Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Communities for tech women
Author: Dori Smith Posted: 9/16/1999; 1:21:43 PM Topic: Today's scriptingNews Outline Msg #: 11152 (In response to 11150) Prev/Next: 11151 / 11153
I think it would be very interesting to hear what you see. I think this group is ready to hear the story. Maybe then we could have a WiseMen's Web List without being seen as politically incorrect. It's worth taking a look at this Dori. You could help us all do some growing.Uh oh, I'm being invited to rant...
Let me start off by saying that I, personally, don't have a problem with single-gender groups, of either gender. And I'd be happy to host a corresponding WiseMen's list, Dave, if you promise to join it & participate. If anyone wants to complain about political incorrectness, you can tell them to talk to the list host.
But back to the rant (version 8b, condensed):
I've been in the tech biz for over 20 years. Without a doubt, things have improved, but they've still (imo) got a ways to go. Here's a few experiences that I've run into, in the fairly recent past:
- I ask a fairly complex JavaScript question of an online group. I get back responses along the lines of "Is your computer plugged in?" If someone takes a look at my email .sig (which includes a list of books I've written), they should be able to guess that I've already ruled out the easy answers. This is a common complaint of women geeks--they ask complex questions, but only get back 2+2=4 type answers.
- I'll answer a question online, and the person will repost their question and want to know why no one's answering them.
- I'll answer a question online, and later, someone else will answer it with the same response. The author of the original question will thank the 2nd person.
I'm not saying that these are all because I'm female, although I've heard (possibly apocryphal) stories of women posting under male or gender-neutral names, who find that they're then treated very differently online. However, these things just don't seem to happen in women's groups.
Also, I've seen it here a number of times (though not lately, thankfully!) that people have trouble disagreeing with each other without being disagreeable. It's extremely common in online communication that discussions quickly degenerate into participants, as Jeremy said earlier, "questioning ... ancestry, current intellectual level, and species affliation."
I've found that this tendency occurs less often in women's groups. They have their own foibles, I'll admit, but it's very nice to get away from this particular one, also.
There are responses to this message:
- Re: Communities for tech women, Jacob Levy, 9/16/1999; 2:04:56 PM
- Re: Communities for tech women, Lynn Siprelle, 9/16/1999; 2:31:46 PM
- Re: Communities for tech women, Fredrik Lundh, 9/17/1999; 2:05:43 AM
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