Requesting "Ladies Crag" forum

Random snippet:

...Always wondered if women found The Ladies Room to be useful there.

...I thought it was great. I could go to the community for dick jokes/shennanigans, and the Ladie's forum for actual real talk. There were several instances where users who would not post elsewhere in the forum would speak up in the ladies room.

Seems like a quick and easy thing the overlords here could add (and I nominate WW to moderate ;) ) FFS, if those pesky boulderers get their own forum, why can't we?

I dig it. 

Shelma Jun should be admin on “Ladies Crag”

Yes this should happen! I would definitely use it.

Or create a barbarian male stream and let there be a co-ed one that's free of harassment and mansplaining. 

....The fact that someone says it would be for sock sizing just goes to show why women want a place so they can actually discuss climbing versus dealing with the condescending men. 

Ted Pinson wrote:

Why? The forums are already incredibly stratified - what's wrong with one more? Especially when the members most directly impacted are requesting it? When there are versions of the same on other forums, most notably the rock climbing forum that originally had far more users than MP?

I’m just picturing the trolling that will take place if there’s not some way of actually regulating who posts in there.  And flabbergasted that it’s come to this.

The segregation and dissociation of knowledge on a forum intended on sharing knowledge and experience seems counterproductive.

I agree that women should have a place where they feel comfortable sharing online but this band aid fix for something that should be a larger conversation about rules, behavior, and contributor expectations in this community is ineffective and doesn't promote user growth. 

I have been active on other websites that enacted a similar "solution" and the result was the same in each instance; the ladies forum did become a place where women were comfortable posting, but the knowledge and experience available to them was atrophied and the website was no longer a resource for the users who were a part of the women specific forum.

We should, instead of creating a women's only forum, set clear guidelines for users behavior and have a system where users can provide feedback on other users within the community and administrators can ban, restrict, or monitor users who cause issues or do not abide by the behavioral guidelines.

If this is implemented, I'd suggest consideration of how its contents are displayed. I only browse the forums via the Latest Forum Posts view and rarely look at what sub-forum it comes from so might not notice that I went to a "Ladies Crag" topic. The RC.com counterpart that inspired this suggestion had the topics listed in blue instead of black as a visual indicator in their recent posts list. Maybe a toggle to turn them off like "For Sale / Wanted". Defaulted to off? Or default based on indicated gender in profile if provided? Or just excluded from the latest list and only shown if you specifically go to the sub forum?

That last option might be a pain to those looking to use the forum but prefer to browse via "latest".

This is a genuine question, not an argument against it...

What kinds of discussion would such a forum be used for?  Would it just be general conversation about anything under the sun, or would it be more like a sheltered place where woman can go to solicit and give advice to other woman about climbing practices (advice from men would obviously be unwelcome).  If it is the latter, I've got to say, I would probably find myself browsing through that forum fairly often.  The reason is simply that I'm sure there would be lots of useful advice in such a forum that I wouldn't want to miss out on.

Given that fact, If I (being male) were to ask a question in response to something in that forum would my presence be offensive?

Again this is not an argument.  I understand the importance of segregated spaces, and if i saw a group of woman chatting among themselves or climbing together, i'm not the kind of guy that would butt in.  But I tend to view MP and it's forums as a collaborative information resource, much like Wikipedia.  If useful information gets segregated according to the sex of the originator, it would seem to be an obstruction to the flow of that information.

On the other hand maybe there are lots of woman out there that would be more likely to post useful information if they thought that they were exclusively communicating with other woman.  Is this the case?  Would any of the ladies reading this post be more likely to provide climbing advice in a segregated forum?

climbing friend,

what about those trolling troll who pretend to be a woman in order online to make entrance into the forumz? There is no way you may certify your gender of which type of human you would be existing as through tubes of internet no?

also guise it is fine if the womenz want to form secret society, this is your america you do what you want (except provide affordable health insurance, reduce income inequality, reduce sexism racism homophobia xenophobia and so on, coexist peacefully, not constantly suborn mass shootings, not letting the corporationz write your law, etc.) do not be threatened if the womenz would like to hold secret meetings. it shows us all how unmanly and insecure you are

So far, only males have disagreed and/or posted derogatory comments. Not that some female might not come along and do just that. It's just really hard, as a long-time user and admin, to see someone suggest an idea, have it supported by people who would be included in that group express why it's necessary, just to have people outside that group (the vocal and statistical majority) tell them why it's not. Maybe it's hard to wrap your brain around why I created that thread in the first place, but if examples of its necessity keep slapping you in the face, it might be easier for your cognizance to just accept that the reason is real.

