The Ladies' Lounge - REALLY?

[Grey Thumper]

I think the Ladies Lounge seems relatively un-busy not because men post there, but because the women on this board post anywhere they please; a rider is a rider after all. Most of the time (unless your avatar is pretty obvious) I don't know what gender a poster is anyway.

I don't think the Ladies Lounge is a relic though. Like it or not, there will be women-specific issues, the same way there will be, say, off road-rider, or classic bike rider-specific issues. But I suspect those boards aren't that busy either for similar reasons.

[Loonette]

This Ladies' Lounge was originally developed so that those of us who were interested could discuss issues that might seem geared more towards women without having to sift through other posts all over the forum site. There have been a few (a VERY few) inappropriate posts here in the past, but TotalMotorcycle and the mods have done a great job to make sure that those sorts of things do not continue.

I would hate to see a "ban" on men posting here, as often times they are merely sharing information that they feel may be beneficial to the ladies as a whole. And I totally agree with Grey Thumper... the women on this forum don't hang out only in the Ladies' Lounge - we spend most of our time elsewhere on the forums talking about what... oh yeah - BIKES!!!

Cheers,
Loonette

[BobK]

I thought it would be ok to post here because I ride a girls' bike.
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[Thumper]

I've hung out on boards where the Ladies' Lounge is password protected and women only, and it works. Women tend to talk about things they just don't when men are peeking in and replying...it's rarely motorcycle talk and can get very personal. Some pretty hard core friendships are formed there.

I've hung out on boards where the LL is open and everyone can participate, and it works. But the subjects under discussion are very different, rarely get personal, and tend to stay within the realm of m/c fodder.

It all depends on the climate of the board overall... If a forum is busy enough, where there is enough participation by women, closing it to men makes sense. But when there are only a handful of women who don't seem interested in closing it to men...why bother?

[totalmotorcycle]

I am new here and have been looking around a bit. I also belong to a Honda Rebel forum that has a lady rider group. Funny thing about the Rebel Lady Rider's group - no MEN are allowed to post there. It certainly makes a difference in who participates and what we discuss. Maybe this group is dying out because there seems to be as many men posting here as women. Goodness gracious!

Hi Big Red Rider and welcome to not only Total Motorcycle but also to the Ladies Lounge. The Ladies Lounge is one of the sub-forums I'm really proud of myself, it's been up for a little over 7 years now (longer than the majority of websites out there), and it's always been open, friendly and the guys respect the women posting here... sometimes we just can't help ourselves and post in here too, but it's just to add something (we feel as men) important to the discussion.

As it's been said, everyone can post everywhere and we have over 16,000 members, many are lady riders who have been helped by this sub forum. Sometimes it's busy, busy, other times, it's slower.

Feel free to start a topic or interesting discussion here anytime.

Mike

[JackoftheGreen]

I keep peeking in on this to see if the OP has responded and to see what the climate is like.

Despite the comments that have been made, the OPs statements could be called a 'motion' and Thumper's comments a couple posts above could be considered a 'second'. If the phpBB software is capable, I'd like to suggest a voting thread to query whether our women couterparts would like a password protected, female exclusive forum. I know several women have already posted to this thread saying such a thing isn't necessary, but there's no telling how they might have responded if they knew us apes wouldn't be checking in. (-:

Just a suggestion. I know the reason my wife and I prefer to ride alone is to avoid the 'sewing circle' drama that can come with a group -- I'd hate to think there are any women among our membership base who feel less free to praticipate for the same reason. How 'bout it Mike, doable?

[totalmotorcycle]

JackoftheGreen - I agree, it would be good to hear from the OP as she seems to not have replied yet.

About "password protecting the forum", there currently is no option for it in phpBB, only work arounds. I have tried to make public forums private in the past (like the Usergroup forums), but to honest they haven't been successful and a lot of work for not only myself to approve (or get a mod to do so) and for those to apply for the access. Thus, I appreciate the suggestion but it's worked very well as an open forum for 7 years already... much longer than most ladies forums have ever lasted and that's thanks to the friendly and helpful nature of TMW forum members.

Mike

[mogster]

I know several women have already posted to this thread saying such a thing isn't necessary, but there's no telling how they might have responded if they knew us apes wouldn't be checking in

But is the very fact that you boys are so nosy that makes it fun

[JackoftheGreen]

Mike, certainly if the software can't do it, it's not worth looking into. And if even the OP doesn't feel strongly enough about the topic to participate in the debate...

[dr_bar]

Yes, you can have your private conversations, just use the PM feature...