Femalefirst Poster Goes

[Since1982]

Brooksie, there are always people in this world who make a point of apologising for bad people. Look at how many people in today's world think Hitler was a "good" man. They think that everyone is basically "good" in fact, most people have to try hard to BE good. WE are by nature a warlike species, always looking for some way to "get over" on someone else.

The very few that aren't warlike are actually an aberration instead of the "norm". Case in point, what percentage of the worlds people right now are NOT involved in a war or petty fights over land? I think even Canada has sent troops to the middle east. I know the UK has.

The last people that believed "land" should not be "owned" were some tribes of American Indians, but even they changed their minds and built casinos.

Personally, I had no use for Alf. I think he was a superiorist oaf that must believe loss of manly abilities and possibly CC...(Crotch Cancer) is OK as long as you LOOK like everyone else. I'm a member at FF under the name "SkirtedMan"

[AMM]

Folks like "Alf" (for we do not believe that to be his real name) exist in the on-line space, and have done so since the days of BBS systems attached to dial-up modems -- and they have been a royal nuisance all the while. This seems to be primarily an on-line behaviour because, as one would imagine, that sort of behaviour in the physical world is likely to get one punched in the nose (or worse). It's also why on-line communities have moderators to serve as the local police.

Another difference between the on-line and real worlds is that real-world misbehavior is limited to some extent by the necessity to actually travel to where you do your misdeeds; few people will bother to travel thousands of miles to harass someone (and leave a trail of witnesses and other evidence), but with Internet, you can harass anyone anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse -- cf. the Kathy Sierra case, or the number of websites that have had to re-engineer themselves due to break-ins and/or DOS attacks.

So far, the Cafe appears to have been lucky. We seem to be too peculiar and yet too boring to attract serious trolls (or all that many real participants, for that matter.) But I suspect it is only a matter of time before one of the roving gangs of on-line hooligans discovers SkirtCafe.

On another note, I have a little difficulty figuring out the context of this controversy. I found the FemaleFirst website: it appears to be a UK (?) on-line magazine (and maybe a print one, too?) aimed at women, with fashion, celebrity, health, etc., articles. I'm guessing that "Female First" is supposed to indicate that it is targeted at women and not men, though I could not find anything that addressed the goal of the website. I could not figure out where men in skirts would fit into this, or why anyone who was attracted to the Cafe would go there or vice versa. There are a lot of fora, though, and I suppose it's possible that there is a corner somewhere where a subculture has developed that might relate in some way to men in skirts, crossdressing, or something like that.

[crfriend]

[Mod hat handy, but not "on"]

Another difference between the on-line and real worlds is that real-world misbehavior is limited to some extent by the necessity to actually travel to where you do your misdeeds [...]

For the record, the words quoted in AMM's post immediately above are mine, not Brooksie's; furthermore, AMM's commentary brings up the "easy" notion of harassment via on-line means. It's trivial to "hound somebody to the ends of the earth" on-line. This just makes the act that much more cowardly and reprehensible.

"Alf"'s comments were summarily removed form this community because his was essentially an act of vandalism. Had he (note that the admins and moderators here do not know "his" gender) posted a single cogent article on one sub-forum, his idea could have been debated in a rational and open manner. What happened, however, is that he flooded the entire site with vitriol and that's what got swept into the local sewers, likely before many folks actually saw it or search-engines could index it.
.

So far, the Cafe appears to have been lucky. We seem to be too peculiar and yet too boring to attract serious trolls (or all that many real participants, for that matter.) But I suspect it is only a matter of time before one of the roving gangs of on-line hooligans discovers SkirtCafe.

The low number of active participants is somewhat troubling, but my gut feel is that if we (as a community) can show the way and provide a good example to folks who wander in, or lurk, then we'll have made a positive contribution. Personally, I'd be thrilled if every bloke that even once thought of "shoving both legs down one pipe" was active here, but I rather suspect it'd increase the workload a bit.

I found the FemaleFirst website: it appears to be a UK (?) on-line magazine (and maybe a print one, too?) aimed at women, with fashion, celebrity, health, etc., articles. [...] I could not figure out where men in skirts would fit into this, or why anyone who was attracted to the Cafe would go there or vice versa. There are a lot of fora, though, and I suppose it's possible that there is a corner somewhere where a subculture has developed that might relate in some way to men in skirts, crossdressing, or something like that.

I don't exactly follow it, but from what I've been given to understand there's a subcurrent of MIS activity thereon -- much as there was in the pre-Tom's Cafe days where it was still USENET (alt.fashion.uk. if I recall correctly) -- which came under some "trollfire". Whether it had anything to do with crossdressing (in the orthodox sense) is, I suspect, rather immaterial; what matters is that the garment style gain acceptance with the general population. I suppose that having "howlers" like "Alf" points up that we may be nearing a cusp.

[Colin]

I hadn't realised how many Skirtcafe members had visited or joined Femalefirst. Thanks for the posts above. Confirmation of what I suspected. A lot of innocent members and guests either banned or frightened off. Alf still tries to post as a "guest" but I think any attempt to re register under a new name results in instant banning and post deletion.

