Munchies:
Then what, pray tell, should we do when users post harmful rhetoric?
Political correctness isn't even part of the situation. Political correctness is about things like "Is it better to say POC or BIPOC?"
The things people are pushing back about is misogeny, transphobia, homophobia, and racism - usually just the first two.
Read the messages again. No on cared that he wanted to fatten up his girlfriend. Heck, on this site, everyone would suppose him with that.
It was the non-consensual objectification and dehumanization of his actions that people had issues with.
I don't know if you are aware, but this site has a massive problem with treating women like people. If you look around the forums, you'll see men doing and saying some horrible things and women recounting their own nightmarish experiences.
I ask you what is more important to you? Letting people say things that make others - especially women - feel unsafe and leave the site in droves? Or would you rather women feel safe and stay on this site? Because if all the women leave, this place will become a sausage fest and the site will collapse.
I think what Hiccupx was saying is that if your default is hostility to anyone that doesn't fit your sensibilities, that will drive people from the site too.
I agree the site has a sex-ratio issue, but so do most dating sites and social forums. It's an internet issue and a human issue, not exclusively an FF issue.
Making a place that women feel safe is important, but driving away the core clientele for a business is also a mistake. It's got to be a balance.
Yes, the worst offenders need to be dealt with, flagged to mods. But going out of your way to be hostile to people posting general ideas and fantasies and questions isn't the answer either, I think, and I think you know that too, deep down inside, in spite of what your groupies parrot to you.
That post a couple months ago discussing what you'd like to see on a safe social forum was a great idea, but I have a different one for you: If you ran a site like this, on this internet, in this culture, with this species, how would you balance the safety of free expression with the safety of women? Would you suggest something like a split forum, one for shame-free expression, and one for a safer space in this genre and community? Would you be willing to moderate the latter? What are your thoughts? Because if you can find a better balance between those interests, I'm sure we'd all, non-sarcastically, appreciate hearing it.