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Frab – free and open conference management system

frab.github.io

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Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#11
post #9
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The gender _might_ be used to ensure diverse speaker selection.

[deleted]

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#12
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The "first name, last name" fields are worse, IMO.

- It doesn't apply for many cultures.

- The only justification to collect them separately is to link with third-party data.

- They should stop playing around and just ask me what they want to know, "How would you like to be addressed?"

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#13
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The gender field was added for FrosCon. They used it to select what kind of t-shirt you want.

Other uses have been to suggest shared sleeping arrangements.

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#14
post #12
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The "first name, last name" fields are worse, IMO. - It doesn't apply for many cultures. - The only justification to collect them separately is to link with third-party data. - They should stop playing around and just ask me what they want to know, "How would you like to be addressed?"

This is a toolkit. You use whatever parts you want from it. Both fields are large enough to hold the full name if that is how you roll.

The software needs to have a database layout that supports the superset of what all individual users need.

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#15
post #13
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The gender field was added for FrosCon. They used it to select what kind of t-shirt you want. Other uses have been to suggest shared sleeping arrangements.

> They used it to select what kind of t-shirt you want.

Then it's incomplete without a "shirt_size" column.

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#17
post #10
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

Some conferences are in locations with restricted accommodation facilities, and if you don’t specify a roommate, you are paired with someone of your gender. So that’s why the gender might be needed. As far as the preferred pronouns are concerned, I see them as something with heavy political connotations. No one who is not hard left believes in the necessity of the xir pronoun, and of course there are trans people als…

Automatically pairing people by gender is pretty weird IMO. As a trans woman I have to find my own roommate or find an organizer to intervene and explain my life story to them.

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#18
post #12
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The "first name, last name" fields are worse, IMO. - It doesn't apply for many cultures. - The only justification to collect them separately is to link with third-party data. - They should stop playing around and just ask me what they want to know, "How would you like to be addressed?"

There are lots of reasons to need them separate. Alphabetizing by last name, showing only the first name in some places, only last name in some places...

Re: Frab – free and open conference management system

#20
post #12
post #8

From Frab's schema.rb: create_table "people", force: :cascade do |t| # ... t.string "first_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "last_name", limit: 255, default: "" t.string "gender", limit: 255 # ... end Our schema has a similar table, but with "prefix" instead of "gender", where on the front end a list pops down with Mr., Ms., etc. We just use the prefix to form the full name. I wonder where the need to track ge…

The "first name, last name" fields are worse, IMO. - It doesn't apply for many cultures. - The only justification to collect them separately is to link with third-party data. - They should stop playing around and just ask me what they want to know, "How would you like to be addressed?"

> It doesn't apply for many cultures.

I'm struggling to come up with a list of those.

Middle names are definitely not universal, sure, but I can't seem to find a list of cultures that can't map down to "first name, last name".

Iceland, Indonesia, Turkey, Ethiopia, everything I've come across seems to have adopted some superset of "first name, last name" in the last hundred years.

> The only justification to collect them separately is to link with third-party data.

In Japan, many organizations are required to collect this for legal compliance.

> They should stop playing around and just ask me what they want to know, "How would you like to be addressed?"

That is a good thing to ask -- and certainly suitable for generating nametags! -- but I can still see many cases for needing to have a legal name. Generating receipts, etc.

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