Tell us what you want Trans Refuge to be!

[OzGirl]

It's a new year, so I am looking forward to ways we can improve the site and generate more activity, but the best way to learn what you want is simply to ask you!! There are many times more people reading posts than members posting, so I'd really love to hear from some of the people who follow us but haven't posted before (even if you are not current members, I encourage you to join and tell us what you want!). We are trying to provide a service to the trans community, but sometimes we need guidance as to how best do that, so let us know!

Hugs,

Allie

 

[regina73]

It's a new year, so I am looking forward to ways we can improve the site and generate more activity, but the best way to learn what you want is simply to ask you!! There are many times more people reading posts than members posting, so I'd really love to hear from some of the people who follow us but haven't posted before (even if you are not current members, I encourage you to join and tell us what you want!). We are trying to provide a service to the trans community, but sometimes we need guidance as to how best do that, so let us know!

Hugs,

Allie

I still think a chat room would work. you cant chat with guests or see who they are would maybe a small fee to join would help with the expenses

 

[Donica]

Trans Refuge will always predominantly be a transgender resource safe heaven forum, but how about adding a few off-topic discussions like, aviation, business news, fun events happening in your Neiborhood, computer graphics/programming, science and technology, photography, astrophotography, animals, sports, motorsports, gardening, hobbies, makeup and hair, etc..... just to name a few....... what else? The list goes on........ The topics don't necessarily have to be trans related. This could help raise awareness and visibility with the rest of our communities, not to mention expanding our membership and coexistence. We are all so much more than just trans.

 

[OzGirl]

I still think a chat room would work. you cant chat with guests or see who they are would maybe a small fee to join would help with the expenses

The cost of a chat room has made it out of our reach in the past, and is why we started the Trans Refuge Discord page, but if enough people would chip in we could revisit the paid chat room functions. Thank you Regina!

Hugs,

Allie

 

[OzGirl]

Trans Refuge will always predominantly be a transgender resource safe heaven forum, but how about adding a few off-topic discussions like, aviation, business news, fun events happening in your Neiborhood, computer graphics/programming, science and technology, photography, astrophotography, animals, sports, motorsports, gardening, hobbies, makeup and hair, etc..... just to name a few....... what else? The list goes on........ The topics don't necessarily have to be trans related. This could help raise awareness and visibility with the rest of our communities, not to mention expanding our membership and coexistence. We are all so much more than just trans.

We have a General Forum for non trans discussions, and a Pastimes Forum for special interests, and the subjects range from politics to World Population, to Charcot’s Foot! All we need is people to post in those Forums! We even have a Controversial topic Forum for discussing sensitive issues which may offend some people (which requires members to ask to have access to this Forum, and it is more heavily focussed by moderators) . Do we need something more?

Hugs,

Allie

 

[Donica]

We have a General Forum for non trans discussions, and a Pastimes Forum for special interests, and the subjects range from politics to World Population, to Charcot’s Foot! All we need is people to post in those Forums! We even have a Controversial topic Forum for discussing sensitive issues which may offend some people (which requires members to ask to have access to this Forum, and it is more heavily focussed by moderators) . Do we need something more?

Hugs,

Allie

Yes, we do have the topics you mentioned, however, most of those topics are subforum discussions one needs to dig for and may not even realize they are there. The topics I mentioned would be additional main topics, over and above existing topics, placed on the main forum page where they are visible at a glance, and the first thing new guest see. I'm guessing most new potential members will not stay if they don't see anything interesting to them on the main forum page. Most people are impatient and don't want to spend the time digging through subforums to find something they may be interested in. We have a small main page with lots of potential to expand.

 

[regina73]

The cost of a chat room has made it out of our reach in the past, and is why we started the Trans Refuge Discord page, but if enough people would chip in we could revisit the paid chat room functions. Thank you Regina!

Hugs,

Allie

I would go to discord but i ahve an older program and wont let me enter

 

[regina73]

We have a General Forum for non trans discussions, and a Pastimes Forum for special interests, and the subjects range from politics to World Population, to Charcot’s Foot! All we need is people to post in those Forums! We even have a Controversial topic Forum for discussing sensitive issues which may offend some people (which requires members to ask to have access to this Forum, and it is more heavily focussed by moderators) . Do we need something more?

Hugs,

Alliwhere do I find the conteervercial onee

 

[OzGirl]

I would go to discord but i ahve an older program and wont let me enter

Regina, can you do Skype? we have a Chat group already on Skype, and all we need is your skype id to invite you into it. The Controversial section is by application, I will ask Donica to add you to the list.

See, we are getting things done!

Hugs,

Allie

 

[regina73]

Regina, can you do Skype? we have a Chat group already on Skype, and all we need is your skype id to invite you into it. The Controversial section is by application, I will ask Donica to add you to the list.

See, we are getting things done!

Hugs,

Allie

thank you allie . no I cant skype on my pc only my lap top that doesnt work anymore as it is 3g

 

[Linde]

We are trying to provide a service to the trans community, but sometimes we need guidance as to how best do that, so let us know!

