The coffee room is ussor and I’m trying to make sure people chap

The way Beruriah spoke to Rebbe Yosi Haglili when he asked for directions in Eruvin (53,2) was disrespectful.

@moishe26 I don’t think you have proved that the mixture in the CR is any worse than being on any other internet forum (meaning dealing with the regular issues of bitul zman leitzanus etc. which must be dealt with)

Earlier on this thread someone shared the discussion in the poskim about whether kol b’isha ervah applies when you don’t know who the person is. There are many poskim who permit even that.
And that is much worse, since you are literally hearing the voice of the woman. And, according to some poskim, kol b’isha ervah only applies to hearing a woman sing; listening to her talk is not included (although see Kovetz teshuvos of Rav Elyashiv who held it was assur for a woman to give a lecture in front of men, and some communities are strict like this. But others are lenient about this).

Here, we not only are lacking women singing, they are not even “talking” but merely writing down, further removed from the real issur. Thus even if you would know who the woman is, it would be mutar.
And, everything is completely anonymous; so even if it was actual singing there would be room to be lenient.
So here, when we have both advantages, it is very hard to be strict.

As to your concern that “people are developing emotional connections with the other gender”- I don’t think that is a problem here.
First off, that issue is usually mentioned in reference to private communications- emails, DMs, etc. between a man and woman.
When posting in a public forum, there is not nearly the concern of “kirvah”.

Second, the anonymity on this site ensures that there is no intergender emotional connection formed here.
There are numerous people here who I had assumed were one gender, until I found out the opposite.
So even though I know some of them are women, I still relate to them all as being men.

For all the above, I do not believe that this site is so problematic; if you personally feel it is below your standard, then you should definitely get off.
But I don’t think we can insist that everyone get off…

Shlomo Hamelech repeated what the woman said regarding the baby, so in arguments when the litigants go through an agent like Tziporah something might be lost in translation.

@Moshi26, I respect that you’re standing up for proper Yidishe values.

However, whether it’s right or wrong, that doesn’t take away from the irony of discussing the issur of using YWN ON YWN!

You are having a disucussion with many anonymous users, many of whom are possibly women – about the issur of talking to women on a forum!

I can think of many Torah phrases that redicule this behavior: טובל ושרץ בידו, כל הפוסל במומו פוסל, קשוט עצמך ואחר כך קשוט אחרים, etc. etc. Of course this does not mean that we must be perfect before helping others in their Yiddishkeit, but you can’t do an aveira to help others refrain from that very aveira.

Imagine if one fine Shabbos morning, someone would (ch”v) start a thread about how terrible it is that people are posting on forums on Shabbos. That would be rediculous!

Gefilte Fish: You are mixing up and confusing two different and separate issues. Kol Isha has nothing to do with the prohibition against unnecessarily chatting with a woman.

AAQ: But Bruria committed suicide.

CA, why might he have Yichud? He knows to avoid such a setup.

ujm, I think kol isha is worse than here not hearing whom you are mingling with and I indicated that it is mutir, permitted.

Since you don’t read I must repeat what I wrote:
What is says אל תרבה שיחה עם אשה, don’t speak much with a woman, I don’t think applies if you don’t know her, see her or hear her. Her political views or Torah views will not affect you.
We have to compare apples to apples and not apples to oranges. The wife the husband recognizes and knows, so must be others. The kal vechamer has a pircha, can be questioned. She will tell what you said about other people to the neighbors which can cause friction.

Reb Eliezer, your comment about אל תרבה שיחה עם אשה, seems to indicate you’d have no problem with a man having a female Pen Pal (or email pal) that they write letters to each other every few days, for long periods of times, since it fits into the criteria you established that they haven’t met each other and they don’t see each other or hear each other.

Is this your own boich svara or do you have any source for this criteria you established?

ujm, your criteria might be a yichud problem as it might be done in private whereas over here communication is in the open.

Reb Eliezer,

“‘It is permitted for a man to talk to a woman regarding work or business related subjects… See Beis Shmuel 21/4 “However hearing her voice during speech is permitted”; There is no prohibition found in Poskim regarding interaction with a woman for business related matters”

The CR isn’t business related matters.

Syag, what’s your position on a man and woman being Pen Pals or Email Pals?

RebE > Should be עם האשה with the woman who is recognized as his wife.

How would a man recognize that an anonymous poster is his wife?
If she does not pay attention to his posts.

AAQ, I agree.

“Yes, it might be but the CR is public. Writing is better than talking.”

Reb Eliezer, you’re saying writing to a woman (Pen Pal/Email Pal) is a Yichud problem. Presumably you’d say the same problem exists with phone calls. Apparently you’re basing this on the quantity of the letters/emails/calls; and you’d say that a single (or very small number) of phone calls or emails or letters between a man and woman is okay. But on what basis are you asserting a Yichud problem is only a problem if it is too often? Having Yichud even once is assur.

I think that the CR is ‘not’ yichud under any condition as it is ‘public’ and the mods will ‘deter’ any personnel communication. Therefore it is ‘not’ assur as the OP perceives.

סימן טוב ומזל טוב

I have been wondering about this topic for years.

OK – I only come on bein hazemanim, maybe that makes a difference?

I am stum wondering about the whole anonymous issue

I find people’s opinions much easier to approach if I know that they know about the sugya etc … have a specific view etc ….

I’d love there to be some basic info about people, background, location, experience ….

Is there yichud by a doctor or he is tarid bemelachto, busy in his work, if no nurse is available?

Mosh26, are you a Rav? If not, don’t tell people what to do. Your own reference about talking to the opposite gender indicated it is ok as no flirtation is allowed here where even her voice quoted from the Beis Shmuel is not a problem. So if you are unhappy and have a problem, no one wants to hear your views and get off this platform. As pointed out the mods are available to make sure that no private and personnel information is conveyed. I think you are speaking shtusim and lakshen as כל הפוסל במומו פוסל, one faults with his own faults. The women over here communicate just as men where their views are gender neutral. Only you care if the communicator is a woman or man and no one else, so it looks like you have a problem. I don’t ask anyone because I don’t think it is a shaila. I will tell you a story that my father a’h told me. A Rav gave a drasha about the issur of bowling. Someone who wanted the Rav to see what he is talking about took him to a bowling alley and showed him how it is played by throwing the ball and knocking down the pins. The Rav said this is a game but not bowling. When asking a shaila, one must tell the Rav the full circumstances how people on the CR mostly don’t know each other to whom they are talking to by writing in public and the mods (supervisors) don’t allow any private and personnel information as I quoted by the policy and principles that have been instituted here for the communicators by threatening them to be booted off.

Look carefully at teshuvot that discuss in-person communication, such as Igros Moshe: is he mentioning an alternative of answering teshuvos in writing? As most of warning is regarding voice, talking, looking, it is obvious that writing is preferred. If there are some restrictions on writing, the poskim should be mentioning those. But this is for necessary discussion. The biggest question on CR would be for silly discussions…

There is also a halakhic consideration of derech eretz that overrides extreme precautions. If you are in a society where people talk, then you should say shabbat shalom and mazal tov; if you live in a shtetl where this is not done, then don’t (most poskim, check with your own). So, ignoring a reasonable post by a lady may qualify as an offense against derech eretz.

@26, A TROLL IS A TROLL IS A TROLL, NOW GET LOST

CS: Have you ever met a troll that you agreed with his post? Or do you consider anyone you disagree with to be a troll?

@ujm, if the persons only post are trollish in nature that person is a troll