Proposal: Gender in Postbit

[DragoZERO]

A lot of times, knowing the gender of a user can help see where he or she is coming from when they say something. Boys and girls obviously have different points of views, so yeah.

So, could the gender that we enter in our profile be put in the postbit, above or below the age field I guess.

I apologize if this has been discussed. I did a search and didn't find anything, so yeah.

[White Manju Bun]

I dont know if thats something that can be done with VBullentin an admin could know better but also remember not everyone (including myself) put what there gender is.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

I dont know if thats something that can be done with VBullentin an admin could know better but also remember not everyone (including myself) put what there gender is.

It can be done. It can be done manually by editing the template or with mods.

[xris]

If I remember we used to have to displayed but it was decided to no longer make it visible so the option was turned off. At least, that is what I remember, I can't find the vB option that would turn it on (but then again vB seems to like to hide such options in the oddest of places so maybe I'm just not looking in the correct place).

It's not as if the info isn't there, if you want to check the gender then all you need do is look at the user's profile. I prefer this option myself instead of having it displayed in every post.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by xris

If I remember we used to have to displayed but it was decided to no longer make it visible so the option was turned off. At least, that is what I remember, I can't find the vB option that would turn it on (but then again vB seems to like to hide such options in the oddest of places so maybe I'm just not looking in the correct place).

I'm not sure if its a standard feature on vB (yet at least). You'd probably have to use a mod or edit a template. A mod is the easiest way.

It's not as if the info isn't there, if you want to check the gender then all you need do is look at the user's profile. I prefer this option myself instead of having it displayed in every post.

The idea is to have the information available when you read the post. Its just an extra line of text, you don't have be fancy and use gender symbol images or anything.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

I dont know if thats something that can be done with VBullentin an admin could know better but also remember not everyone (including myself) put what there gender is.

To me, an "unspecified" gender almost always means "female." Women are much more cautious about displaying their genders than men in online fora, especially ones like AS or Slashdot where men constitute the majority of members. I presume the motivation is to discourage guys from hitting on you, no?

I'm with xris on the question of whether it should be displayed along with posts. Usually it's pretty obvious to me whether someone is male or female from the nature of what's written. If I'm uncertain or especially curious about a member, I'll just click their username and look at the profile. It only takes a second, and it does offer at least a veneer of privacy.

[Kyuusai]

I'll throw in my two cents here:

In general, because it is usually irrelevant and because I can usually infer from the writing style, I prefer not to see the gender listed. It seems either unnecessary or redundant. That's to say nothing of the color it could give to the post for biased readers.

I think there is more of an argument to be made for it on AS than on most other forums, though. We have a much higher portion of persons who speak English as a second language than most other forums, and the "gender voice" is often lost. Avatars here also communicate far less about gender than the avatars on other forums tend to (Xellos-_^ and JOJOS'STAR excepted...).

And while "unspecified" on other forums almost always means "I'm a female and trying to hide", we have a number of users here who have refused to reveal their gender but are almost certainly male (I'd venture to say that the vast majority of the ones here staying mum on the issue are, in fact, male).

Since the privacy for profile pages can be adjusted, that gives some leeway for those who are comfortable with their gender being stated as long as their contact info is hidden.

I'm not arguing for gender to be listed beside the post, mind you. I'm just pointing out that some of the conventional thought we apply to other forums really may not apply here. I do think it is far more relevant than location, though, and perhaps at least as relevant as age.

[SeijiSensei]

Neither here nor there, but just some interesting statistics on the AS membership.

Limiting the search to people who have posted at least once since 1/1/2009, we have the following tallies:

Male: 4035
Female: 1644
Unspecified: 403

The number of unspecifieds is actually quite a bit smaller than I might have imagined. (Including all members however ancient produces a similar result.)

Looking down the list of unspecifieds provides a lot of support for Kyuusai's viewpoint. There are many people in the list that I "know" to be male. So I'll withdraw my earlier comment on the tie between "unspecified" and "female." Remind me to ask james0246 sometime why he hasn't indicated his gender. (And, no, from PMs we've exchanged I don't think he's a woman hiding as a man.)

[monir]

Originally Posted by xris

If I remember we used to have to displayed but it was decided to no longer make it visible so the option was turned off. At least, that is what I remember, ....

