There's a truckload of erudite, intellectual scary bastards in these parts. People who pick apart arguments for a living, if you will.

Ummm... well... guilty.

But, that doesn't make me any less scared about posting comments.! I have done a lot of public speaking too, very successfully, and it really…

would love to write, one problem is time; the other is of course fear. i've done a couple of speaker thingies on PA but that was before the comments thing was happening.

i've been thinking about the whole issue…

Oh and Danielle because she tells funny stories.

Thank you! :)

(But my god, the pressure! What tale to tell next? Emma already broke out a 'Father Run Amok With .22 Rifle' story, so even though I have one of those myself, the originality is questionable. Oh dear. I suppose…

I generally at least skim most comments on PAS, but like most of us (I suspect), there are people whose comments I pay particular attention to, sometimes…

Taste is the enemy of art

No, taste is the enemy of humour. Fear is the enemy of art.

Have peoples minds been changed by a well reasoned argument on the intarwebby?

I know mine has.

Interesting!
It's precisely because I think no-one's opinion will change by anything I say (or what anyone else says for that matter) that I've cut down on posting on PAS. Most of my…

Have peoples minds been changed by a well reasoned argument on the intarwebby?

I know mine has.

Mine too. Many times. I don't see that as having a weak position, it's about being rational. Often the other person can't see what you're not getting until you tell them your reasoning.…

I feel you misunderstood me a little. I didn't mean that the lurkers need to 'post tough'. I meant they need to 'get tough, and post'. They shouldn't change their style towards…

I know mine has.

180 degree turns are admittedly infrequent.. but by being exposed to the actual logic/explanation of opposing thoughts (as opposed to just the yes/no right/wrong headlines)... it allows me, and I presume others, to…

It doesn't change my view that the blogosphere has to be shared with its mutier participants

Mutier? So we need to find a way to encourage people to speak up some more?

'Tho I do agree about the blogsophere being open to all, including the…

Having written a post at No Minister disagreeing with your view, and reaped a bumper crop of abusive trolls as a result, I can fully…

My opinion on getting more people posting/commenting outside the liberal white middle classed straight male demographic is that they all need to harden up and post or comment more.

Okay... I'll bite.

Here's the thing. You can set up some rules so that they appear to apply to everyone, and…

Also like Sam says, posting is a way to work out for yourself what you think. I do that all the time with the blog.

absolutely. blogging and arguing in comments has actually improved my ability to write and argue subjects in my day-job.

something that a lot of education…

since when did internet need capitals?

The argument is that "the Internet" needs a capital to distinguish it from "an internet". But since when does anyone talk about having an internet?

Perhaps internets exists in computer science circles, but in everyday life there is only one internet and I don't…

And blunders don't seem to be taken to seriously, I'v e never had any negative press over mine... yet.

Man. What internet did you hook up to? I need some of that.

And, why does firefox underline 'internet' in red? since when did internet need capitals? And if internet does,…

Yes, and sometimes you only figure out your own view has gaping holes in it once you start trying to explain it in writing. Well, OK, maybe that's just me...

Believe me bro, it isn't ...

Has this ever actually happened? I imagine it to be something like the internet version of the sasquatch: widely rumoured to exist, but only crazy people have seen it.

Who knows? Not everyone who's proven wrong is willing to say so on the Internet, especially if they're afraid it's going…

worse still is when you post & everyone ignores what you've said & starts carries on the discussion as if you hadn't commented at all!

Sing it sister. Bit pathetic after 13 odd years on the worldwide social tool we call the internet, but yes, I still feel a bit miffed when…

actually changing people's minds on something they are wrong about

Has this ever actually happened? I imagine it to be something like the internet version of the sasquatch: widely rumoured to exist, but only crazy people have seen it.

No worse feeling than your first post in a thread being the very last one.

Silence is about the hardest thing to guage on the net. Without any visual clues, you've no idea if no-one is responding because they think you're an idiot, or because they think you've 'said it…

I guess it depends whether you really want people to hear your voice. If you're not fussed, then it's not a problem really. But if you feel you've got something to add, it's not that bad to not have any responses. You…

worse still is when you post & everyone ignores what you've said & starts carries on the discussion as if you hadn't commented at all!

ben, i guess practice makes you better, or at least more comfortable with commenting – but…

What stops me from commenting here more often than I do is a sense that I've seen less of the world and am less in tune with the…

Ten days before Christmas, and you want women to do MORE voluntary work?

Are you MAD????

What was I…

I know exactly what you mean, it was years before I made my first ever post. And it wasn't too long before I made a fool of myself either. But seriously, who cares if you do? They only…

With apologies to all the Jolisa's out there, I'd never come across that name before and didn't know its gender.

