Gender Impersonation

I wandered into the Dispute Forums and stumbled upon this:

Now- this kid's sexual preference is none of my business, neither is whether he wears his mother's high heels when she is not home..
But what IS my, and every other community member of Sythe's, business is to prevent deception within the community.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a "Scam" as the following:
_______________________________________________
Scam[2,transitive verb]
Main Entry: 2scam
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s):scammed; scam·ming
Date:1963 1 : deceive, defraud 2 : to obtain (as money) by a scam
—noun: scam·mer
_________________________________________________
DECEPTION is scamming, no matter how you sugar-coat it..

We are all aware of the male to female ratio on this Forum at any given time.. There are MANY gender impersonators. My proposal is NOT to lead a witch hunt and force existing members to 'prove' their genders..

However, I do believe the rules should be amended to include Gender Impersonation as a form of scamming.

We can all agree that the past situations have inflamed tensions and caused problems. We can also agree that most gender impersonators are doing it for personal gain, to take advantage of the female stereotype that has naturally developed in online gaming communities (i.e. Female's are more trustworthy).. This is scamming- plain and simple.

My suggestion would be that if any member of Sythe that claims a gender is proven, in fact, to be the opposite- then that member would be dismissed on the same grounds as any other scammer.

 

I'm going to partially agree on this; members who impersonate the opposite sex usually are out to scam. However, some are, in actuality, homosexual and prefer to be called/known as a female/male. I say, that if someone is proven to be impersonating the opposite gender, to cut them off from the Black Market, and possibly a user title stating their impersonation.

 

Good point Tgump, I'm not out to alienate any homosexuals.

Your suggestion to provide a 'trade-with-caution' type rank would probably condemn the individual to endless insults and mockery though..

However, the fact remains that gender impersonation, by definition, is scamming and therefore should be considered as such.

 

Yes, it might condemn him to some mockery and misery; I believe if he wanted to stay on the forum that badly he'd be able to handle it. What I meant by restricting them from the Black Market was to give them a section ban. I believe those came out in July or August, and simply disables you viewing certain forum(s). I sense that'd be appropriate for such 'scamming'. I would consider [gender impersonation] attempting to scam, but not actual scamming.

 

Point taken. In theory- Gender impersonation can cause no harm if you take trades out of the equation, but I don't think the markets are the only field that could be potentially affected.

 

What other fields do you find would be affected?

 

Well.. Everything really.. It would warp the reputation of that individual and taint the integrity of the entire site.
This site is largely founded and based on mutual community trust and respect- Personally, I would have a difficult time, and do, respecting those who impersonate their gender.

 

I think you missed the last part of my post - if someone were to be found impersonating his/her gender, he/she would be cut off from the market and only the people who saw the thread/heard about it would know. However, there is word of mouth, and I can see where you're coming from. I say cut them off from the market, and if they can deal with the humility then they can stay.

 

There's no way in hell it would stay confidential..And who would deal with it?
A 'gender mod'? XD
Not on the Sythe.org I use.. You know that better than I gump.

 

I was saying how word of mouth is so effective everyone would know...I was stating that it'd be impossible to stay private, hence my saying that if they could deal with the humility, they would stay.

 

A snippet of a conversation with Shredderbeam that I thought had some very valid points and counter-points:
"
Shredderbeam says:
But, the way we use the word "scam" at Sythe.org is usually in the sense of taking something unlawfully by using deception.
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
Is it not one in the same?
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
Those who impersonate (usually males) are doing so for unlawful gain by exploiting female stereotypes
Shredderbeam says:
Are all of them, though?'
Shredderbeam says:
If they do not use it for scamming, then what unlawful gains are therre?
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
lol, atm, yes.. but the only flaw is if one came along that was not..
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
which is very unlikely, but I understand it must be taken into consideration
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
they might not be using it to scam- but to build up a reputation and gain false respect
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
I mean- come on.. when I proved I was a chick.. it made me like an instant celebrity..
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
some would also try to exploit that
Shredderbeam says:
That is true.
Shredderbeam says:
Yet, if three people buy a hammer in a week
Shredderbeam says:
And all of them use it for crimes
Shredderbeam says:
Should the hammer be made illegal?
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
no- which is the debate
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
but if hammers had no other uses besides murder... then yes..
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
its a jagged arguement, but a valid one..
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
Mind if I post part of this conversation?
Shredderbeam says:
Go ahead.
Shredderbeam says:
But, pretending to be a female, just by itself, does no real harm.
Shredderbeam says:
Whatever people may use that for is another issue.
Wendy | MM | GFX says:
but the potential is far to great to be ignored?
Shredderbeam says:
far too great*
Shredderbeam says:
I suppose so
"

 

I'm sorry but this is extremly stupid. SOme ppl just want to be called a female/male because of the way they feel not because they are looking to scam. This is one of the stupidest things I have ever read..

 

And what did you accomplish from your reply? Nothing.

I mean- your post doesn't even say anything useful or meaningful.. In fact, it doesn't make sense.. So if your not going to discuss intellectually like the rest of us- Gtfo.

If you have some USEFUL conversation to bring to the debate then do so.

 

I can't comprehend why people would want to impersonate the opposite gender anyway. Unless you were homosexual, of course.

 

I see. I guess it would be even BETTER for a female to just claim themselves to be as a male, because after you say that you're a female, the comments usually tick you off. (no, you're a guy! so you're gay? etc) I'm sure you and LifeSavers had that feeling before.

Yes, there's no reason for someone to act like a female, when they're not. And I guess, they should be punished. But it wouldn't be exactly fair, if they were REAL females and had to give proof.

 

Your right, that would be unfair.
But like I said before- nobody would have to prove themselves unless evidence was found that suggested they were lying.

 

Blah blah blah pretending to be a female. Same shit every thread. Leave the kid alone, maybe he likes to be a tranny and is preparing to do a gender surgery.

 

I agree-Let him be a tranny.

But its still an issue. Its scamming- not just sexual orientation confusion.

 

Im sure its been taken care of by the mods.

 

Thing is, it's not easy to prove whether you're really a guy/girl. But most of the time, people who are guys pretending to be girls can't play up the 'girl' part.

Like eternalmage, who was so obviously NOT a girl (well, from the way he acted. The <3 filefragg pic convinced me, won't deny it.) that it was funny to watch people bend over backwards for him believing him to be his hot chick friend. What girl shares pics of themselves stripping to people who they don't even know?

The problem with this rule is that there might be someone who can actually pull off a girl impersonation (although that must be hard since I doubt even I could lol), so it's going be hard to implement.