Gender Display on Posts

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

Please forgive me if there was already a topic covering this. I tried searching and I skimmed through fifteen pages and saw nothing...

 

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to have the gender of each member displayed on their posts, perhaps underneath the user's avatar next to where it says 'Members' or 'Moderators'. (Check Shifting Gears' second post below for an idea of what I mean) As one of the rare females on the forum, I'm constantly being called everything from "dude," to "man," and "he," despite the fact that my gender is listed on my profile page. I don't mean to be a sourpuss, but this is frustrating, because I want people to see me for who I am and as I am.

 

I think that not only would it be more convenient, but it would help clear up some confusion all the way around, because a lot of members don't read profile pages before using incorrect pronouns in discussions and posts. And from my experience, other people just forget about it entirely.

 

Thank you in advance.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[NavelColt 22,883]

On the actual post? I don't think that's all too necessary, considering you can move your cursor over someone's name and you get a pop up display giving you a bunch of their information. If we could just add gender to that pop up box, I think that'd be a good middle ground.

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

 

 

As one of the rare females on the forum

 

You could be right on this, but there is an average amount of females as well such as some either not mentioning their gender.

 

You just have to keep looking, I'm sure your not completely rare.

 

Also, that would be a neat little feature, and I'd be down with it, I have no shame in what I am.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

This is a bad idea because it's bound to induce gender bias. 

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I actually think that's a pretty great idea! People normally assume people are guys on the internet unless it's obvious that they are a girl, so I think it would be a useful feature.

[Icy Void 19]

This is a bad idea because it's bound to induce gender bias. 

 

Not necessarily, I'm on a couple other forums that do show your gender(they put it under the avatar) and not once have I seen any gender based bias brought up. That said, if it were to happen it would just be reported and warning points would be given.

[Harmonic Revelations 8,837]

Not necessarily, I'm on a couple other forums that do show your gender(they put it under the avatar) and not once have I seen any gender based bias brought up. That said, if it were to happen it would just be reported and warning points would be given.

It won't be brought up but trust me, it will be in people's minds. It's not a risk worth taking, for the same reason we don't display post or brohoof count below user names, it would cause people to treat members differently, and that doesn't exactly make for a friendly atmosphere.

[Jokuc 8,175]

On the actual post? I don't think that's all too necessary, considering you can move your cursor over someone's name and you get a pop up display giving you a bunch of their information. If we could just add gender to that pop up box, I think that'd be a good middle ground.

 

Who even does that? The user replying to their post would quote them saying "dude" without even looking at the popup box.

 

While I don't care much for the feature personally, maybe it would be a good thing if you could add the option for users to display their gender in their posts. I'm thinking about some sort of checkbox in the profile settings. Though I must say it would be a bit weird if just a few users had their gender shown there.

Edited September 20, 2013 by Jokuc

[Batbrony 16,088]

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to have the gender of each member displayed on their posts, perhaps underneath the user's avatar next to where it says 'members' or 'moderators'.

 

Well brosef, my brotha from another mother, mah main man, dude with all the moves, rowdy Roy (I'm just taking a wild guess that your name is Roy, but hey, ya never know right good sir?), Fido (I'm kidding, I know your name's not Fido, I just wanted to say Fido, isn't it fun?  Fido, Fido, FIDO!!!  See? ), friend of mine who I most definitely know is a guy and not some cooties-infested person of the female persuasion...

 

 

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.  I blame "Gilmore Girls"; my mom and I have been watching a lot lately, and I think Lorelai's penchant for delicious, casual sarcasm has been rubbing off on me... that or I just naturally exude delicious, casual sarcasm. 

 

Anyways, moving on...

