Academia - How many users state preferred pronouns on Academia?

@Laurel's idea was excellent, but the specific query checks only for the three most common pronouns and gets a bunch of false positives. If you query specifically for "pronoun", it checks for neopronouns as well:

select aboutme, id as [User Link] from users 
where aboutme like '%pronoun%' 

From this, as of this writing one finds the following 46 results:

  • False matches, generally profiles talking about pronounciation: 7
  • He, she, they, or "don't care" preferences: 25
  • Preference for a neo-pronoun: 2: 1 ze/hir, 1 ne/nim/nir
  • People being obnoxious, mostly clearly because they are upset about the recent code of conduct changes: 10
    • "englishisnotaconlangyoudontgettoinventnewpronounsanymorethannewtenses"
    • "we" (evidence: post about CoC change)
    • "the one who respects LGBTQ++, lavander, pink, blue, green, and everybody else, but considers the new SE CoC rules on gender pronouns an absurd and harmful stupidity"
    • "His Most Eminent Gracious Majesty"
    • Spivak pronouns, but "I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter"
    • "His majesty, the infallible genius"
    • "–æ–Ω, –µ–≥–æ, –Ω–µ–≥–æ, –µ–º—É, –Ω–µ–º—É, –∏–º, –Ω–∏–º, –æ –Ω—ë–º"
    • "old fart"
    • "My third-person pronouns are I/me/my/mine. Use them or get banned, twansphobes."
    • "Voi use voi/void/voids/voids/voidself as pronouns" (evidence: comments about CoC change)
  • Confusing statements: 2
    • "Preferred pronouns: none. Please use alternative sentence structures to avoid gendered and gender neutral language when referring to me."
    • "Preferred pronoun: The gender-neutral "it". As I'm an alien and my race doesn't have any sexes ..."

Furthermore, of the obnoxious or confusing profile statements, precisely one has any significant activity on this site.

Bottom line: respectful pronoun use on Academia.SE should currently be easy.


If the about me is the only thing we look at, then not very many (~64 although I’m not sure if any are false positives or if I’m missing anyone). Run (and feel free to modify) this query:

select aboutme, id as [User Link] from users 
where aboutme like '%she/%' or aboutme like '%her/%'
or aboutme like '%he/%' or aboutme like '%him/%' or aboutme like '%his/%'
or aboutme like '%they/%' or aboutme like '%them/%' or aboutme like '%their/%'

I’m sure some people mention their pronouns in their posts and comments, but it’s unlikely to be formatted as conveniently. And quite a few people people heavily imply what their pronouns are (e.g. by saying that they’re a woman).

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