Ha! That takes me back to when I won a prize off the radio (big thrills for a 13 year old), and the package arrived, addressed to Mr Joe Lisa.…

I can't remember what the first Busytown blog I read was actually about, but I do remember having to struggle to determine whether it was written by a man or a women. With apologies to all the Jolisa's out there, I'd never come across…

I've just typed up a huge post, then deleted it all. What I have to say is simpler than the 500 feel-good words I was going to use to say it. My opinion on getting more people posting/commenting outside the liberal white middle classed…

how many of the blogs you read are written by women?

I find this question problematic, Julie, because I tend to read blogs in several categories:

– people I know/friends from various places, online and IRL
– issues which interest me (in my case, these subcategories are mostly TV, music,…

I used…

my last three posts were a) a list of dumb names I call my dogs; b) the top ten reasons why I think the Pixies still rule; and c) a fangirl gush about New York from Flavor of Love.

The last thing I posted on my blog was a picture…

Are you MAD????

However, it is really cool when Tze Ming or Jolisa post something that sparks off a feminist-centred discussion. I wouldn't mind more of that, even if it was from a guy.

Word.

Also, not to get all Pollyanna on your asses, but twelve years ago when I first beheld the…

If I'm ever uncomfortable here, it's because you never know when someone I went to school with is going to pop up and say 'you were shitty at PE!' (Hi Kyle. :)

In my defence, I should point out that you said it first, and I just confirmed it. Surely…

My own personal nominations would be for Heather, Jo, Robyn or Danielle, leaving aside that whole 'has their own perfectly functional and popular blog'

I am truly honoured to be mentioned, Emma! It must be noted, however, that although I do have a generally unpublicised, barely functional and not at…

A lot of the topics that get discussed here – politics, music, sport – have traditionally been a little blokey in some respects, but it never seems…

And ... howz about tha ladeez nominate some of their own to write guest blogs? There are obvious candidates who I've been shy of asking because they have their own blogs, and it seems sort of paternalistic to ask.

But a little public pressure probably wouldn't go astray.

I vote…

but i'd love to see someone like Tash Hall from webstock guest writing. She has an excellent way with words and especially with all the people she and mike hunt around to find for webstock, i'm sure she has some great stories to share.…

I have actually tapped someone who is not white, male, middle-aged or boring

Hmmm – is this supposed to be a contrast to the existing writers? If so, you really need to have a very dull, boring writer. The existing writers are not boring at all.

Right up front, it's probably worth pointing out that the whiteymaleyiness is in part a product of the fact that white males post more often. Especially this one.

Also, there probably aren't many blog, even group blogs, where…

no quota necessary

Ah, but look what it did for NZ Music!

You're right, it is all about finding someone interesting. And yet for better or worse, even the most conscientious publications are at least three times as likely to "find" someone who is male. See here for some figures…

I have a discussion about the politics of presence here on my blog.

Aah, thanks for that. Just the phrase "politics of presence" clarifies everything nicely.

no quota necessary thanks Public Media etc...u doin finewithout it

Unless you mean that being female necessarily informs one's opinions, and the manner in which one expresses them?

I have a discussion about the politics of presence here on my blog. It's quite pertinent to this discussion, but I don't want to just repost the whole thing here – it's…

They don’t need to be feminist posts per se, at all, nor posts deliberately couched as a woman’s perspective.

That's a weird one. The main reason I feel comfortable with PA is because my character already intersects quite considerably with the (predominantly white male) character/opinion base. I wouldn't see the…

PA is a nice place to be in (with raw edges) and a good place to linger/lurk in…

And it seems to me the ground covered by feminism has enlarged and become more subtle, thus making it harder to define and yet easier to be. Does that make sense?

Yes.

Here's more or less where I end up on this issue, quoted from something I wrote on my own blog a couple of days ago.

I…

Kia ora Islander, feminist because female. I do find it hard to imagine how anyone could live and breathe as a woman and not have that as part of their identity. And it seems to me the ground covered by feminism has…

Speaking as someone who's car numberplate says 'nutbar' – Thanks!

People hold their following distance, don't they?

Somebody, think of the nutbars!

Speaking as someone who's car numberplate says 'nutbar' – Thanks!

* GOOD LORD: I'm more worried about getting angry backlash from this faintly-pro-white-male comment, than I have been about any other opinion I've ever written here.

I was going to reply to this with a hugely sarcastic comment about wimmin's space being a No Backlash Place, but again, terrified of…

Somebody, think of the nutbars!

* DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying that I think feminists or asians or maoris are the same as nutbars. It was a whimsical reference to the fact that it's not only minorities that are uncomfortable on PA.

* GOOD LORD: I'm more worried about getting angry…

And not putting too fine a point on it, bloggers that are willing to represent minority views (especially those who do so at the expense of other topics) are often…

How do you define feminist and who gets to do that...

There's the old Rebecca West formula... "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat."

Problem…

but it does rather beg the question of what a feminist looks like

I asked this question recently because I don't think I know the answer any more. How do you define feminist and who gets to do that... Turned out to be a very effective way of avoiding actually…

(Sorry for earworm!)