I realize that a community I’m on has a “graduate level” area. This is not because they’re discussing hard topics, but because they are an alternative fashion community and it gets exhausting to constantly on-board newbies to “what is this fashion style?” or “where do I buy cheap skirts?” when you want to talk about more nuanced topics like “when is this new release from this brand going to drop?”
So I think that the need for separate areas is important for preserving emotional labor (especially when ignorant folks are likely to perpetuate microaggressions) is important for many communities.
This feels accurate. There were some threads (the initial fatphobia thread I believe) where I followed along at first because I wanted to learn more but because it was 401 level I felt like I was struggling to keep up and eventually got overwhelmed - not just with the thread but also general life stuff - and had to stop following it.
I like the idea of having locked educational threads stickied in a new section and a link at the end to the relevant ELI5 thread if someone has more questions, then another thread (section? Trying to make sure it’s navigable for newbies so it’s easy to find but people also don’t accidentally find the 401 before the 101) with the more advanced, nuanced conversation can happen. And maybe the 401 threads should have rules at the beginning outlining conduct to make it more obvious that this isn’t the basics area but given how the forum operates it can be easy to miss initial posts sometimes I think and just see the more recent posts in a much longer thread.
Oh and this is going back in this conversation a bit, but I didn’t realize OMD had guidelines because it’s been so long since I signed up. Over on reddit several subs I’ve seen have it permanently on the right, we don’t necessarily need to copy that but maybe have a simpler version (“Be excellent unto each other”) [edit - to be clear I don’t think it has to be these words specifically, just giving an example of something short we can all aspire to] and then a link to the longer version that’s easier to find. I glanced at the main page just now to figure out where they were and didn’t see how to get to them.
I’ll take a quick shake at some things. I can also compile from other folk’s contributions into a single doc if that’s wanted.
Long List
ELI5 - “Explain Like I Am 5” Asking for the least complicated explanation, like if you were talking to a 5-year-old.
Queer - Umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people, or a vague identity term regarding gender or sexuality. Can be offensive - was historically a slur, has recently been reclaimed by some people in the LGBTQ+ community.
LGBTQ+/GLBT/LGBT/LGBTQIAA - Terms appropriate for the community of people who are not cisgender and heterosexual. Each letter corresponds to a different identity.
G - Gay
L - Lesbian
B - Bisexual
T - Transgender or Two Spirit
Q - Queer or Questioning
I - Intersex
A - Asexual
A - Ally
There are many variations and these terms are usually ever evolving.
Gay - When a man is sexually attracted to other men OR when a person is sexually attracted to people who are not the same gender as them OR an umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community
Lesbian - Women who are attracted to other women OR anyone other than cisgender men attracted to women
Bisexual - Someone attracted to men and women OR someone attracted to people of more than one gender
Transgender - Someone whose gender identity does not align with the gender they were assigned
Cisgender - Someone whose gender identity does align with the gender they were assigned
Two Spirit - Someone who is Indigenous and has both masculine and feminine traits, can also be an umbrella term for Indigenous folks who in Western colonial culture would be under the queer umbrella term
Uh I’ve actually been doing that for the last 14 minutes instead of working, lol, and was about to ask about LGBTQ+ stuff to add so thank you @Illathrael !
Let’s see how copy+paste goes:
Rough draft
ELI5 - explain like I’m 5. Used when you want someone to explain something the simplest way possible.
+1 - Adding your support to a previous or quoted statement.
TW - Trigger warning. Warns the audience that the following media may be triggering for things such as, but not limited to, eating disorders, self harm/injury, bipolar, domestic violence, etc.
CW - Content warning. Act similarly to a trigger warning (TW) but for content that is not as graphic or that is mentioned only in passing.
BIL - Brother-In-Law
Gaslighting - Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which information is twisted or spun, selectively omitted to favor the abuser, or false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity. More info here.
SIL - Sister-In-Law
FIL - Father-In-Law
MIL - Mother-In-Law
AFAIK - As far as I know
AFK - away from keyboard
ATM - at the moment
FWIW - For what it’s worth
GF - girlfriend
BF - boyfriend
SO - significant other. Gender neutral indicator for one’s partner, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, etc.
IIRC - if I remember correctly
IMHO - in my humble opinion
LDR - long distance relationship
NBD - no big deal
NSFW - not safe for work.
OP - original post/original poster
OTOH - on the other hand
TIL - today I learned
TL;DR - too long; didn’t read. Used by someone who wrote a large post/article/whatever to show a brief summary of their post as it might be too long.
This is a helpful list. One thing I’ve noticed about this forum is that many people identify as queer. As a hetero/cis person, I’ve shied away from using that word unless people self-identify that way. Is that a preferred word on this forum, if we know someone is LGBTQ but not specifically how they identify, or is it a word that should be avoided by those who are not LGBTQ due to it’s historical nature as a slur, if it not expressed as the preference of an individual?
I actually just use CW and TW interchangably not to specify graphicness of content. I switched to content warning because…well, the word “trigger” started to be a lynchpin.
Yup, generally always follow the lead for ANY labels for someone’s sexuality or gender identity. It’s a fraught discussion in the LGBTQIA++ community for the reasons you mentioned
In the “professional” spaces I’ve been in, it is okay to use if you identify as queer (I do). It is okay to use for a specific person who identifies as queer (“Illathrael’s queer and uses they/them and she/her pronouns.”). It is okay to use in education materials to explain terminology.
I hope and anticipate that as time goes on it will be available for everyone to use in a positive light. I do avoid using the term with new groups. I’ll identity myself as queer, explain that I understand the word is uncomfortable for some so I’ll not use it going forward.
Any idea how frequently a mod would be expected to check? Like I’m basically on the forums all day but sometimes I need to sleep, or make food, or run an errand.
I would expect modding to be flagging based and responding to flags, not stalking threads and reading every darn thing.
In which case you can set up alerts for flags/DMs to your email. So I assume… every few hours? We’ll have to work that out. Prior to this most recent discussion kicking off, I got at most a few flags a week. Even at the peak of this, it was about 5 a day.
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