conversation, anyway. For the record: I do get very frustrated with the misogyny and sexism here from time to time, because it’s jerky and disruptive, not because it’s an idea I’m opposed to. I don’t want an echo chamber, and that’s part of why I come here. I love being able to converse with people who have different viewpoints. And I love that it’s funny and ferociously snarky. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But if the conversation can’t be conducted respectfully, then it’s not a conversation at all; it’s just a cacophony of echoes bouncing off one another. So while I do think misogyny should be moderated, I agree that it should just be moderated as whatever particular flavor of ugliness in which it manifests: jerkiness, threadshitting, trolling, etc.
Until now, though, I generally haven’t reported stuff like this. I think it’s partly because it’s just everywhere in the world, all the time, and I’ve become inured to it. Sometimes I don’t even notice it. And if I do notice and I don’t like it, I just stop visiting the board for a while. Also, as Ellen Cherry said, in trying to gauge whether it’s the opinion itself I object to (which should be allowed to stand), or the disrespectful way in which it’s presented (which should be moderated), I think that I tend to err on the side of caution too much. And of course, there’s the fear that I’ll become known as an annoying tattletale, especially if the mods tend to disagree with me about what’s genuinely over the line, and that my reports will end up being worse than useless.
But I’m galvanized by the realization that I’m far from the only one who feels this way about the issue, and I’m heartened by the mods’ encouragement to report stuff like this. And even if their jerk-meter isn’t in sync with mine, maybe if enough people report something, it will cause them to recalibrate, as (hopefully) this discussion has done.
How’s that for resolve? “I’m vaguely annoyed, and I’m (probably) not going to take it so easily or so often, at least not in the immediate future!”[/spoiler]