Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself on RF?

[Dawnofhope]

The moderators have recently been discussing whether members feel welcome on RF. We want to better understand some aspects of our culture here and would appreciate your participation in a brief questionnaire.

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not?

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason?

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why?

This thread is for discussion, not debate. Thanks for your participation.

 

[Spirit of Light]

The moderators have recently been discussing whether members feel welcome on RF. We want to better understand some aspects of our culture here and would appreciate your participation in a brief questionnaire.

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not?

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason?

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why?

This thread is for discussion, not debate. Thanks for your participation.

Yes there have been times i feel (some) do not like my presense in RF, especially when my understanding of certain religion does not fit their own view, or they state my understanding is wrong because the scripture say a little different then what i say.

Do i feel free to express my self fully openly? No

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

One tricky area is talking about sex in the Sexuality board. I know that if I bring up certain subjects, it will likely cause other members to lose their footing so to speak, most likely, and cause the thread to be moved to a secret board. The consequence of it is if you have a thread moved to a secret board is, that your thread will only be viewable by a smaller public and less likely to get replies.

 

[JustGeorge]

Mostly, but it hasn't always been so. I had to watch other members and get a feel for what I could and couldn't say here. I am generally fairly good at figuring out how to word something so it is not offensive to anybody, but there are still some topics I wouldn't dare breach.

I just don't like anger. I've seen enough of it out in everyday life. Don't want to instigate it here.

 

[Vee]

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not? Most of the times, but since I'm also a mod I have to be extra careful and make sure I follow the rules. Ths business of giving a good example is hard sometimes

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason? Some participants make me less at ease with their unkind comments and quick judgements, but that's on an individual basis and has nothing to do with RF itself.

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why? JW are frequently judged based on information that is not accurate, rumors and misinformation. It makes me sad but that comes with the territory. Being different in this world always comes at a cost.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I do see this forum as being better than in 2019, personally. In 2019, I did encounter things like transphobia threads created only to stir things up. My experience here has improved 15%. Most of my issues exist not with others on the forum but myself learning to interact well.

 

[Windwalker]

I do not always fully express myself here, but that has more to do with me being comfortable and relaxed with myself as a person in general. Nothing the site can do to help with that. Carry on....

 

[Left Coast]

Mostly, but it hasn't always been so. I had to watch other members and get a feel for what I could and couldn't say here. I am generally fairly good at figuring out how to word something so it is not offensive to anybody, but there are still some topics I wouldn't dare breach.

I just don't like anger. I've seen enough of it out in everyday life. Don't want to instigate it here.

Hi JustGeorge,

May I ask, if you feel comfortable sharing, what general topics do you feel like you would not dare breach?

Please don't feel pressured to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. It would just be helpful to know more specifically what people are hesitant to bring up or be open about. Even general topic areas would be helpful.

 

[rocala]

Things are very much better than a few years ago. Then, open mockery of many posts was a common thing as was derailing posts. It seemed to me that many people were here because they, rather stupidly, thought they were comedians. I know that some people left because of it. I suspect many others were deterred from joining.

The present membership seem to be much nicer and more sensible.

 

[JustGeorge]

Politics!

I don't like either of the major parties, and while I toe the line here and there, I don't get too deeply into it, because I don't want to offend, or receive someone's anger, @Left Coast .

 

[Debater Slayer]

Thread featured for more visibility.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Yes there have been times i feel (some) do not like my presense in RF, especially when my understanding of certain religion does not fit their own view, or they state my understanding is wrong because the scripture say a little different then what i say.

Do i feel free to express my self fully openly? No

Thanks for your response @Amanaki . You have been through a few changes of belief while on RF... Buddhism, Falun Gong and more recently Islam. Has it been more difficult for you belonging to any one of these groups?

Would you provide an example without naming anyone in particular where you felt particularly unwelcome?

 

[Fool]

The moderators have recently been discussing whether members feel welcome on RF. We want to better understand some aspects of our culture here and would appreciate your participation in a brief questionnaire.

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not?

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason?

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why?

This thread is for discussion, not debate. Thanks for your participation.

moderators are human. not everyone is going to assimilate what is served on the buffet of subjects[i think fondly of @ChristineM and @Revoltingest when welcoming a new user] in this respect.

but those who come proselytizing shouldn't be surprised by the fact, that love is not a respecter of persons. love is not unique to a religion nor a political system.

so when anyone, including myself, isn't responding somewhere in the middle, they've become polarized and may need a reminder.

i'm okay with that.

 

[viole]

The moderators have recently been discussing whether members feel welcome on RF. We want to better understand some aspects of our culture here and would appreciate your participation in a brief questionnaire.

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not?

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason?

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why?

This thread is for discussion, not debate. Thanks for your participation.

No problem here.

ciao

- viole

 

[Dawnofhope]

One tricky area is talking about sex in the Sexuality board. I know that if I bring up certain subjects, it will likely cause other members to lose their footing so to speak, most likely, and cause the thread to be moved to a secret board. The consequence of it is if you have a thread moved to a secret board is, that your thread will only be viewable by a smaller public and less likely to get replies.

Sexuality is a broad topic and very personal one. I Are you aware of rules around adult content which may lead moderators to move material out of public view? Eg rule 5

RF Rules

 

[Nakosis]

The moderators have recently been discussing whether members feel welcome on RF. We want to better understand some aspects of our culture here and would appreciate your participation in a brief questionnaire.

Do you feel comfortable openly expressing yourself. Why or why not?

Has there ever been a time when you haven't felt welcome here, and what do you feel was the reason?

Are you part of a particular group that you feel is less welcomed and why?

This thread is for discussion, not debate. Thanks for your participation.

I'm fine with everything except politics. There is animosity, division and myopic views. A lack of tolerance in political views which there seems plenty of tolerance of religious views.

I try to avoid getting drawn into political discussions, though I still do. It might be nice to be able to select the categories of new threads we get notified of.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Sexuality is a broad topic and very personal one. I Are you aware of rules around adult content which may lead moderators to move material out of public view? Eg rule 5

RF Rules

I kind of am but thanks for the refresher.

 

[Rival]

It might be nice to be able to select the categories of new threads we get notified of.

XenForo does have the capability of essentially allowing a user to 'ignore' a whole forum area so to speak; so if you ignore the political area you won't see new political threads. We just don't have that, don't have the ability to implement it right now, and I think it costs. It's been discussed though and I'm for it.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I do see politics as being that elephant in the room myself. However, I think things will get less hostile in a month and a half, or a month, when we have the results of the American election. So I personally, am not going to make the suggestion myself that staff devote a ton of their resources to it.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Thanks for your response @Amanaki . You have been through a few changes of belief while on RF... Buddhism, Falun Gong and more recently Islam. Has it been more difficult for you belonging to any one of these groups?

Would you provide an example without naming anyone in particular where you felt particularly unwelcome?

Yes i had some changes in my belief this year. And maybe this is a reason i feel sometimes targeted by a very few members.

Example can be question about my understanding of Islam where my belief and understanding is more openly toward other religions then what some believe Islam should be or how my view about Allah being the God i follow but do not reject that other religions speak of different Gods.

Its like they want to tell me what i can and can not personally believe, because it does not fit their own view of Islam