# Profile revamping

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [November 11, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800 "2000-11-11T17:15:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800/1 "2000-11-11T17:15:17Z")

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What do you all think about adding a few elements of information to the Doper profiles?

In order of preference, I would suggest the following:

1. Gender
2. First name
3. Occupation

Any others?

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**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800/2 "2000-11-11T17:17:14Z")

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[list][li]location[/li][li]age[/li]marital status

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800/3 "2000-11-11T18:02:21Z")

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You can edit your profile to include your favorite Saturday-morning cartoon, if you want. I give my location, age, sex, and occupation under “biography”. My first name and marital status are none of your business. Frankly, the rest is none of your business either, but I choose to share.

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**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800/4 "2000-11-11T18:24:44Z")

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People are generally free to put most anything they like in their profile.

Chances are good that unless someone posts exclusively in GD or such, they’ll have participated in one of the “what plumbing do you have” threads . . . you can also glean their marital status from other threads.

Some of us chose a SN that is not our first name for a reason. Some posters have also gone a fair amount of time with their gender remaining a mystery. And some probably can’t share details about their occupation for legal reasons.

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**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/profile-revamping/40800/5 "2000-11-11T21:48:53Z")

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Didn’t think it necessary to preface by saying that this information would be provided on a strictly _voluntary_ basis.

It’s simply that ‘biography’ seemed a bit vague and all-encompassing to me. First-name, gender, occupation threads being more than a bit popular, I thought that the information could be gathered in one easy-to-find place.

If things remain as they are, I won’t necessarily lose much sleep over it.