I have had to learn that if I reply to a new post by a new member (maybe Alf in reincarnation), to use the "quote" function, otherwise the the starter post gets deleted by admin and it looks like I started the thread. You can, however, change the thread title once you are top of the thread. Better not reply if you think it is someone like Alf.

Incidently, Femalefirst can also be accessed by logging into "Malefirst" or various other supposed fora.

I hope everyone is well.

[Since1982]

Too bad there's not a "MaleSkirterFirst" I wish I'd thought of that name when I created skirts4men which, unfortunately was already created as a forum by Midas Skirts company. I can't convince them I didn't "copy" them. I didn't, but they think I did.

[Brandy]

Hi,

I stumbled into that thread also. But I also learned to use the negative boolean function in a search to filter out Alf. That is; in the search box you put some thing like " +men +skirts -alf -huckham " you can also use variations of that search within a thread.

The original thread had been around for a number of years and was interesting reading until Alf appeared. I did register there and posted a few times, then Alf appeared and I left.

Female First pops up when you do a genric "men in skirts" search on google, yahoo, ... etc. that is how I found it.

-- Brandy

[Kilty]

I hadn't realised how many Skirtcafe members had visited or joined Femalefirst. Thanks for the posts above. Confirmation of what I suspected. A lot of innocent members and guests either banned or frightened off. Alf still tries to post as a "guest" but I think any attempt to re register under a new name results in instant banning and post deletion.

I have had to learn that if I reply to a new post by a new member (maybe Alf in reincarnation), to use the "quote" function, otherwise the the starter post gets deleted by admin and it looks like I started the thread. You can, however, change the thread title once you are top of the thread. Better not reply if you think it is someone like Alf.

Incidently, Femalefirst can also be accessed by logging into "Malefirst" or various other supposed fora.

I hope everyone is well.

It's a shame 'SilentOne' lived up to her name and never moderated that forum, or Alf could have been removed sooner

[Colin]

I think that Alf has tried to come back under other names, such as "Billy Whizz" (and various others) whose posts just keep being deleted again.

[Brooksie]

I think that Alf has tried to come back under other names, such as "Billy Whizz" (and various others) whose posts just keep being deleted again.

I am quite sure that Billy is a different person, I think that Alf now vents his fury on the SOC site, there a few others on FF nearly as bad as him, I think Colin is presently having some friction with a very strange one with a "military" name.

Brooksie

[Colin]

I think that Alf has tried to come back under other names, such as "Billy Whizz" (and various others) whose posts just keep being deleted again.

I am quite sure that Billy is a different person, I think that Alf now vents his fury on the SOC site, there a few others on FF nearly as bad as him, I think Colin is presently having some friction with a very strange one with a "military" name.

Brooksie

True, Brooksie. I have responded to the person that you refer to, some time ago, but have decided to ignore him(?) more recently. His main vitriol is against my Christian faith, so best left to higher authority. I have also had various supporting Private Messages on FF from decent members, on a number of topics. - There are some very good people on FF, as well as the trolls.
If, as you say, that Billy Whizz is not Alf, then I think that he/she may be making fun of Alf.

[Brooksie]

Rumour has it that The Colonel (someone else who has been causing problems to Colin amongst others) has gone, certainly all his postings back to around 15th November have been deleted. An interesting story from elsewhere is that the FemaleFirst online magazine in run by Channel Four.

Billy Whizz is not Alf, Alf seems to have concetrated all his efforts on annoying the SOC members and looks to be doing a very good job.

Professor Tendril is not connected to any of them he is a steam engine fanatic from a place near Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. I have met him, he told me that was annoyed with Alf because of a "joke" Alf made about cancer, (the professor's sister died of breast cancer). He say's that he has since met Alf and his partner (a lady who used to be on FF) in person and that Alf has apologised, he said that Alf is not what you might expect and is not disabled in any way.

[renesm1]

I think that Alf has tried to come back under other names, such as "Billy Whizz" (and various others) whose posts just keep being deleted again.

I am quite sure that Billy is a different person, I think that Alf now vents his fury on the SOC site, there a few others on FF nearly as bad as him, I think Colin is presently having some friction with a very strange one with a "military" name.

Brooksie

Question! What is the SOC site?

[Kris]

I believe it was this thread which attracted a major troll attack on Skirt Cafe recently (which Carl so ably fought off). Perhaps it would be better to just let this topic die. It does seem to be entirely peripheral to Skirt Cafe.

Kris

[Uncle Al]

I believe it was this thread which attracted a major troll attack
on Skirt Cafe recently (which Carl so ably fought off).
Perhaps it would be better to just let this
topic die. It does seem to be entirely
peripheral to Skirt Cafe.

Kris

Uncle Al
(Who couldn't have said it better)

[Chris Webb]

How do you get to femalefirst??? I'd like to check it out.

Kilt ON!

Chris Webb