Topic: How do we get the women on board? - page 9. (Read 38449 times)

The internet is for porn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWEjvCRPrCo

Fun fact: the porn industry backed HD-DVD standard, and it lost. Porn is not as powerful a force as one might believe.

The internet exploded with pornography because it was, for the end consumer, very very cheap. Have you guys ever actually priced paying for pornography offline? Maybe it was just the store I wandered into out of morbid curiosity, but some of that crap was $40+ per video. Compare that to internet, and it's easy to see why there was a flood of pornography, though I don't think that helped with adoption of the internet.

The issue is that your complaint is only applicable to a subset. There's no data to prove that removing text porn links will lead to increased female participation in Bitcoin. If anything, early adopters regardless of gender, tend to be more adventurous and less likely to be bothered by something like a text link. Now if there was some animated porn gif which a person cannot help seeing once a page loads that you are objecting to, I would and I believe others too, would support your push to get those disallowed.

Just a note here, there are plenty respectable women out there that enjoy porn, and plenty prudish heterosexual males as well; you can't generalize all women feel the same way as you do just 'cause they got a vagina too, each individual woman is a separate person, not a carbon copy of a stereotype.

Thanks. I appreciate the tone and spirit of your post. I would like to address your assertion here:


First, I cannot believe that porn ALWAYS helps new technology. That is a very strong statement. I seriously doubt it influenced the light bulb or gasoline engine, just to name a couple things.

But in a spirit of honest inquiry I read the article you linked. I then located the actual source document used. It was an essay written in 1996 by a lawyer. He makes the general case you outline here. He has some books he referenced at the bottom of his article but I did not locate those. Here's the essay:

http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v49/no1/johnson.html

Frankly I'm not going to believe what he's saying without more research into his sources. I also find it interesting that his paper was written in 1996 yet nobody else has come forth with similar research.

In my search I located an interesting thread on snopes.com about the vhs vs. betamax issue. Here is what snopes had to say:

"Porn was predominantly put into VHS format because customers were already favoring that format, for all the familiar reasons (longer tapes, non-proprietary players, etc.).

Realistically, if the formats had been runnning neck-and-neck, why would producers of video material (porn or otherwise) have eliminated half their potential market right off the bat by opting to make their products available in only one format?

- snopes"


I agree.


Lord knows I am all for toleration. But it has to be applied across the board and in both directions. Toleration applied in one direction only is not toleration. In other words, when somebody has a legitimate complaint, such as mine about the porm ad in relation to increasing btc adoption among women, shouldn't my view be tolerated? Shouldn't others tolerate it when I'm saying something they don't want to hear? (especially when it could have a very positive impact on that one thing we all believe in, btc?)

I hate to even get into this, but have women, historically, ever been into gaming in any form? That's what bitcoin is...a game where you kill blocks instead of orcs. I don't know many women who play Halo, but you can hardly claim that the game in and of itself is somehow driving women away.

Look around. The proof is in the pudding. I don't know why it is the way it is.

LH66, you have made several good points.  This forum is pretty troll infested.  Why do you think bitcoin.org moved us into the ghetto?

However, I do take issue with your objection to *text* porn links in member's sigs.  Porn has ALWAYS helped new technology.  It spurred the adoption of the VHS player.  It certainly helped the internet become popular.  This article http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2002/mar/03/internetnews.observerfocus even argues it drove adoption of mobile phones.

Bitcoin is a liberating technology.  It frees us from government control.  This means a lot of things, but some of the things it means is we are free to spend it as we wish, on gambling, and donations to organizations the government would rather did not exist (wikileaks), and yes, on porn.

Also, many bitcoin supporters lean libertarian.  I am one.  A liberal-libertarian, but libertarian none the less. Libertarians HATE to be told what to do.  We especially hate it when it's the government doing the telling.  So, we love free speech.  That means that, if we want to say what we want to say, we must tolerate it when other people say things we don't want to hear.

That doesn't mean we can't argue with them.

I also would not recommend this forum to many of my friends.  There are a lot of asshats here.  But they are asshats to everyone.

Eventually, bitcoin will get a forum thats a lot less toll infested.  Some users are working on this one: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/30763/bitcoin-crypto-currency

Thanks

That's good to know, thank you, but that has not been  my experience here.


