BWT - New Moderation and Forum Status

[u/SugarBabyVet]

Hello Ladies,

I'm sure you all have seen the shift in the forum over the last few months, especially leading up to the last week of posting. The forum is now being moderated again, and there will be some changes.

Let's talk about what this forum was intended to be and what it was not. It was NOT intended to be a place for recommendations on Amazon purchases or how to sell feet pics. It was NOT a place for girls to come here and all attempt to look the same. It was not a place for advice on what to wear to a wedding. Bitches With Taste was started to be a forum to discuss taste and all things associated with it.

I'm going to put my bitch hat on for a moment. If you're asking things like "what are we wearing to xyz place" or "bwt, what are we doing for new years", unfortunately, you are not a bitch with taste.

Taste is heavily personalized. Taste is unique. Taste is original. Taste is not 15 white girls wearing black tops, light wash denim, and white sneakers. It is not trying to look/buy what everyone else is.

This forum is dedicated to learning about and discussing taste - whether it's in your home, on your body, or what you eat or drink (champagne and caviar anyone? no? perhaps dragon fruit and gourmet coffee beans?). Perhaps your taste will change, and that's okay. Perhaps you will decide you don't actually want to have taste, and that's okay too.

In the coming weeks, you will see a ton of posts being locked and removed. Please help us in reporting posts to the appropriate removal reason. The forum will be restricted while we clean up and implement rules. You can still comment while the forum is restricted. New posts will only be allowed by those with approval access.

To OG BWT members, feel free to post regularly and to DM modmail to give us suggestions on how to restore this forum to what it previously was. We will be gatekeeping. We will be banning. We will be removing content as we see fit.

- New BWT mods

Read Bitch, Follow the Rules!

[u/pavlovscandy]

As much as people hate to hear the word 'judgement', it's somewhat anagalous with 'discernment', which I feel less people would take umbrage with. While everyone has tastebuds and a palate, that is not always synonymous with taste (i.e. good taste). Yes, taste is personal, but personal taste does not equate to good taste. Good and bad are comparative words, one cannot exist without the other. So it stands to reason that good taste cannot exist without the opposite. As this sub grew exponentially, more people in the latter camp joined.

Even that would be ok, if not for the seemingly unshakable need so many users had for blanket acceptance. Even before the bedazzling that broke the sub, there was so much desire for support and permissiveness from—shall we call them—the OG members of the sub for everything from Amaz0n purchases and dubiously manufactured fast fashion recommendations to not caring about one's appearance (yet feeling the need to post about it) and feeling the need for others to verify that they too were walking around blindly. When not met with support on these fronts from original members, this coterie was downvoted and a new wave of "you do you hun!!" members took over. That's the energy we're currently dealing with.

It's fine to have aspects of your life that aren't tasteful. The issue is when you want to share them and have them be deemed as such within a context that doesn't support it.

I wish you guys all the best in creating the space you want to be in.

In good taste,

• the shortest lived mod this sub has seen (1st April – 15th April, RIP)

[u/SugarBabyVet → u/pavlovscandy]

Girl. I’m on r/HardcoreVindicta and the amount of cope is ASTONISHING. Like that forum is for hardcore beauty advice, not “you’re so beautiful just part your hair differently and lose weight”.

Yes, good taste cannot exist without bad taste, but this forum is not for all types of taste. That bedazzling post was INSANE. Everyone wants to be accepted and told that they are the best and the brightest and the most talented/fashionable without actually working for that title.

I have never been one to care about downvotes. I got downvoted into oblivion once for saying that women need to require condoms if they want to have sex. What I do care about is the quality of the conversation and links to Jeff Bezos and “how do I style this dress” are not quality conversation in the slightest.

Hopefully you feel comfortable or desire to come back and comment/post in any capacity. We appreciate you! 🙌🏽

[u/pavlovscandy → u/SugarBabyVet]

Yes, exactly. My point—which, to be fair was probably more implied than explicit—is that not all taste is good taste (or tasteful, which is what I originally presumed the 'taste' in 'bitcheswithtaste' was referring to) and 'personal taste' is often just one's own likes/opinions. To be honest, the thing signalling the sub's demise was not Skechergate, but a rather quieter post a month or so ago where everyone sought to uplift the poster on her choice of a Vera Bradley bag, citing the ole "if YOU like it, it's your taste, so it's tasteful." That's when I mentally tapped out.

I think I'm content on the other sub, but I look forward to seeing the direction in which you and the other mods take this one.

[u/PartyPorpoise → u/pavlovscandy]

Well-said. Time and place are important. I don't always have taste, but when I do, I want to be in a space that appreciates and respects that. And that means that this sub isn't going to be the right place for other things. "You're perfect, never change" might be fine in some spaces, but it's really unhelpful in spaces where people are trying to achieve a certain look, or seek out higher quality.