"I'm really a girl" (April 1st prank PM)

[FXMastermind]

And I’m sorry for sending you those nude pictures.

[carnivorousplant]

@VunderBob

Translation: carnivorousplant fell for it.

You didn’t see any listing of a reply from me, did you VunderBoob?

[Fiveroptic]

I thought it was funny.

[VinylTurnip]

@FXMastermind

Thank fucking goodness. My wife was getting ready to kill me over this.

“Who the fuck is that? Why is she sending you a PM? What have you been up to? I knew that bunch of Dope heads was trouble. … continues for another ten minutes, with a lot of bad words …”.

Thanks a lot.

I’m sick of this gullible womaning!

[VunderBob]

@carnivorousplant

You didn’t see any listing of a reply from me, did you VunderBoob?

All the responses I saw were unattributed, so it would easy for you to hide.

[carnivorousplant]

@VunderBob

All the responses I saw were unattributed, so it would easy for you to hide.

I thought he was quoting.
At least he is not that much of an ass.
:rolleyes:

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@VinylTurnip

I’m sick of this gullible womaning!

That’s good!

[Leaffan]

Hook, line, and sinker over here.

I just came out of an intense 3 hour meeting and saw that I had a PM. I never even considered what day it was today.

Hey, isn’t there a “rule” about no April fool pranks after noon or something?

[HoneyBadgerDC]

I fell for it

[LSLGuy]

There’s an ongoing thread in ATMB about this. Idle Thoughts - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board

[davidm]

My response is in that list. I never considered the date. It seemed like a very odd message, but I replied nicely so as not to hurt your feelings.

I’m curious if you got any nasty or annoyed replies. “Why the hell are you writing to me about this. Like I would give a fuck!”

[Jophiel]

@Machine_Elf

Shit - I didn’t even notice I had a PM until I read this thread.

Yeah, I’m zero-for-two for responding to these in time.

[Dung_Beetle]

This was my favorite:

Fair enough. Do I have to do anything?

[Drunky_Smurf]

@Snowboarder_Bo

There’s nothing quite as funny as having someone you know decieve you and violate your trust, is there, Idle Thoughts?

[Froyd]Show me on the doll where the mod touched you.[/Froyd]

[HoneyBadgerDC]

I spent 20 min going through my facebook friends trying to figure out who lived in AZ, I was pretty sure I had it figured out.

[Calatin]

@Drunky_Smurf

[Froyd]Show me on the doll where the mod touched you.[/Froyd]

On his funny-bone.

[freckafree]

Count me among the suckered!

[Cyros]

@Drunky_Smurf

[Froyd]Show me on the doll where the mod touched you.[/Froyd]

"On the back of your head? That’s not so bad"

[Idle_Thoughts]

Here’s 45 more replies I’ve gotten since I’ve made this topic:

Well, I feel honored in some strange way. Your secret, if that’s what you want it to remain, is safe with me.

This isn’t an April Fools thing is it?

Whatever gender you believe you are is what you are.

In my view, you have no reason to feel guilty.

Especially on the SDMB, the coin of the realm should be our ideas and the quality of them; our response to and interaction with the other members. I can’t think of any reason that your lack of a Y chromosone is even relevant in the first place. I haven’t shared my hair color, favorite fantasy, or choice of dandruff shampoo – why should I? What business is it of anyone’s?

The only exception I would make is if you find yourself getting into quasi-social/quasi-romantic/quasi-sexual interactions with someone else. I think there’s a line there, and you should 'fess up before letting anything like that go anywhere. But frankly, in my official view as the resident cantankerous conservative, this is information that’s reasonably kept private and utterly irrelevant. In short, I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.

Just my view.

April Fools?

Well, since you and I do talk, I smelled chain letter. Anyhoo, I read the thread before I got to respond, but all I gotta say is…

I thought it was hilarious. More so since it’ll annoy more of the uptight amongst us. Good job.

However, I wish you’d’ve got to me first thing this morning so I would’ve been surprised instead. Unfortunately, that honor fell to Redbox’s email before I was entirely awake. Who knew there was a market for a kiosk just set up to cater to the pet viewing market?

Keep up the awesome work, Chris! You’ve definitely got a fan in this corner.

Congratulations? Its April 1. Its a good day to come out.

That’s interesting! Haven’t you been to Dopefests? Don’t people who go to Dopefests know?

I write a Blog about the Cleveland Indians and for the first 3 years I kept my gender a secret. I didn’t say either way what gender I was. I felt like people wouldn’t take me seriously as a woman, since the topic was baseball. I “let it out” last season some time that I was a girl, I forget why/when. But I have so few readers that nobody said anything. I do wonder tho if anyone on Twitter noticed and if it will come back to bite me!

