What do you think of NS's mainly male population?

[The Tectonic Plates]

Yeah, but at least GAR#8 means the WA acknowledges that freely.

I agree NSG is worse. It's a reef with lots of sharks just looking for any sign of weakness. Swim in at your own risk.

I don't know whether I'm used to the behaviour, or whether I'm old enough not to be nibbled up, but a few of my good friends have come on here and got absolutely blindsided for no good reason by certain older posters. It was really quite disgusting and they haven't really been back.

I think you're used to it. NSG is definitely a hostile place when you first start in it. Especially now, which is the worst time to start because of Summer Fascists.

[Luveria]

I don't know whether I'm used to the behaviour, or whether I'm old enough not to be nibbled up, but a few of my good friends have come on here and got absolutely blindsided for no good reason by certain older posters. It was really quite disgusting and they haven't really been back.

I think you're used to it. NSG is definitely a hostile place when you first start in it. Especially now, which is the worst time to start because of Summer Fascists.

I don't blame people for leaving during summer.

[The Tectonic Plates]

I think you're used to it. NSG is definitely a hostile place when you first start in it. Especially now, which is the worst time to start because of Summer Fascists.

I don't blame people for leaving during summer.

I was more thinking people trying to start on NSG, who will be blasted by 'Ah Summer" and "Summer Fascist" if they express unpopular opinions. Sometimes those labels are justified, not denying that, but their are times when you should let off and try to have an intelligent debate instead of dismissing people as a "Summer Fascist".

[Araraukar]

I don't know whether I'm used to the behaviour, or whether I'm old enough not to be nibbled up

On the actual marine reefs out there, sharks and other fish usually swim around together without any violence. Then when the sharks get hungry, the smarter fishes realize the figurative temperature has dropped, and make themselves scarce. The less smart ones get eaten. Unfortunately youth can contribute to the "smartness factor".

but a few of my good friends have come on here and got absolutely blindsided for no good reason by certain older posters.

I highly doubt all "for no good reason" claims until proven otherwise, but yeah, saying stupid shit like "there are no women online" or "being gay is a disease" or "let's shoot all left-handed men named Earl, who's with me?" tends to get you dogpiled by the sharks, for a good reason; we've seen it hundreds of times before, we know the weaknesses in those arguments, we know the people posting those arguments are often bad at defending them.

Real life sharks attack other fish due to need of physical sustenance. The NSG sharks attack other opinions due to need of amusement/mental stimulation.

P.S. Advice your friends to never ever ever view or post on the Yahoo! News comment sections. If they think NSG is bad, they'd go into fatal shock over those opinions and posts.

[Forster Keys]

On the actual marine reefs out there, sharks and other fish usually swim around together without any violence. Then when the sharks get hungry, the smarter fishes realize the figurative temperature has dropped, and make themselves scarce. The less smart ones get eaten. Unfortunately youth can contribute to the "smartness factor".

Who are the sharks in this context?

I highly doubt all "for no good reason" claims until proven otherwise, but yeah, saying stupid shit like "there are no women online" or "being gay is a disease" or "let's shoot all left-handed men named Earl, who's with me?" tends to get you dogpiled by the sharks, for a good reason; we've seen it hundreds of times before, we know the weaknesses in those arguments, we know the people posting those arguments are often bad at defending them.

Well I don't intend to prove otherwise in the interests of their privacy, but none of what they said was bad as that. A lot of it comes from the Arts and Fiction sections too. I experienced a fair bit of needless dickery there, as has one of my friends.

Real life sharks attack other fish due to need of physical sustenance. The NSG sharks attack other opinions due to need of amusement/mental stimulation.

This is reminding me of the Brecht song Der Haifisch now. The Rammstein cover too.

P.S. Advice your friends to never ever ever view or post on the Yahoo! News comment sections. If they think NSG is bad, they'd go into fatal shock over those opinions and posts.

Utter cesspools.

[Araraukar]

Who are the sharks in this context?

NSG regulars/veterans. The more politically correct term these days is "Generalites". (And even mods admit that we can be a bit biting. )

[Forsher]

I don't blame people for leaving during summer.

I was more thinking people trying to start on NSG, who will be blasted by 'Ah Summer" and "Summer Fascist" if they express unpopular opinions. Sometimes those labels are justified, not denying that, but their are times when you should let off and try to have an intelligent debate instead of dismissing people as a "Summer Fascist".

