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Some concerns about pronounce in the new CoC involve workflow -- i.e., the need to go to a profile page to learn how someone chooses to be addressed.

I notice that reputation pops up as a hint during mouseover of user names in comments. Does it make sense to include a field for pronoun preference in profiles, and add that field, if not blank, to the mouseover hint? I think this would improve workflow (though not on tablets).

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  • I'm not a computer person. Feel free to edit if my terminology is wrong.
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:36
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    Honestly, I think this whole issue needs less emphasis, not more.
    – user102937
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:40
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    Note that there has already been fear of profiling and harming users based on their gender identity. Putting that in a specific field will make that a lot easier.
    – Erik A
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:40
  • Worth noting this would only work on comments, not on question or answer authors, so in most case this would still require a trip to the profile page.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:41
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    @ErikA: How does surfacing someone's gender more explicitly reduce fear of profiling and harming users based on their gender identity?
    – user102937
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:42
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    @RobertHarvey That's the opposite of my point. It makes it easier to profile them, so makes this fear more realistic/is a bad idea.
    – Erik A
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:45
  • @ErikA: Oh, I see. Sorry, I misread.
    – user102937
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:46
  • I am sensitive to creating another class of user based on gender preference. I don't have the web skills to know how hard it would be to suck the info out of the mouseover field. My assumption (correct if wrong) is that if there's pronoun info in the profile, it's perfectly findable wherever it appears (and that playing hide and seek with the info in the profile to make it unfindable doesn't make sense).
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:48
  • "My assumption (correct if wrong) is that if there's pronoun info in the profile" Only if someone decides to put it there, there is no actual area to put pronouns and it is not required to do so.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:50
  • @MarkKirby same situation if someone decides to leave a field blank.
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:51
  • There is no field, there is just a box where people can write whatever they like (within reason) I don't understand the point you are tring to make.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:52
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    @ScottSeidman: There are no technical hurdles to this; it's perfectly feasible. The hurdles are social, not technological.
    – user102937
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:54
  • @MarkKirby I'll drop it, but I was responding to the issue put forth that creating such a field will make people less safe than current practice. I disagree, as the data is easy enough to mine in the present situation. If I put my social security number in an about me field, it's not safe just because the field isn't labeled "SSN"
    – Scott Seidman
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:55
  • OK that's fine but I think you meant to respond directly to Erik, rather than just generally to the thread, that is where I got confused. Erik is the one who raised the issue.
    – Mark Kirby
    Commented Oct 22, 2019 at 17:58
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    @ScottSeidman you might be interested in the Pronoun Assistant userscript (disclaimer: I'm one of the authors).
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Commented Oct 23, 2019 at 9:32

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This doesn't give any value to the sites as a whole. Just more headache for the engineers for a feature based on a policy that already has serious issues with the community.

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