Female input on this Forum

[Islandman]

In support of Chris his initiative to link up with the Indiana Atheist Bus Campaign (separate topic) to increase our user count as well as widening the range of discussions, I like to add an another point of view.

During the course of the past 4 month, Canadians (population est. 33,621,316) have donated $46,900.00 to the campaign in a phenomenal surge of support.
During these same 4 month, 140 people have registered as members/users of our website/forum.
However, the actual number of active participants, ie. those who continue the dialog and continue to post on the forum, is perhaps, say, 15 (?), perhaps 10 (?)
Which makes me wonder — why so few?
And then — am I a lone voice to mention that I have not seen much being contributed lately from a female point of view?
Or, more to the point: is this forum slowly being dominated by a male driven urge to shine — at the cost of participation by our women?
With all due respect, and sorry to mention it, but I suspect that as much as I enjoy the postings, I also think that there might be too much male exuberance being given free play here, at the cost off....

In terms of Chris his attempt to increase user count and widening the range of discussions, should we not also look to the inside and acknowledge that our female voices have stepped back?
And is this then to be The Way?

[Kiefer]

Males may be taking a more dominating voice, but I don't think that the forum has any sort of hindrance towards females. Simply put, we can't make females post more then males if they don't want to.

Personally, I'm more concerned with the diminishing number of Atheists of any gender on this forum.

[Chris]

Statistically, there are more male atheists then female. I am not sure why.

I agree with Kiefer, seems like there's only a few atheists left on this forum. Maybe I should spam the facebook group and send out an email to everyone registered on the forum.

[Penguin]

I agree with Kiefer, seems like there's only a few atheists left on this forum. Maybe I should spam the facebook group and send out an email to everyone registered on the forum.

I don't know if this relates to the lack of female input here, but a few things occurred to me about the lack of atheists:

- I think it's partly a matter of numbers. Once you get a certain "critical mass" of participating members, things become more or less self-sustaining. I think that people will stay here to post if there's engaging content, but there won't be engaging content unless people are staying here to post. I think the forum needs some sort of kick start, though I don't know what it should be. Getting the word out and bringing people here like you suggest should help, I think.

- I don't think the atheist bus campaign by itself really lends itself to a huge amount of discussion. The explicit message of the campaign is that there (probably) is no God; the implicit message is that this statement is a good one to make and to put on the side of a bus. That's really only enough for a couple of threads - what do people talk about once those issues have been settled (or, more likely, have come to an unsolvable impasse )? And why should they talk about it here instead of somewhere else? The ads get people here, but they don't keep people here.

[Adri]

Hi,

There always seems a lower percentage of women anywhere, when there is a technical aspect involved to communicating or the presentation of ideas. One reason is, of course, the difference between male and female minds. The more technical insight is required, the less females feel comfortable in that environment. The use of a computer is a case in point.

I have looked around forums a bit since coming here and the program used at, for instance, Craigslist seems more user friendly than this program. The difficulty I have is to remember and find the spot where I have made a post. When I ask for a list of my posts, it shows another index. I recently found out I can 'register' a topic and get an email if there is another post.
When on the total 'index' page I have on the top right six pages going back about as many days. What for? Maybe I should read the manual..

[Kiefer]

There always seems a lower percentage of women anywhere, when there is a technical aspect involved to communicating or the presentation of ideas. One reason is, of course, the difference between male and female minds. The more technical insight is required, the less females feel comfortable in that environment. The use of a computer is a case in point.

I'm not sure if you've got something to back that up, or if it's just sexist bull. Plenty of women feel perfectly comfortable in the use of electronics. Plenty of men are computer illiterate. For instance, my brother still doesn't understand how a forum works. My sister on the other hand does all the work on the Mac (I hate Macs and have boycotted helping with the POS).

[Penguin]

I'm on a couple of other religious discussion forums, and now that I think about it, the general trend holds there as well: the religious members tend to be evenly (or roughly evenly) split between male and female, but when it comes to atheists, the proportion tends to be quite heavily male. Maybe it'd be asking too much to try to buck what seems to be a general trend of the interwebs.

BTW - before I asked about what's left to do or say here once the ads themselves have been talked out. I think it might be worthwhile to have a look at an article on skeptic.com: What Do I Do Next? 105 Ways To Promote Skeptical Activism. I know that skepticism isn't atheism, but there's some overlap in terms of issues.

[scrog]

There's probably no Goddess. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

Just for fun try reading all those long, rambling, more-mystical-than-thou posts trying to explain why there is a god and replace the word god with goddess. What hebrew letters would you use?

Personally I read a lot more than I post largely because I'm on line at work, and while I have yet to see evidence of a god or goddess, I KNOW my boss exists and would prefer me to work. A lot of times I'm behind the time when I read a post, (again with the limited time issue) and somebody has already replied, usually with more patience than I have, along the same lines I would have. Thanks to Blondin, Kiefer, Skeptical Lynda and Palanski for those.

[metatron]

Scrog - Ha

[Adri]

Hi Kiefer,

Plenty of women feel perfectly comfortable in the use of electronics. Plenty of men..

You are talking about 'plenty', I'm talking about percentages. And the situation on this forum is backing me up.

Hi Scrog,
Don't worry, you will never, ever be presented with evidence that there is a god, that you cannot ignore, now, get back to work!