# Gender differences in message board behaviors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470 "2009-07-18T20:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/21 "2009-07-20T14:20:29Z")
Or quite possibly people (men especially) feel more secure expressing themselves more emotively in an anonymous arena like an internet message board. I would question whether or not the writing style is consistent when it is not anonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/22 "2009-07-20T15:34:31Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > The person I know in real life with the most encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek is a woman, so, you might want to check your premise even there. 😉 If she looks like Jolene Blalock I may need her number. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/23 "2009-07-22T09:53:43Z")
I remember one time someone started a thread on this board tittled: “How do you flirt?” In the thread I quoted somebody I thought was a female and then said something flirty to them. My intensionn was to give the OP an example of how I flirt. Well, it turns out the poster I was flirting with was a guy. And to make things even more comical, he happened to be gay. So yeah, I think it’s real easy to get confused on a board. At least it is for me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/24 "2009-07-22T14:16:53Z")
If you have a vowel at the end of your name, you’re a girl. Ok for me, but I remember Malacandra used to have a disclaimer in his sig for a looooooooooooooooooong time. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/25 "2009-07-25T16:35:35Z")
I think that its pretty easy to guess a posters gender by the contents of their post. The ladies,bless their pretty little heads, tend to post more about fluffy bunnies and kittens and how to make themselves more attractive to their men,leaving the important subjects to us blokes. This is of course as it should be,men are a lot more intelligent then the fairer sex and lets be honest,anything along the lines of politics or economics apart from being a mystery to the ladies is not going to be of any interest to them. Dont you just love 'em with their muddle headed little ways? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/26 "2009-07-25T17:00:22Z")
I hope that was said tongue in cheek, not with a lure… -XT ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/27 "2009-07-25T17:31:06Z")
It is a rare woman indeed who would put up with the high-handed dick-waving from the neckbearded Angry White Males in GQ and GD. I suspect that it’s the rutting instinct that keeps most of the males there, bickering and sniping and comparing their penis length. It doesn’t help that they’re mostly the nerds and geeks who got ostracized in school for being jerks (although they believe it’s for professing science) and now walk around with a chip on their chubby little shoulders. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/28 "2009-07-25T20:25:48Z")
Well, **STS** ’s own genitalia wagging, and other humble opinions aside, I just found [this](http://cpsr.org/issues/womenintech/herring/) article addressing the subject - that is gender differences in what the author refers to as computer-mediated communication (CMC). > [@](#): > > The linguistic features that signal gender in computer-mediated interaction are much the same as those that have been previously described for face-to-face interaction, and include verbosity, assertiveness, use of profanity, politeness (and rudeness), typed representations of smiling and laughter, and degree of interactive engagement (cf. Coates 1993). There is an overall tendency for some of these behaviors to correlate more with female CMC users, and for others to correlate more with males. This does not mean that each and every female and male manifests the behaviors; exceptions to the tendencies can readily be found. It does mean, however, that gender predicts certain online behaviors with greater than chance frequency when considered over aggregate populations of users. … > > … males are more likely to post longer messages, begin and close discussions in mixed-sex groups, assert opinions strongly as “facts”, use crude language (including insults and profanity), and in general, manifest an adversarial orientation towards their interlocutors (Herring 1992, 1993, 1996b, forthcoming; Kramarae & Taylor 1992; Savicki et al. 1996; Sutton 1994). In contrast, females tend to post relatively short messages, and are more likely to qualify and justify their assertions, apologize, express support of others, and in general, manifest an “aligned” orientation towards their interlocutors (Hall 1996; Herring 1993, 1996b; Savicki et al. 1996). Males sometimes adopt an adversarial style even in cooperative exchanges, and females often appear to be aligned even when they disagree with one another, suggesting that gender socialization carried over from face-to-face interaction is at the root of these behaviors, rather than inherent character traits based on biological sex. Moreover, there is evidence that the minority gender in an online community tends to modify its communicative behavior in the direction of the majority gender: women tend to be more aggressive in male-dominated groups than among other women, and men tend to be less aggressive in female-dominated groups than in groups controlled by men (Baym 1996; Herring 1996b), an observation which suggests that the more numerous a gender group is online, the greater the influence it will have on shared discursive norms. > > Politeness is one common