On 6 February 2011 16:32, Lena ... <lenarohrbach(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with you. It should absolutely be the users
own choice. But
right now, you don't have a choice. If I want to get a user account,
it says "Benutzerkonto" (German: Account for male users)
Wow.
So just to make sure I'm understanding this: on for example the German
Wikipedia, not only are all registered users identified as part of a
male category (Benutzer, "male user"), but the actual invitation to
register in the first place is itself also gendered (Benutzerkonto,
"account for male users")?
That is awful.
In marketing, depth of attachment/affiliation/identification to a
product is often gauged by asking people if they feel like the product
"is for people like you." The corollary of that is that marketers try
to increase users' sense of attachment/affiliation/identification, by
persuading them the product is in fact "for them." We are doing the
opposite.
Thanks Erik for first raising the issue, and Lena for providing a key
piece of information that is important and new (at least to me).
Thanks,
Sue