Why this is for women only.

[ski diva]

Just a note here: every now and then we get men trying to register as a member on the site. Often they have a good reason; they're looking for skis for their wives, or they have some information they want to share.

As all of you know, TheSkiDiva.com is a women's only site. This is done for a very good reason: there are fewer women skiers than there are men, and this gives us a way to connect with one another in a way that makes us feel comfortable.

The womens-only policy is clearly stated in the policy statement everyone is supposed to read and agree to when they register:

TheSkiDiva.com is a site for women skiers. Please do not attempt to register unless you are a woman.

This policy is not in place to be mean or arbitrary or spiteful or man-hating. It's simply my feeling that once you begin letting a guy in here and a guy in there, it soon becomes like any other ski forum on the web. And then it wouldn't be the same.

I trust that all of you feel the same way; otherwise you wouldn't be here. Besides, there are plenty of other places to talk about skiing with guys. This is our little corner of the world.

Even so, sometimes a guy slips in, and then we end up deleting his membership, as soon as we figure it out. In some cases this makes for hurt feelings, but that's how it goes.

I hope this further clarifies things. If anyone has any questions or comments, I'd be happy to discuss them with you.

 

[IntheClouds]

Ski Diva,

I really like your integrity to the site & the registration rules. It's not always easy or nice, but integrity is that way. Without it, things have a tendency to fall apart.

 

[ski diva]

Thanks -- I appreciate the support. Most guys who register and get kicked off are very understanding, but once in a while someone gets his back up about it. Hey, as we all know, you have to be a very special person to be a Diva! :D

 

[cyn]

I totally agree. The fact that this is for women only is the reason I joined in the first place.

 

[altagirl]

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward.

In fact on MTBR (mountain biking forum) they have a women's lounge. Men are allowed to post there, and there was just a thread about how the forum feels overrun with men. And they're always asking the same questions - what bike to I buy my wife/GF, what saddle will she like, how do I get her to like mountain biking. There's a FAQ at the top answering all of those things, but sometimes the majority of the new threads are all guys who don't read the FAQ or think they have a new and unusual version of the question (well that thread was talking about women who are 5'4" and it said for them to demo bikes before buying, but my wife is 5'5" and I want to buy her a bike as a surprise - what will fit her perfectly?" )

And while the consensus is that it's nice to be able to help those guys out, (They apparently need it) it stinks to lose the core feeling of the women's lounge because we lose focus on what the women members are doing and just turns into an instruction manual for men.

Our solution there was to remind the women members to post more TR's and such. But I can definitely see there being a place for women-only forums. There are tons of other places guys can go to ask about women's gear.

 

[tradygirl]

I love this place too, for all the above-stated reasons. It's nice to know that I can post pretty much any question, comment, or TR and people won't be sizing me up. Everyone is honest (which you don't find on most other boards) and seems genuinely psyched to help each other out.

 

[skigirl]

Good For you Ski Diva

Here's to the Men
Because we like having our own party

 

[liquidfeet]

I applaud the choice to make this site a women-only site. This needs no excuse, explanation, nor justification. It's just the way it is because you want it so and we support it and register. Federal dollars are not involved; freedom of choice gives you and us the right to do this.

It's good to have a site that's different. That's the whole point, right? Let's see what happens as the membership increases to phenomenal dimensions. It's fun to watch this site grow. Will the "girls" become like Epic? ...I think not, but I could be wrong. We'll just have to wait and see, and isn't that one of the most interesting aspects of this public women-only conversation .... to see what the conversations turn out to be like when it comes to talking about this athletic thing we are so passionate about (that is populated by so many more men than women)?

Will we talk about the more gentle aspects of skiing [and non-skiing](packing meals, choosing ski partners, planning weddings, and so on), or will we gravitate towards braggadoccio and techno-babble? Or somewhere in between?

I love this site. Keep up the exclusivity.

 

[Lori_K]

I applaud the choice to make this site a women-only site. This needs no excuse, explanation, nor justification.

+1

I post on EpicSki so infrequently, as I fear every post is under intense scrutiny by the techno-geeks there.
Here, it is much more open, and feels more like a community of friends, much like some of the motorcycle forums I post on. Keep up the good work!

 

[Sheena]

I don't post on Epic ski or TGR very often. The only other ski forum I really post on is dcski.com, which is geared towards dc area skiers (but actually covers quite a large area).

