The ratio of men to woman on MR?

[jng]

Wow, I opened a can of worms.

Meh. I still stand by what I said. I believe the real relationships (in the real world) are the ones that last. If real relationships are born out of online relationships, that is new to me. I still find it odd (toned down from disturbing). But I apologize again if I personally offended anyone.

Don't get me wrong. I love technology. But I've always believed it's a supplement or can enhance relationships. But not replace them. I believe in the increasing bowling alone phenomenon, i.e. it exists more and more.

As for age. I'm much younger than you think.

 

[vniow]

If real relationships are born out of online relationships, that is new to me. I still find it odd (toned down from disturbing).

I think relationships (friendly or otherwise) that originate online can have a few advantages, the longer you talk to someone the more like their real life personality they become and the less of a persona they have. It also gives you the opportunity to cultivate the relationship for months even years before you first meet in person. Without that strong foundation of communication you don't have a relationship at all.

I used to think it was weird and everybody was so different in real life but this is before I actually started meeting some. If you don't like someone you've spoken to online then you're probably not going to like them in person. If you do like them then there's a pretty good chance you're going to get along. I really don't see how its different than going to a bar or some other social event or whatever. Usually people meet online because of common interests (Macs in the case of this forum) which isn't any different than how you would meet in real life. Yes its always good to meet someone in person but given geography on occasion it makes things a bit more difficult. Communicating with them online makes them seem closer.

I'm not saying that one should exclusively have online friends and I agree on the point where it shouldn't supplement relationships, but I can speak from experience that they're really not much different than real life friends. Only real difference is distance. And its a lot easier to make that gap seem smaller nowadays.

 

[Foxglove9]

All my relationships have existed online first then in person. I can't imagine meeting someone any other way.

 

[fairnymph]

Maybe the women are all business and don't frequent the community forums!

(Although apparently I do not fall into that category.)

 

[twoodcc]

wow, only 13% women on here but only 200 and something have voted out of the 80 thousand + members (or however many there are)

 

[Doctor Q]

For overall members, I'd wager it's probably in the
90-95% Male
10-5% Female range...

wow, only 13% women on here but only 200 and something have voted out of the 80 thousand + members (or however many there are)

From anecdotal evidence I think the percentage of women among the total membership is much smaller than this poll suggests, i.e., only a few percent. The percentage among active membership is probably a little higher than among total membership because, over time, women seem to be more and more inclined to join. But I'd still guess that the percentage is in the low one-digits.

Note: A poll in 2002 found that we were 92% male.

I like my anonymnity. It's interesting to see what gender people think you are without an avatar, etc.

I had people guessing about me back in 2004, even though I was a well-known forum member with an avatar and a long post history, after I managed to post for two years while purposely avoiding saying whether I was male or female. Perhaps some people don't make assumptions at all, but mostly everyone seemed to have assumed I was male until I pointed out that there was no evidence either way.

 

[SkyBell]

As for age. I'm much younger than you think.

I love it when people think I'm 30, then find out I'm 14.

 

[Cindynjgirl79]

i'm glad this thread has brought out some of the girls i haven't seen before posting. so hi to the ones i don't know!

 

[SkyBell]

i'm glad this thread has brought out some of the girls i haven't seen before posting. so hi to the ones i don't know!

Well I bet you knew i was a girl. You seem smart.

 

[Abstract]

1 in 8 members here are women? So that means Mad Jew has a chance of getting laid. He posts like 24 times per day, so he must make 3 posts per day that are directed towards women. A connection with women 3 times/day is sort of like hooking up, no?

 

[janey]

Sorry, I did not mean to offend you Cindy, or you Janey.

I'm not seriously offended. I'm just ticked every time something like this happens because it doesn't have to be this way (you and your comments are far from being as offensive as some i've heard, and they're also nothing new...) but apparently it's only getting worse. or more women are speaking up. or maybe i've just spent too much time in mostly-women-only tech communities.

The idea that one can meet a girlfriend or boyfriend here also disturbs me slightly. Whatever happened to hanging out? Going to bars? Movies, playing sports in the community and whatever to meet people.

I met my best friend online. Hell, I met him on MacRumors IRC. When we meet up in person whenever we get the chance, we go out to lunch/dinner, movies, driving around for fun, other stuff...stuff i'd do with any friend, stuff i'd do with a best friend. He's a great guy (most of the time), and I don't care I met him online. People seem to act like you in person and you on the internet are supposed to be two different things...no. It's a part of my life. Not separate from my life.

