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Re:Genders.wtf by kace91 on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:13PM (#34341040)
As I mentioned in a different comment, gender might be necessary for the feature of displaying content that addresses you, since some languages have gender baked in, there is no genderless 'you' form like in English.

Now sexual orientation, that's a head scratcher.

Re:Genders.wtf by jeroenhd on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:17PM (#34341100)
This is definitely a valid use case for gender.

However, in most applications and services, this is not used like that. The gender mapping seems to be used exclusively to determine whether the marketing emails should start with "mr." or "mrs.".

Re:Genders.wtf by xigoi on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:25PM (#34341204)
What if the client switches their display language to one where the gender matters?
Re:Genders.wtf by jeroenhd on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @04:44PM (#34345368)
Show a prompt, in their native language, asking for their preferred grammatical gender?

    Die deutsche Sprache hat Geschlechter, welches Geschlecht passt am besten zu dir?  Maskulin, Feminin, Neutrum oder zurück zum Englischen wechseln?
Re:Genders.wtf by xigoi on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @05:29PM (#34345955)
Seems quite complex compared to just asking everyone for gender.
Re:Genders.wtf by danShumway on Thursday January 12, 2023 @04:36AM (#34351193)
How so? Isn't it generally considered good UX design in most software not to front-load customization options before they're relevant to the user?

I want to think we've grown out of the early design era of launching an image editor and getting asked on first run what format I want to use for exporting images. Ask me that question when I hit the export button. Similarly, ask me questions about grammar when it's relevant to the software, don't ask me questions up front that might never be relevant to my use of the software.

As an analogy, imagine if you started using Bandcamp and it asked you up-front for tax information just in case you ever decided to publish an album in the future. If the user hasn't ever switched to a language that requires knowing what gender variants they use, then that question is just one additional tiny piece of signup friction sitting in front of your service that you could get rid of for the majority of your users.

Re:Genders.wtf by fknorangesite on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:24PM (#34341188)
> The gender mapping seems to be used exclusively to determine whether the marketing emails should start with "mr." or "mrs.".

Anything vaguely social is going to have instances where you want to refer to a user in the third person.

Of course, an easy solution to this is not to ask for gender per se, but for what pronouns to use. Even a dropdown with "he/she/they" options is going to cover basically everyone. If you need something more complicated than that, so be it, but probably YAGNI.

Re:Genders.wtf by mindover on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:28PM (#34341263)
My understanding is that asking the sexual orientation question is illegal at least in some states. Personally never been asked that by any employer in CA.
Re:Genders.wtf by geraldwhen on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @12:48PM (#34341657)
Not only is it legal in California, but there are quotas. Any public company board based in California must meet certain diversity quotas.

https://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/diversity-boards

The simplest way to game this is to claim to be a bisexual. This is even easier if you’re already married, since no one will expect you to prove it.

Re:Genders.wtf by mindover on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @02:15PM (#34343080)
Interesting, looks like some sexual orientations fall into the “underrepresented community” definition. I wonder how the gauge this type of diversity. Would it be “sufficient” if half of the board are bisexual white men?
Re:Genders.wtf by Izkata on Wednesday January 11, 2023 @11:44PM (#34349317)
> Would it be “sufficient” if half of the board are bisexual white men?

The ranking is referred to as the "progressive stack". Arguing over which groups go where is called the "oppression olympics".