Gay boards (again)

swiss

Ok, time for a request for a new board.

This has cropped up before so this may seem like trolling, or pestering, or whatever.

I think that there should be a board available for the gay members of the boards community. I don't feel that this will lead to a ghetto culture emerging, as has been argued before, for the reason that the issue is quite broad. It affects a sizable section of any community, regardless of race, or sex or age.

I also propose that the board (if the idea is approved) should become a private board. This would at least help to eradicate some of the blatant trolling that would otherwise occur, as each member would have to apply via a pm to a mod or admin (as if ye don't have enough work already). It's unlikely that the real muppets would bother doing this to spam the boards.

If moderation is an issue, I would be happy to help. I don't know if anyone else is interested, perhaps Shinji would be a good choice (that is if he wants the extra work )

Anyway, what do you think?

SheroN

If gay people get a board, i demand a board for hethrosexual people!

azezil

Originally posted by SheroN
If gay people get a board, i demand a board for hethrosexual people!

woo poor form coming from a personal issues mod

Other groups get their own private boards, so if there's enough interested they should be allowed have their's.

Lucutus

The boards here are for use by everyone, be they gay, straight, bi, transvestite, space mutant, sewer dweller, or 'devore'.

There's no reason to have a 'gay' board, is there? I mean, all the same stuff that's talked about on other boards will more than likely be talked about under a gay area? I don't see the point of having a seperate gay board, actually, it doesn't seem like a good idea at all.

Luc

seamus

I think the argument is about creating a board in the main forums dealing with Gay Issues. It would seem to segregate the boards.ie community into gay and non-gay. It might also be a problem of tip-toeing around homophobia. I have gay friends and have absolutely no problem with gay people whatsoever, but if someone thought for a second that I was gay, I would move heaven and earth to show I'm not. Just a symptom of my upbringing/sexuality I'd think. Such would be the problem with a 'gay board'. Non-gays with valid points might have a fear of posting in a 'gay' forum in case someone got the wrong idea.

It also boils down to 'why' should you be different? What would the tagline of a Gay board be? "A place for discussion of all things homosexual"? Surely that would then warrant creation of a board for discussing all things heterosexual?

You can have a private board if you want, no-one would stop that, but personally, I would like to offer my opinion on gay issues, even though I'm not, so a private board excludes me. I think Personal Isses is equipped perfectly for this.

azezil

i still think if there are 5 or so "members of the gay community" (;))who wanted to discuss things in private i don't see why they shouldnt' get a private board...

If they formed a club and requested a private forum for that no one would say a thing about it! so why the hell not.

swiss

Originally posted by Lucutus
I mean, all the same stuff that's talked about on other boards will more than likely be talked about under a gay area?

Not necessarily. This thread was sparked off by a discussion in the personal issues forum, but other than this there have been very few threads in relation to gay issues. Of course it can be argued that there is little demand for these kind of topics on boards, but I just feel that the inclusion of a gay board can encourage and stimulate debate on all aspects of gay life.

I can understand many concerns voiced about this board. The issue that the inculsion of these boards could segregate the boards into gay and non-gay is a valid point. Do you feel that the advent of this board will create this segregation? From the few threads on the issue of homosexuality that I have seen, there has been valid input from unprejudiced heterosexual members. I don't believe that this will change should a specific board be set up to deal with these threads.

My suggestion that the board become a private forum did not come from a wish to seperate people. The purpose would have been to stem the muppets that could stop people from posting. What would perhaps be a better solution would be to allow read access to the board to everybody, but to restrict write access to those who have been 'invited'. This is not a vetting process to decide who is or isn't gay, but would rather work out like a similar arrangement on the counter-strike board.

You must also remember that the gay community is exactly that - a community. Like the CTYI, angling or whatever community, there should (IMO) be a place for homosexuals. I haven't posted in either community yet, but I don't feel that I have anything to add (yet) to either one. If I had, I would not feel in any way daunted or restricted from posting - why would a gay board (private or not) be in any way different?

JustHalf

What's so special about being gay?

JustHalf

Originally posted by swiss
You must also remember that the gay community is exactly that - a community.

Surely then heterosexuals are of the heterosexual community?

Which doesn't make sense.

chernobyl

Christ just create the damn board....:)

If a board called "bubbles" can exist?

Lucutus

Originally posted by swiss

You must also remember that the gay community is exactly that - a community.

Ah right, ok, I think I'm starting to understand where you're coming from. You want a board for the gay community, not nessessarily for gay people.

I know some gay people who aren't overtly into the community and scene here in Dublin, I also know a lot (ie. more!) of gay people who are. Perhaps a Queens board would be more in order?

