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Should the Gender Discussion forum be hidden? (feedback thread)


Gender Discussion forum  

48 members have voted

  1. 1. Gender Discussion forum

    • Have completely hidden to guests/non-members (e.g. (h)AVEN - no public threads or posts. Not visible for all AVEN members--restricted access)
      2
    • Have completely hidden to guests/non-members (e.g. Tea and Sympathy- no public threads or posts. Visible for all AVEN members.)
      17
    • Have, partially, hidden to guests/non-members (e.g. Intersectionality - public thread titles, hidden posts)
      8
    • Keep as is, publicly visible to guests/non-members
      20

This poll is closed to new votes


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Humm, i hoped i wouldn’t have to log in again for a once-upon-a-time checkup, but i want to say this.

On 11/3/2022 at 8:03 AM, LeChat said:

Also, it's possible there would be other, public options of helping promote a hidden Gender forum to others (i.e. guests/non-members) who might be interested in it or need it, like an Announcements thread about the new change; through members' discussions on the public forums about the hidden Gender forum; and, for example, someone like me, who'd be willing to help promote it in their signature.

 

Promoting AVEN links in a signature can be helpful and effective; as an example, out of the 80,000 total views the Welcome Lounge Forum Guide has had for several years, 30,000 were from the past year I've been an Admod, having it in my signature.

I don’t know how this goes for other people, but for me, it was important that i could see the content in order to join. It’s true that i haven’t seen many trans communities, but it really does make a difference. On the other hand, not everyone has to be like me wrt this stuff.

 

---

 

As for the main question, i support the idea of a closed sub-section or something along the lines, and keeping the existing category visible for everyone.

 

My (very selfish, i know) additional arguments would be that i don’t really want to log in for a random checkup (cos that means dealing with notifications and whatnot), and when i want to show a thread to someone, i don’t really want them to know my username.

 

(about to log off and go away again, so there’s little point in listening to me)

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If you (as in the mod team) decide that certain parts of the gender sub forum should be hidden. Will be needed to ask for access for entry then? Because you all no my stand of having access to more places/information then everyone else stand. 

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9 hours ago, Kimmie. said:

If you (as in the mod team) decide that certain parts of the gender sub forum should be hidden. Will be needed to ask for access for entry then? Because you all no my stand of having access to more places/information then everyone else stand. 

That's part of the poll options.

One option, which I don't favor myself as an individual, is to make it special access, similar to how h(AVEN) works now. In that scenario each individual member would have to request access. 

Another option is to make it non-public, which would allow anyone who is a member of AVEN and is signed into AVEN to see it, similar to how most other non-public sections are, such as Hot Box. 

 

I have my own opinions on all of this, but I'm trying to listen to you all and trying to not sway you to my opinions on it.

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3 minutes ago, daveb said:

Another option is to make it non-public, which would allow anyone who is a member of AVEN and is signed into AVEN to see it, similar to how most other non-public sections are, such as Hot Box. 

But non members can still see the tap/button right? Like how it is for a regular member and the backroom forums?

Like the Avenues and Q&A ?

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2 minutes ago, Kimmie. said:

But non members can still see the tap/button right? Like how it is for a regular member and the backroom forums?

Like the Avenues and Q&A ?

There are different options there, too. Forums can be totally public. They can be totally hidden. They can be partially hidden - showing the forum, but not the contents, for example. You could try it out yourself by seeing how the forums look and what access you have when not logged in vs when you are logged in.

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5 minutes ago, daveb said:

There are different options there, too. Forums can be totally public. They can be totally hidden. They can be partially hidden - showing the forum, but not the contents, for example. You could try it out yourself by seeing how the forums look and what access you have when not logged in vs when you are logged in.

Just tried it with a incognito tab and that was interesting had no idea that hotbox was hidden. Thanks for the information. And thank you for taking your time with me.

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WhiteCatandcherries

Okay, so I understand that I am not fully the target demographic of this question as I am neither trans nor questioning, and also that the Gender Discussion Forum should first and foremost be a safe space for trans and questioning people - If that means I don't have access so be it. I do however like to read threads in the forum because although I have ended up concluding that I cis, I have had varying relationships to my gender throughout my life and I still think about how I experience it now and like to learn from the discussions going on here. If the forum end up being fully restricted, would I still be able to access it or would it be an only trans + questioning space?

 

Edit: I have not voted as I don't really think it is my place to do so. 

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9 minutes ago, WhiteCatandcherries said:

Okay, so I understand that I am not fully the target demographic of this question as I am neither trans nor questioning, and also that the Gender Discussion Forum should first and foremost be a safe space for trans and questioning people - If that means I don't have access so be it. I do however like to read threads in the forum because although I have ended up concluding that I cis, I have had varying relationships to my gender throughout my life and I still think about how I experience it now and like to learn from the discussions going on here. If the forum end up being fully restricted, would I still be able to access it or would it be an only trans + questioning space?

 

Edit: I have not voted as I don't really think it is my place to do so. 

You have a member account so you'd still be able to see it. At least, if it's the common option like with Tea and Sympathy.

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WhiteCatandcherries
2 minutes ago, Sarah-Sylvia said:

You have a member account so you'd still be able to see it. At least, if it's the common option like with Tea and Sympathy.

Okay, thank you 🙂

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I don't like the first option at all. If you make the gender forum similar to (h)AVEN, does that mean no one who isn't part of that special access group can post anything about gender? Where would we post about it? Off-A? And how do you decide who gets access? As asexuals, a lot of us already deal with not feeling like we're "enough" to fit into LGBT groups. You don't need to do that on a site that's supposed to our safe space. 

 

A lot of people come to this site because they're questioning their sexuality, but then later begin to question their gender. That was the case for me. If you hide the gender forum from regular members, people like me wouldn't have the opportunity to learn more about that topic and explore that part of our identities. 

 

Between the other three options I really don't care. But if you choose the first option, honestly that kinda ruins AVEN for me. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think it should be kept as is. I don't know about other people, but there are multiple places that I only really visit when I need to feel that other people experience the same things sometimes...

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Hi, everyone.

Thank you, for your feedback and for voting.

 

This is just an early head's up to let everyone know that the poll will be closed on Thursday, December 1st, in case anyone else might be interested in voting. Then, Admods will consider the next step, based on everyone's input here.

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Ruru+Saphhy=Garnet

I think it should be kept as is. If something must change, however, then  have it  partially hidden to guests/non-members.

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I'm inclined to favor keeping it visible, which allows people to look through for information or check it out before signing it up. I'm not aware of any incidents that have happened, so if there have been any, that could certainly be a reason for more security.

 

I certainly wouldn't want the first option. This thread was the first I was aware of (h)AVEN even existing, and I'm still not sure what it is, so unless there was something made quite obvious about the existence of the Gender Discussion forum and how to gain access I think that would cut down on access to it for a lot of people who might benefit from it otherwise. I know I used to lurk around the Gender Discussion forum when I didn't feel I had things figured out enough to post in it (I know I could have, that was just me), and I doubt I would've requested access to a hidden forum for that. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

I could see either of the other two options, especially if there have been problems lately.

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