Hugs,

Allie

When Katie and I founded this forum, it as our intention to provide a service not only to the trans community, but to the entire gender non conforming/non endosex community. This is the reason that this forum has a section for Intersex.
We have quite some expertise on intersex, and I am teaching about it at the med school of a large university. I am intersex myself, and I have XX/XY mosaicism with the 46XY Sex Reversal Syndrome.

But we also have non binary members, who can probably help with answering non binary questions.

Linde

 

[Katie]

I was extraordinarily busy the last half of 2022 and didn't really get to spend much time on the site. Things have slowed down slightly and I hope to spend more time here and make some improvements this year.

I hear the request for a chat feature loud and clear. I took on some debt when I first launched the site and have been servicing that debt via the site donations. I am hoping to pay that off this spring. Once that has been paid off, I want to change how the funding is operated. I want to get away from nonspecific monthly donations (which have just been servicing the debts of the initial launch) and move toward directed, specific projects to address the needs and desires of the members.

First on the list is marketing. It's a necessary and expensive evil, and also how I took on most of the initial debt. The learning curve with the billing was steep and now that I have a better understanding of how it works, I would like to carefully start some new marketing campaigns. Growing the member base is the prerequisite for growing site revenue to drive other projects.

Second on the list is, of course, a chat feature. There are a variety of options, and we'll need to gather feedback on cost vs benefit on the various platforms available.

Thirdly, I have found over the last two years that intersex people tend not to use the label of transgender even if they live as a gender other than what they were assigned at birth. When this forum was founded, we had a vision for engaging the intersex community as much as the transgender community. While we have certainly reached many transgender people, we have not been as successful with intersex people. I hope this year to have more success with that ambition. I don't yet know how that will be accomplished. Since I have learned that the term transgender is a term that intersex people tend not to identify with, there could be a new website just for that cause. We'll have to see how things work out, but for the moment that seems like a likely option.

 

[Monica]

I would love to see a resource page, a place where common attacks on the trans community could have specific rebuttals, with links perhaps, that state the actual factual information. For instance, 'trans people detransition a lot' is a common attack. I think it would be great to have a place where the actual stats could be readily available. There is so much crap being thrown at us these days and some of it is sticking in people's minds. Here is an article about the stories run my the NY Times,

The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better?

www.mediamatters.org

 

[Donica]

I would love to see a resource page, a place where common attacks on the trans community could have specific rebuttals, with links perhaps, that state the actual factual information. For instance, 'trans people detransition a lot' is a common attack. I think it would be great to have a place where the actual stats could be readily available. There is so much crap being thrown at us these days and some of it is sticking in people's minds. Here is an article about the stories run my the NY Times,

The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better?

www.mediamatters.org

I agree! The Williams Institute of Records would be a good place to start. A lot of the reports floating around in the news today are nothing more than propaganda designed to disrupt and sway opinion which can be debilitating to many of us. This kind of page could help many avoid falling into these false propaganda traps.

Home - Williams Institute (ucla.edu)

Another place to start would be fact checking sites like these:

Web Sites for Fact Checking - Misinformation and Disinformation: Thinking Critically about Information Sources - CSI Library at CUNY College of Staten Island Library

 

[OzGirl]

Monica, I love the idea of a resource section, it could include sub forums for links to scientific papers, common misconceptions, traps to look out for, a list of providers, and maybe relevent laws from different states. We would need members to provide the information, but it would be a great place for new people to learn about our world and themselves.

@Katie and @Donica, would this he hard to add?

Hugs,

Allie

 

[regina73]

I wou;d like to suggest getting ideas and links from other trans sites and not just the ones we are on. trans pulse is pretty good

 

[Katie]

@Katie and @Donica, would this he hard to add?

No, not really. And it was actually something that Linde had suggested way back, but never got followed through on (I dropped the ball). I can try to find some time to get a section made.

 

[TonyaJanelle]

I would love to see a resource page, a place where common attacks on the trans community could have specific rebuttals, with links perhaps, that state the actual factual information. For instance, 'trans people detransition a lot' is a common attack. I think it would be great to have a place where the actual stats could be readily available. There is so much crap being thrown at us these days and some of it is sticking in people's minds. Here is an article about the stories run my the NY Times,

The New York Times helped fuel an anti-trans panic in 2022. Will 2023 be any better?

www.mediamatters.org

I've been rather disappointed by the Times in regards to trans coverage lately.

Nice to see them getting called on it now.

Over 200 New York Times Contributors Condemn Paper’s Anti-Trans Coverage in Open Letter

The letter's signatories include Chelsea Manning, Cynthia Nixon, Angelica Ross, and more.

www.them.us

 

[Matteo]

The cost of a chat room has made it out of our reach in the past, and is why we started the Trans Refuge Discord page, but if enough people would chip in we could revisit the paid chat room functions.

There is a Trans Refuge Discord page? Why didn't I know that? I am on Discord, how can I join your server?

 

[Donica]

There is a Trans Refuge Discord page? Why didn't I know that? I am on Discord, how can I join your server?

I will send you an invitation PM