Following long discussion among the moderation staff, Starving Artist is banned.
It’s become clear - over the last year or two - that sexual violence and harassment against women is an insidious and usually overlooked part of our culture.
We have made small changes over this time - moderating out of place sexual jokes in women’s health threads as an example. However, the most important aspect of the Straight Dope Message Board is that we are a community. We can no longer say we didn’t know how many of our community, directly or indirectly, have been affected by this. So the moderation staff decided to take a stricter line as to what is unacceptable.
The SDMB should never be a place where people have free reign to torment others.We wish to foster an environment where everyone is welcome to engage, discuss, argue and share.At some point we need to ask ourselves if our aspiration to allow all manner of discussion brings us to a point that we end up with less overall discourse.We need to ask ourselves what we wish to be. Do we wish to be a place that welcomes discussion or one that pushes it away? Our decision is made.
This isn’t something we take lightly.It is possible to debate sexism and other topics in such a way that opinions counter to the prevailing ethos are expressed and considered. But it must be done in such a way that is not hostile towards the experiences of members of this board.
Enough is enough.