means through which gender is cued in asynchronous CMC. Women are more likely to thank, appreciate and apologize, and to be upset by violations of politeness: they more often challenge offenders who violate online rules of conduct (Smith et al. 1997), and predominantly female groups may have more, and more strictly enforced, posting rules designed to ensure the maintenance of a civil environment (Hall 1996; Herring 1996a). In contrast, men generally appear to be less concerned with politeness; they issue bald face-threatening acts such as criticisms and insults, violate online rules of conduct, tolerate or even enjoy “flaming,” and tend to be more concerned about threats to freedom of expression than with attending to others’ social “face” (Herring 1994, 1996a). These patterns have been noted even in gay and lesbian discussion groups (Hall 1996), and among women who have succeeded in traditionally male-dominated professions such as computer science (Herring & Lombard 1995). Inappropriately appreciative or contentious messages can “give away” individuals in Internet discussion groups who are attempting to pass as the opposite gender, evidence that stereotypes about online gender styles based on these patterns are starting to emerge (Herring 1996a). … So there do seem to be some gender related differences and some of **Syntropy** ’s points seem to be supported by what research there is. And I happily embrace my previously unrecognized female characteristics. (Even though they reside in an apparently neck bearded rutting male with a chip on my admittedly too chubby shoulders. (I really gotta start training for another endurance event …) ---
**Author:** ![silvermist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@silvermist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silvermist)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/29 "2009-07-26T03:35:53Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > I remember one time someone started a thread on this board tittled: “How do you flirt?” > > In the thread I quoted somebody I thought was a female and then said something flirty to them. My intensionn was to give the OP an example of how I flirt. > > Well, it turns out the poster I was flirting with was a guy. And to make things even more comical, he happened to be gay. > > So yeah, I think it’s real easy to get confused on a board. At least it is for me. LMAO! By the way, am I male or female? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/30 "2009-07-26T05:59:57Z")
I tend to think any poster who uses “squee!” as an exclamation or curly braces to signify a hug is probably female, but I don’t presume to be certain. > [@Anaamika](#): > > If you have a vowel at the end of your name, you’re a girl. Not just any vowel. If I saw the names Anaamiko\* and Malacandro, I would probably assume they were men.\* > [@silvermist](#): > > By the way, am I male or female? If you don’t know, why should he tell you? ETA: \*Now that I see it in print, I take it back. The -ko ending makes it look like a Japanese girl’s name. But any other consonant followed by an “o” would suggest a masculine name, while “a” is feminine: Antonio vs. Antonia, Mario vs. Maria, etc. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/31 "2009-07-26T08:58:55Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I’m amazed at how many male posters make generalizations about groups that imply that all of the group consists of males when it obviously doesn’t. For example, in a current thread in a discussion of Muslims, a male poster says that Muslims are promised that they will get to have sex with 77(sic) virgins when they enter paradise. No one remarks that at least 50% of Muslims aren’t interested in sex with a virgin. > > I see this assumption of maleness in male posts frequently, but I don’t see a parallel in female posts. I hear you dude! It’s so totally objectifying, it’s like a kick in the nuts! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/32 "2009-07-26T11:35:46Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I hope that was said tongue in cheek, not with a lure… > > -XT Very firmly in cheek,living under a bridge would play havoc with my hair.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470/33 "2009-07-26T14:17:31Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > It seems to me that at least there are gender differences in who posts where. My impression is that GD, for example, attracts a larger selection of males, and that IMHO and MPSIMS are _relatively_ more female populated. > > Do others concur with that impression? I don’t. I believe the SDMB overall has somewhat more men than women, but it doesn’t seem to me that GD has a disproportionate number of male participants. It’s my impression that the gender divide in IMHO is also pretty much in line with the overall board population. MPSIMS may skew female, but I don’t spend much time there so I’m not sure. And I’m a woman myself, so even if MPSIMS is mostly women it isn’t especially attractive to _all_ women here. If my time is limited the forums I check are GD, CS, and the Pit. I can say that other people’s perception of a poster’s gender can make a big difference in how that poster is treated. I’ve occasionally been mistaken for a man here (which is funny, since my username is more obviously feminine than my real first name!), and I can remember a few threads where other posters’ attitudes towards me changed dramatically once I corrected this mistake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-differences-in-message-board-behaviors/503470.md?page=1)