Unless you are going to force users to click a button on each post that says ”yes, I have read and understood this post”, you can’t be sure anyone read what you have to say anyway. People read what they choose to read, and If the alternative is for a user to leave the bbs because they cannot or do not wish to read another’s posts, then this feature is a net positive.
Additionally, we are lucky enough to have what I believe to be a higher than average percentage of users on the BBS that identify as female. You don’t have to look far to find stories of the harassment that segment of the online community is unduly subjected to. If this feature helps to reduce that concern in any way, then it is also a huge net positive.
We cannot, and do not, have any intention of forcing individuals to read anything, despite the strange cognitive dissonance some ”freedom of speech” advocates seem to have that such freedoms mean forced discourse or attention (and to be clear, I do not believe you specifically are advocating for such.)
People are going to read what they choose to. The BBS is not enough of a cultural phenomenon to cause folks who wish to close off their minds to alternative viewpoints to change that behaviour, but at least the choice is their own, and not some megacorp or algorithm doing so for them.