Is your name really Chris? Cuz that helps

Well, as long as we are opening up like this, it’s time I admitted I really am a cartoon horse.

I do hope you’ll hold this in confidence; as I’m sure you know, there are still quite a lot of anti-'toon bigots out there. One would think we’d progressed from the state of affairs of the immediate post-war era, as dramatically documented in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but, sadly, the struggle for equality continues.

I’m sure you’ve seen the cartoon captioned “On the internet, no one knows if you’re a dog.” Somehow, that seemed applicable.

And in the grand scheme of things, you’re not scamming people or any crap like that, so no biggie, right. But if telling me eases your conscience, then I am honored to have been chosen. Perplexed, perhaps, but honored.

Now, send me $50 million and your secret is safe with me.

Okay, I’m going to assume this is an April Fool’s prank of some kind until tomorrow.

Why would it be important to conceal your gender on an anonymous message board?

If you ARE sincere, I am very flattered that you chose ME to confess your secret to. I am also female and sometimes people seem to think I’m male, although I have no problem correcting them if it comes up.

Have a good day!

Hey IT!

Given that you joined 12 years ago I can see how your mindset back then could be different, and ironically enough I just finished writing a post basically saying “If I made a sock, I’d do it as a girl for the character aspect”, so I can see how being someone else in the world of message boards can be scary.

I also know what it’s like to want to get something off your (apparently larger than advertised ;)) chest, and to just have someone else KNOW something.

Unless you’re actively catfishing someone on the board and doing bad things I doubt it’s that big of a deal…unless you are then you should probably stop that.

Either way it’s cool that you felt comfortable enough to come to me with this and if ya need anything feel free to message

Well, either

1. Your account has been hacked and you didn’t send this.
2. It’s April Fool’s Day.
3. You really just told some random board member your true gender.

If it is 3 then I have no problem with you hiding your gender on the internet. Women are treated way differently in lots of different ways, and very few of them are good. Wanting to avoid that is not something you should feel guilty about.

Of course, I’m actually betting on 2.

Hi lady! I’m always shown as online, because of my devices. I still may go for hours w/I checking. Thanks for telling me. I won’t tell anyone. Lots of people think I’m a guy too.

Are there sheep involved? If not, hey, whatever makes you happy! (April Fool’s?)

Awesome, thanks for telling me. I posted for a little while on another forum as “Spirit of Molly” with an avatar of my hero Molly Ivins, and people just started assuming I was a woman. I never said anything to tell them otherwise, so it was kind of interesting to observe, to, as it were, go in drag.

My mother is a Steinem+ feminist, so gender issues are fascinating to me. And though I do find women sometimes perplexing, I also find my cat sometimes perplexing. If a man says “I just don’t understand women”, I hear the phrase “… want to try to …” embedded in there.

Keeping smiling (smiles are free) and feel free to fling your next random idle musing my way. Your secret is safe with me (unless you want me to spill it accidentally).

Thank you very much for confiding in me. I’ve enjoyed many of your posts and I don’t recall ever having a problem with you (although I can be kinda gruff at times).

No worries whatsoever on your gender. I make sure my girls, when online, do not give any indication of their gender if they can avoid it. It just strikes me as safer. I completely understand your desire.

I won’t tell anyone unless you wish me to, so your “Secret” is safe with me. If you need anything at all, just let me know. Thanks again.

I’m honoured to be the recipient of such a confidence - particularly on April the First!

If you hadn’t been a member for so long and a moderator I would have thought your message was some sort of scam, I post so little I’m surprised anyone has noticed me.

I don’t think it’s that big of a deal whether or not someone reveals their gender unless it’s relevant to a conversation. I think we all make assumptions based on certain user names, but yours doesn’t point in any particular direction.

I think mine would lean a little male, but it’s actually the name of a fictional female character.

Have I said something that would reveal my gender? I honestly don’t remember if I have.

What is this, another way of getting free candy?

I’m honored you feel that you can tell me this. I don’t post very much, but I do tend to read the boards every day – usually spending more time on here than I reasonably should.

To be honest, I don’t know if you and I have ever posted in the same thread. Apparently I haven’t said anything particularly stupid where you’ve noticed it.

As for your gender, IMHO, what difference does it make? This isn’t a dating site.

Some of the members on the SDMB share a lot more personal information than I would find comfortable. On the other hand, there are a number of members who post a lot whose gender I have no idea about, and it really doesn’t matter 95% of the time. The 5% would be threads on the order of “Where do I find a comfortable bra online?” or “What should I expect when I go in for a prostate exam next week?”

So, I’m not going to tell anyone. None of their business, I don’t think there’s really anything to feel guilty about, and not relevant to, well, anything as far as I can tell regarding board activities.

