# Sex in profile + download threads



## jmx

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

I vote for posting gender, age and country where the person lives. (Always voluntarily, of course!)


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## ILT

Rayines said:
			
		

> I vote for posting gender, age and country where the person lives. (Always voluntarily, of course!)



But I think it is already voluntary.

gender --> if the nickname does not give it away, the member may always sign with his/her real name (just like Rayines = Inés)
age --> There is already a field to be filled with the date of birth
country --> there is already a field for this too

Greetings! 

ILT


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## VenusEnvy

I can understand how native language, age (generation) and native country could influence language. But, I suppose the question is, "Does knowing the sex of a person influence the way they use their language?" Remember that first and foremost, this forum is to discuss *languages*. Unless in the culture forum, does knowing the gender of someone really matter?

EDIT: I'm sorry all, I just saw the new thread in the culture forum. Many pardons.


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## timpeac

I only have one problem with no stated gender in the forums, and that is that it makes it very difficult to refer to people in the third person. The Spanish solution of forer@ is ingenious but only partial, and of course does not work in other languages.

To pick an example at random, let's pick the last name I see in this thread. What should I say - "Venus envy said in another thread that Venus envy thought it was a better idea to buy oranges because when venus envy was a young person .... blah blah blah" (no offence venus envy, I've just picked your name at random!!)

"Traditional" language is not set up for this, and although there are a few people in the concrete world who are of indeterminate gender this is extremely rare. It seems to me that in the absence of knowledge of a gender we need a new way to refer to people, in the same way that emoticons are necessary in forums and chat rooms but unknown in the wider literary context.


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## Rayines

> Unless in the culture forum, does knowing the gender of someone really matter?


*Yes for me, because I exchange with persons, and not with abstract beings. Nevertheless, I respect absolutely those who don't want to disclose those aspects. Just that language is also communication and this one for me implies to know (or to seem to know, "I know"), a little more about the other person. *


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## jmx

cuchuflete said:
			
		

> 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.


I just want to download threads to a local drive, so I can browse them off-line. I can use the "Save as..." command in Internet Explorer for a page, but for long threads it takes too long.

Anyway, it's nothing really important. If you don't know the way to accomplish this, don't waste your time with it for me.


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## Cath.S.

jmartins said:
			
		

> I just want to download threads to a local drive, so I can browse them off-line. I can use the "Save as..." command in Internet Explorer for a page, but for long threads it takes too long.
> 
> Anyway, it's nothing really important. If you don't know the way to accomplish this, don't waste your time with it for me.


 I do it using the _save as_ fonction, and it only takes seconds. I'd say it's something to do with your machine/Internet connection speed.


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## Philippa

Rayines said:
			
		

> *Yes for me, because I exchange with persons, and not with abstract beings. Nevertheless, I respect absolutely those who don't want to disclose those aspects. Just that language is also communication and this one for me implies to know (or to seem to know, "I know"), a little more about the other person. *


I agree with you, Inés!
As someone said in the Poll thread, or somewhere, I too can't help assigning a gender to other foreros. It's kind of random - a bit based on how their nickname sounds, but with an assumption otherwise that they are male (I reckon that I got this from the male form overriding the female one in French and Spanish languages!!  ) I seem to be able to cope better at imagining and communicating with people without knowing their ages. Of course it shouldn't be compulsory to reveal it, though!
Saludos a todos
Philippa


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## cuchuflete

jmartins said:
			
		

> I just want to download threads to a local drive, so I can browse them off-line. I can use the "Save as..." command in Internet Explorer for a page, but for long threads it takes too long.
> 
> Anyway, it's nothing really important. If you don't know the way to accomplish this, don't waste your time with it for me.



Jmartins,

Thanks for your reply.  I don't know of a way, but if I can find something from the forum software developer, I'll send you a PM.   Thanks for starting this interesting discussion.

regards,
Cuchu


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## alc112

You can use the printable version in which,I think, the images don't appear. so you can dowload the threads more quickily


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## cuchuflete

Gracias ALC,

buena idea si tienes un ordenador lento.  Sale feo, pero para mí el "download" duró menos de un segundo para este hilo.

Good idea if you have a slow computer.  It comes out ugly, but for me the download took less than a second for this thread.

C.


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## cuchuflete

egueule said:
			
		

> I do it using the _save as_ fonction, and it only takes seconds. I'd say it's something to do with your machine/Internet connection speed.



Egueule, 
You have my apologies.  I tried to give this reply to your post earlier, and by accident wrote directly into your own post.  

Sorry,
Cuchu
 
 If Jmartins wants to copy the thread, rather than the text of the individual messages, you are absolutely right.   

 I just tried it, for the first time, in Firefox, and this thread to less than 2 seconds to copy as an html file.


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## JazzByChas

egueule said:
			
		

> 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.


 
True enough, eguele, and all the other forer@s in here.  There are, times, however, when I address someone as though they were one gender or another, and find that they are the opposite.  That is a bit embarassing...

But, this is just an observation...


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