Random Wrestling Thoughts (Part 2)

Omackeral wrote: »

I can see the non in-ring diva thread becoming “problematic” in the current climate

Insect Overlord wrote: »

I was about to agree with you, but then remembered that a lot of the pictures in it come from the women's own Instagram accounts. They're sharing the photographs/videos themselves.

leggo wrote: »

But Boards hasn’t adjusted to the times and so we’re left with ‘an effective way people can discuss their interests’ married with ‘populated by people/behaviour that drives people away from it’. So while nobody is going to stop you if mods aren’t cracking down on it and people aren’t naturally growing out of that attitude, you’ll see it in stuff like 0 women posters and other users just abandoning ship altogether. Which is exactly what’s happening.

Its hard to respond to this either specifically as a mod or a poster. I'm also well aware that I'm coming at this from an angle where as a guy, I'm open to the fact I could be exposing my ignorance on the issue. Given BH and Jay have responded already, I don't want this to look like mods lumping on, so this post really is more as a poster than mod. Cause I think there's a fair point being discussed (provided people can stay away from attacking posters and stick to the discussion in a calm manner).

And it's probably going to be some random thoughts plugged into a single post.

With that specific thread, I do find it can be a tad creepy. I've never been one of "those" guys who enjoys talking with other guys about women, in that manner. "Hey lads, let's all have a discussion about the size of this woman's boobs!" The "locker room talk" has never been something I've been massively comfortable with.

On the other hand, it's a fair point to raise that the vast majority of the posts in such threads are professional photoshoots and pictures that the women involved share themselves. And its hard to deny that guys and girls enjoy looking at pictures of whatever they are attracted too. Wrestling, and the entertainment industry in general, is massively driven by titillation and sexualisation.

I don't think it's a "boards.ie" issue only; I think there's an arguement that Reddit (as an example) separates those sorts of things off more. The nature of Reddit, as opposed to the nature of Boards.ie, is that there's 100 sub-reddits dedicated to various aspects of wrestling alone.

So yeah, you've got "Squared Circle", where there's more serious discussion of news, spoilers, events. You've also got dedicated sub-reddits to the various men and women, and if you think the thread on here is creepy, some of the people posting in those go so far beyond that, it's scary. You've got "stans" on Twitter who are obsessed to a level of being stalkers. You've got instagram accounts where people are sending dick pics around. This isn't a massive defense of boards.ie. It's more that internet culture, by and large, exposes a lot of creepy elements. Its an internet level issue, not just one specific to here.

With regards the thread in question, I can't say I have much interest in participating. But I also think that if there's some that want to, within certain reason, then it's not nessecarily up to me (as a mod) to police to THAT extent. (Now, leaks should be a no-no. Candids too, too an extent. Professional photoshoots and stuff though, that the wrestlers involved have put themselves voluntarily into the public sphere is a different issue though, at least in my opinion).

Now, thats not a hill i'd die on at all. If there was a massive thought to bin the thread, I'd as happily bin it. It's not that such a thread adds much at all.

And I'll happily apologize if anyone feels that is facilitating poor behaviour that leads to larger problems. I'll happily apologize if a consensus forms that a thread like that turns people off the forum as a whole.

I'd just currently be of the opinion that while i'm not massively comfortable talking like that about people like that, I don't think an over-sterilization of the internet is possible or sensible. In fact, I'd worry trying to argue to that level actually can hinder the overall issues, because all it does is goes to an extreme that it will turn people off recognizing the genuinely horrific issues before us. It's the same as the banning of certain episodes of Faulty Towers; it's going to such an extreme in dealing with the issue that it blows right past what the issues actually are, and puts people off actually engaging positively.