The focus should not be what some users want to call other users, but on what users want to call themselves.
" I cannot accept the status quo where some minorities feel excluded by our systems and policies, but I don't have to, as we are not standing still." Then I think you should reconsider. Users will leave if you start messing with how they address other users. On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Fæ <[email protected]> wrote: > On 7 April 2017 at 06:39, Anders Wennersten <[email protected]> > wrote: > ... > > So when it comes to how we use them in documents related to WIkipedia, > is to > > not use any of them. It is a little bit more complicated but it is quite > > possible. "The person who takes a photo should" etc > > > > And our standpoint is that we as Wikipedians should not be first in > > introducing new use of language but wait until it has become mainstream > (if > > it ever will be) > > > > Anders > > Thanks for the 'hen' example. The new policy on Wikimedia Commons[1] > for gender neutral language has precisely the Swedish Wikipedia > working solution as the best solution, i.e. to avoid unnecessary > gendered pronouns where /reasonable/. For policies in English at > least, that actually turns out to be almost all the time. > > It sounds like capturing what you currently do, can easily become your > local gender neutral policy. It may not be perfect, but it would be a > focus for discussion and by having these visible steps to attempt to > address the issue, those most affected will feel acknowledged rather > than dismissed. > > Many of us have been contributing to the Wikimedia Foundation's > strategy consultation, thinking of what our projects might become in > 15 years. When you look that far ahead, it seems possible to plan for > these changes happening, including seeing a few "leftist/feminist" > possibilities like the Swedish 'hen' becoming mainstream. > > When I was a teenager, the word "gay" for a homosexual went from a gay > community word to mainstream on the television, something I remember > my Mother being critical about, "it used to be such a nice happy word > before this", not a good environment to come out as gay! A decade > later the more acceptable and correct word "transgender" gradually > replaced our usage of "transexual" and right now "genderqueer" is > becoming a popular word to apply, it's even on Wikidata :-). However, > in a more connected world, neologisms appear and become accepted > faster, and 15 years feels like a long view for these changes. > > Seeing /some/ of our mainstream projects taking action to adopt gender > neutral terms, even if only at policy level, will encourage other > websites to do the same. Rather than a political act, I see continuing > to talk about it, and not giving up on trying to adapt and improve our > approach where reasonable to do so, simply a way of striving to our > goal of feeling like a welcome environment for everyone to read and > everyone to edit. I cannot accept the status quo where some minorities > feel excluded by our systems and policies, but I don't have to, as we > are not standing still. :-) > > Links: > 1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Use_of_gender_ > neutral_language > > Thanks > Fae > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