I seriously think the "Label everything summer" sentiment really really does not help generate discussion. Threads with bad or dodgy OPs can generate decent discussion and it can really be quite infuriating when they're locked because the OP was crap.

The way I see it "IN the summertime" is basically a seasonally accepted form of the "troll" and I stand by the "trollnaming" rule and my defence of it in the appropriate thread (speaking of which, thanks mods for locking that... even if it is possibly was a grave-dig, I forget).

[Forster Keys]

Who are the sharks in this context?

NSG regulars/veterans. The more politically correct term these days is "Generalites". (And even mods admit that we can be a bit biting. )

I'm not a shark.

[Luveria]

I don't blame people for leaving during summer.

I was more thinking people trying to start on NSG, who will be blasted by 'Ah Summer" and "Summer Fascist" if they express unpopular opinions. Sometimes those labels are justified, not denying that, but their are times when you should let off and try to have an intelligent debate instead of dismissing people as a "Summer Fascist".

Most of the time I've seen it they actually do have a summer join date, and are saying "Summer Fascist" things, so even if it's not productive calling people Summer Fascists, it does seem to be a justified label more often than not.

NSG regulars/veterans. The more politically correct term these days is "Generalites". (And even mods admit that we can be a bit biting. )

I'm not a shark.

I know dear, you're a puppy.

[Forster Keys]

I was more thinking people trying to start on NSG, who will be blasted by 'Ah Summer" and "Summer Fascist" if they express unpopular opinions. Sometimes those labels are justified, not denying that, but their are times when you should let off and try to have an intelligent debate instead of dismissing people as a "Summer Fascist".

Most of the time I've seen it they actually do have a summer join date, and are saying "Summer Fascist" things, so even if it's not productive calling people Summer Fascists, it does seem to be a justified label more often than not.

I'm not a shark.

I know dear, you're a puppy.

I can dream Harold!

[Araraukar]

I'm not a shark.

I know dear, you're a puppy.

So, a dog shark?

[Aurora Novus]

I really don't care. At least, for the most part. One's sex is functionally meaningless on a website like this. It's not as if having more females would make things "more balanced" or would somehow give us viewpoints that would otherwise be unobtainable. Your sex does not make you special.

That said, I personally have alway felt more comfortable around females. Probably because I grew up around females for the most part.

[Ifreann]

I really don't care. At least, for the most part. One's sex is functionally meaningless on a website like this. It's not as if having more females would make things "more balanced" or would somehow give us viewpoints that would otherwise be unobtainable.

Uh, yeah it would. Obviously. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

Your sex does not make you special.

No one said it did, though.

[Nazi Flower Power]

Have you ever been out in the real world? Quite unlike NSG, it's split roughly 50/50 between men and women.

Power and influence in politics and culture. Mere numbers are irrelevant.

It makes me happy that you'll never be as influential as Hilary Clinton.

[Ifreann]

Power and influence in politics and culture. Mere numbers are irrelevant.

It makes me happy that you'll never be as influential as Hilary Clinton.

Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama are probably doing more for international politics today than Luciferius, or most of us, will do in our lives.

What did they do? Had a walk around the monastic site at Glendalough and then a pub lunch with Bono and his wife.

[Bottle]

Look, guys, look! It's another gender related thread because there weren't enough already. You know that even if you hate it you'll still post.

To your guy's luck, however, this isn't a 'what is your gender' thread. This is about how NS has a mainly male population. I'm sure you've all seen the polls and threads that show that NS is a bit of a sausage fest (such as this). Some of you may think nothing of this, but I've heard others say they want more non-male members on NS.

So, what do you think about NS's mainly male population? Do you wish there were more people who identified as other genders? If so, how do you think we can get more females, androgynes, etc. to join?

I personally don't have a problem with it but would still be happy to see more non-males. I just feel it might make things more interesting if it was more diverse. To get more non-males on NS I say we either clone everyone who doesn't identify as male here or find a way to advertise NS to to other genders.

I live in a country (America) and a culture (Western) wherein white hetero cis male perspectives are, and have always been, given disproportionate amounts of attention and weight. Thus, I find male-dominated spaces familiar and generally unremarkable.

Yes, the stagnant demographics of this forum are a limitation, and yes, I think that most discussions are more interesting if you include participants who aren't 20-something straight white cis men (hereafter abbreviated "dudes").

