LJ management claims "genderfail" is a misunderstanding
from Anjelika Petrochenko, general manager LiveJournal US
However, the code update that you refer to is not live and did not have any chance to go live. That was a beta release, we always push code to beta to see if everything works correctly. In many cases it does not and we either fix bugs or pull the code from the final release plan.
We were going to add a gender field to the sign up user flow, which is fine, but by mistake it became a mandatory "female/male" field for everyone. This is why this is not going live. And this is what beta releases are for, to see problems and solve them before any user faces a problem.
Whether this is truthful, or the uproar convinced them the error of their ways is semi-irrelevant (though I'm sure y'all know which *I* think without me having to draw you a map). As my friend technoshaman put it - It did not go live. While this is sort of proof of a negative, I still say that, whether we really tipped the balance or not, we got what we wanted. So keep it up, folks, not just with LJ, but with whomever you have Issues. Get the word out, stuff somebody's inbox... it does work.
However, the code update that you refer to is not live and did not have any chance to go live. That was a beta release, we always push code to beta to see if everything works correctly. In many cases it does not and we either fix bugs or pull the code from the final release plan.
We were going to add a gender field to the sign up user flow, which is fine, but by mistake it became a mandatory "female/male" field for everyone. This is why this is not going live. And this is what beta releases are for, to see problems and solve them before any user faces a problem.
Whether this is truthful, or the uproar convinced them the error of their ways is semi-irrelevant (though I'm sure y'all know which *I* think without me having to draw you a map). As my friend technoshaman put it - It did not go live. While this is sort of proof of a negative, I still say that, whether we really tipped the balance or not, we got what we wanted. So keep it up, folks, not just with LJ, but with whomever you have Issues. Get the word out, stuff somebody's inbox... it does work.