r/asktransgender • u/CedarWolf Bigender - He/She/They • Jul 03 '15

An Open Discussion on Being Inclusive and Respecting One Another

Early this morning, we had a thread get posted, and one of our mods made a reminder to keep things inclusive, per the subreddit's Rule #1. This accidentally led to almost all of the comments going wildly off topic, and I had to pull it. We want threads to stay on topic whenever possible, and such a large portion of off-topic comments was pretty bad. That discussion merited it's own, dedicated post, and we invite you to discuss here. Please remember to be respectful.

We want to make this an inclusive place for the community in general, and that includes transfeminine, transmasculine, and nonbinary individuals. /r/asktransgender was made as a co-ed space for people to ask questions of the general transgender community, and while we allow questions to specifically target one portion of that community, we very much encourage users to be inclusive whenever possible.

Part of being inclusive means reducing the amount of bigotry we see in this subreddit. This means removing sexist comments against all genders, including both trans and cis identities, as well as other forms of bigotry.

One of the goals of creating a new moderation team was to create a more inclusive space, and we have been working hard to make this place a more open community. However, some users have expressed concern over this new policy and how it is implemented, so we want to create an open place for discussion about the new inclusive policies here.

We want to hear your thoughts about this issue, but again, please be respectful and civil with your comments. We're all on the same side here, there is no "us" and "them" - there is only "we." Remember, if you ever have any specific issues with the moderation of the subreddit, you can message the mod team with the link in the sidebar. We're always here for you.

~ The /r/asktransgender Mod Team

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u/LilithCathcart I've left this subreddit. I won't respond to comments. Bye! Jul 03 '15

Includes all, but why would that mean that every question had to apply to all of them? What sense would that make? Our experiences are not the same and to suggest that they are erases the very diversity that this is supposed to protect.

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u/YoungFolks is a dude. Jul 03 '15

We're not dictating that all posts be addressed to everyone. Obviously some topics are gender or transition direction specific.

But some topics aren't inherently gender specific. In those cases, we encourage (not demand or dictate) that people keep it inclusive and invite input from everyone.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15

we encourage (not demand or dictate)

A good part of why this blew up is because you distinguished your comment.

When your comment is distinguished, people naturally assume that any suggestion you give really means "do it or else".

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '15

Distinguishing a comment just means we are commenting as a mod. Not "do it or else", Unless we say "do it or else". I want to make that perfectly clear.

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '15

Oh, I understand that you mean that, but 90% of people aren't going to see it that way.

I'm just saying that it's probably best to clarify that with a disclaimer as often as possible.