[Gendergap] A pet peeve / cliche

[Brandon Harris]

On 2/9/11 12:08 PM, Susan Spencer wrote:

> @Interface discussion:
>
> It would be great if Wikipedia's interface were improved,
> but it isn't part of the gendergap problem.  To say that
> it particularly affects the posting of women more than men
> is is pure conjecture.  The interface affects everyone -
> that's not conjecture.

	If I gave the impression that I thought that interface improvements 
were about women more than men than I apologize; that wasn't my intent.

	I disagree, however, that the interface is not a topic for this list, 
because I believe that one of our primary problems is that the interface 
is rather hostile towards encouraging participation.  Since the focus of 
this list is the participation rate of 50% of the population, it 
naturally falls into that purview.

	I do not believe it is possible to mandate a culture change by simply 
saying "do this stuff differently."  I think that culture changes are 
going to have to be grass-roots and holistic in nature.  Communities 
that are healthy have a mature interface that encourages participation. 
  We do not have that.

	To be sure, the interface is not the silver bullet.  But it is one part 
of the problem, and one that is worth discussing.