Zero could be moderater

Luc

The Corinthian

A board for people of a certain sexuality would open up demands for boards specifically geared twoards other sexualities (straight, bi, transvestite, devore) to be created. Before long we'd have a series of Adult boards (and let's remember there are ethical if not legal issues with displaying adult material).

A gay community would be ultimately political, and nothing to do with relationships. Cue demands for Socialist, Conservative, Fascist and Anarchist boards...

So on all fronts, I really think it's not a good idea.

swiss

Originally posted by JustHalf
Surely then heterosexuals are of the heterosexual community?

Which doesn't make sense.

I'll put this in simple terms
From the dictionary

com·mu·ni·ty Pronunciation Key (k-myn-t)
n. pl. com·mu·ni·ties

A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
The district or locality in which such a group lives.

A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international business community.
A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the community of color.

Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
Society as a whole; the public.

We already (ostensibly) have boards that cater for the heterosexual community. Perhaps I can guide you to this board where you can no doubt find pictures of buffy somewhere. Boards, in itself is a community, and there are sub-communities within that community. It doesn't necessarily mean that these communities are mini-cliques. Looking through the different forums at the top of the page, I don't see one board or community to which I would feel any compuntion in contributing, should I have anything useful to add.

DeVore

Closed for cleaning, will be back when Azezil and Zero have taken their lovers row ELSEWHERE ... hint hint.

DeV.

MindPhuck

the request is related to a community which, like any other community should have its place.. ie. Private.

I couldnt give a flying fcuk if there was a gay forumn on these boards as long as I dont have to come onto it some sunday morning and find the last 20 posts are about what dresses you guys wore the night before.

big deal. Who gives a sh1t? people just dont go into it. make it private. i couldnt care less.

Rev Hellfire

I dont believe there is a need for a Gay board in fact its better if there isnt, why create a division if one isnt needed. As for the posting of pictures of buffy on the afterhours I dont believe theres anything stoppping you posting pic's of zero or any other big gay icons you want (as long as they're decent), maybe the probloem isnt with the board but with you. Come out and stand tall, noone will think less of you for it.

DeVore

Opened again, all fresh and clean.

Please keep this reasonable. Everyone has been warned.


I DO draw a distinction between a full board (ala Humanities) and a private members only board (ala Freemasons).

The latter require ONLY 5 Supporting names to be set up. Call it "The George" or whatever, then its not the Boards.ie Offical Gay Board, its just a board where people who are mates hang out, those people may (or indeed may *not* be gay).

No.
Big.
Deal.

If you want a hetro board we'll call it "Trampco" in honour of Shad0r

If you want an "interferring with Logic1" board, then we can do that too. If you arent a member of these communities you wont even see the link....


DeV.

Kraken

well not by much anyway.

like mp said make it private. end of problem
<unhelpful troll-bit zapped - DeV.>

Cloud

Red card Zero, banned from this forum.

SheroN

he wasn't expecting that.

Keeks

If u thought DeV was bad when he gets cross....Clound turns into a force 30 hurricane

logic1

The Beaufort Wind Force Scale only goes to 12.

.logic.

swiss

Originally posted by DeVore:
No.
Big.
Deal.

[monty burns mode]
Excellent
[/monty burns mode]

It does seem to be the principal of the matter rather than the issue of server space or work involved in setting up the forum (aside, I suppose from deciding who is going to mod the forum). As for a name, I think GLB is discreet enough (Gay/Lesbian board) for those who don't want to be reminded of the dresses we all wear :rolleyes:

Oh, BTW
I heartily endorse this product and/or service

as if it needed to be said.

Terminator

Why not just have a "Gay Issues" forum in Humanities. There are plenty of issues to discuss. I don't see why it has to be a private forum.

azezil

Originally posted by Terminator
Why not just have a "Gay Issues" forum in Humanities. There are plenty of issues to discuss. I don't see why it has to be a private forum.

well if you'd seen some of the replys prior to dev's clean up job you understand why.

JustHalf

What can be covered by a general "Gay" board that can't be covered in any other board?

Kraken

ok to be honest i dont mind a gay boards being created none of us do. just keep it private and out of the top 20 posts. This was all is happy. and ye could create an account that peeps could pm to to gain access to the forum.

Would also like to say sorry for me earlier post and what i had in my sig even though it was said by the person named it should not have been put up in here of all places.

Terminator

Originally posted by azezil
well if you'd seen some of the replys prior to dev's clean up job you understand why.

Yeah but its kinda sad that you have to curtain it off. Its not a freak show

Keeks

Originally posted by logic1
The Beaufort Wind Force Scale only goes to 12.

.logic.

smartar$e

Jpaulik

How would a private gay board work ? Is it like a members only club ?

