In September 2006, in
feedback,
Six Apart said: We know that a percentage of our userbase doesn't fit into the binary gender construct, and we think that's just another awesome sign of the diversity on LJ. We don't want to force anyone into making an uncomfortable choice or self-identifying in a way that they don't feel fits them, which is why we'll always at the very least offer the "unspecified" option.
Two days ago, in
changelog, this code floated past:
### gender check
- $from_post{errors}->{confirmpass} = $class->ml('widget.createaccount.error.nogender')
+ $from_post{errors}->{gender} = $class->ml('widget.createaccount.error.nogender')
unless $post->{gender} =~ /^M|F$/;
The key bit is right at the end. You can no longer create an lj account without declaring a gender, which must be either male or female. I'm not certain if existing users are grandfathered in, but honestly I recommend going to
Edit Profile, and selecting unspecified while you still can.
Why would lj do this? ADVERTISING, BABY. Advertisers like to buy your eyeballs in narrowly defined slices, precise, if not accurate, and 'undefined' are harder to sell and target.
See
synecdochic's post
for more information, copy and paste letter-writing templates and addresses, and code analysis. (No, really, see her post. She's the one who caught this code floating past. I basically took everything in this one from there.)
ETA - 15 DEC - LJ is backpedaling from this one like a circus clown on a unicycle. Anything you heard was a mistake, the code was a mistake, and besides, they've rolled it back anyway.