Affirming gender through notification titles

[Quantumcat]

It can get kind of annoying when people call you the wrong thing. A lot of the GBATemp population have feminine avatars when they are male (probably some with masculine avatars that are female) and non-gender-specific names (or sometimes their name sounds like the opposite gender to what they are in their profile) so these mixups happen often. It results in people having to awkwardly use sentence structures that leave out the gender, or making a (sometimes incorrect) assumption.

So, this is a suggestion to subtly remind people what gender other users have labelled themselves in their profile, so such awkwardness can be reduced somewhat. Akin to having the social cues of voice and looks - nothing in your face but it just works at the back of their mind.

1. Change "[person's name] mentioned you in a post in [thread name]" to "[person's name] mentioned you in her or his post in [thread name]"
2. (In the case that the OP replies to their own thread) Change "[person's name] replied to the thread [thread name]" to "[person's name] replied to her or his thread [thread name]"

And when the person's gender is not specified in their profile, then leave it as it is now.

I can't think of any other sorts of notification titles where you could sneak a her or his in, but just these two circumstances would help.

 

[dimmidice]

Or maybe just chill out and accept that people make mistakes and get over it. We don't need any function for this. Just mention it and move on.

 

[Quantumcat]

Or maybe just chill out and accept that people make mistakes and get over it. We don't need any function for this. Just mention it and move on.

Making a mistake is when you have information to go on, but interpret it incorrectly. For example, seeing a girl with short hair from behind and mistaking her for a guy, or seeing a guy with long hair from behind and mistaking him for a girl. Here, there is nothing to go on. It's not a mistake, it's just taking a blind guess and guessing wrongly. Wouldn't it be nicer to give people something to go on? Less awkward for everyone?

 

[dimmidice]

Making a mistake is when you have information to go on, but interpret it incorrectly. For example, seeing a girl with short hair from behind and mistaking her for a guy, or seeing a guy with long hair from behind and mistaking him for a girl. Here, there is nothing to go on. It's not a mistake, it's just taking a blind guess and guessing wrongly. Wouldn't it be nicer to give people something to go on? Less awkward for everyone?

What about the profile option that explicitly says if someone's female or male?

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Well my gender is set to Male. But you know, many people here set them as they please, or not at all. I just did cause it was a option to fill out and I was just being nice and filling out the info as requested. But is just me, others will do anything they feel like. Gender has been a very 'Hush hush" thing here, mostly I mean I rather avoid it since many people suddenly have blogs discussing it that turn into a bunch of things I rather not get involved with trying to make it look worst or creating enemies. (I already have enemies here i don't need more)

It would be simple for people to just fill out if they address as male or female and people can just see it on her profile but again, people do what they want. Gender is important to some people but also not important to some people, I prefer people be honest, you don't want to share your gender is your right not to disclose that info, and if you do, just be honest about it.

 

[Vipera]

Fuck it, I'm done. No point in staying here for longer. So long guys. Hopefully you won't turn like Tumblr.

 

[Quantumcat]

What about the profile option that explicitly says if someone's female or male?

True - but then you're in the middle of typing, and you think, crap, are they male or female? And have to scroll up to wherever their post is that you're quoting (or go and do a separate search if you are just referring to someone, not quoting them). Instead of already knowing.

Anyway, it's not a big deal - just something very easy to add that most people probably wouldn't even notice. Or maybe people like it if you call them the wrong thing, and we need to facilitate that. Whatever.

 

[Lucifer666]

Fuck it, I'm done. No point in staying here for longer. So long guys. Hopefully you won't turn like Tumblr.

Dude if a harmless thread about a feature thats maybe kinda useless makes you rant about leaving then maybe you should

 

[dimmidice]

True - but then you're in the middle of typing, and you think, crap, are they male or female? And have to scroll up to wherever their post is that you're quoting (or go and do a separate search if you are just referring to someone, not quoting them). Instead of already knowing.

I'm not against it per se, but i do think it's a bit pointless. Plus it'd exclude people who don't identify as either male or female. If someone really wants people to get a good mental idea of their gender then they should just use an avatar that's their gender.

If it said "Person has quoted you in her post" but it's a male avatar i'd still be confused really. Avatar sticks in my mind far more.

 

[Aerocool]

Why is this such a big deal? I wouldnt give a fuck if someone misgendered me

 

[Issac]

The only thing I'm wondering is how much it would affect the database. I mean, for every notification having to do a look up for the gender value - would that use up resources or not?
If it wouldn't, I wouldn't mind a
"XYZ mentioned you in his/her/their post".

 

[Lucifer666]

I'm not for or against this feature TBH, I just think that gender is a bit irrelevant on a gaming forum where there's next to no acknowledgement of real life stuff, we're just talking about games.

Only exception is the blog section

 

[Deleted User]

Stop pandering to idiots who get all pissy because they get called the wrong gender please. Have enough of that crap in the world already.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Fuck it, I'm done. No point in staying here for longer. So long guys. Hopefully you won't turn like Tumblr.

Bye bye, darling!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Or maybe just chill out and accept that people make mistakes and get over it. We don't need any function for this. Just mention it and move on.

^This.
To be honest, I think she is right.
There is no reason to make a fuss about it.

 

[Lucifer666]

Stop pandering to idiots who get all pissy because they get called the wrong gender please. Have enough of that crap in the world already.

Why are you so hurt?

 

[Issac]

If also welcome such a change on notifications like these, if someone is commenting on their own content:

Just writing his or her (or their if gender isn't set) would make it look better.

 

[Deleted User]

Why are you so hurt?

Because this gender politics bullshit needs to die in a fire.

Atleast they didn't add Xe, Xhe, whatever crap.

 

[sarkwalvein]

But actually, thinking about it, I don't see such a feature getting in the way.
Actually it would make people happier, it would avoid me doing extra work, as e.g. going back to the profile and looking for the gender, or editing the text back after I realize I made a mistake, because you know, I am a PERFECTIONIST. /s (not even I believed that last bit)

Sure, it is not a "required function", but it would be a nice cosmetic change.

 

[Lucifer666]

Because this gender politics bullshit needs to die in a fire.

Atleast they didn't add Xe, Xhe, whatever crap.

That's not what this is talking about though. Just a simple notification feature.

Also "gender politics" is a pretty non-descriptive term. There's a lot of gender discourse that's on-point and a lot of it that's absolutely b******, doesn't really make sense to clump it all together. I hope trans people don't bother you.

 

[Deleted User]

I hope trans people don't bother you.

Not at all, I have a few trans friends myself.