Improvements

[hushpiper]

Not exactly--I was looking at the profiles, and it's either male, female or blank.

[Eich]

Adding an "other" option should be the simplest fix, then, if people want more than a blank.  And I'm sure there are some who would like the option.  More can be added if necessary; I'm not really sure what else someone would want besides that. 

[Sunflower]

I'd kinda like to mod the forum such that, instead of asking for your gender in your profile and when you sign up, you instead select which pronouns you'd like to be referred to by. It'd be nice for those minnions who are genderqueer/trans and those who just don't feel like disclosing their gender, by sidestepping the whole "but what gender ARE you?" question and getting right to the question that actually matters: "how do we refer to you?".

The question of how to refer to people has been a big one from the start--there's a couple established forumgoers that many people still don't know how to refer to cough-Fim-cough--and it'd also be useful if we could display that underneath people's avatars so there's a handy reference while posting.

Such a mod does not exist at present afaik, but there are some that are similar which simply add new genders, like this one: http://www.animeneko.net/projects/smf/ I've gotten comfortable enough with the forum's innards at this point that it seems doable on the face of it, at least, and would be fun to play with. I just wanna know if you guys think it'd be a good fit for this community.

I like the idea.  I'm 100% comfortable with a female gender and set of pronouns, but I can think of several members off the top of my head who don't fit the existing categories.  Moreover, there are multiple possibilities of what an "other" might want to be called.  Haiz' "ze/hir" is one example, but I imagine some would prefer "they" to more novel terms. 

As long as it doesn't remove any existing options, it sounds good to me, at least as an experiment.

[Curry]

Moreover, there are multiple possibilities of what an "other" might want to be called.  Haiz' "ze/hir" is one example, but I imagine some would prefer "they" to more novel terms. 

I am all for this! My side-text isn't actually sarcastic at all (I don't know if that was obvious or not) and I do go with they/them because I have no idea how to pronounce ze/hir hahaha oops

[Sunflower]

Can we remove the word "temporary" from the "Here's a Link to the Comic" above?

Also, Eich, how would you feel about editing your initial post on "Welcome to the Language Board (Name to be Changed Later)" to remove the stuff in parentheses and the discussion about *if* we want to keep it?  It seems clear that languages are vastly popular here (no surprise, given our smart, multicultural, and rather quirky population).  https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=148.msg5888#msg5888

Neither of these are important -- just minor housekeeping details. 

[hushpiper]

I like the idea.  I'm 100% comfortable with a female gender and set of pronouns, but I can think of several members off the top of my head who don't fit the existing categories.  Moreover, there are multiple possibilities of what an "other" might want to be called.  Haiz' "ze/hir" is one example, but I imagine some would prefer "they" to more novel terms. 

As long as it doesn't remove any existing options, it sounds good to me, at least as an experiment.

That was more or less my thought: allow people to state exactly what it is they wanna be called--and there's lots of pronoun sets out there!--without having to make any statement as to what they actually identify as unless they want to. So Haiz would be one example, in terms of having a specific set of pronouns ze likes; while people who are actually cisgendered but don't want to disclose their gender on the internet (like me, in many communities) might decide they want us to call them by they/them/etc. Just a way of making things a little more welcoming, perhaps?

(And yeah, this most likely wouldn't take away the existing gender feature, just rename it and add some things.)

[Eich]

Been meaning to do that for a while, actually. 
I'll go ahead and do it. 

[hushpiper]

Been meaning to do that for a while, actually. 
I'll go ahead and do it.

Why was that there to begin with, actually? I was eyeing it every time I put a news announcement on there, but didn't wanna touch it in case it was important or summat.

BTW Eich, I actually edited your Helpful Information post where it talks about resetting passwords, since email is working now. It was an in-passing thing, meant to tell you about it. Change the wording if you like

[Eich]

Why was that there to begin with, actually? I was eyeing it every time I put a news announcement on there, but didn't wanna touch it in case it was important or summat.

I was going to add a button on the hotbar, next to Home or something.  Found a little guide to help me out, too, just forgot and put it off. 

[Haiz]

ohhhhhhhhhh hello pronoun/gender discussion i'm already sorta involved in

I never really meant to make such a big deal outta my gender but it happened anyway (good job haiz), but I'm really really happy to see you're all so understanding and even willing to do these things you were talking about just now!!! i feel like such an inconvienence but it's not just me so yeah THAT IS GREAT. i'm just being the loudest i guess

i think having they/them set somewhere for people who use these pronouns/wish to stay ambiguous is a good idea?

i must confess i don't really know how 'ze' is supposed to be pronounced, ALAS i'm not an english native speaker, and if you should ever speak about me in real life (gasps) feel free to use they/them or it/its!
(I APOLOGIZE FOR HAVING COMPLICATED PRONOUNS but if it makes you feel better i used to have ey/em and changed it to ze/hir which are a little more mainstream)

[hushpiper]

I never really meant to make such a big deal outta my gender but it happened anyway (good job haiz), but I'm really really happy to see you're all so understanding and even willing to do these things you were talking about just now!!! i feel like such an inconvienence but it's not just me so yeah THAT IS GREAT. i'm just being the loudest i guess

See, that there is something I would be a bit worried about if we were to do this (and part of why I bring the whole idea up). I think the community's always been very quietly, casually queer friendly, which is exactly how I like it, and I wouldn't want to make anybody's gender or pronouns into a big deal. The last thing I would want is for it to make things political, for example. I would prefer it be something that just makes communication a bit easier, rather than something that becomes a topic of discussion in its own right, if that makes sense.

[Haiz]

See, that there is something I would be a bit worried about if we were to do this (and part of why I bring the whole idea up). I think the community's always been very quietly, casually queer friendly, which is exactly how I like it, and I wouldn't want to make anybody's gender or pronouns into a big deal. The last thing I would want is for it to make things political, for example. I would prefer it be something that just makes communication a bit easier, rather than something that becomes a topic of discussion in its own right, if that makes sense.

yeah I totally get it, that's how I like it too!! I definitely wouldn't want this place to, say, turn into tumblr (which is ironic, considering that if anyone is turning this place into tumblr it's me)...... I've really tried to keep lowkey enough lest it turn into politics (it's not politics, it's my liiifeeee), but if I ever go overboard feel free to send me a message to tone things down a bit!!

[Curry]

I definitely don't want to be yelling about it either? I actually have a ton of anxiety about being out most of the time, so. It'll most likely be whispering from the rooftops from me ahahahaha

_{"im not a girlllll im so sorry" -literally me}

[hushpiper]

Oh no, I don't mean it like that! I just mean that it could be easy to blow up, and I'd hate for you guys to become targets or feel unwelcome. And, of course, I don't want others to become uncomfortable or feel unwelcome either. That's why I'd like to take the pulse of the community, so to speak, and see what everyone thinks. If you feel like it would put you in the spotlight too much, or if it seems like it'll bring up controversy, I'll code it but won't put it on the site. No pressure on anybody here.

On another subject--I'm playing around with the theme on a test site! It's in maintenance mode, so you'll have to register to see the whole thing. Check it out:

http://dev.ssssforum.com/index.php

[Sunflower]

On another subject--I'm playing around with the theme on a test site! Check it out:

http://dev.ssssforum.com/index.php

I clicked on the link and got a notice "Not ready yet!" and an Admin login slot.  Should we log in there, or just wait till more is available?