Has there been a request for a 'Dad's' forum?

[Anonymous]

I understand this is primarily a mom's forum as the URL implies, but the banner has dads on it, too.

[jsteele]

The URL is an artifact of the past. The banner is more accurate. I'm a dad myself. Dads should feel free to post in any of the current forums. There are a number of Dads participating already, but if it looks like there is a need for a separate group I'll consider it. However, I'm resisting creating new forums at the moment and would rather see Dads continue participating in the current forums.

[Anonymous]

If you have a single mom's forum and a mom's beauty and fitness forum, I don't think adding a dad's column is asking too much. There should be a place where dads can ask question that are directed to other dads. At least put up some kind of a poll to gauge interest.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, I would actively participate and appreciate a "dad's forum" and am not particularly worried about the mom's reading it if they feel like it. Heck, after reading the "inner thoughts" of moms over the last few weeks I'd be shocked if the guys actually posted anything more salacious!

Directed from 1/27/09 post in regarding same topic in General Parenting

[Anonymous]

How about just changing the name of the gender specific forums, for example:

Expectant Mom => Expectant Parents
Single Moms => Single Parents

The beauty and fashion forum is the only one that is hard to make neutral, but men do not care about that stuff anyway, right?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:How about just changing the name of the gender specific forums, for example:

Expectant Mom => Expectant Parents
Single Moms => Single Parents

The beauty and fashion forum is the only one that is hard to make neutral, but men do not care about that stuff anyway, right?

That's not a bad idea. What do the Dads think?

[Anonymous]

I maintain that there are very specific male issues that if posted in "general" would get derided, lost, or flamed- this would of course happen in the Dad's forum too but probably to a lesser degree.

Further, a male-centric forum would at least narrow the audience a bit from both a attendance and a search perspective (eg a new dad could go to one place to get a feel for some of the challenges of dadness rather than dig through the mountains of posts in "General") The first thing I did on this site was look for a dad's forum so I could do just that.

Finally, I couldn't care less about "gender neutral" forum naming- this isn't about equality (or worse PC-ness), it's about having a consolidated location of male posts and the opportunity to present thoughts to an audience that is more likely to be male.

Many if not most posts could (and should) go straight to "general" but I would wager that a Dad's forum would get daily reads/posts on a broad range of SAHD, new Dad and "understanding" DW topics. Heck, I bet that it would be a pretty supportive place given that the "caveman" dads are unlikely (or less-likely) to be scouring this sort of site anyway.

[jsteele]

Ok, I'll create a forum for Dads and see how it goes. I'm pessimistic, but will love to be proved wrong. What do you suggest for a name?

[Anonymous]

Errrr the Cave? (kidding!)

Maybe something easy like "DC Dads"

Thanks for establishing the forum!

[Anonymous]

At first I was against this (female, here) but now I can't wait to read what Dads are really thinking. The cave, ha,ha, pretty cute. That could be the first question-when you guys go into the cave should we a)leave you alone, b) try to lure you out with food or sex or c) go shopping?