Appoint female mods in AH & CA

nkl12xtw5goz70

The two largest and most active forums on Boards — After Hours and Current Affairs — are moderated almost exclusively by men.

AH has 10 mods, all of whom are male. CA has 11 mods, only one of whom is female — but she has not been active on Boards for 6 months, so for all intents and purposes, there are no female mods currently active in that forum either. In addition, both Cmods of these forums are also male. I don't know that we have any currently active female admins, either?

Meanwhile, a number of female posters have pointed out a misogynistic undercurrent to these forums that they believe mods don't take seriously.

Whether that's the case or not, it doesn't look good for Boards.ie that its two largest forums have a 20:1 ratio of male to female mods.

If a woman has an issue with sexism on one of these forums, she's told to talk to the (male) mods. If that fails, talk to the (male) Cmods. If that fails, talk to the (male) admins. She might be forgiven for feeling like it's the 1950s all over again.

Simple solution: Create a more equitable environment by appointing more female mods.

uck51js9zml2yt

There have been female mods in the past who've stepped down or closed their accounts.

Don't see the problem.

Btw, why are there no male mods in the ladies lounge?

Princess Calla

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

If a woman has an issue with sexism on one of these forums, she's told to talk to the (male) mods. If that fails, talk to the (male) Cmods. If that fails, talk to the (male) admins. She might be forgiven for feeling like it's the 1950s all over again.

Ah now that's very unfair to the mods.

In my experience they all act very quickly (sometimes too quickly and I miss the juicy bits ) but I've never felt there's a sexism element to their mod decisions.

One eyed Jack

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

The two largest and most active forums on Boards — After Hours and Current Affairs — are moderated almost exclusively by men.

...

Simple solution: Create a more equitable environment by appointing more female mods.

This idea of basing appointments to positions of responsibility is predicated upon the agreement that there is an issue in the first place which needs to be addressed, and the convenient solution to address it is simply to make appointments based upon appearances.

I wouldn’t assume that all women or all men would share the same hive mind so appointments can’t simply be based upon sex. There has been no indication in my mind that moderators or admins for that matter are biased one way or another, same as claims that the site as a whole is either left-leaning or right-leaning depending upon a posters own perception.

Reality is somewhat more nuanced, as it is in the case of assuming that more women in positions of authority would mean less misogyny on Boards... over a couple of threads now I’ve seen quite the opposite in effect, and I’m not the least bit surprised by it. I think it’s rather naive to assume people’s opinions delineate neatly along sex based lines.

Skylinehead

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

Simple solution: Create a more equitable environment by appointing more female mods.

Yeah, it's so simple. Where from exactly? It's difficult finding anyone at all, never mind applying specific criteria. We've had some in the past (whoospie, LizT, lucyfer) of course.

Peatys

Skylinehead wrote: »

Yeah, it's so simple. Where from exactly? It's difficult finding anyone at all, never mind applying specific criteria. We've had some in the past (whoospie, LizT, lucyfer) of course.

Sarcasm isn't the answer to feedback. You should be appreciative to people taking time to try and come up with ideas to improve the site.

Skylinehead

Peatys wrote: »

Sarcasm isn't the answer to feedback. You should be appreciative to people taking time to try and come up with ideas to improve the site.

I'm being serious.

Peatys

Skylinehead wrote: »

Absolutely zero sarcasm in my post. I'm being serious.

'Yeah, its so simple?'

Skylinehead

Peatys wrote: »

'Yeah, its so simple?'

Yeah I realised that after I posted

But seriously, my point stands. Have you anything to contribute yourself?

Boards.ie: Niamh

The gender distribution of mods is incidental and not by design. As others have said, there have been female mods of both forums in the past and there will be again. However we're not going to indulge in gender quotas for mod teams and actively look for female mods only to fulfil a ratio/quota.

Mods are selected due to their suitability, availability and willingness to take on the job, that's it and I think those are the only sensible things that should apply.

Leg End Reject

Imagine a woman having to talk to a male mod? The horror!

Gender shouldn't come into it and, to be blunt, if a woman is uncomfortable interacting with a man the internet really isn't the place for her.

I'm a woman and find the misogyny angle is sometimes overblown. Sure, there's negative comments posted about woman, but you'll find them about all other demographics too.

This all seems a tad white knightish.

Raconteuse

Davion Witty Marriage wrote: »

why are there no male mods in the ladies lounge?

Ah now, hardly a fair comparison! Is AH a space for discussing men's issues solely? The Gentlemen's Club is the more apt comparison. And Wibbs used to mod The Ladies' Lounge. Amirani - a guy - mods it now.

