Suggestion: Eliminate duplicate FTM groups

[(deleted)]

It's great to see a trans site offering FTMs equal space.
That said, we might see more replies and actually connect with more people if the group categories were not duplicated. The current arrangement of FTM groups is unnecessarily confusing, and muddies the waters for those who are not 100% familiar with transmen terms.

For example, "full-time male" is the same as "post-transition" for FTMs. One of these group titles needs to be dropped.

"Drag King" is synonymous with "male impersonator" in the FTM world---- you do not need two groups that mean the exact same thing; "Drag King" says it all. That's the universal term for an FTM crossdresser.

Likewise, "FTM Transitioning" is redundant & confusing in the FTM context---- if "transitioning" means on hormones, well, unlike with some MTFs, HRT is for life with FTMs.....so it's redundant. Not everyone "transitions" with hormones in the FTM world; some (not many) can pass without hormones, or can't afford/can't do hormones for medical reasons. An FTM can be "transitioning" with or without having started hormones, but "transitioning" tells the reader nothing about the FTM's actual status----- one "transitioning" FTM can be pre-everything and look 100% female, while another "transitioning" FTM can be 2 years into hormones, with a light moustache, passing 75% of the time, with no surgery. It's a meaningless label, if you're an FTM or an admirer of FTMs.


Also, FTMs do not tend to use the categories "pre-op" and "post-op"---- those are generally MTF terms, because the issues are different for MTFs and FTMs. In the FTM community, and you are "post-transition" you might have had one surgery, two surgeries, many surgeries..or none. In the MTF world, having had "surgery" refers to genitals; not true in the FTM world. It's too confusing to classify FTMs according to whether they've had lower surgery or not, which is why you would never see those categories on an FTM site. Roughly 95-97% of FTMs (including those living 30, 40, 50 years as male) never have genital surgery, according to most research. It's offensive to equate "surgery" with one's drag king vs. transsexual status, in FTM contexts. Transmen will generally include that info in their own profile, if it's important to them to let readers know. If FTMs want to indicate that they're not yet on hormones, the term is generally "pre-everything"...but "pre-transition" works too. "Pre-everything" is the accepted term to indicate an FTM identifies as male but has not yet begun medical interventions to change their appearance.

There is no need for 9 (!) separate FTM categories here, as most are confusing/redundant. It makes it harder for admirers etc to sort thru the groups and figure out who's where.

The only three categories needed (universally recognized by FTMs) are "FTM Pre-Transition" or "Pre-Everything" (choose one but not both) , "FTM Post-Transition", and "Drag King". Those categories cover 1) born-female people who are just starting out, who identify as male but who have not yet transitioned to male or altered their bodies via medical intervention. 2) "FTM Post-Transition" covers all born-female people who i.d as male and live as male. 3) "Drag king" covers born-female people who i.d as crossdressers and present as male at least part-time (but who do not i.d as transsexual, and have not completed any medical transition).

Most people are already confused/ignorant about FTMs, even if they know something about MTFs. Let's try to make it better rather than worse (more confusing/less accurate) for transmen. Thanks!!! :)

[(deleted)]

I forgot to add that the blanket term "Transman" is often all that an FTM will feel they need to say, if forced to label themselves in a chat or group. People can add any of the rest in their personal profile. I see, from browsing the "Transmen" group here today, that most readers don't even know what that word means anyway. The category is full of born-male transsexual chasers (seeking MTFs) and some MTF folks who think the term refers to what biological S-- you were born.

The more incorrect terms we add for groups here, the harder it is for us to find each other on this site!

And by the way, the people whose profiles are ALWAYS in the wrong group----like bio non-tranz guys in the "-------", "MTF" and "FTM" groups---- should have their profiles deleted from those groups! Groups are for what describes YOU, not for the description of the people you are LOOKING for! If you are a non-trans guy seeking a male-to-female crossdresser for sex, get out of the "-------" group! Stop posting your "I'm a straight guy looking for a hot TS lady" ad in the "FTM" group!!

[feedback]

Great comments. The site is still somewhat in it's infancy, and we will be making some pretty big changes over the next year...not the least of which is the upcoming facelift of the site.

With regards to groups with different names that mean basically the same thing, surprise surprise, people tend to identify themselves differently...even when they are basically saying the same thing. We wanted to give people the opportunity to choose groups that reflect how they would describe themselves.

In the future we will incorporate advanced search options into the site, which will allow members to search specific groups (or combinations of groups) simultaneously.

Once that feature is in place, the fact that multiple groups may have similiar meaning will be irrelevant, because members will be able to just list all the groups they would like included in a search. In the meantime, it does mean clicking on multiple groups when looking through the site.

As for people appearing within the incorrect groups, we recommend that members use the 'Thumbs Down' option that appears next to their listing within the groups area. Every time someone recieves a 'Thumbs Down' vote within a group, it counts against them (and a Thumbs Up counts towards them). This system allows members to help shape the appearance of the Groups, by removing people who are clearly in the wrong area. For obvious reasons, it is not set up so that one member can kick another member out of a group just because they want to, or because they don't think the other member belongs there...but the system is set up to remove members that are in the wrong place, if the community makes that clear.

We are excited by the growth we are seeing in the site, and we appreciate any and all comments about how things are (or are not) working. We'll take another look at the way things are set up to see how to make things work a little more smoothly.