On top of that I've met a LOT of awesome people from MR on this forum and IRC, some of them I've met already (hi Doctor Q!), and others I never will...and some I hope to see when I'm going up to SF for WWDC in a month (*nudge* vniow )

As for women looking for other geeks and partners, I think it's important to have shared interests, but geekiness isn't something really important in my opinion.

That's merely your own personal opinion. I get turned off by people who can't build and fix their own computers. Bonus points if I can go to him/her for help on $some_language. It's not the only thing I look for in a partner though, but it's a big one as tech is big in my life, and well, "opposites attract" isn't really true.

You could always live in the Far East or Middle East which are much more male dominated than the US.

I'd think I'd commit suicide if that were the case.
Or be killed to death by fundamentalist ********s who hate me and want to see me gone just because I am who I am. Thankfully the US isn't quite like the Middle East yet. Yet.

interesting. I had always hoped to meet a girl that was into Mac's. Looks like I will have to lower my bar.

I find it interesting that I see an equal mix of men and women employees, particularly geniuses, at the apple store. Women that use Macs aren't rare. You want rare? Try women that are into Linux or women that code. Open source projects and companies galore starting from the likes of Google and Gnome are trying so hard to get more women and girls interested...I just don't think they realize how to go about doing something like that.

It's really saddening to think about how the educational system could change to get rid of all these ridiculous male monopolies on certain fields of study and how although a lot of people and universities are trying..it's not enough.

AArghghjgh.

 

[bartelby]

I know a few people who have met long term partners online. 1 has been married for 3 years now and they are both still ecstatically happy. Someone who I work with is getting married next month, she met her partner online and they've been together 8 years already.

I bet when pubs first appeared people thought it was odd to meet a partner there!

 

[John Jacob]

That's what I thought you said.

You said you'd have to lower your bar for women to be able to find one that liked Macs. I read that as saying that women that are interested in Mac are not as of high a quality as a woman that is not interested in the Mac.

Now I'm confused.

Well, I read that differently, as in: women who are interested in Macs are definitely of very high quality, but as there just aren't enough of them to go around (just 1 member in 8 are women here on MR), he would just have to lower his bar (and I'll have to lower mine too ).

Although it seems BigPrince read it the same way you did.

 

[eyemacg5]

I'm not seriously offended. I'm just ticked every time something like this happens because it doesn't have to be this way (you and your comments are far from being as offensive as some i've heard, and they're also nothing new...) but apparently it's only getting worse. or more women are speaking up. or maybe i've just spent too much time in mostly-women-only tech communities.


I met my best friend online. Hell, I met him on MacRumors IRC. When we meet up in person whenever we get the chance, we go out to lunch/dinner, movies, driving around for fun, other stuff...stuff i'd do with any friend, stuff i'd do with a best friend. He's a great guy (most of the time), and I don't care I met him online. People seem to act like you in person and you on the internet are supposed to be two different things...no. It's a part of my life. Not separate from my life.

On top of that I've met a LOT of awesome people from MR on this forum and IRC, some of them I've met already (hi Doctor Q!), and others I never will...and some I hope to see when I'm going up to SF for WWDC in a month (*nudge* vniow )


That's merely your own personal opinion. I get turned off by people who can't build and fix their own computers. Bonus points if I can go to him/her for help on $some_language. It's not the only thing I look for in a partner though, but it's a big one as tech is big in my life, and well, "opposites attract" isn't really true.


I'd think I'd commit suicide if that were the case.
Or be killed to death by fundamentalist ********s who hate me and want to see me gone just because I am who I am. Thankfully the US isn't quite like the Middle East yet. Yet.


I find it interesting that I see an equal mix of men and women employees, particularly geniuses, at the apple store. Women that use Macs aren't rare. You want rare? Try women that are into Linux or women that code. Open source projects and companies galore starting from the likes of Google and Gnome are trying so hard to get more women and girls interested...I just don't think they realize how to go about doing something like that.

It's really saddening to think about how the educational system could change to get rid of all these ridiculous male monopolies on certain fields of study and how although a lot of people and universities are trying..it's not enough.

AArghghjgh.

