So the mods on this site get their response in, then close the topic.

[Annoyingkid]

So Slip Knox comes in with a total non sequir to what I said to another poster using "Writing is about individuals" to support "Not all Men" logic, then some moderator in the Female Power fantasy topic, closes it and says "everything that can be said has been said". Erm, no? Not at all.

People spout the most amazingly sexist garbage on that subforum, yet when I call it out and debate it, all of a sudden "it's unproductive" and "nothing more needs to be said" and "lock it quick". The mods on this site are anti debate and are biased toward supporting sexist nonsense like the offensive "Man with boobs" trope. So let me get this straight, debating whether its even a legitimate trope is off topic in a topic about female power fantasy, but assuming it should be avoided and finding ways to avoid it is just fine? Ridiculous. Maybe you need more diversity on your staff.

 

[Sheilawisz]

The idea behind locking a heated thread is to avoid the escalation of personal attacks.

Debate is fine, but the line between productive debate and open conflict is very thin. That's why we often prefer to stop such situations by means of warnings and locking if necessary, before things get out of control.

Also, we have a long history of threads getting heated and derailed whenever that gender, sex and related issues are part of the debate.

I stand very firmly in support of the decisions taken by my fellow Mods regarding the recently locked thread.

 

[Annoyingkid]

Debate is fine, but the line between productive debate and open conflict is very thin. That's why we often prefer to stop such situations by means of warnings and locking if necessary, before things get out of control.

Really. That's why you let the numerous "Sjw Propaganda" rants and stuff like this: . Women in the 70's accurately noted that "men act like pigs" But because men and women are equal, instead of insisting that women rise above that, they decided that women should also act like pigs. And this infected hollywood. A man with boobs is exactly what it sounds like. The characters physical form is a woman, but instead of being written as a woman, the author writes a man and then adds sexy descriptors everywhere because politics.

And much more besides, stand, yet only shut it down when it gets challenged.

But yeah, I'm not wasting any more time. If you want the "SJW propaganda" rants then fine, go ahead.

 

[Sheilawisz]

Very few subjects of discussion are actually forbidden here in Mythic Scribes.

Most topics and thread discussions are fine, as long as people remain civil to each other. As I said before, debate and the challenging of ideas are alright, but we do not want a debate to turn into a fight and fights to transform into a storm.

Please remember that Argumentative and Hostile Behavior goes against the Forum rules.

We are not biased against you, this is just something that has happened before with a lot of similar threads.

Personally I am tired of threads like that one, and I do not even participate in them anymore.

 

[Annoyingkid]

Yes, and I have been part of each thread, and its happened in the same way.

I could list all of the amazingly offensive things I've had to debate against by simply going into my post history. With zero support from the mods.

So I'll just sum up this is how those threads go:
Poster - goes on about "man with boobs" and "sjw propaganda" and how "feminists are taking over and ruining stories".

That stands just fine.

I retort with the fact that nobody's talking about "women with phallus" thats not a thing, and list all the statistics and points that counter the claims of said poster.

And all of a sudden it's "too confrontational" too much "in danger of becoming a fight", "Too hostile"

And then the topic is swiftly locked.

So no, I don't agree. There is bias.

The denial of bias is part of the problem.

 

[Sheilawisz]

The troubles caused by that type of threads have been happening for a very long time, even since years before you joined this site.

Some of the Mods here (me included) have over seven years of experience moderating for Mythic Scribes, so when I say that we sense and know when a thread is going the wrong way, I really mean it.

If you feel that the Forum rules and staff are biased against you, then perhaps you need to find and join some other site.

We try to keep the community as peaceful and grudge-free as possible, all according to the Forum rules and guidelines.

 

[Devor]

I've been reviewing the thread in question. And to be honest I can see where you're coming from with this thread. It's not what happened, but I can see why it looks like there's some insipid anti-feminist bias in what happened.

The bias on our part isn't for or against SJWs or feminists or anybody else. It's against the kind of protracted conflict that tears apart our sense of community. That community is far more important to us than who wins an argument. I love that there are people here I disagree with in all sorts of ways, on these issues and others, and I would hate for them to feel unwelcome in any conversation I'm a part of. I know that the other mods feel the same way.

Unfortunately the way this plays out is that one person makes a single offensive post, and all of us take a collective deep breath to see how people reply.

I can recall a number of pro-SJW/feminist offensive rants that we let stand because people responded in ways that diffused the tension, usually including the person who posted the rant. People say offensive things sometimes. Everyone has. We have emotions, we have biases, we have baggage, and it would be impossibly unreasonable to expect people not to show it sometimes. It's what happens next that matters.

As for the subject itself, I rather feel a bit of contempt for the idea of viewing literature from the perspective of a power fantasy, and I wanted to lock the thread immediately years ago when it was first posted, and again when it was necroed. It's based on what I consider an outdated psychological model, relying on inflated academic jargon, and pointless for anyone not teaching to social commentary. It's a view that I think belittles both men and women as well as storytelling in general. And so, I tried not to engage with it.

:edit:

I realize that last paragraph didn't come out right. What I meant to say was, being perhaps unfairly jaded on the topic going in, I didn't think I was the right person to attempt to diffuse the tension directly.

 

[Black Dragon]

Annoyingkid, I understand your perspective. We do welcome open and genuine discussion, and even disagreements. However, the thread in question was going off the rails fast, and we wanted to stop things from escalating before they got out of hand.

I work as a professor, and one of my goals is to maintain an environment that is conducive to learning. I look at this community as a classroom: we are here to support and learn from one another. If a discussion turns toxic, it poisons the learning environment. When that happens, we have to put on the brakes before lasting damage is done.

Thank you for understanding, and for being a part of our community.