It makes me very sad to think that, as a woman, I have to keep defending my objection to porn advertisements, as if I'm some sort of anomaly. Regardless, my question remains: where are the women? Why aren't they here? MIGHT it have anything to do with the issues I mentioned?

I don't think women are given too much shit on this thread, save one particularly drama-and-insult-filled thread. I find myself holding back from trolling down on the people I know are women. Men want to protect women; it's their instinct if they are decent human beings.

LH66: Do women patronize gas stations and liquor stores where pornography is sold? It seems a fair analogy to merely the word porn appearing in someone's signature. You are taking quite a moral stance here, and I am not sure the rest of the world agrees with you.

(I think your apology is sincere, timmey, but allow me to address your statement below)

I'm going to nip this issue in the bud right now! Everything I do on this board is for the betterment of Bitcoin. I see no profits from the sale of these wallets. Yes, I comment on many thread and my signature is now seen. But I don't press the leather wallet issue in those threads, although I did do such for a very brief period of time, and because of a remark by another member, I ceased doing that. Now your remark will make me consider changing the font size a little. I am doing the same exact type of postings I did prior to developing the Bitcoin wallets--posting my thoughts, albeit sometimes weird.

I want to thank timmey for bringing this to my attention. I realize the mistake I made. Since I saw other advertising signatures using large fonts, I thought it was okay to do such. Although it's allowed, it may not be a good idea to follow those examples.

With that said, anybody want to buy a...

Bitcoin is still beta and isn't usable for average jane nor joe yet.

This article was posted today which is very apropos to this thread.  Futurity.org – Sex appeal: Women kiss science goodbye http://bit.ly/q6hMWk  < Not terribly surprising.

Two very practical examples:

1. There is NO way I would recommend to my female relatives or friends to come here to learn more about btc. No frickin' way. It is just not a safe place for women to be.

2. I won't recommend btc to them either, not at this time. There is no easy way for them to get into the btc market, and no easy way for them to store btc safely. Crimony my client still crashes regularly and I haven't figured out why. I would be embarassed to tell my friends to download it. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for it. But I can't recommend it to my female friends at this time.

Having said these things, I believe in the idea behind btc and that is why I am still here. But I know I'm unusual.

With every new technology there is this "How can we get more women on board?" step I don't understand.

Why should we?

I think this forum is for everyone, no matter if you are a man or a woman. You don't have to tell everyone "i am a man" or "i am a woman" to use it.

Boards are as abrasive as the board mods allow them to be. Take Tim Ferris, for example. He has a very active blog. It's not unusual for each of his posts to receive over 100 comments. All of them are respectful, even when they express an opposing view they are respectful. It's because he has a policy that everybody understands and is enforced. Trolls are removed immediately and disrespect is not tolerated.

I really does go back to the leadership. They set the tone.


I am only expressing how I feel when I see such things. I have reason to believe my feelings are shared by a broad segment of women, the specific segment that would make excellent btc adopters. Plus I made no comment on the person's posts, only his sig. As I said before, the current "strategy" for getting women to adopt btc is not working. Perhaps it's time for a new strategy, one that incorporates the needs and desires of the target demographic.

I think it boils down to personal sensitivity. Practically all my partners (and my country is more conservative than the States) had no problems with porn and would even suggest watching it together. Of course I suppose you might not consider the likes of a double-degree holding lawyer and bankers intelligent or business oriented but...

Also, is any woman here seriously being harrassed (the definition of which is debatable as well) for nothing except the fact she's a woman?

Thank you.  

LH66- I think these forums (as are most forums) are abrasive on all people, not specifically on women. However I do find your comment on the Bitcoin Porn signature a bit odd - for that member is very involved in these forums and I find his posts are usually compelling and thoughtful. I've never seen him post something derogatory. You may find his business objectionable, but he's not hurting anyone and isn't even posting lewd material in the forums.

I have porn advertisement in my signature too but I don't intend to offend anyone or harassed you. I do not use banners or oversized font size, my signature is far less annoying than Phinnaeus Gage's signature and his image spam posts in every thread to advertise his leather wallets. (Sorry Phinnaeus Gage   )
But I agree with you that this board isn't really made for women, it's a male nerd club.