On the other hand, I can't blame any non-dudes if they opt not to contribute to the diversity of this forum, since I myself often take breaks whenever I get tired of listening to dudes share such insights as "Why being called 'cracker' is totally just as bad as the n-word," "Hey guys has anybody else heard of this awesome new thing called Libertarianism???" and "Circumcision is relevant at all times and to all topics."

And, after all, it's not like dudes are useless in a conversation. You can have interesting discussions with someone even if they are hampered by testerical humors and the stress of wearing their reproductive kit entirely outside their body cavity.

Really, some of my best friends are dudes.

[Mike the Progressive]

"We want the redhead!"

Kudos if you get that reference.

[Barometria]

I believe in the great Unspoken Code of the Divine Urinal:

"I won't look at yours if you don't look at mine."

[Aurora Novus]

I really don't care. At least, for the most part. One's sex is functionally meaningless on a website like this. It's not as if having more females would make things "more balanced" or would somehow give us viewpoints that would otherwise be unobtainable.

Uh, yeah it would. Obviously. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

No, it wouldn't.

Women are not so special that they can obtain unique information that men cannot, and vice versa. Your sex does not bring anything unique to a discussion. Only your knowledge and capability for critical thinking. To suggest otherwise is delusional.

[The Blaatschapen]

It makes me happy that you'll never be as influential as Hilary Clinton.

Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama are probably doing more for international politics today than Luciferius, or most of us, will do in our lives.

What did they do? Had a walk around the monastic site at Glendalough and then a pub lunch with Bono and his wife.

Yes, but Michelle is only this important because she married the right guy. Sasha and Malia even had less choice, they didn't choose their father after all. If we're going for powerful women in politics, let's pick some that got there by their own virtue, like Angela Merkel.

[Ifreann]

Uh, yeah it would. Obviously. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

No, it wouldn't.

Women are not so special that they can obtain unique information that men cannot, and vice versa.

That men cannot, no. That men, especially straight white cis men, typically do not, that's rather another matter.

Your sex does not bring anything unique to a discussion.

That depends on the discussion. If Bottle and I were discussing our preferences wrt alcoholic beverages, then our different sexes would make no difference. If the topic were to somehow shift to the trials and tribulations involved in shopping for underwear(some amount of those alcoholic beverages would probably be required to facilitate this segue), then we probably couldn't have the same conversation that two males or two females could.

Only your knowledge and capability for critical thinking. To suggest otherwise is delusional.

And as per the above, males and females tend to have different knowledge, as they tend to have different life experiences.

[Esternial]

Uh, yeah it would. Obviously. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

No, it wouldn't.

Women are not so special that they can obtain unique information that men cannot, and vice versa.

I dunno. Most women I know don't know what it feels like to have a penis. Seems like unique information to me.

[Aurora Novus]

No, it wouldn't.

Women are not so special that they can obtain unique information that men cannot, and vice versa.

That men cannot, no. That men, especially straight white cis men, typically do not, that's rather another matter.

Typically do not, and cannot, are not the same thing.

I again assert that there is no information that is made unobtainable by one's sex; rendering one's sex absolutely meaningless in a discussion.

If the topic were to somehow shift to the trials and tribulations involved in shopping for underwear(some amount of those alcoholic beverages would probably be required to facilitate this segue), then we probably couldn't have the same conversation that two males or two females could.

Again, probably does not mean you cannot.

And as per the above, males and females tend to have different knowledge, as they tend to have different life experiences.

Only willfully so, because we as a society treat them differently. It's a circular argument. "Sex matters, because men and women have different experiences, because we treat them differently, because sex matters..."

[Aurora Novus]

No, it wouldn't.

Women are not so special that they can obtain unique information that men cannot, and vice versa.

I dunno. Most women I know don't know what it feels like to have a penis. Seems like unique information to me.

A woman does not have to have experienced having a penis to have the knowledge of what it is like to have one.

[Ifreann]

Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama are probably doing more for international politics today than Luciferius, or most of us, will do in our lives.

What did they do? Had a walk around the monastic site at Glendalough and then a pub lunch with Bono and his wife.

Yes, but Michelle is only this important because she married the right guy. Sasha and Malia even had less choice, they didn't choose their father after all. If we're going for powerful women in politics, let's pick some that got there by their own virtue, like Angela Merkel.

What I was getting at is that the three of them aren't politicians, two of them are just teenagers, and they weren't doing politics, they were being tourists and having a bite to eat with a fairly infamous knobhead. And yet, they're still having some influence.