Though I would suggest in the future if you have secrets you want to keep secret, you may want to share them with someone closer to you than me. Well, or me, now, I guess.

Oh, and if this is some kind of social/psych experiment, I won’t be pissed. I took Psych101 in college, we all had to be guinea pigs for the grad students. On the other hand, if someone got into your account in some kind of Hal Bristol moment, you may want to be changing your passwords.

Congrats =) I normally don’t bother keeping my gender a secret - for a number of years back in the day I was moderately well known in the game testing community but have sort of gently backed off discussing it because of all the hate of male gamers towards female gamers.

And with the handle Idle Thoughts, it really could go either way =) I wouldn’t be so worried about hiding ones gender - lots of women online don’t admit to being female, saves a lot of harassment. =)

If it makes you feel better, I am no longer actually verwirrt about my Fach.

Hi there,

I, uh… don’t know quite what to say. I’m honored you’ve placed your trust in me, so I guess, um… thanks?

Being a Mod, you’re no doubt aware that I lurk here far more than I post, so I’m a bit surprised you chose me, but I’ll take it as a compliment.

Don’t worry - your secret is safe with me. (Who would I tell anyway? I’m only friends IRL with two other posters, and I don’t hang out at associated/snark boards.) As far as you feeling guilty for possibly misleading others in regards to your gender, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. To be honest, I’m not really familiar with your posting history, though I have seen you from time to time and you haven’t come across as a shit-stirrer, so you’re OK by me. Obviously, I can’t speak for anyone else.

Anyway, take care, and I’ll see you around the Dope!

Your secret’s safe with me
Glad to be of service. I doubt anyone would really care, though.

Kinda odd to tell me but what’s it worth I’m fairly good at keeping secrets. Not to mention I did something similar ages ago when playing Everquest 1 - I had a female avatar and I just let people assume I was female in real life as well, and kept doing that for months. Until there was a “RL picture thread” on the guild forums and I couldn’t resist the temptation of posting a picture of myself. The reactions to that were hilarious.

So, yeah - your secret’s safe with me.

Tell me again tomorrow, and I might actually believe ya

Well, that’s certainly interesting. I like your posts too, and you’re a good moderator to boot!

If you recall we are connected on Facebook. Not even there would I have guessed you’re female. Is that really a picture of you?

Thanks for sharing. Your secret is safe with me.

Oooh, I love being in on the secret. I promise not to out you & I’m glad your conscience is now clear

OK.

I honestly think of most of my fellow Dopers as disembodied, non-gendered brains in a jar - with a LAN connection. It’s the only way I can rationalize some of the stuff they write.

Your secret is safe with me! Thank you for noticing me (I sound like Eeyore); I don’t post a lot, sometimes my real life gets in the way! I’m also female, which isn’t always apparent.

What a FOOLish thing to do!

No problem, happy to lend an ear. I generally don’t “gender” posts that I read, or try and assign other personal characteristics, so it doesn’t affect me much either way. Hope your discomfort is eased!

Your secret is safe with me. Most posters I don’t try to discern their gender anyway.

Most people here seem to assume I am male, though I’ve never said so. When they do, I often don’t correct them. The sad fact is that women’s opinions are very often dismissed when men’s are not.

So I see no reason for you to feel guilty or correct this notion. We did not create this circumstance for women.

Have you actually liked my posts? I mostly have unpopular opinions, so I accept that most people dislike me, or whoever they’ve decided I am.

Heh I think you might have picked a bad day to confess something.

Either way if I had to guess I’d have said you were male, but you know what they say, on the Internet no one knows if you’re a dog.

This would probably have worked better if you’d waited until April 2nd to post your MPSIMS thread.

Cool. Are you hot?

Uh, OK. If you’re on the up and up, you probably picked the wrong day to send this message…

Hmmm. Well it’s understandable in a way. Women have to deal with a few extra hassles online. Not like you are being obnoxious with the deception.

Of course, the skeptic in me thinks this is just you gathering responses, like your trick or treat thing you did a while back. Lol. Good luck either way.

Swipe left

I’m actually Hervé Villechaize.

Well, for whatever reason, I’m glad you felt comfortable confiding in me!

You can count me among those who just assumed you were male.

Feel free to talk to me about…whatever!

That’s ok. I’m not actually Human. I’m a simulation.

It’s OK by me. I am actually a vegetable farmer.

Um… I already thought you were a girl, so…

Given that you sent this on April 1st, I’m wary, but hey, it’s no skin off my nose. Your secret is safe with me, I hardly keep track of who’s a boy and who’s a girl as it is.

Last year I accidentally rolled out of bed and got stuck between the mattress and the wall. Don’t tell anyone.

[Bricker]

Whew. My response is anonymous. No one can possibly identify me.