Regarding the asshat/uninformed behavior by the staff. For one, the reaction to RS's uninformed and impolite reply was not well articulated to explain to an uniformed person why what they said was being rude and inconsiderate. It was rudeness right back, immediately calling RS a bigot rather than linking him to informative sites. I get that you're angry, but it won't help matters to immediately sink to slinging insults; it also just put RS on the defensive. For two, as a long-time DA member, I know RealitySquared is notorious on DA for being an asshat to the members, paid and not, so when he acts as an asshat, your best bet is to go further up the chain of command, not through the regular support ticket means unless you can articulate what was wrong extremely well. Because the support people usually answer to RS, and you might as well just be asking him the same question a second time.
As much as DA staff like RS frequently cheese me off, I will give a ton of credit to Spyed (devArt's CEO) for calmly listening, asking questions, and trying to find the right solution when he woke up to find an internet mob at his virtual door yesterday. He read a bit, talked to staff, and within hours, had "gender" changed to "sex" hoping that was an acceptable solution that still allowed catering to the advertisers that pay for the site to run. That didn't work for people. He listened gain, engaged in discourse, got informed, and at 4:15pm had his coders working to put "Other" back into the options--as he had been informed that "Unspecified" could be insulting. He also said that further mods would be done as he became aware of the need. That is an extremely quick turn around and reaction. [link]
Of course, people are still pissed because RS is still an asshat and has been for ages. What baffles me is the people that are pissed and screaming that DA has no business knowing at all. Because hey, DA is a business giving you unlimited space for a gallery and a community setup with tons of bells and whistles for free. The site is paid for by advertisers. If they can do better ads and make more money in order to pay for the equipment and staff that keep DA running and free, yes it is their "business" to know. They allow you to hide your choice from everyone else, they're cooperating and trying to fix the system once you get the concern far enough up the chain of command to someone that gives a shit about the user base as individuals. So I'm not leaving DA. Not over this. I'll keep ignoring admin like Hex and RS, and keep listening to Spyed, because he's reasonable and willing to compromise when stuff goes bad.
Re: ran long 2/2
As much as DA staff like RS frequently cheese me off, I will give a ton of credit to Spyed (devArt's CEO) for calmly listening, asking questions, and trying to find the right solution when he woke up to find an internet mob at his virtual door yesterday. He read a bit, talked to staff, and within hours, had "gender" changed to "sex" hoping that was an acceptable solution that still allowed catering to the advertisers that pay for the site to run. That didn't work for people. He listened gain, engaged in discourse, got informed, and at 4:15pm had his coders working to put "Other" back into the options--as he had been informed that "Unspecified" could be insulting. He also said that further mods would be done as he became aware of the need. That is an extremely quick turn around and reaction. [link]
Of course, people are still pissed because RS is still an asshat
and has been for ages. What baffles me is the people that are pissed and screaming that DA has no business knowing at all. Because hey, DA is a business giving you unlimited space for a gallery and a community setup with tons of bells and whistles for free. The site is paid for by advertisers. If they can do better ads and make more money in order to pay for the equipment and staff that keep DA running and free, yes it is their "business" to know. They allow you to hide your choice from everyone else, they're cooperating and trying to fix the system once you get the concern far enough up the chain of command to someone that gives a shit about the user base as individuals. So I'm not leaving DA. Not over this. I'll keep ignoring admin like Hex and RS, and keep listening to Spyed, because he's reasonable and willing to compromise when stuff goes bad.[End my $0.02]