I'd be against a private board. How would new users find it and contribute ? I think judging by the recent thread in personal issues the people of boards handled themselves well and why should they be segregated from the gay people and gay issues.

I'm jusy wondering what would be discussed on a GLB board ? I'm sure if you can highlight topics that would be unique to a GLB board then dev may see the point of creating one.

Right now people can't think of what would be unique content for that board and so wouldn't see the point of one.

I would of course use and contribute to a glb board, but I would actually be against a private one.

Keeks

Theres a Personal issues board there for...well...Personal issues. Use that to take about G&L stuff. If there are enogh posts on the subject....don't worry u woun't have to request the board...a lot of other ppl will.

But I don't know why you want a board of your own because it will act as a target for gay bashers. It not the same as asking for a CS, Hl or clan board. It is a really sensitive issue, and a personal one. It will segregate the boards.

The reason I come to these boards is because everyone is equal. Having a G&L board takes away that equality. Its like waving a flag saying, I need special attention because of my sexual preference/orientation (whatever u call it). Its not the same as a group off ppl coming together to discuss playing quake.

The only ppl who are hated here are muppets. Lets leave it at that.

Discuss all u want about G&l on the Personal Issues boards. Thats what its there for.

Lets leave it at that.

ykt0di9url7bc3

abuse...?
there is a lot of gay people in Ireland, Being gay would determine a few social choices and have an effect on the way of life for the person...plenty of disscussion
If gay people request a private board, it is to disscuss these and more matters....


but there is a lot of gay bashing in Ireland,
considering that, it is a personal and private issue, the board should have the ability for unregistered posters but this doesnt cover the privacy,

I'd say to any one for anonminty is to create a registered gay board user under some sort of confidentiality, (more masks in the freakin internet!), and ask for an invite and use the gay mask for that board and that board alone...

these are my suggestions and not my opinions for i have no opinions on the matter, just suggestions

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

swiss

How would a private gay board work ? Is it like a members only club ?

So it would appear. I would have preferrred something like the arrangement in the Counter-Strike board (take a look at the announcement).

However, take a look at this thread. It appears reasonably civil, but DeV had to close it for half an hour or so earlier today to delete the trolling that had taken place. A moderator has been banned from this forum as a result of what he wrote on this thread. It is obvious that a main board would attract massive amounts of trolling. This is a sad fact of today's society. Until that changes, I think a private board would be the best solution.

You are correct when you say that it would be harder for a new user to contribute. It is more difficult to find out what private boards exist, because they are by their nature private. It is (I think) about a good a deal as one can expect.

DeVore

Ok, I'm going to type this sloooowly for the impaired among you.

1. We're *not* setting up any official boards based on Gender, Religion or Sexual Orientation.

2. Anyone, ANYONE in the world can request a private board to discuss whatever the feck they like. It can be a trainspotting board for all I care so long as: They are civil, the topic is legal, and the board isnt abused.

3. We dont ask people what their sexuality is when they request a board. Personally I have no issues with a private gay board... judging from reading the other private boards it'll be used for anything BUT the related topic. (yes we read the private boards to ensure no illegality is going on.)

Do you want a private board for your own private discussions?

The steps to take are:
1. Post the request.
2. Include the names of any moderators (apart from yourself. PM me them if they dont want to be known publically.)
3. Specify that it is private.
4. Normally we ask for 5 people to support it but in this case
there have been enough people on this thread to support it.

It wont be a public board. You will have to advertise it to people you want to have join, its effectively your own personal, private board.

Shessh, so much over so little....

DeV.

ButcherOfNog

i don't get the reason that you need a 'gay' board. what will be discussed on it that isn't already covered by other existing boards? next we'll have a 'female' board, for talkin about wimmins things, and a 'men only' board for mens talk, and while we're at it lets have the following boards: 'prody', 'taig', 'black', 'jew' etc etc, lets split everyone up into their own wee sections. you're gay, thats not special and and not really that different to anyone else.

i just don't like the idea of segregating the boards on this, if u want a priv forum, you'll get one, but its a shame to think you may use that one board instead of the multitude of existing ones to discuss issues that most likely effect all of us, regardless of our sexual inclinations.

shotamoose

I'm against the private board idea becuase -
-I think its the public nature of discussion on boards that encourages people to be civil, helpful and useful to each other
-a private board would be more likely to become cliquey or overtly sexual in content
-what's wrong with a public 'Sexuality' board? A lot of the most interesting things to be said about homosexuality and gayness (see the 'being gay thread') actually address the topic of sexuality in general. I'm bi and wouldn't feel entirely comfortable posting on a 'purely' gay board.
-the 'being gay' thread was interesting because all sorts of people were posting to it. If only people who love going to gay clubs posted to the private gay board it'd be just as dull as they so often are.
-if there's a lot of trolling, the moderator will just have to delete those posts, won't s/he?

