[WikiEN-l] An observation

Fri Nov 10 02:31:08 UTC 2006

geni wrote:

> On 11/9/06, Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Since we started using personal pronouns, whenever that was. I wasn't
>> around then, but I suspect it was fairly early on.
>>
>> --Michael Snow
>
> Agressive use of singular they generaly solves that proble,

Come now, that's silly, and I'm not sure what "problem" you're talking 
about. I have no issues with singular "they" when talking about a person 
whose gender is unknown or abstract ("a contributor should preview their 
edits"). I've used it myself on many occasions. But I'm not going to 
write something like, "Angela Beesley resigned their seat on the Board 
of Trustees. They endorsed Erik Möller as their replacement." Wilful 
ignorance is just stupid.

I wrote to encourage more members of an under-represented group to run 
in an election. I did not suggest that we should have quotas or set 
aside any positions for that group, or that voters should prefer any 
individual candidate on the basis of group membership. Despite that, 
considering some of the reaction to my message, it would be very natural 
for people in the group to sense an unfriendly attitude toward them, and 
thus to withdraw and make the under-representation even worse. Is it any 
wonder that some people think we have problems with groupthink and 
systemic bias?

--Michael Snow