Just a little moderation guideline for this thread:
Good Posts
- If you're a non-vegan, you are welcome here
- If you're a non-vegetarian, you are welcome here
- If your primary reason for being here is that you're a non-vegan interested in learning how vegan people think about issues surrounding veganism (for example, the oyster debate or issues surrounding locovore consumption versus imported vegetables as they relate to environmental veganism, or even if you want to see what vegans think of vegetarians or omnivores who are trying to reduce their meat consumption or issues like factory versus free-range farming), you are welcome here. AbsoluteBro's discussion above seems mostly pretty good because it's coming from a position of basic respect and genuine curiosity and dialogue.
Bad Posts
- If you are basically in this thread because you don't like or disagree with vegans and want to challenge them, that's not necessarily respectful or productive. Like, if your question is "Aren't vegans unhealthy hypocrites who are just shrill to other people also peta sucks", that's not really a question and it's not really welcome here. There are other spaces on GAF where you might be able to have this debate. Not that this space has to be uniformly positive; obviously if someone makes a false claim then you can feel free to correct it, but basically this should be a space where vegans don't need to feel like they have to continually defend their basic premises. I think some of the people posting in the first 100 posts seemed to be people who more wanted to have a Veganism versus Meat-friendly diet debate, and I'm not sure the level of respect we'd hope to see in this thread was present.
Vegans: How To Avoid This Thread Sucking
- If someone posts something inflammatory, don't respond. Report it. Just send the post URL to a mod. I am volunteering. If you don't want to contact me or feel like I'm not around, I would recommend you contact either charlequin (who is either vegetarian or vegan, I can't remember which, but who certainly would be a sympathetic ear) or Kabouter or Mumei. This isn't to say other mods can't help you, but rather if you don't feel super comfortable, I think you'd find those names are good choices for this issue.
- Please don't report posts that are respectful and don't need to be reported. Someone saying, for instance, that they don't like meat substitutes and favour vegan dishes that don't try to substitute meat, is not being disrespectful or challenging or rude. That's just an opinion.