Cyber Gender

I notice with cyber space communities that they tend to polarize into those in which the absence of visual contact (and therefore accountability, oddly) has led to the total break down of all forms of regulation of behaviour and those which have, for exactly the same reason, developed highly pronounced etiquette, ethics and ethos. Ebay being one of the latter and indeed just yesterday I was 'reviewed' by one seller as "a first-class Ebayer and a credit to Ebay". No one has ever thought I was a credit to anything, so it's taking a little time for me to adjust my self-perception.

I suppose the development of these communities represents a fascinating social experiment, but the thing is, I hate fascinating social experiments. Any experiments of any real interest everyone ignores anyway, like "Australia" - Q: what happens if you settle an island with criminals? A: you get one of the highest voter participation levels in the world and one of the lower levels of violent crime - or "America" - Q: What happens if you settle a land mass with puritans? A: you get an isolationist interventionist culture.

I recently joined an Envro Community site, using what I now realise was a gender neutral username. Because cyberspace freaks me out, I fall back on a highly diffident, and what I would consider, extremely feminine manner of constantly apologising for my presence, checking I haven't inadvertently offended anyone or indeed, put anyone out by existing. Yesterday, two other member of the site said that initially they thought I was male and only realised I wasn't when I made some oblique reference to my gender.

So, hmmm.