I start this thread more to find out what others think than anything else. I know what my reaction was to the thread. And after some thought my feeling has not drastically changed. Allow me to explain.

I clicked on a thread recently entitled 'Women on the forum'. The link for it can be found here;

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...980#post198980

The basic jist is that Don seems to be looking for how many female lurkers and members we have and whether there is an opening for a female section. What got me in his first post was the (not idle as you will see) threat that posts by males will be deleted. You cant miss it, its in the first post in BIG HUGE BLACK LETTERS

Now my knee-jerk reaction to this was 'Hang on a minute thats grossly unfair'. Why would we start having ladies only threads? Despite Dons threat I did reply with the following post....

Posted:

I'm well aware that this post will be deleted but I feel I should point out anyone the unfairness of the nature of the thread. I see the purpose of it but what you wish it to do Don there are other ways to go about it. And to the ladies who read this thread before Don deletes it I have to ask- how would you feel if you clicked on a thread where the first post said 'Ladies dont post as your entries will just be deleted'?

Comment over. Feel free to delete this post Don. I'll speak to some of the other mods about it anyway.

Ciao.


End Post:

You wont find the post there. It has since been deleted by another mod. After this I went to flashchat where I met and spoke to said mod- Doc.

Doc read the thread and as expected deleted my post. He offered a range of comments- some more helpful than others (ranging from 'sometimes people need a place of their own' to 'do you wine about the ladies having their own restroom?')

Now I will offer you both sides of the argument as I see them. Firstly I can see that yes there will be ladies out there timid and not wanting to speak. I have spoken through PM to some ladies who have been members for months before plucking up courage to chat. I can see how this might be a difficult subject for them.

I also however see other arguments here. Its something about freedom of speech. A case of discrimination and equality. We wouldnt start threads where the first post restricted only men to post there? Or would we?

IMHO the beauty of a forum is that is inclusive and accepting. This is of course a gentlemans forum so you'd hope we would be accepting and welcoming! I spoke with doc and gugi about this and both seemed to not care (correct me if i'm wrong guys) but to me this seems an important issue.

I start this thread not to pick a fight or have an argument. I simply want to find out how others of you feel. I'd like to know how other mods feel about this issue. I would also be particularly interested to find out what the women of the forum think. And I think I can guarantee that your posts wont be deleted

It also came up that this might be a good opportunity to introduce private forums? Or thread restrictions? Perhaps thread limitations.... like you have to be a male/female to read/post in thread 'x'. Or you have to be a member for 'x' time before you can read post in the thread.....

Just some issues for you to think about. Let me know your opinions.