But personally I don't care what sex the moderators are, so long as they intervene when people are acting the dick (and I don't mean people posting stuff I disagree with before that tedious, dishonest gem gets trotted out - a discussion forum would be boring if it was just views I agreed with, of course I don't object to differing views). For example the Duffy thread, civil discussion without sneery, passive aggressive jibes would be super.

Dial Hard

Raconteuse wrote: »

Ah now, hardly a fair comparison! Is AH a space for discussing men's issues solely? The Gentlemen's Club is the more apt comparison. And Wibbs used to mod The Ladies' Lounge. Amirani - a guy - mods it now.

tLL is also deader than a morgue these days, unlike CA and AH.

I’m not in favour of gender quotas for mods in any forum but I do think that the teams in CA/AH badly need a bit of balance. It allows for a broader range of perspectives at the very least.

anewme

There are times when there are daily ....Why are women? why do women? Why are Irish women?....usually followed by some bitch about women.

Look at the current thread in CA about consent? It has some concerning views and videos.

Then the thread about Duffy. Comparing American women to dogs.

That said, while its clear these people dont like women, they dont like anyone; these people probably dont like themselves either.

There are some fun threads in AH, most people there are sound.

The thread about the murder in Citywest last week was also shocking - when the mod actioned it, only two posts out of pages remained.

I believe posts like thst should be reported when you see them.

uck51js9zml2yt

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

The gender distribution of mods is incidental and not by design. As others have said, there have been female mods of both forums in the past and there will be again. However we're not going to indulge in gender quotas for mod teams and actively look for female mods only to fulfil a ratio/quota.

Mods are selected due to their suitability, availability and willingness to take on the job, that's it and I think those are the only sensible things that should apply.

Speaking of which Niamh. How are mods appointed?

Are they chosen or do they apply?
What's the criteria.
All my years on boards and I've no idea how it happens.

uck51js9zml2yt

Raconteuse wrote: »

Ah now, hardly a fair comparison! Is AH a space for discussing men's issues solely? The Gentlemen's Club is the more apt comparison. And Wibbs used to mod The Ladies' Lounge. Amirani - a guy - mods it now.

But personally I don't care what sex the moderators are, so long as they intervene when people are acting the dick (and I don't mean people posting stuff I disagree with before that tedious, dishonest gem gets trotted out - a discussion forum would be boring if it was just views I agreed with, of course I don't object to differing views). For example the Duffy thread, civil discussion without sneery, passive aggressive jibes would be super.

It was to the op and sort of retorical. Personally I couldn't care less about the gender of a mod.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Davion Witty Marriage wrote: »

Speaking of which Niamh. How are mods appointed?

Are they chosen or do they apply?
What's the criteria.
All my years on boards and I've no idea how it happens.

They are chosen usually from the regular posters in a forum. So someone who already has an interest in the forum and it's subject and has made good contributions, is able to get along with others even while disagreeing with their opinion for example is a good choice.
Usually Cmods will submit a list to Admins of who they think is suitable for a forum that needs a mod replacement. When approved, the person/people are asked if they would like to take it on or not.

If not, back to square one

Dial Hard

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

They are chosen usually from the regular posters in a forum. So someone who already has an interest in the forum and it's subject and has made good contributions, is able to get along with others even while disagreeing with their opinion for example is a good choice.
Usually Cmods will submit a list to Admins of who they think is suitable for a forum that needs a mod replacement. When approved, the person/people are asked if they would like to take it on or not.

If not, back to square one

Can we ask how many female posters have been asked in the last year or so?

Boards.ie: Niamh

Dial Hard wrote: »

Can we ask how many female posters have been asked in the last year or so?

Do you mean in general or for those specific forums?

EDIT: I had a scan through all of the mods approved and offered modships since March last year up to now.

By my reckoning there were 35 in all, 8 of those were female and the rest were male** so 23% female. That's not to say all of the 35 accepted the offer but those were the offers made.

**I was unsure about 8 of the users and had to scour their posting history to try work it out so it may still not be totally accurate. And to clarify, not the same 8 that were female above, these were 1f, 7m.

Dial Hard

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Do you mean in general or for those specific forums?

CA/AH specifically. Thanks.

Boards.ie: Niamh

Over the past year from what I can see 2 mods were added to AH (both male) and one to CA (male).

Current Affairs hasn't been around for a full year yet, it was set up in June 2019 and most of the mods there inherited it via AH or are Admins helping out.

Timberrrrrrrr

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

The two largest and most active forums on Boards — After Hours and Current Affairs — are moderated almost exclusively by men.

