# Does Gender of Foreros matter ?



## jmx

*Moderator's note*:  The original of this thread began, and remains, in the Comments and Suggestions forum.
Please feel free to visit it there.  Starting at about post  #6, this tread has turned to some other interesting topics.  Putting a *copy* in this forum implies no statement about the original thread topic, which should be addressed in C&S.  Thank you.






One suggestion and one question.

I suggest including your sex in your profile (for instance with the scientific signs: circles with an arrow or a cross). Of course it would be optional, like the rest, but it could help especially in languages like Spanish where you must know it when you are addressing some other person. There's a thread called "_Are you male or female? (don't panic - secret poll!!)_" but I think many of us wouldn't mind disclosing it, in case our style doesn't make it already evident.

The question is : ¿ is there any easy way to download whole threads without the need to do it page by page ?

Thank you.


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## ILT

Hi jmartins:

Maybe it would be a good idea, but it would have to be optional.  With so many threats on the net, I think a lot of us are careful about the personal information we display.  It actually took me about 500 posts to disclose my gender; I would always take care to write in a style that wouldn't disclose it. I know that this is a serious forum with serious people in it, but there's just so much information that I couldn't give out.

About addressing the persons in the forum, in Spanish what some of us do is use @, forer@, amig@, compañero@ (I actually copied the idea from a certain mod, he/she used it and I liked it).  That way we are including both genders.

Let's see what everybody else thinks.

ILT


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## cuchuflete

jmartins said:
			
		

> One suggestion and one question.
> 
> I suggest including your sex in your profile (for instance with the scientific signs: circles with an arrow or a cross). Of course it would be optional, like the rest, but it could help especially in languages like Spanish where you must know it when you are addressing some other person. There's a thread called "_Are you male or female? (don't panic - secret poll!!)_" but I think many of us wouldn't mind disclosing it, in case our style doesn't make it already evident.
> 
> The question is : ¿ is there any easy way to download whole threads without the need to do it page by page ?
> 
> Thank you.



Hola Jmartins,

Please help me understand what you are trying to accomplish when you say "download whole threads".  Do you want to copy the text to an external file?  

I don't know of a way to do that, but I'll have a look at the vB documentation if you wish.  Please clarify exactly what you are trying to do.

Thanks,
Cuchuflete

PS- Any member who wants to provide gender identification could do so by adding an "f" or "m" or whatever they please to their signature line.


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## Whodunit

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Any member who wants to provide gender identification could do so by adding an "f" or "m" or whatever they please to their signature line.



Nope, impossible. I have a very long signature, and I don't want to get rid of it up to 120 characters. That way is irrelevant here, I think.


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## cuchuflete

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Nope, impossible. I have a very long signature, and I don't want to get rid of it up to 120 characters. That way is irrelevant here, I think.


Dan- that doesn't make it "irrelevant here".  Instead, it is simply that you prefer to keep your own signature the way it is.  This option would work for the great majority of foreros.  

Please correct me in as many languages as you like


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## Fernando

I beg to disagree with jmartins. The best 'asexed' the forum is, the better. As a matter of fact I regret to have chosen a 'sexed' nick.

I would be more interested in professional and academic background. I can not see how knowing the gender would help us to judge a post.


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## cuchuflete

Ladies, Gentlemen and others,

If some people would like to provide additional information about their particular attributes, such as languages in which they can communicate, education, hobbies, professional affiliations, political affiliations, The Culture forum might be a good place for that, but please have the courtesy to ask the moderator, Zebedee, first.  

Thus any *voluntary* contributions of additional detail would be available.
This would be a data repository only.  Any chat or any reply whatsoever would be absolutely inappropriate to such a listing.

What do you think?

Cuchu


PS- I have as much detail as I choose to contribute in my Personal Profile.  That is another option.


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## alc112

I think it wold be a great idea. I think that lots of foreros realized tthat I was a boy when they saw my picture.


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## cuchuflete

alc112 said:
			
		

> I think it wo*u*ld be a great idea. I think that lots of foreros realized tthat I was a boy when they saw my picture.



Pero Alc, ¿Qué importa?  Son las ideas que tienen valor.


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## Fernando

That is the point. Alc112, apart from your girlfriend, what does it matter which your sex is?


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## cuchuflete

jmartins said:
			
		

> I suggest including your sex in your profile...



OK...

Here is your profile


> Join Date: *11th February 2005*
> 
> Posts
> Find all posts by jmartins Find all threads started by jmartins 				 				 			 			 			 			 				 					Referrals: *0*
> 
> User Notes: *0* [View]
> ​
> Email:
> Send a message via email to jmartins 					 				 				 				 					 						Private Message:
> Send a private message to jmartins ​
> Additional Information 	Group Memberships    	 	 		*Native Country and Language*:
> Spain/Spanish 	     	 		*Location*:
> Barcelona​



I must be missing something


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## Agnès E.

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> PS- I have as much detail as I choose to contribute in my Personal Profile.  That is another option.



I do agree with that.


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## Whodunit

Fernando said:
			
		

> That is the point. Alc112, apart from your girlfriend, what does it matter which your sex is?



I hate it to be addressed with "she" or being wrong when I address another one. We should have the option of releasing our sex, because in many languages it's very important to know, what someone's sex is. If you don't want to release your sex, you don't have to.


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## alc112

Fernando said:
			
		

> That is the point. Alc112, apart from your girlfriend, what does it matter which your sex is?


 
tienes razón, pero nunca quisiste saber el sexo de algún forero que tenga un nick que no te ayudara a darte cuenta?
Algunos ejemplos:
Vic_us
LIke an angel
Phryne
I Love Translating
Whodunit
Alc 112 (yo)
Magg
etc....

