Nothing in the Purim Torah guidelines mentions that they need to be otherwise on topic. This could either be because it is obvious that it needs to be on topic, or because it doesn't actually need to be on topic.
For example, this question squirmed its way in to being about Judaism using the ol...
I realize the irony of posting this question here. But indeed I am posting it as both a serious question and a public service message, as it were.
I have been helped very, very much by posters on this this site for several years now, and have learned a tremendous amount about Judaism as a resul...
@MonicaCellio Thanks. Have you detected misogynist attacks on yourself or other female users on MY? I don't think I've seen that, though I have seen other prejudice-related attacks on users (infrequently), including on you.
@MonicaCellio From the top answer:
> All of this seems to indicate that men don't purposefully gang up on women (as the user you spoke to suggested), but that they tend toward more aggressive behavior that women generally find discouraging.
"Men are from Mars; women are from Venus." I'll buy that, and that this could be an issue here.
@IsaacMoses I have not detected misogyny here. (Granted, I didn't detect it on that other site either, if it was in fact happening.) I have seen other prejudice-related rudeness here on several people, as you note, so that gives me hope that I would be more likely to notice gender-related problems.
@IsaacMoses I have seen this in US culture in general. I have certainly seen it in the software world in which I work, where the successful women are those who learn to "be guys" in terms of interaction style.
@IsaacMoses agreed -- we're working on the general issue, it's been an issue for a while, we need to keep paying attention to it.
@MonicaCellio When my now-wife and I got engaged, my grandmother gave us a copy of You Just Don't Understand by Deborah Tannen. I found its insights about communication styles to be quite useful.
for example, we have 64 users under 18, and only 56 users with no college.
I'm just looking at the totals and realizing the two categories are using different total populations. I guess less people provided their education level info.
I think the differences in communication styles are sometimes described as more black-and-white than they are. I hope any serious treatment of the subject works with that. "Women do X" or "men do Y" is too simplistic and oft-wrong (as generalizations tend to be).
Anyway, interesting topic with a lot of nuance to it, but there are differences in how people are taught and what they're exposed to and stuff.
@MonicaCellio True. Everyone's on a spectrum. However, statements like "Behaviors like X come off to many people, especially women, as rude," are useful. Also, "While you might consider behavior Y rude, many people, especially women, consider it essential to nice conversation."
(I should perhaps disclose that when I took the MBTI years ago (required by an employer, ugh), I pegged the "T" end of the "thinking/feeling" spectrum. So I already know that as a female INTJ I'm a bit of a freak. :-)