...do they decide this site isn't for them?
Any feedback on this? It's not as offensive as some other sites, yet it's a bit of a bachelor pad really.
Do we drive the ladies away or...
Before deciding whether or not women are being driven away, we first have to establish that women are (in any numbers) joining, participating actively for a time and suddenly disappearing.
If that's happening, we then have to decide whether or not it's something that happens more often (proportionately) with women than with men.
If the answer to both questions is "yes", only then might we usefully begin to ask ourselves why it's happening.
My feeling is, however, that the answer to both questions is "no".
Does anybody have any data?
Quote: Rood Eye @ 5th July 2019, 8:03 AMDoes anybody have any data?
Since when have you needed data to make a point. 
Quote: Paul Wimsett @ 5th July 2019, 6:54 AM...do they decide this site isn't for them?
Any feedback on this? It's not as offensive as some other sites, yet it's a bit of a bachelor pad really.
I remember when I first joined here it was quite a diverse community, now it's a bit...well, not diverse. Which is a shame as it seemed more fun back when there were a lot of different voices. That said, I have no clue what the reason is.
I used different forums in the past I noticed on all forums that some posters just disappeared for whatever reason
Last time I popped in
I went on the Only connect thread thinking there might be a question to have a go at, might be fun
The whole page seemed to be dragging up an old argument about some old question
I don't think its just the women who get put off
A group of women leaving BCG: they're so desperate to escape, they've run right through the wall!
Whatever we said, whatever we did,
We didn't mean it.
We just want you back for good.
(Want you back, want you back, want you back for good)
Whenever we're wrong,
Just tell us the song and we'll sing it.
You'll be right and understood.
(Want you back, want you back, want you back for good)
We want you back for good.
Quote: Steve Sunshine @ 5th July 2019, 1:17 PMI don't think its just the women who get put off
All right, it's not a competition!
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
Fremder, étranger, stranger
Glücklich zu sehen
Je suis enchanté
Happy to see you
Bleibe, reste, stay
Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome
In BCG, au BCG, to BCG!
Leave your troubles outside.
So life is disappointing, forget it!
In here life is beautiful.
The women (although few) are beautiful.
Even the moderators are beautiful.
Outside it is windy, but in here it is so hot!
Every night we have the battle to keep the members from abandoning
all semblance of civilisation. So don't go away.
Who knows? Tonight we may lose the battle!
I used to frequent a Snooker forum and around 2006 it had a lot of female members and if someone started a new thread for a game or bit of off topic fun it got a lot of activity. Now there are no female members visiting there anymore. Or at least there are no female members posting in the forums anymore. I don't know why because the place is still as friendly and well moderated as it was in 2006. No-one ever scolded you for having a different opinion to them. No-one ever laughed at you for having different tastes to them. Not sure what point I'm trying to make or even if there is a point. It can be very quiet here and sometimes can go 24 hours without a new post so maybe some people (irrespective of their biological gender) stop coming back because of that. Maybe the subforums should start having some threads stickied to generate more posts and prevent them slipping in to oblivion. More 'just for fun' threads as well because game threads are always enjoyable to get involved in.
It's probably because of the constant bullshit posts by a member.
Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 5th July 2019, 4:16 PMIt can be very quiet here and sometimes can go 24 hours without a new post so maybe some people (irrespective of their biological gender) stop coming back because of that.
24 hours without a new post?
I can't remember ever noticing that.
Perhaps I should pay more attention.
With regard to the frequency of posting, as might be expected in the case of a predominantly British membership, the rate of posting tends to drop off as people's bedtimes approach and then picks up again shortly after people's getting-up times and then picks up again after people's getting home from work times.
Of course, we have contributors from America and Australia and other countries in Europe whose watches are not set to British time and so there are often postings during the hours when the average British resident is asleep.
All in all, it doesn't seem as if the active membership has decreased significantly in recent times.
There have been some marvellous contributions to the "Larks" thread recently: I doubt whether any pro/am comedy forum in the world has funnier material in it.
When a man (or woman) is tired of the BCG, he/she is tired of life; for there is in the BCG all that life can afford.
What happened to Old Lady Leg? I thought it was a bit off that people kept badgering her in the Ghosts thread for comitting the heinous crime of actually liking a comedy show. Constantly asking her to explain exactly what jokes made her laugh and why.
Quote: chipolata @ 5th July 2019, 5:17 PMWhat happened to Old Lady Leg? I thought it was a bit off that people kept badgering her in the Ghosts thread for comitting the heinous crime of actually liking a comedy show. Constantly asking her to explain exactly what jokes made her laugh and why.
As I recall, one person asked her to explain her fondness for "Ghosts" but I don't recall any subsequent badgering. It's the sort of question that has been put a great many times by and to a great many people on BCG. I don't recall it ever causing offence before.
She was a very active poster but now she's been absent for about six weeks.
There are countless possible reasons for her absence but I doubt very much that she was unable to face the prospect of sharing BCG with people whose views on this, that or the other differed from her own.
Surely, she was made of sterner stuff?
Whatever her reason for being absent, I can't remember another usually-active woman poster who has suddenly absented herself in modern times.
Can anybody think of any others?
Good point chipolata. There have also been too many threads intermating that female stand ups aren't any good. Very rood threads, like one about Hannah Gadsby not being funny and just being an angry lesbian. It was taken down, but the same poster has continually taken pot shots at various other female comedians. It's hostile, non inclusive and devoid of comedy and wit. This is a comedy site, isn't it?
BTW Hanna is one of the funniest comedians to come out of Australia since Jim Jefferies, I'd highly recommend her.
Hi all. For the record, across the whole of comedy.co.uk the gender divide of visitors always remains around 50/50, but - yes - that's not reflected in the forums right now!
Whilst I wouldn't want to take this off the question Paul posed at the top - I think this other point is perhaps related: right now, it's notable that we're not getting many new members joining in forum discussions and then staying around to continue to post, of any gender!
As some of you know (as you've had PMs from me), in the last fortnight I've started a bit of a campaign to try and make sure the forums are friendly and welcoming. I'm trying to edge us away from the more controversial subjects too (I'm all for free speech, but this site is primarily supposed to be about nice happy comedy-related stuff. Let's remember the site's title)...
I think over the last year or two some members kind of got comfortable with saying anything on here, but hopefully everyone can be a bit more mindful from this point forward about how things might come across to the wider world (particularly remembering newcomers might not know your personality, and thus miss what is sarcasm, etc)... so hopefully we're heading in the right direction again now.
If all BCG 'veterans' can be welcome and inclusive of newcomers when they join in discussions, and think about whether their comments are conducive to encouraging members to be 'brave' enough to make their first post to begin with, I'm sure we'll be able to start to build the forum membership back up, and thus all get more interesting opinions and comments to read in the process.
I'll be reminding people (via private PM) from now on if they forget the above! On that topic, if you see a post/comment that you don't think should be on here, please don't challenge in public (spats are another thing that's not helpful to encouraging newcomers in)... either press the report button or PM me, and I'll look into it quickly. Several posts have been deleted in the last week via this method (the authors doing it themselves, having come to realise their words weren't helpful), so it is working.
We'll get there!