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Addressing the dialogue from last week that has worked its way into this week. Let’s do this.
1. I asked our remotes if anyone participated in IWD, and if so, would they like to write about it. Obviously, that happened. It’s not indicative of a SJW takeover of the site. It’s more about documenting a major event that happened which was relevant to a large portion of our audience. We’re a lifestyle blog with a diverse audience. There are going to be things covered and written about that don’t apply to everyone. Feel free to skip over those articles, or stop reading the site altogether.
2. I don’t care if you thought IWD was lame. I really don’t care if you make jokes about it in our comments. It’s the aggressive nature and personal attacks that aren’t tolerated.
3. On a “What’s For Dinner” post, I responded to a comment that I deemed aggressive. In the past, we’ve deleted those, but as I stated, I wanted to make it known we weren’t tolerating that stuff. By that stuff I mean aggressively sexual and creepy. Anytime I have multiple people reaching out to me via email and DM to tell me why they are unlikely to write or comment on the site because of the way female writers/commenters are treated, I have to see what the issue is.
4. A lot of you weren’t happy. There have been arguments against us (shouts to #teamfuckdave), our content and websites that we don’t work on being tossed our way to show how we are being hypocrites. I found this to be particularly interesting. The thought that “the people who publish ‘things girls do’ can’t start telling us what’s sexist and what’s not (paraphrasing)” or “but you guys publish TFM Girls” were two that I saw. First, what happens on TFM isn’t my call, but what happens on PGP is. We have a good balance of content poking fun at both genders. In the past, we didn’t, and I occasionally heard criticisms from people whose opinions I respect that we should change that if we want to make the site more friendly for female readers. They were right.
Second, we’ve had controversial content go up that, upon review, was in poor taste. The one cited most is the breastfeeding article that Will decided to pull down himself. In retrospect, it was a bad look, and we learned from it. Will, who puts out more content than anyone in the company, had a bad take. It’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to evolve on a subject or chime in when something on the site that he helps run needs to be addressed.
5. We’re going to continue posting the same content we always have. There’s no directive from George Soros and Gloria Allred telling us to be more PC. The content will continue to be provocative. Therefore, provocative comments will be too, unless you’re harassing people. Just use your head. If you wouldn’t say it to someone at a bar, where there is no mask of anonymity, maybe don’t post it.
I haven’t banned anyone in a very long time. I see a lot of names speaking up that have been around for a long time, and I hope we don’t lose you. But if you have a problem with us making this site more friendly for female fans, or that we’re posting more female content, this may not be the place for you. Hope we can still have fun together..
Respond
Dave
Lawyer. Writer. Dude doing business. I'm the meatloaf guy from tv.
@dcarterruff
@dcruff
dcarterruff
david@grandex.co
Any negative commenters are FAKE news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, the people want security and extreme comment vetting. Deserve clarity. Now failing professional protesters, incited by the media, are upset. VERY unfair!
Sad!
Thanks for putting this out there, Dave. The lady remotes appreciate Grandex having our backs. You’re the goat.
What is up?
Nice
This is fucking gold
C’mon man… really?
Be careful what you recommend, you’d be shocked at what I’ve been willing to say at a bar #NotMySup
“You wanna go do hand stuff in the bathroom?”
As a long time female reader who rarely comments specifically because of the reasons you mentioned in this article, thank you. Sincerely.
A lil late to the party but just made an account so I could second this. I’ve been reading PGP for years, long before I even graduated (deal closers don’t have age limits) and have never commented before now. The justifications here shouldn’t be necessary, but are so appreciated.
Everyone should be able to be made fun of equally. That’s all I want. Good post Dave.
That’s why you’re the best boss in the business Crime Dog.
Does this mean no more Stock Photo Girl of The Day?
No, it means Best better keep up with her “Stock Photo Stud of the Day” to balance it out. That was gold Best, keep em coming!
I’m a girl who still gets a laugh out of Stock Photo Girl, so please keep them coming.
“Sup” is just an overplayed joke that was funny for a bit but needs to be used a lot more sparingly and appropriately. And I will agree the comment from what’s for dinner was way over the line and not funny.
I’m just glad you’ve started a dialogue. That’s really all that matters.
I think we can police that pretty well ourselves by downvoting the non-funny sups. There’s definitely an art to throwing one out that’s lost on many people, and there’s definitely times when it actually is funny when the timing is right.
This. I’ve heard that a lot of people DM or email Dave when they feel upset or offended. It would be nice if they also just replied to comments that made them feel uncomfortable. I feel like we’re adult enough to own our shit and learn from it.
This really would have been / will be the most effective policing of inappropriate sup’s. To use Dave’s analogy, if a girl gets offended at a bar the first step isn’t getting the bouncer, it’s telling the dude to fuck off.
I agree with this as well, as long as that female giving a “fuck off” isn’t downvoted. Not saying that’s happened, just a general comment.
To ClayFromAccounting, I agree with that. I posted a comment and TheCastingCouch replied with a sup, and it got downvoted. I took that to mean I have some respect from y’all (maybe no one thought of it like that but I like to think so).
I agree, that’s more or less what I’m saying.
My take on “Sup?” was always that it’s so lame that it’s funny. Maybe I airmailed that one?
I feel like you’re right in a sense. It’s just overused in too many situations. It’s lost the humor in it. I’m all for using it in a funny spot though. Could any female commenters give us their take on this?
The “Sup?” stuff doesn’t bother me, because it was funny, but I think it was a gateway for the overly sexual comments to start. Those have definitely gotten worse recently and need to stop.
I think the annoying and unfunny use of “sup?” is when it is clearly thrown out only because the recipient of the sup (the sup-ee?) is female. It reminds me of the nerdy parts of the Internet where people freak out because one of the users happens to be a girl (relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/322/ )
Good point. I think maybe I just have a soft spot for some of the “sup”ping since I’ve actually met some great friends from it
I think “sup?” is ok but yeah, there is an art to throwing it out at the right time. But I agree that it’s usually so lame that it’s funny, so “sup” away guys.
Based Dave
Thanks, boss.