Slayers & Sites

[mikaristar]

----- News -----

December 27 - Like I said in Amassment http://amassment.livejournal.com Am I the only one who likes the new LJ comments? Sure the subjects were nice, but editing is available without a paid account and the comment screen looks nicer. Overall I find that it has more pros than cons. Regardless I'm making a Dreamwidth anyway because hey they're free and I can use it to keep track of only certain posts and keep the ramblings on LJ as they already are. So I'm filling up the profile and it asks for my gender, the options being "Male", "Female", "Other" and "Rather not Say". The "not say" thing, it's understandable if for whatever reason someone wants to hide their gender, but "other?" Without getting into the variety of orientations that there are in the world, as far as I know, there are only two genders. It made me laugh about how "politically correct" they're trying to be. XD Here's my DW url: http://mikaristar.dreamwidth.org

December 28 - Before I forget to post the link XD Rate me at Gaia Online http://www.gaiaonline.com/arena/gaia/original-avatar/vote/?entry_id=102636267 I changed Fantasy Bit's layout, a new layout for the New Year. XD I'm still playing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. I got a decent deck now and unlocked Leo's first event. I'm also trying to get the Yusei and Jack events... and everyone else. XD There are many cards to collect in this game. O.o;;

----- Updates -----

Fantasy Bit:
http://piratesboard.net/mikari/

December 28 - New layout: Lightning from Dissidia 012.

Fanfics:
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/300106/
http://piratesboard.net/fiction/viewuser.php?uid=4

December 28 - To Live Another Day 25: Ye Who Ask For Ruin (Slayers)

Fanart:
http://mikaristar.deviantart.com

December 26 - Blue and Green Gold (Nails)
December 26 - Another Xellos? (Slayers)
December 26 - Chibi Filia (Slayers)
December 27 - Little Minion (Slayers)
December 27 - Xellos Banner (Slayers)
December 28 - Lina Background (Slayers)
December 28 - Dream Width (Slayers)
December 28 - Lightning Layout (Dissidia 012)

Comments

[kaworu]

I can live with most of the comment changes, and I admit, having icon previews is nice, but I imagine for people with 200+ icons, that doesn't work so well without loading issues.

The biggest problem, to me and many others, is the lack of subject line in the comments. Many communities use them to sort threads, including Amassment, and they are especially vital in fanfic communities like kink-memes, where the subject line was used to indicate warnings and label the parts. And the way the threads are nested now, it kind of makes really long comment threads a pain. With the change, many communities can't function the same way.

I actually really like how DW gives the option of "other" and "rather not say" for gender, because there is not just two genders. There are many people who identify as some form of transgenderism, and many more who don't really fit into any prescribed model. It's really considerate of the DW staff to give these users an honest way to express themselves. Otherwise those people will feel left out and unaccepted. I don't think that has anything to do with "political correctness." Transgenderism is not really about sexual orientation, although that can factor in; it's how the person feels about their own gender, which is more of a state of mind, not sex, which is more of a physical/biological thing. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with "there are only two genders."

[mikaristar]

I only have 6 icons right now so I don't have loading issues. Though if I had 100+ I probably wouldn't remember them all with just keywords. XD I guess it depends on the cache options, it could be an annoying load the first time, but if LJ allows loading the icons from the cache and the user is able to use their cache, it could work out. A lot of people clear the cache after they're done browsing though. I heard the changes have not been implemented to phone apps yet, I wonder how/if they'll handle that.

I always thought of anything related to the mind as an orientation and gender as the biological thing. A physical fact like saying someone is tall or short, a thing of DNA rather than choice, with the choice being the orientation. Although for statistical purposes it would make more sense to gather data by orientation more so than gender as it would more closely influence people's choices. Yet labeling it as "orientation" might make some people feel like they're saying too much, even if they're saying the same hing they would be saying by interpreting "gender" accordingly to their orientation. But that's getting into the marketing aspects of it.

[kaworu]

Actually, none of this is in anyway a choice. Orientation, gender, sex, none of it. How you identify yourself in terms of female/male/other is gender. The biological aspect is sex. Orientation is who you are attracted to sexually, and that is never a choice. I think you need to stop using "orientation" when you really mean to use "gender." And I'm afraid I don't see how gathering the statistics would influence anyone's "choice." Perhaps I misunderstand what you mean. As for saying too much, I think that's the point of the option, "Rather not say."

I'm just trying to tell you you're misusing those words.

[mikaristar]

Gathering statistics in the sense of knowing your customers, not for the site to influence the customers, but for the customers to influence the site. Reading between the lines with basic data can help define a target audience and figure out what they would like to see. That's what I mean to say.

That's the trick to it, not to making the info "feel" like too much by linking it to a relatively "neutral" sounding word (correct definition aside). But that's going into marketing and most people don't really look at those details in that sense unless they've studied the subject or have an interest in it from a business perspective, which is quite different from the social perspective or even a languages perspective. But you know, that's the whole point to "gather data". Sounds kind of mean, but it's not really, since it all goes into trying to create a good customer experience. Who knows, really? Maybe they're just trying to be nice and don't have a trained business person behind the database doing this stuff. XD Pardon my geekiness, I read too far between the lines at times.

I've always though of the mental things as choices in the sense that people can change their mind though not their DNA (plastic surgery aside). It's like a sort of mostly "permanent" choice that will probably remain the same for a long time, often a lifetime, but that had to be initially chosen at some point in time, though that point might not be clear. I tend to associate attraction with personal taste in a sense.

[mikaristar]

I see why this sounds confusing: "Although for statistical purposes it would make more sense to gather data by orientation more so than gender as it would more closely influence people's choices." I meant to predict choices, in the sense of giving people what they want. Like a person's orientation would influence their tastes more than their biology. But yeah, that's more something related to marketing in general rather then DW in specifically.