Gender identification would be handy.

[stillforgiven]

I've been PMing with a brother on the board who didn't realize that I'm a sister until I said something about being female, and I've made the same "mistake" with others. Unless you see my name posting in the women's forum or happen to visit my profile page it is hard to know, because my screen name is gender neutral. I've seen this confusion among the threads also, with a few acting a bit miffed that they were referred to in the wrong term.

Would it be possible to add something to help with this? Maybe something as simple as a color-coded box around our names or something that is easy to catch, but not enough to distract?

Thanks.

ps. This could also help clue us in when we are about to accidentally post in the wrong forum because we just clicked on a topic that looked interesting on the new posts page.

[CoffeeCat]

I'd absolutely appreciate this, too -- I've gotten confused in the past before, and until very recently I'd actually been mistaking one of our female members for a male since I signed up apparently -- and no, I'm not naming names.

I know that some people want to remain anonymous, and I respect that.... but regular posters who want to spend any length of time on the board probably wouldn't have a problem saying whether they were male or female. It would be AWESOME to have a very simple button, or icon, or even asking everyone to simply write "male" or "female" in their signature lines somewhere. Anything, really.

EDIT: I changed my sig line. Now everyone knows I'm a girl. It would be great to have folks include something somewhere -- it was painless and easy. Promise!

Just tossing my two pesos into the request pot.

[Ashley274]

I asked for this too many months back ...and they said they can't do it because people can say they are any sex..how can we enforce it and such...maybe a search would pull it up.....Nobody mistakes who I am

[CoffeeCat]

I suppose too many people COULD say they were any sex.... but as it is, we're on the honour system when we sign up and start posting in Solomon's Porch/Women at the Well.... so we really SHOULD trust that people would tell the truth. I'm not quite sure why someone would make up their gender while posting. I guess the regulars here do let people know who they are, so eventually we catch on as to who is who.... but I can see for a brand new person looking for advice or help, how they'd wonder who to approach and who not to, maybe.

Some of our names ARE more obvious.... especially people who use some form of their actual name. Others, not so obvious at all. When I first met Angyl, I thought he was a she. Same with stillforgiven. Ashley, when I first met you, I also thought you were a guy because I have a male friend named Ash (Ashley) and just somehow made the association....

I've been mistaken for a guy. And that's okay. There was nothing about my profile that screamed "girl" -- my userpage is blue, and my name doesn't indicate one gender or the other..... but by including that I'm female in my sig, bam, now people know.

[Ashley274]

I know CC ...I am just trying to tell you two not to hold your breath...I was shot down for those reasons and maybe more but don't recall them all.....

Lol A GUY.....MOI I recall someone early on asking me or saying something about that but I am not sure it was you...from Gone with the Wind they said

[Ninna]

...and with the internet being what it is, you have issues of potential harrassment, stalking, etc.

We will not be adding any gender identification in the profiles.

[stillforgiven]

I've been PMing with a brother on the board who didn't realize that I'm a sister until I said something about being female, and I've made the same "mistake" with others. Unless you see my name posting in the women's forum or happen to visit my profile page it is hard to know, because my screen name is gender neutral. I've seen this confusion among the threads also, with a few acting a bit miffed that they were referred to in the wrong term.

Would it be possible to add something to help with this? Maybe something as simple as a color-coded box around our names or something that is easy to catch, but not enough to distract?

Thanks.

ps. This could also help clue us in when we are about to accidentally post in the wrong forum because we just clicked on a topic that looked interesting on the new posts page.

Never thought about using my signature line. Good idea.

[stillforgiven]

...and with the internet being what it is, you have issues of potential harrassment, stalking, etc.

We will not be adding any gender identification in the profiles.

That's a really good point.