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.

 

[Lucifer666]

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 make 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.

It's nice to see someone looking at it pragmatically rather than politically.

 

[Issac]

For some, being called the wrong gender is a big deal. For someone not affected by it, it's impossible to judge how damaging it can be.
Being nice or caring enough to use the correct pronoun doesn't cost you more than a few seconds. I think you can spare that time.

Having a pronoun in the notifications would be a non-intrusive reminder that would help those who actually care about it.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

I'm against this only for the reason, it shouldn't matter. If people need to be corrected, it's easy to do and can be done in a non-judgmental way. What I would like to see however, a way for users to hide profile comments--don't like something? Hide it. Trigger easy and you've got a lot of warnings? Hide the comment-bait.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I'm against this only for the reason, it shouldn't matter. If people need to be corrected, it's easy to do and can be done in a non-judgmental way. What I would like to see however, a way for users to hide profile comments--don't like something? Hide it. Trigger easy and you've got a lot of warnings? Hide the comment-bait.

What do yo mean? You can make your profile private.

PS: Even closed to comments, or allowing comments only from people you follow.
PS2: Also, if what you want is not to see other people's profile statuses, you can remove the profile status section from the main page, it is quite flexible.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

What do yo mean? You can make your profile private.
PS: Even closed to comments, or allowing comments only from people you follow.

I mean, if you see someone talking about something offensive to you, but can't really be removed by a mod, you would have the choice to "hide" the comment. Basically, a button that would turn the entire comment into a "spoiler".

 

[sarkwalvein]

I mean, if you see someone talking about something offensive to you, but can't really be removed by a mod, you would have the choice to "hide" the comment. Basically, a button that would turn the entire comment into a "spoiler".

Sometimes I really think some people should take a chill pill, but I understand.
PS: So much triggering can result in a stroke.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

Sometimes I really think some people should take a chill pill, but I understand.
PS: So much triggering can result in a stroke.

Well, it could be used in more ways than just "offensive" material. Things like one-word posts, weird pictures, a derailing comment, etc,. I feel by doing this, it would save a lot of problems for the mods and leaves more time for the really big, definitely-against-the-rules stuff to get removed faster.

 

[WeedZ]

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.

Then theyll have to add every other non-binary nonsense gender, then everyone will be at each others throats for "assuming" gender, then it all goes to shit. Go to tumblr.

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

For some, being called the wrong gender is a big deal. For someone not affected by it, it's impossible to judge how damaging it can be.
Being nice or caring enough to use the correct pronoun doesn't cost you more than a few seconds. I think you can spare that time.

Having a pronoun in the notifications would be a non-intrusive reminder that would help those who actually care about it.

It's already non-gender specific so who cares?

 

[Minox]

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.

When I'm unsure I just write he/she and then I'm done with it. It requires no further effort from me and no extra forum functionality to be added.

If you ask me I do not think there is a need to add custom functionality for things that can simply be solved by being a nice person.

 

[Stephano]

What's wrong with just calling them by their user name? I don't think I've ever had to say he or she on this site.

How often do people on this site use he or she anyways?

 

[Deleted User]

I imagine this could be done with just a simple "read user gender, place gender in notification blog place".

We don't need gender in EVERY notification (didn't read your post, don't know if you said this). But the blog where it says he/she's blog yeah sure i'm fine with that.

 

[Boogieboo6]

I don't even read notifications. I scan for keywords like liked, quoted, and replied to the thread. If he's and she's were thrown in, it'd take me a while to notice. I still wouldn't even care, because I very rarely need to call somebody he or she. Given how rare it is I have to use he and she, how rare it is that I guess incorrectly, and how rarely I guess wrong on somebody that gets super offended, this is a useless function that might save me 1 in 100 times. That is, if I bothered to look for he/she in the notification.

 

[Deleted User]

What's wrong with just calling them by their user name? I don't think I've ever had to say he or she on this site.

How often do people on this site use he or she anyways?

Well that's the beauty of an internet forum. Everybody goes by a name, an alias, they can be whoever they want and people can't say "no you are this"

And people still try to do this stuff.