 

Concerning the topic, I actually don't think this is a bad idea, with ONE stipulation: public gender identification would HAVE to be an optional feature, of course.  After all, we wouldn't want people who don't want to reveal their genders being forced to do so, since it might be more information than they'd like to give away, make them feel uncomfortable, etc.  Aside from that, as long as this is easily implementable by the staff (which it may or may not be, I cannot say seeing as I am not a tech guru), I see no reason why this wouldn't be a nice new feature, as long as, once again, it was optional.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

On the actual post? I don't think that's all too necessary, considering you can move your cursor over someone's name and you get a pop up display giving you a bunch of their information. If we could just add gender to that pop up box, I think that'd be a good middle ground.

 

This is not a bad idea, but as Jokuc said, I really don't think a lot of users even bother with that feature. I would settle for that if it were the only option though.

 

It won't be brought up but trust me, it will be in people's minds. It's not a risk worth taking, for the same reason we don't display post or brohoof count below user names, it would cause people to treat members differently, and that doesn't exactly make for a friendly atmosphere.

 

Fair enough point. I don't want people to feel different because of gender bias, although I really don't think it would be that big of an issue.

 

So, why not have it as an optional feature? I think if we can choose to hide our gender on our profile page, then that should be able to translate to our posts. I've been to many forums that had gender displayed on posts, and it saves people a lot of confusion.

 

@Batbrony: You don't know how hard that made me laugh just now. Thanks for that! ^.^

Edited September 21, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[NavelColt 22,883]

This is not a bad idea, but as Jokuc said, I really don't think a lot of users even bother with that feature. I would settle for that if it were the only option though.

 

That's not really a valid argument, honestly xD If a feature isn't noticed, then the staff just need to work to get it noticed more; not invent duplicate methods of doing something just so it's always noticeable. Especially considering we've always been minimalistic on the amount of things that display in actual forum posts. Suddenly throwing out that tradition because of something like this is what the truly silly thing would be.

[Batbrony 16,088]

That's not really a valid argument, honestly xD If a feature isn't noticed, then the staff just need to work to get it noticed more; not invent duplicate methods of doing something just so it's always noticeable. Especially considering we've always been minimalistic on the amount of things that display in actual forum posts. Suddenly throwing out that tradition because of something like this is what the truly silly thing would be.

 

Ya know, that makes sense.  I think your compromise sounds the most logical (though it should probably still be an optional feature just like it is in profiles, at least, if that's doable).  I tried it out, and yeah, if I ever forgot someone's gender and it was relevant in a post, just highlighting their name and it popping up right there would be real snappy.  I also agree that including it below our names would probably make the space there a little too cluttered.  So, yeah, if you think that was doable, I'd be all for an optional gender display in the information that pops up when members highlight other members names in threads. 

[Dark Horn 430]

Until MLP Forums turns into an online dating website, I don't think that's necessary. However, it would be a useful feature, I surmise, for some people, if it didn't take too much time and effort for the staff.

[Mutemutt 773]

I can get behind this idea but it's probably better off displayed in the little pop-up info area. The reason I say this isn't because of duplicate methods (if anything, you could just replace it since displaying that info on the side is more effective), but because displaying in the post may not look as nice. Most of the forums I go to show most of the info we have in the pop up, right under the avatar for each post and it looks pretty nice (some have genders shown, some don't), but we have that big ol' badge sitting there. I think the space might get a little too cluttered if you started putting info in that area and I like the badges.

 

As for gender bias, I don't think too much more than what's already around will be introduced.

 

EDIT: After doing some more thinking about it, I've changed my mind. I think displaying gender in the post is the best place. It's more effective there and I don't think it will disturb the style too much if you just place it under the 'member/ moderator' line. It's unobtrusive yet easily noticeable; you don't have to go out of your way to look for it, so I expect more people to actually use that than the pop up display.

Edited September 21, 2013 by Mutemutt

[Shift 4,275]

I like this idea a lot. As for that hover over your name thing I think that if we added gender it wouldn't help at all, because unless you find a way so everypony uses it, I highly doubt it'll help. I think that due to being called a guy a million times myself, having your gender shown in your post would be nice.

 

As for gender bias, I agree with Mutemutt.