FYI it is a lady that codes Coversutra.
http://sophiestication.de/

 

[janey]

FYI it is a lady that codes Coversutra.
http://sophiestication.de/

You quoted my entire post just to say that?

I said "rare", not "nonexistant".

There are a lot of other women I can name that would fall into the "coder chick" category, including Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper, Anita Borg and the ladies who programmed the ENIAC, but just how many more men are there? A lot.

 

[Doctor Q]

Don't forgot Jean Sammet for any list of great women in computing. Although a list doesn't prove anything we don't already know.

[Hi yerself, janey.]

There are plenty of efforts underway to increase the number of women in computing and other technical fields. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology works to "increase the impact of women on all aspects of technology." They forgot to mention "further balancing the membership at MacRumors", but I'm sure that's their goal too.

Every year there is a Grace Hopper Celebration Of Women In Computing Conference, which the ABI co-sponsors along with the ACM. This year it will be held in conjunction with the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing conference.

 

[janey]

There are plenty of efforts underway to increase the number of women in computing and other technical fields. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology works to "increase the impact of women on all aspects of technology." They forgot to mention "further balancing the membership at MacRumors", but I'm sure that's their goal too.

ABI has a few great resources for women in computing, e.g. systers.

Unfortunately despite the best efforts of many, many people, there are still a few gigantic hurdles to overcome, and I personally don't think many of them are going around it the right way. For example, Google tries hard...they have the Anita Borg scholarship for women, they make an effort to sponsor and show up at many conferences such as GHC, and they make a sincere effort to hire and support women. But they're not doing much about teenagers in middle and high school where not even the males are remotely interested at what is usually the school's pathetic attempt at a computer class. Or AP Compsci, which is practically a joke, if such a class is even offered at all.

What's the point of supporting and hiring women up at top about to finish up their undergrad/graduate degrees in cs/ce/related fields when the point at which most women lose interest is probably somewhere halfway through freshman year in college (if not earlier)? I certainly can't be the only one noticing the trend of women dropping like flies from cs classes practically everywhere as they get more advanced. Half the class filled with women in an entry-level intro class...some drop the class...1/3 in the next...1/4...1/10...

Again, the same thing with groups like debian women, gnome women and ubuntu women...the average woman sure as hell isn't going to know about the existence of such projects like ubuntu or gnome, let alone that they have a support/advocacy group for women. and what those groups need most are more women..vicious cycle

Now some universities and organizations are realizing this, like Carnegie Mellon realizing that CS education as it stands now is flawed. They changed a few things around, created a support group for women in CS, started at the high school level by reaching out to HS compsci teachers, and now have an amazingly large number of women - 1/3rd of all undergrad cs majors? holy cow..that's certainly an improvement over my current ridiculous situation of being the only female in any non-intro CS class I take.

There just needs to be a better support system. I sure as hell wouldnt've chosen CS if there weren't people telling me I could do it. I still have massive doubts about it once in a while that are hard to ignore or deal with, but still. Other women are always there for me. And I try to be there for other women in my shoes, because I know it helps a lot and some of these women can do amazing things with some support. Some don't have that luxury, and it's unfortunate.

 

[devilot]

Thread resurrection, sorry. Was w/out the 'net when this thread was more active.

Count me in as another of the female population on MR.

FYI-- not that the ones who read this, need to to read this, but the title of goddess as opposed to god would really imply female to male. And yet, folks still have a hard time grasping that.

 

[emw]

The problem with this poll is that it's not a public poll, therefore you can't tell which members actually labeled themselves as male or female unless they fessed up in a post.

 

[devilot]

The problem with this poll is that it's not a public poll...

It's nice to be able to read.

 

[Cindynjgirl79]

ah yes but for right now this is all we have

 

[emw]

It's nice to be able to read.

I tried reading the thread, but kept getting distracted by all the hot women here.

 

[Blue Velvet]

The ladeez of MR help keep this place on its toes. Can't have it looking too much like a boy's bedroom.

 

[SkyBell]

The ladeez of MR help keep this place on its toes. Can't have it looking too much like a boy's bedroom.

Should we get them a towl?

 

[SamIchi]

The ladeez of MR help keep this place on its toes. Can't have it looking too much like a boy's bedroom.

Are you implying that boys don't have good looking bedrooms and have a problem staying on our toes!?!