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Surprise, surprise
Dec. 14th, 2009 10:53 pmHey, kids! LJ is failing it up again. Or at least, preparing to fail it up. Who would have ever guessed?
The short version, for the linkphobic: LJ is changing its code to make "gender" a mandatory question for new users. Oh, and they're also taking out the "unspecified" option, and not making an "other" option. IOW, you now have to be officially, publicly male or female in order to have an LJ account.
Now, I'm a cis woman, and until five minutes ago bore that label on my profile, but this is just not cool. Not only is it horribly transphobic, it's also deeply sexist: the only reason they're doing this is to smack us with more 'gender-targeted' ads. Like how weight loss ads show up more for women than men because, you know, that's a woman's problem. Ugh.
If you're as annoyed by this as I am, you can do any or all of the things suggested in that post: 1) change your own gender to "unspecified," which will hopefully show that users value that option; 2) send feedback protesting the change to LJ Support; 3) if you want to go to the next level, the GM of US operations is Anjelika Petrochenko, who you can email at anjelika@livejournalinc.com.
ETA Oh, LOL, now LJ is backpedaling like a speed demon. 'NO NO WE DIDN'T MEAN IT I SWEAR.' That's why it was in your changelog, right guys? Okay then.
The short version, for the linkphobic: LJ is changing its code to make "gender" a mandatory question for new users. Oh, and they're also taking out the "unspecified" option, and not making an "other" option. IOW, you now have to be officially, publicly male or female in order to have an LJ account.
Now, I'm a cis woman, and until five minutes ago bore that label on my profile, but this is just not cool. Not only is it horribly transphobic, it's also deeply sexist: the only reason they're doing this is to smack us with more 'gender-targeted' ads. Like how weight loss ads show up more for women than men because, you know, that's a woman's problem. Ugh.
If you're as annoyed by this as I am, you can do any or all of the things suggested in that post: 1) change your own gender to "unspecified," which will hopefully show that users value that option; 2) send feedback protesting the change to LJ Support; 3) if you want to go to the next level, the GM of US operations is Anjelika Petrochenko, who you can email at anjelika@livejournalinc.com.
ETA Oh, LOL, now LJ is backpedaling like a speed demon. 'NO NO WE DIDN'T MEAN IT I SWEAR.' That's why it was in your changelog, right guys? Okay then.