[Zygen 6,066]

Well, regardless I think some form of showing ones gender easier should be implemented, because not only do I feel like I'm always the one when first meeting someone to call them a "he" or "guy", but I also screw up gender pronouns, or sometimes forget with some people.

 

Regardless this would save me some embarrassment. Since this is the Internet, and girls are in the minority as far as the Internet, so I assume guys a lot.

 

Or again I just screw up gender pronouns...

 

Anyways, I do think that I have to agree with Cd in a way though, it does have a chance of cluttering the posts a bit.

 

I think having it show in the box that shows when you hover over a profile is enough for me.

 

Whatever saves me embarrassment .

[~Rule 63~ Lyeco 527]

This is a good feature, especially when you're mistakenly called by the opposite gender

 

Gender confusion is one of the biggest problems in this forum especially for people whose avatar is their opposite gender

 

So gender display might be placed beside the username in the post or under the avatar

 

So let's leave it to OTHER admins to take care of it

[Sky Warden 2,243]

No. Not on posts. Gender confusion is indeed annoying, but wasting space on a post for a gender symbol doesn't seem so relaxing either. Where will you add it? Under your badge? I would agree to add it to the quick summary thingy (when you hover on the username). People who really want to know can just check it. It won't take too much space, and is, come on, what's so hard with it?

Edited September 22, 2013 by Earl of Skyward

[Shift 4,275]

Guys I just got the greatest idea in the history of the universe bear with me OK

 

 

If I was a boy it would be a blue ?, and if I had no gender set then nothing would be there.

[Envy 6,480]

No. Not on posts. Gender confusion is indeed annoying, but wasting space on a post for a gender symbol doesn't seem so relaxing either. Where will you add it? Under your badge? I would agree to add it to the quick summary thingy (when you hover on the username). People who really want to know can just check it. It won't take too much space, and is, come on, what's so hard with it?

 

Because we all know that everybody is going to check the quick summary thing before they misgender us as male. Wrong.

 

I don't see how it would be such a terribly large eyesore to have gender show up in posts. It wouldn't be one at all. In fact, they don't even have to have a field that says "Gender: ---" (which seriously wouldn't even be bad at all), they could put a gender symbol right to the right of the username. Well, I say that but I don't know if it's actually possible with the hardware of this forum. However, I've seen it on another forum, and it works just fine.

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Personally I think it should be optional, but yeah it would be nice to have the option indeed. Gender confusion is pretty annoying, and I find it kind of weird that everyone assumes everyone else is a guy on a pony forum. Shifting Gears' design suggestion seems like the best way to go if we are to implement this (though perhaps without the blue and pink color differences, have both be purple or something)

Edited September 22, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[Sky Warden 2,243]

 

 

Well, I say that but I don't know if it's actually possible with the hardware of this forum.

 

Software. It won't be hard to do that. Either way is fine for me, since I don't really care about this little thing. The only problem now is to have a Poniverse developer to handle this.

[GhostPony750 959]

Seems like a good idea, put it beside the member title for exemple, or beside the name.

This would of course fix some confusion.

[Sugar Cube 4,843]

Guys I just got the greatest idea in the history of the universe bear with me OK

 

 

If I was a boy it would be a blue ?, and if I had no gender set then nothing would be there.

 

That's exactly what I had in mind. Honestly, that's what I was trying to say all along, but I failed to be more specific. Thank you so much for posting a pic. You're a godsend.

 

I had it in my head that it would be nothing more than a gender symbol right next to the word 'Members.' And of course I would want it optional. After all, we have the option to display the gender on our profile page.

 

I respect tradition, but I also think that it's more important for female users to not feel alienated or isolated, for lack of a better word. We're on a forum that's full of mostly male users who use female characters for their avatars, sigs, and usernames. It's very easy to confuse gender identity for that reason.

Edited September 22, 2013 by Sugar Cube

[Esk 201]

Typically I'd say that gender is irrelevant, but I've never been mistaken for a male on this site for some odd reason.

But for those of us that have their gender constantly mistaken, that would be convenient.