But I definitely feel that I can post things here withough fear of ridicule.

Thank you Skidiva for providing this space for us!

 

[Ski Spirit]

Just want to echo what all others have said. I love this site! It is so down to earth, so supportive and helpful...and like a cozy community of friends....let's keep it that away. I applaud your approach Wendy. You have created an amazing site!!! Thanks!!

 

[sibhusky]

Well, I do post on Epic a lot, but there have been a number of times where the flack was so heavy I went off into a corner for a few weeks.

 

[liquidfeet]

And it's good we can plan weddings! My goodness, if guys can plan brewing beer on Epic, good for them too. I love it here.:cheer:

 

[SnowHot]

I love this site as much as any of you, but I love epic too.


Still, I think we need to realize that all of these sites, (SnowHeads, Epic, TGR, Alpinezone..........etc) serve a niche. The SkiDiva niche is the female skier. Simple!

One thought to those guys who want information for their wife, girlfriend, mother or sister............
If you want her to "get excited" about skiing, do yourself a favor.......get HER to join TheSkiDiva.com
Trust me, we're contagious!!!

 

[Native Vail Gal]

Trust me, we're contagious!!!

...And there is no known cure at this time! :cheer:

 

[Gloria]

FWO, is a good thing

Timing is so funny sometimes, I haven't ever taken the time to peruse any of these other sites. But this morning, people at work were belly laughing around one guys desk reading a thread on one of these male dominated sites about ski areas in Montana. Given the size of most of our areas, anyone who has spent a decent amount of time here has pretty intimate knowledge of them. If they ski. We were laughing so hard, because you could tell by what some of these men were saying, or the resorts they were touting or booing, that number one, they had never actually even skied them or two, that they weren't really very good skiers or three, they were just completely lost not having all the expensive signage and mountain ambassodors of big resorts and simply couldn't find their way around. The other thing we thought funny was that skiing out of bounds at a ski area, is considerred backcountry skiing. OMG how funny, and how much more we should all appreciate what we have here. Talk about blowhards! We don't need em here.

 

[SnowHot]

One more thing I value on this site is the DOD area.
The topics discussed there such as meeting times, and personal life/biography type of things are not published for the google meter.

That tiny bit of caution, may be a good thing for a women site. Thanks SkiDiva!

 

[Lori_K]

But this morning, people at work were belly laughing around one guys desk reading a thread on one of these male dominated sites about ski areas in Montana. Given the size of most of our areas, anyone who has spent a decent amount of time here has pretty intimate knowledge of them. If they ski. We were laughing so hard, because you could tell by what some of these men were saying, or the resorts they were touting or booing, that number one, they had never actually even skied them or two, that they weren't really very good skiers or three, they were just completely lost not having all the expensive signage and mountain ambassodors of big resorts and simply couldn't find their way around.

Sooo.....post a link to this site so we can get a giggle out of it too!

 

[RachelV]

It's nice to know that I can post pretty much any question, comment, or TR and people won't be sizing me up. Everyone is honest (which you don't find on most other boards) and seems genuinely psyched to help each other out.

Couldn't have said it better. It's generally way more supportive and way less judgemental and aggressive here than on other ski forums I read. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Gloria]

Sooo.....post a link to this site so we can get a giggle out of it too!

Believe me, I would love to make you all laugh this hard, but two things:
1) I have no idea where they found it.
2) I think it is probably only funny if you know the areas they were talking about.
I ( a tomboy ) was quite enlightened to what "testosterone posting was all about". And it was just hillarious to us all because, that's pretty much all that was talking. Just pathetically goofy comments like oh yeah the terrain there really sucks there's nothing hard to ski, and then in the next breath, yeah the owners need to spend more money thinning the trees.???? Evidentally buddy the trees are too tight for you, so I would say that you're disqualified. Or then someone else would post about just dropping into some really tiny resort during the middle of the week and having epic powder days, and the terrain was awsome, it killed over this one or that one...And if you know these areas your belly really hurts now because, where the hell were you going when you just happened to be in that area, secondly some of these areas are smaller than areas, they are tiny little places that someone installed a chairlift for the benefit of the community not to make money. Even funnier, alot of them are only open on the weekends, so you know they are lying about "dropping in during the middle of the week with noone on the chair" of course not dude, it wasn't even running. It was almost like they were googling and then just throwing out comments in a very rah rah competetive sort of way....It was like fishing stories, only about skiing.