Sería mucho pedirte que pongas una encuesta para saber cuantas personas quisieran agregar ese dato a su perfil?
Gracias!!


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## lsp

I love translating said:
			
		

> Hi jmartins:
> 
> Maybe it would be a good idea, but it would have to be optional.  With so many threats on the net, I think a lot of us are careful about the personal information we display.  It actually took me about 500 posts to disclose my gender; I would always take care to write in a style that wouldn't disclose it. I know that this is a serious forum with serious people in it, but there's just so much information that I couldn't give out.
> 
> About addressing the persons in the forum, in Spanish what some of us do is use @, forer@, amig@, compañero@ (I actually copied the idea from a certain mod, he/she used it and I liked it).  That way we are including both genders.
> 
> Let's see what everybody else thinks.
> 
> ILT


Even though I agree "this is a serious forum with serious people in it," at the time of this post there are  217 (27 members and *190 guests*) online at WR. I have to vote for "voluntary" when it comes to any personal information.


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## LV4-26

Of course it has to be voluntary.

I don't know of any message board where you have to disclose your gender. It's always optionnal, if at all. Now if you do want to reveal it, you have many other ways, as has already been suggested.
For instance, I usually sign with my first name when I start a thread. (not in order to disclose my gender, though, but just because my nickname is too anonymous).


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## DDT

Fernando said:
			
		

> I beg to disagree with jmartins. The best 'asexed' the forum is, the better. As a matter of fact I regret to have chosen a 'sexed' nick.
> 
> I would be more interested in professional and academic background. I can not see how knowing the gender would help us to judge a post.



I fully agree. I really cannot see how the knowledge about the gender of members might help

DDT


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## lmn48820

I think that it is a good idea. But if it is up to that person if they want to have their gender known. But I don't really want to talk to somebody and use he or she if that not really what they are. And people want to feel comfortable to who there talking to or helping out. So Jmartins I totally agree. Oh and thanx for helping me. 
And for ALL to know I am a FEMALE and Proud of it too. 

Lindsey

AKA QTpie


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## fetchezlavache

gender doesn't have the slightest importance... 

if you are really eager to know whether a forero is a forera, or vice versa, just ask in a private message... however, people who want to disclose their gender can find ways to do it without there being any particular feature..


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## Cath.S.

> The best 'asexed' the forum is, the better


I fully agree.
To me, the Internet is a special place, where you can escape some of the material world's prejudice. 
I much prefer my opinion about forum members to be shaped by the way they express themselves, the ideas they come up with, the way they have to find solutions to language problems, than through their stated gender and, therefore, through my personal bias.
I'm aware of my own gender bias, but that consciousness is not enough to fully neutralize it. So I'd rather not know and I'd rather have most people not know about my gender.
If the Internet is to become just like everyday life, count me out.


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## cuchuflete

This is getting interesting.  I'm going to move a *copy* of this thread to the Culture  forum, in case anyone else wants to discuss the Internet _vs._ the so-called "real" world.

un saludo,
C.


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## Rayines

> This is getting interesting. I'm going to move a *copy* of this thread to the Culture forum, in case anyone else wants to discuss the Internet _vs._ the so-called "real" world.


*I don't think the Internet escapes so easily the "real world". *


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## LV4-26

Does gender of foreros matter ?
I can't answer this question without asking another one.
Is there such a thing as a genuine genderless forer@ ?
Or, let's put it this way :

How many of you succeed in *not* assigning a specific gender to each forer@ ?

I ask this question seriously as it seems there are two different categories of people among us, those who manage to imagine the other foreros as, say, genderless and those who can't.

To me, all the foreros do have a specific gender. The only problem is that sometimes, it isn't the right one.

I'd like to say 'no' to the original question but this would mean 'I don't know the gender of all foreros and I don't care'. Thus, the first half of my statement would be untrue. I know their gender : it's the one I've given them. .

So I abstain.


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## Fabian

jmartins said:
			
		

> One suggestion and one question.
> 
> I suggest including your sex in your profile (for instance with the scientific signs: circles with an arrow or a cross). Of course it would be optional, like the rest, but it could help especially in languages like Spanish where you must know it when you are addressing some other person...
> Thank you.


 
Some days ago I sent a private message to a member missing the gender and that member answered telling me something like  "I'm Mrs. not Mr.", so to me it would be important to know the members' gender.  Now there's no any problem if the option that jmartins suggests is included ...being optional, that ones who don't wanna say if they are male or female won't have to do it .... ¿por qué tanto brinco, estando el suelo tan parejo? saludos


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## VenusEnvy

Fabian: Well, whatever gender you are under the mask in yuor avatar, it's sort of scaring me.


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## charlie2

LV4-26 said:
			
		

> How many of you succeed in *not* assigning a specific gender to each forer@ ?




No, not me. But I have never consciously wondered about the gender of any member. As you read the posts, talk using PM's, you will sense it.(It is techinically not "assigning", come to think of it.) 

I hope I am not fooling myself.   I think I have managed not to be influenced (positively or negatively) by the gender of a member, either known to or "sensed" by me.




			
				LV4-26 said:
			
		

> To me, all the foreros do have a specific gender. The only problem is that sometimes, it isn't the right one.



Of course, my sensor may be wrong, but if I am correct in saying that my assessments of the posts have not been influenced by the possible gender of a member, it will not matter.
In short, I don't think gender matters, at least here.


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