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There is a third option, but is it just me or does the wording "Gender: Not telling" sound a bit negative/judgemental/exclusionary? The ideal is probably an "other" option with a write-in box, but it would be an improvement if it just didn't show anything if somebody doesn't choose to describe themselves as male or female.

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2 hours ago, JimR said:

I think your primary choice in concertina system (ie EC Anglo Duet) would be a good option.

 

Yes, I could second that proposal, but for some folks such as Wolf who at times seem to be deeply insecure about their "primary choice," that might cause some serious problems... ;-)

 

 

3 hours ago, alex_holden said:

There is a third option, but is it just me or does the wording "Gender: Not telling" sound a bit negative/judgemental/exclusionary? The ideal is probably an "other" option with a write-in box, but it would be an improvement if it just didn't show anything if somebody doesn't choose to describe themselves as male or female.

 

I don't think so. "Not telling" (which appears to be the default, I believe) to me simply means "whatever it is, it's not important for me to disclose it at this point." The "ideal" option would be to remove the field altogether, but I wouldn't want to see the discussion arising from that change.

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3 minutes ago, wunks said:

I don't think it's compulsory. I just left it blank.   ?

 

ok, you are right - so "not telling" is not the default, but "not worry about it at all" is.

 

Which should probably answer the TOs question in full.

 

Thus I need to modify my response to Alex - the forum leaves its members a choice to either not consider the gender as a meaningful info at all (and thus leave it blank) or let him/her/others want to disclose the gender - in which case the three options may be considered as too restrictive. In that case, either a free form or leaving out the field at all may serve as equally valid options. In the profile's "About me" free form there should be enough space for everyone to add gender related additional infos if desired.

 

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17 hours ago, Gail_Smith said:

why is it important for us to declare our gender before discussing concerinas on this forum ?

Who is the 'us' in your question? It’s not important to me, but it seems important to you.

 

(Now searching the 'unregister'-option.)

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On 10/19/2019 at 11:25 PM, Gail_Smith said:

why is it important for us to declare our gender before discussing concerinas on this forum ?

 

18 hours ago, Sebastian said:

Who is the 'us' in your question? It’s not important to me, but it seems important to you.

 

(Now searching the 'unregister'-option.)

 

"Not important" to you, yet after 11 years here, it's "UNimportant" enough to motivate you to "UNregister"?

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As other have pointed out there is the option to leave the field blank.  It might be useful if the option to simply leave the field blank was somehow labelled so a new user would see that this is also an available option.  Displaying the words "not telling" seems a stronger political statement than simply not providing the information; some people prefer to make that statement, while others may not want to imply such a statement, yet still prefer not to provide the information.  A new user will of course be the least familiar with this forum, and could be put off.

 

I just checked:  For those already registered, it is easy to edit your profile to remove the gender selection so it is blank and doesn't show, if you prefer to do that.  So if you didn't notice that leaving the blank choice was a valid option when you registered, you can update it now.  No need to un-register.

 

But to answer the original question:  Why is declaring gender important?  The one useful reason I can see is that the primary language used on this forum is English, which commonly uses gendered pronouns.  Declaring gender allows members who haven't yet met to address each other respectfully with preferred pronouns, without making possibly embarrassing guesses based on names. I don't always think to look, but if I notice the gender of someone I wish to reply to, that helps me avoid affront or confusion.  When addressing someone whose gender I don't know I try to remember to use neutral language, particularly if they have chosen "not telling" for this forum.  (You may notice I just used a singular "they" to do so.)  But non-gendered language in standard English can be awkward, so if male or female gender has been declared, I will use the standard matching pronoun where called for.  I'm not at all likely to research the "about me" details of someone's profile for most replies however.

 

Even so, I don't really think it would cause too much confusion if the gender field was just completely eliminated on the forum, as long as no one is offended when mistakes are made as result.

Edited by Tradewinds Ted
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I completely agree Ted and here is my main reason not to respond to such requests for seemingly irrelevant personal information:  I'm always suspicious of solicitation regarding race, ethnicity, political affiliation, age or gender because although they may seem harmless in themselves, there's always some infernal "phishing" 'bot bundling your info. from different sources for political or commercial purposes.  I know I can't stop it but I'm not going to make it easy.

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49 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

Yes. PC reached concertina.net, and I personally, I don’t like NPCs. Toodeloo! ??^_^

 

Has it though?  I don't see anyone here asking to compel anyone else to do, or not do anything.  Only asking they have the option of not providing personal info for the world to see (which they do).

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On 10/21/2019 at 7:26 PM, Sebastian said:

PC reached concertina.net....

 

Maybe too late to ask, if you've already left, but I would really like for you to give examples, since I haven't noticed any "PC" pressure here, not even sporadically.

 

As for "gender" in the profile, not only is it optional, but it's been there since the beginning (and so it was there when you joined).  I say that with confidence, since I've been a member from the beginning (in fact, I was a member in the previous incarnation), and I have not added that information at any time since I first signed up.

 

However, if you want to deprive yourself of the information, assistance, and potential friendship that are available on this site, I won't try to stop you.

 

'Nuff said.

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