AH has 10 mods, all of whom are male. CA has 11 mods, only one of whom is female — but she has not been active on Boards for 6 months, so for all intents and purposes, there are no female mods currently active in that forum either. In addition, both Cmods of these forums are also male. I don't know that we have any currently active female admins, either?

Meanwhile, a number of female posters have pointed out a misogynistic undercurrent to these forums that they believe mods don't take seriously.

Whether that's the case or not, it doesn't look good for Boards.ie that its two largest forums have a 20:1 ratio of male to female mods.

If a woman has an issue with sexism on one of these forums, she's told to talk to the (male) mods. If that fails, talk to the (male) Cmods. If that fails, talk to the (male) admins. She might be forgiven for feeling like it's the 1950s all over again.

Simple solution: Create a more equitable environment by appointing more female mods.

You are presuming that all of these meds identify as "male" of course. Not very progressive of you.

Dial Hard

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Over the past year from what I can see 2 mods were added to AH (both male) and one to CA (male).

Yeah, but how many female posters were even approached/asked?

Boards.ie: Niamh

Dial Hard wrote: »

Yeah, but how many female posters were even approached/asked?

That was the sum total, 3 (who happened to be male) were suggested, approved and asked, the 3 accepted. Contrary to popular belief, finding mods for incredibly busy forums where you are going to get abuse for over and/or under-moderating is very difficult.

In Feb last year (just outside the year mark) 4 mods were proposed for AH, one of those was female, all were approved but I'm not sure if she turned it down or others were offered first.

anewme

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

That was the sum total, 3 (who happened to be male) were suggested, approved and asked, the 3 accepted. Contrary to popular belief, finding mods for incredibly busy forums where you are going to get abuse for over and/or under-moderating is very difficult.

I'd well believe it would be very difficult to find a female mod for CA.

nkl12xtw5goz70

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

So someone who already has an interest in the forum and it's subject and has made good contributions, is able to get along with others even while disagreeing with their opinion for example is a good choice.

I would have thought that quite a few female posters would meet those basic criteria.

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

Contrary to popular belief, finding mods for incredibly busy forums where you are going to get abuse for over and/or under-moderating is very difficult.

anewme wrote: »

I'd well believe it would be very difficult to find a female mod for CA.

Eh? How is this any more than a sexist assumption that women are less capable than men of handling abuse or criticism?

anewme

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

Eh? How is this any more than a sexist assumption that women are less capable than men of handling abuse or criticism?

It's nothing about being able handling abuse or criticism. Far from it.

Given the tone of some of the quality of posts/ threads/posters (and I am referencing CA here only) are very challenging (I am being kind here)and I could only speak for myself, you'd just not be arsed giving your wit to it and I'd have sympathy for anyone (man or woman) taking on that particular role.

It's one that requires an awful lot of work.

Ten of Swords

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

In Feb last year (just outside the year mark) 4 mods were proposed for AH, one of those was female, all were approved but I'm not sure if she turned it down or others were offered first.

She was asked, and chose to decline

Boards.ie: Niamh

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

I would have thought that quite a few female posters would meet those basic criteria.

I'm sure they do but there are far more prolific posters who are male in CA than female and they are more likely to come to the attention of the mod team/Cmod team when seeking mods. AH is a bit of a mix but being prolific alone without the other attributes is not always a positive.

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

Eh? How is this any more than a sexist assumption that women are less capable than men of handling abuse or criticism?

No one equated it with a lack of capability.

nkl12xtw5goz70

Boards.ie: Niamh wrote: »

I'm sure they do but there are far more prolific posters who are male in CA than female and they are more likely to come to the attention of the mod team/Cmod team when seeking mods. AH is a bit of a mix but being prolific alone without the other attributes is not always a positive.

The CA/AH mod who posted above you has 2,842 posts since he signed up 7 years ago, and with all due respect to him, I'd hardly regard him as a noted contributor to either of these forums. I rarely come across a post from him that is not a mod instruction — and I can say the same thing about some other mods.

No one equated it with a lack of capability.

Then why mention the abuse that mods have to deal with in trying to explain why there are so few female mods?

Sorry, you and others can try to explain this away, or claim it doesn't matter — but a male to female gender ratio of 20:1 in the moderating teams of the site's two largest forums really doesn't present a good image for Boards in the year 2020. I'm not calling for gender quotas, but I believe these forums could both benefit from greater female representation at the moderating table.

anewme

Marcus Hissing Cigarette wrote: »

I'm not calling for gender quotas, but I believe these forums could both benefit from greater female representation at the moderating table.

I do agree that a balance would be beneficial.

I still think it would be hard enough on the CA one, do many female posters engage with and enjoy that forum?

Niamh, if people are willing - can they put themselves forward as a mod?