This was the thread that triggered the change. It started out with the post count. 2005 Catastrophe also turned on the feature (among many other) for few days before it was remedied.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Remind me to ask james0246 sometime why he hasn't indicated his gender. (And, no, from PMs we've exchanged I don't think he's a woman hiding as a man.)

Oh, that's easy. James doesn't want to display his gender because the vagueness works as a protective measure against his innumerable fans that want to have his babies. He is dreamy, you know.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by monir

Oh, that's easy. James doesn't want to display his gender because the vagueness works as a protective measure against his innumerable fans that want to have his babies. He is dreamy, you know.

Some of his fans probably can't have babies for biological reasons!

[ChainLegacy]

It makes referring to another poster easier during dicussion, but admittedly that is only a marginal benefit. It would be more of a convenience thing, so one need not click the profile.

[KholdStare]

I think that having gender in postbit would be more convenient.

[Vexx]

I think its nice that the Internet lets my input be considered without being prejudiced by me being a dog/sloth/wombat/C'thulxian/shapeshifter.

I figure if someone reveals it fine... but otherwise who cares.

I get *really* tired in MMOs of people (mostly young 'tards) obsessing over whether someone is of the gender of their character or not.

[Ansalem]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I get *really* tired in MMOs of people (mostly young 'tards) obsessing over whether someone is of the gender of their character or not.

I never really noticed that in the past when I played some MMOs. Generally at endgame anyone you interacted with enough to care about their gender used vent, making it fairly obvious? That was my experience.

Anyway, as to the discussion at hand, it could make posting slightly easier with an easy reference for pronoun gender, but even that is generally avoidable by substituting the username or a plural possessive pronoun. Other than that, I don't really see any pressing necessity to list it on the sidebar.

[monir]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Some of his fans probably can't have babies for biological reasons!

I believe that's one of the prime reason why James stays so vague. He is very considerate.

I'm also in the same opinion as Vexx. Besides the covenience part doesn't really extend more than the usage of pronoun. Is my response going to be any different if I know the person I'm replying to is a girl, boy, a dog, or an inanimate object that mastered typing? As far as I'm concerned, nope.

[Solace]

I'd prefer to keep things neutral personally. If someone wishes to know the gender of another they can check their profile (if they choose to fill it out) or ask. Really though, it's the internet. Gender is about as transient as any other quality we decide to divulge. Three cheers for anonymity!

[Kyuusai]

Does it really make sense to consider it from the standpoint of anonymity? Much like age and location, it doesn't have to be shared. Having it displayed in another location doesn't change that it or is not shared except in the case of some one choosing to set their gender but keeping their profile private. I think that's a pretty narrow case.

[RWBladewing]

Originally Posted by Kyuusai

Does it really make sense to consider it from the standpoint of anonymity? Much like age and location, it doesn't have to be shared. Having it displayed in another location doesn't change that it or is not shared except in the case of some one choosing to set their gender but keeping their profile private. I think that's a pretty narrow case.

I imagine people are probably thinking that having it displayed there for anyone will just draw more attention to it in general, even if they personally choose not to display theirs. Whereas with its location currently it's more of an "out of sight, out of mind" type of deal unless someone cares enough to check your profile. Also if enough people did choose to show it, it technically could make "Unspecified" users stand out more which would likely be the opposite of what they want. I don't actually care either way but these are the reasons I could see for someone arguing against it.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Neither here nor there, but just some interesting statistics on the AS membership.

Limiting the search to people who have posted at least once since 1/1/2009, we have the following tallies:

Male: 4035
Female: 1644
Unspecified: 403

The number of unspecifieds is actually quite a bit smaller than I might have imagined. (Including all members however ancient produces a similar result.)

What about the people like me who just have N/A listed since we're too lazy to answer the actual question

Every once in a great while Ill realize someone is the opposite gender from what I thought they were but it happens rarely and usually Im amused with it. Personally I like not having it displayed since like its been already stated, does it matter what gender we're reading/replying to, it matters more the statement youre adding too/arguing with/answering. Gender is in the eyes of the beholder. Plus being neutral is fun

Also it may interest monir to know that there are still people on this forum who mistake my gender on a daily basis

[Dr. Casey]

Petition: ban everyone with Unspecified as their gender for being secretive and/or paranoid and stupid

We should all trust our fellow members of AnimeSuki. If we don't, do we truly deserve to post here at all?