Hello. I see that most people in this discussion have given what
looks like real names, even the women, which surprises the heck out of
me. Before registering to edit Wikipedia, I had participated on
internet forums of professional organizations for fifteen years,
always using my real name, and never thought a thing of it, never had
any reason to consider not using my real name; it simply wouldn't have
occurred to me not to use my real name. But when I registered on
Wikipedia, something, maybe a suggestion in the instructions for
registering, I don't remember what, made me use a fake name, and I'm
so glad I did. Although I have hardly edited Wikipedia in the three
years I've been observing the project, as I was put off immediately by
the attitudes and culture, I have been harassed offwiki by two banned
users ( I had nothing to do with their banning; it just seems to amuse
them to harass people they perceive as unwilling to fight back) and as
a result of this unpleasant experience, the thought of anyone
connected with Wikipedia ever finding out my real name is quite
aversive to me. I am sorry I ever connected myself with Wikipedia at
all, even in the tangential way I have been connected, and if anyone I
knew was considering editing Wikipedia, (woman or man) I would warn
them against it.
When I entered Wikipedia, I discovered a side of the internet I had
never encountered before, and intend never to encounter again; it's a
menacing and combative atmosphere that is extremely aversive to me. I
recently read somewhere that Wikipedia regulars, as a rule, come from
usenet or from gaming, where that kind of atmosphere is apparently an
integral and desired part of the experience (I wouldn't know, having
no experience with either), and have brought that atmosphere to
Wikipedia. As long as that atmosphere characterizes Wikipedia, it is
going to drive away anyone who doesn't thrive on that kind of
pugnacious taunting get-the-enemy-before-he-gets-you kind of attitude,
and I suspect a lot of women would be included in those who don't
thrive in that kind of environment.
There have been two recent threads on the topic of gender
participation on Jimbo Wales' talk page; the first was more
interesting and productive, I thought, and warrants some attention;
several women, including myself, responded to say that the reason most
people don't edit Wikipedia probably isn't gender-specific and relates
more to the culture and environment than to unfamiliarity with the
technical aspects of editing (which was the initial premise of the
thread, that women don't edit Wikipedia because the tech-y nature of
editing is offputting to them).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_70#Attracting_mo…
There was one comment from a woman which I found especially resonant
with my own experience and which I think neatly sums up my problem:
"IMHO, Female "techno-geeks" have the worst time of anyone here, I
think! Competence combined with female character that asks instead of
shoves seems to attract the harshest form of attack, even if we try to
keep our gender unknown -- the style still comes through."
(link for context):
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3AJimbo_Wales&actio…
To introduce myself: I am a 70-year old retired statistician. I
encountered a few (very few) instances of veiled sexism here and there
in my career in a male-dominated field, but on the whole my gender was
never an issue; I was treated with professional respect and
comraderie and colleagueship, and have many continuing friendships
with male colleagues. Never in my career did I encounter anything
remotely like the kind of outright hostility and bullying that I have
experienced on and off Wikipedia as the result of my participation,
and I can't begin to tell you how insulting and offensive I have found
it.
I think the emphasis in this discussion is rather misguided; why
encourage more women to come to Wikipedia and be turned off and tell
their friends to stay away, thereby increasing the gender gap rather
than narrowing it? It would seem more helpful, if you really want to
do something about the problem, to change the environment first.
Since that's obviously never going to happen, it seems rather
counterproductive to think up strategies to lure more women into this
bad situation.
In three years of observing Wikipedia, I had never encountered
Wikipe-tan; it's just another reason to be unimpressed with Wikipedia.
It's a kind of adolescent-male culture that many mature people of
either gender, expecting a professional project building an
encyclopedia, would not feel comfortable in.
Woonpton