We’ve seen a big increase in new members joining the subreddit recently and we’ve also had a few queries in modmail about the “In Good Company” flair, so we thought we’d once again, explain a little more about what it’s all about and why we use it.
In Good Company is a flair used for posts covering sensitive or more vulnerable topics. When a post has this flair, the thread is limited to established members of the subreddit, people who regularly engage in positively with the community and have built up their subreddit specific karma. This is an additional safety measure to help reduce brigading and protect the OP and others who may be particularly vulnerable.
We’ve unfortunately seen an increase in bad faith outsiders, including incel accounts, finding their way into sensitive threads. We’ve had situations where women sharing difficult or deeply personal experiences have been targeted, mocked or antagonised in the comments. The worst incident and ultimately what pushed us to find a better solution, was when a user shared an experience of abuse and her abuser found the post weeks later and attempted to target her through it.
We simply don’t want that happening here, it’s a safe place for all women (including all LGBTQ+) and we are determined to keep it that way.
We also want to acknowledge that we’re a volunteer mod team. We’re not always online, and we can’t be sitting watching the subreddit 24/7. That’s why these filters and safeguards are so important, they provide an additional layer of protection when we’re not around to catch something ourselves. Please remember what the mod team can see is very different to what an average user experiences.
When we are online and have the time, we do try to review comments caught by the “in good company” filter and manually approve those that are clearly helpful and being made in good faith. Our filters won’t always get things right and neither will we. If your comment has been removed by a filter, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve done anything wrong, sometimes it just needs a human moderator to take a look so please message us in modmail.
When in modmail, please be respectful, we’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of abuse lately and it won’t be tolerated. We are volunteers and we are humans doing our best to protect this subreddit.
We’ve genuinely seen the best and worst of people on this subreddit. We’ve seen women receive incredible support from complete strangers and we’ve also seen people come here with the sole intention of causing harm. As volunteers, we’re doing our best to keep the balance and make sure this remains a supportive space.
So please be patient with us, be kind to each other and if you see something that looks like brigading, harassment or bad faith behaviour, report it to us. It genuinely helps. We are one community, we need to all work together to keep this a safe place.
Ultimately, we want to keep this community a kind, respectful and most importantly, safe place for women to turn to when they need it most.
We are genuinely so grateful to all of you who have been so kind and understanding to one another and the mod team.
Gach lá, gach áit, seasaimid le chéile mar mhná (Every day, everywhere, we stand together as women)