 

[Stephano]

Okay time to rant.
First off, I don't hate any type of person. I may disagree with their decisions or their beliefs, but i won't attack someone who believes certain things. Unlike some people....
That being said, this is indeed a gaming forum and it should stay as such. These last few weeks, i have been told by many people that this site is getting worse and worse. While i don't fully agree with that, it is scary to think that people are leaving because of "x" or "y". So i have been thinking to myself, "Why have these people been leaving?" Some have said they are getting attacked private my members of this community. While that is awful, i'm not sure how to fix that. Others say the enviornment is getting more PC and toxic.
As for this idea..... I'm going to have to say... maybe? I haven't ever referred to a user here as he or she. Not because i'm afraid the PC police will lock me up, but because i just have never had to. I don't see the big deal with it. With the whole avatar situation, i typically check to see if someone is a boy or girl and then try to remember. Call me a snoop, but i check on a lot of peoples profiles. Not to stock but to learn about the people who i share this site with. I never thought once Felek666 was a girl. I just new from the past that he was a guy. Thats why events like KYT is so cool because we get to learn about people here and we should!

Summing up. If you get something wrong, that's fine. If the person gets offended because it was wrong, that is a battle they need to deal with. They made a choice and with every choice comes consequences, good or bad. You can respect their decisions and learn from it, but you are not obligated to do so.
Paraphrasing a post i made in the past, "You can say what ever you want to someone, and ill protect it, but if you end up getting shanked in an alleyway, its your own dang fault."

Rant over. No hate towards your post @Quantumcat. I just want to have a civil discussion.

 

[Deleted User]

No need to bring personal beliefs into this, I just think it'd be nifty to have gender specific shit when quoted/liked etc.

 

[Stephano]

No need to bring personal beliefs into this, I just think it'd be nifty to have gender specific shit when quoted/liked etc.

But why can't a user name be enough? Quoting @VinLark,

Well that's the beauty of an internet forum. Everybody goes by a name, an alias, they can be whoever they want and people can't say "no you are this"

And people still try to do this stuff.

 

[WeedZ]

If this feature were added, the forums would have to call upon a database entry for each relevant member anytime a notification is created which could be hundreds a minute. Is it really worth the server resources to make sure the forums get everyone's "proper" pronouns right?

 

[pastaconsumer]

If also welcome such a change on notifications like these, if someone is commenting on their own content:
View attachment 89871
Just writing his or her (or their if gender isn't set) would make it look better.

I think it should be "their". For example, 'Dionicio3 commented on their post on your profile.' and 'Dionicio3 also commented on their status.'
That way it fits everyone, like the current system does now. And if higher-ups want to, they could make a setting for users to turn this feature on or off.
But that's just my proposal on the matter.

 

[kuwanger]

Perhaps I'm an old crow, but I'm Kuwanger. I'm not "he". I'm not "she". I'm not "it". I can tolerate "their" because "Kuwanger's" this and "Kuwaner's" that gets messy looking after a while (and easy to misspell). That's it.

If people want to identify as gender blue and referred to as "Blue" or "Blie", more power to them. The whole point of gbatemp (and the internet in general) is communicating ideas. Once you get to know a person, you can figure out how they want to be called by talking to them. That's the core part of building a personal relationship.

So, sure, if some people want an option to put in a message of "female" or "supreme overload" in their user field, more power to them. Most the time, though, I don't care if you're male, female, an alien, or blue. But, whatever.

 

[Issac]

I think it should be "their". For example, 'Dionicio3 commented on their post on your profile.' and 'Dionicio3 also commented on their status.'
That way it fits everyone, like the current system does now. And if higher-ups want to, they could make a setting for users to turn this feature on or off.
But that's just my proposal on the matter.

Yeah, that would be a good solution in my eyes.
Username posted on op's profile.
if(username == op): change op to their.

The addition of he and she together with 'their' would just be extra. I just think it looks more human, and would be such a discrete and subconscious hint of other's genders... Like subtle visual cues in real life.