DeVore

Swiss, to be fair to people round here you'd have to subtract the trollage that a hetrosexual board would bring from the trollage a homosexual board would bring to measure the disparity.

I'd be curious what would happen if you (or someone else) posted a problem with their same-sex partner on the PI board...

The problem today wasnt about the Gay issue particularly, in fact I think most people here are mature enough to discuss it rationally. Today was just another outburst from a number of people who have some history with each other. (Zero wasnt the only one, he's just got the hottest head on him, which he'd admit himself!). I'd have banned more of them if I was going to go so far as to ban anyone.

Anyway, you could easily advertise this on other gay sites (are there sites for Gay people in Ireland?) and people could be introduced to Boards.ie that way.

I'm gonna start a thread on Humanities to discuss some statistics I've heard.

DeV.

Shinji

Actually, although I argued against this one previously, I'm kinda agreeing with Swiss. If a thread asking about a board for gay people on Admin is trolled into the ground, how the hell is an open Gay board going to survive?

Also, folk talk about being perfectly happy with gay threads in other boards, but I do wonder how people would react to a Slydice Special where the shoe was on the other foot

There's also the point that we have quite a few people on boards who are gay but not "out" - I certainly know a few of them - and probably wouldn't be keen on posting about gay issues on public fora.

So yeah, I figure it's a good idea, although I think it should be made clear somehow to people how exactly to apply for membership of the board etc. I'm not sure why I've been suggested as a moderator (this is a complete lie, I know exactly why and it's quite amusing really ) but I'd be happy enough to undertake it, I guess....

Victor

Originally posted by DeVore
Anyway, you could easily advertise this on other gay sites (are there sites for Gay people in Ireland?) and people could be introduced to Boards.ie that way.

Always the money angle, oh what money?

Victor

Originally posted by Shinji
Also, folk talk about being perfectly happy with gay threads in other boards, but I do wonder how people would react to a Slydice Special where the shoe was on the other foot

Who cares, if it interests some people fine, if not then they (those not interested in said "Slydice Special") can just sod off. I'm sure the women (or portion thereof) might appredicate it also.

Originally posted by Shinji
So yeah, I figure it's a good idea, although I think it should be made clear somehow to people how exactly to apply for membership of the board etc. I'm not sure why I've been suggested as a moderator (this is a complete lie, I know exactly why and it's quite amusing really ) but I'd be happy enough to undertake it, I guess....

Wheres that 'In Denial' card

Mills

Meh, I thought when this was proposed initially that it was a silly idea, that gay issues could be discussed openly on existing forums, but since then I've had my eyes opened to the kind of homophobia that exists in society these days, and I realise now that not everyone is quite so open-minded.

So, for the time being anyway, I'd set up a private board with a similar system in operation as the CS board (can you make a private board with read-access for everyone?), fire a few moderators on it, and then allow anyone who wants access to it to sign up, if they cause trouble it's about 3 clicks to remove that access, and they won't get it again. I think allowing unregistered posts would attract muppets, if someone wants to remain anonymous because they're not out or for whatever reason allow them to sign up another account for use with the board.

Jpaulik

Nice one mills, makes good sense.

Bottle_of_Smoke

gays are great

DeVore

no. Thats illegal.

What connection do you see to this thread?

DeV.

TwoShedsJackson

Yes lets imply that homosexuality is like paedophilia :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Guinnessman

Originally posted by Cloud
Red card Zero, banned from this forum.

sad.

azezil

DeVore
I'd be curious what would happen if you (or someone else) posted a problem with their same-sex partner on the PI board...

i would ensure they get the repect they deserve, anyone found abusing them would be banned from the forum indefinetly.

I am the law

logic1

Originally posted by azezil

i would ensure they get the repect they deserve, anyone found abusing them would be banned from the forum indefinetly.

I am the law

Give it a rest. A little power goes straight to some peoples heads.

.logic.

Kalina

Originally posted by swiss


I'll put this in simple terms
From the dictionary

Don't you think you are being extremely condescending putting up this link to a dictionary site???!!! I think people do understand what the word means!

I'd have to agree with Rev Hellfire- why cause a division when one isn't needed. What is the point of giving only those who have been "invited" write access to your board? You say you wish to stem the muppets that could stop people from posting but surely by restricting uninvited people from posting you will miss out on plenty of (hetrosexual and homosexual) people's interesting and valid opinions.

WhiteWashMan

if the faegs get their own board i want a straight board.
and i want to be mod of all the boards.
and it was all my idea
and look up stupidity in the dictionary while youre at it.....