focused on finding relations, on the web and everywhere elase.

I saw this reported on the main news ticker on cnn.com and wondered why on earth this is a major news story.

That being said, I love, love, love the Willow reference. Ah, Buffy, I miss ya.

It seems pretty clear to me that a lot of these things could be really heavily connected to porn. Paying for digital content? Subscription porn sites. Men are more likely to surf the web for pleasure, have high-speed internet access, or watch webcames? Porn porn porn.

djbollman, "relations" doesn't automatically mean "sex." I'm a woman, and I go to message boards related to my hobbies (knitting and reading books) and these sites' participants are almost entirely female. There's a lot of interaction, email buddy relationships and yes, sharing of information. I go there seeking a sense of community based on a common interest, not to chase tail.

Why are downloading and on-line auctions activities, while e-mailing and chatting are not? They are all done while sitting on your ass.

To me, the main boon of the net is easy access to information that in the past required a trip to the library.

Being a lover of research and information, I adore the library - but for being able to easily search for facts on any subject while drinking my coffee, for ancient or modern language translations, for news or views from outside the USA, for arcane tidbits that complete or update my knowledge, for keeping up with scientific and medical discoveries, for historical information - the net is heaven.

Added bonus - the book I want is never 'checked out'.

As to what men, women, or anyone else does on the net - I couldn't care less.

So men use chat rooms more, but women more often google about health -- and the conclusion is 'Men want facts, women seek relations'?

Warning: Do not click on the "Willow Rosenberg" link, it leads to an attempt to install a trojan virus!!!!!!!!! Seriously.

>>Their kooky definitions

Why are downloading and on-line auctions activities, while e-mailing and chatting are not? They are all done while sitting on your ass.

>>>No kidding about the kooky definitions!

So men use chat rooms more, but women more often google about health -- and the conclusion is 'Men want facts, women seek relations'>>>

Yeah, it really seems like they forced the data in to fit their preconceived notions.

...that girls and young women are on the Internet to download porn? Because if so, good on 'em! When boys download porn it is icky. When girls download porn it is empowerment. Before long they'll all discover how essentially dull porn is and we can all get back to wondering if Broadsheet contributors get paid a stipend every time they mention a blog named Angry Black Bitch.

>>and we can all get back to wondering if Broadsheet contributors get paid a stipend every time they mention a blog named Angry Black Bitch.>>

why are you here? You hate everything here, so why come back for more punishment? Either you're a glutton for punishment, or you like being mean to the people who are interested in the posts here. Either way, What a waste of a life. Think about it. You spend your time trying to spread hate and ruining other people's happy times. Your mama must be real proud

He's here because he's got this morbid, sick fascination with what people say in the comments they post. It's sick because there is definitely an agenda here, unspoken or not. It's deeply hypocritical, and dishonest. It's manipulative. It's fact-free.

I am a man, and I do not like being smeared, lied about, or stereotyped. Yet, so many of the stories on this blog, and the responses, are just unbelievably misleading or manipulative, when they're not flat-out lies.

A classic example is the post about the expenditure of a whole lot of goverment loot on a new program to help mail-order brides protect themselves against abusive husbands. This conjures up a series of salacious images, which all kinds of readers just adored. Helpless, lovely, dewy-eyed brides, forced to marry brutal, probably violent, emotionally retarded men, who rape and beat them the minute they can, and these helpless women have nowhere to turn. And so on.

Except that there is absolutely no evidence for this. None. Zero. I checked. Data on this kind of stuff is extremely hard to get, and the data they do have is inconclusive. But the story is better than the truth, so everybody hops aboard.

Set against that backdrop, it's kind of useful, I think, for this guy to be the one who points out the other side of the issue. He's doing you a service. Sunlight is, after all, the best disinfectant.

And I think the Angry Black Bitch is pretty funny.

I would like to invite all the antifeminist men who read this blog to consider posting their transparently threatened whining on "men's rights.org" and please stay out of Broadsheet. This is a women's blog for women. If you have something thoughtful and on-topic to say, go ahead, but if you are just here to unload your anger about women, please pay a therapist to help you out with that-- we'll all be happier in the long run. Thanks.

are synonomous are you? (of course it's possible to be both).

I see Broadsheet as about women, but not exclusively forwomen. Perhaps the anti-women men hanging around could take their business elsewhere if they take issue with everything said/the underlying premises here. But men shouldn't be here just 'cause they're men? No way. Broadsheet seems to be a place for news involving women that's not getting enough -- or the right kind -- of attention elsewhere. How sad it would be to think that "real" news is for everyone, but "women's" news is for women. Friendly, constructively-critical men, I'm glad to have you here.

Damn near every thread here contains a comment from someone saying who should or should not be here. I would be a rich, rich woman if I had a dollar for every such statement.

I don't agree with the views of the posters you find offensive, but that doesn't mean they have no right to read salon or to post opinions. If you don't want to participate in a certain line of discussion, then don't. Ignore it.

Unless you're a site admin, you don't have the authority to determine who participates here.