I support both more aggressive moderation and a Ladies Room. Given that I saw blowback from the freaking site icon, I doubt the latter will be received well -- but it'd be easier to implement.

As a woman I do not wish to be part of a "ladies only" forum. Others see the need for one and that's fine. Speaking only for myself I prefer to interact with the larger community. I'm part of a couple female climbing FB pages and prefer the conversations here. 

cyclestupor wrote:

This is a genuine question, not an argument against it...

Totally fair question. Here's a screen shot of the now defunct knob forum:

And then for me, personally, I have a month long backcountry trip next summer and I want to hear input on diva cups vs other brands vs thinx vs chemical menstrual treatment and how they all work on a wall, surrounded by dudes (I'm the only chick on the team).  I really don't feel like posting that question in the general forum here, and the rc.com thread on menstrual cups is form 2013 and there have been a zillion new brands since then. But I would feel comfortable posting it in a women's forum.

Edited to add - genuine advice from the wangs was not unwelcome. Lots of 'My wife did...she uses...' etc.

wonderwoman wrote:

Here is a sample of topics from now-defunct rockclimbing.com:

womens climbing days 

Maternity harness recommendations

Pregnant Climber

Any "old" ladies out there?

Recommendations for an ultra light rain jacket?

Makeshift pregnancy harness 

Ice climbing belay jackets 

Best place to boulder with a baby 

I'm here for my 5 year old, where do I start?

shorts for climbing 

Best way to find climbing partner? 

Are There Gender Differences in Risk Tolerance?

Do you have a climbing mentor?

climbing moms video 

Any Menstural cup users?

Climbing in just a sports bra? 

Any younger (teenage) female climbers in here?

It's like you're in my brain...

La MoMoFace wrote:

Totally fair question. Here's a screen shot of the now defunct knob forum:

And then for me, personally, I have a month long backcountry trip next summer and I want to hear input on diva cups vs other brands vs thinx vs chemical menstrual treatment and how they all work on a wall, surrounded by dudes (I'm the only chick on the team).  I really don't feel like posting that question in the general forum here, and the rc.com thread on menstrual cups is form 2013 and there have been a zillion new brands since then. But I would feel comfortable posting it in a women's forum.

Why?  I guess I’m not seeing how this would be any different from posting on the main forums.  Would the other users not be able to view/post in topics in this forum?  Would it be invite only?  I’m not trying to argue against it, just having trouble seeing how it would work.

I think this is a great idea and I would definitely utilize it. The examples given pretty much hit the nail on the head. 

For example; I would have previously never in-my-right-mind posed a "menstrual cup on back-country/ big wall/ etc trip" question in the current provided environment; but would love a means for reaching out to other women in this community about women-centered things. Also, I am pretty certain the moment menstruation was mentioned on this thread, most of the men "eating popcorn" and furiously attempting to make this about 'segregation' lost some momentum. 

Lets make this happen.   

Ted Pinson wrote:

Why?  I guess I’m not seeing how this would be any different from posting on the main forums.  Would the other users not be able to view/post in topics in this forum?  Would it be invite only?  I’m not trying to argue against it, just having trouble seeing how it would work.

Why is it more comfortable to post in a women's only forum? I don't have a very articulate or satisfying answer to that, it just feels better and, to use an overused cliche, 'safer'' (ugh, just gave myself shivers). Also, there is an assumption that such a forum would be heavily moderated. $5 I would post about periods in the general forum and within the first page I'd get something like: 

you know, real helpful and mature like. And, in a general forum, that is (and should be) allowed, regardless of how annoying it is. A ladies forum (to me) wouldn't allow the BS and would just get to business. That's how the RC one operated - like I said earlier, the only thing that site did right. 

I do belong to a great ladies outdoors facebook group that I can ask my questions to, but I wouldn't go to that group for technical climbing information so I'd rather hear from a climber chica about what she does and has experienced. I'd like to think that MP could garner a pool of highly qualified female climbers for discussions.