Hi, I'm new here. I don't want to beat a dead horse.

September 6, 2013 9:09 AM

But I'm tempted to post my current dilemma to AskMe: I'm a new professor who gave my class of seniors a programming assignment to work on yesterday. Two of them asked for help by addressing me as "Mrs. Dashy". Here's the thing: no matter how a woman approaches the topic of sexism or implicit bias she's told "you're doing it wrong" -- so, how do you suggest I handle this? I read academic blogs, and I thought GracieABD handled her "teach naked" situation just perfectly. I was well familiar with it before it popped up here. .... or is this beating a dead, battered horse to a pulp?
posted by Dashy to Etiquette/Policy at 9:09 AM (22 comments total)

sorry for the formatting, but to be clear: the issue is, should i post this to AskMe or no, it's dead bovine material?
posted by Dashy at 9:11 AM on September 6, 2013

Posting it on AskMe is more appropriate than posting it here. Not that you're in trouble, Prof. Dashy!

But yeah, AskMe has one chief guideline - your question should be answerable. Be sure to phrase it in such a way that you are clearly looking for concrete answers and you'll be fine. I think!
posted by Mister_A at 9:14 AM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

You can post it to AskMe if you think the community will have good ideas for how to handle it. Be sure to include enough detail about the constraints and why you wouldn't just politely tell the students what to call you.

MetaTalk isn't a place to preview or test-run posts for other parts of the site, though. Unless you have something larger in mind that requires community discussion about the site, I'll close this in just a couple minutes.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:16 AM on September 6, 2013

Sounds like a real problem that you have, not some hypothetical. No need to refer to the other situation in your question. Just write it all out clearly and ask what people think you should do. And...Post!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:16 AM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

A similar AskMe that might be helpful.
posted by beryllium at 9:18 AM on September 6, 2013

again, sorry for the confusion, my purpose here was to ask the meta-question of: if I do post in AskMe, is it coming too soon after the front-page Teach Naked vitriol?
posted by Dashy at 9:19 AM on September 6, 2013

Horses are equine, not bovine.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:19 AM on September 6, 2013 [18 favorites]

and thanks for that link, Beryllium.
posted by Dashy at 9:19 AM on September 6, 2013

Ah. Nope, you're fine, but as Potomac Avenue says don't mention that other situation in your AskMe. Just describe your situation and constraints in a straightforward way.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:20 AM on September 6, 2013

Horses are equine, not bovine.

Except when they're supine.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:29 AM on September 6, 2013 [3 favorites]

It's been my experience (though I don't have hard data to back it up- could the infodumpster help with that?) that while of course lots of users do follow both the green and the blue, many people only ever read AskMe and will be oblivious to the drama of the day on Metafilter proper.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:32 AM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

Horses are equine, not bovine.

To err is human; to moo, bovine.
posted by Celsius1414 at 9:33 AM on September 6, 2013 [31 favorites]

Or hamburger meat.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:33 AM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, askme is a lot more tightly modded than the blue, so anyone being jerkish or fighty is going to get the comment deleted and the mods will leave a little mod note if necessary.
posted by rtha at 9:34 AM on September 6, 2013

(I'm really sorry.)
posted by iamkimiam at 9:34 AM on September 6, 2013

Jerkish, fighty, or off-topic and not answering the question, that is. If someone comes along and is all "yeahbutt how do we *really* know you're interpreting this right?" it will get flagged to death and deleted almost immediately.
posted by rtha at 9:35 AM on September 6, 2013

The content on the blue is almost entirely irrelevant to the green. Post away!
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:37 AM on September 6, 2013 [4 favorites]

FYI, you can use the contact form, which is linked somewhere on all metafilter pages, if you have quick question you want to run by the mods like this.
posted by nooneyouknow at 9:39 AM on September 6, 2013

(though I don't have hard data to back it up- could the infodumpster help with that?

cortex made a pie chart a few years back visualizing subsite overlap but damn if I can find it.
posted by griphus at 9:39 AM on September 6, 2013

Also, when I first read this, I thought "Is this a question about getting your MeFi username outed irl?" Maybe I interpret quotes more literally than most, but I read "Mrs. Dashy" in your question as if they literally called you "Mrs. Dashy", rather than "Mrs. [your real name]".
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:41 AM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

Horses are equine, not bovine.

Professor Dashy teaches programming, not taxonomy.
posted by infinitywaltz at 9:46 AM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

Ok, I'll close this up since it seems like the question is resolved. If you want to follow up with the mods, feel free to use the contact form (linked at the bottom right corner of every page) - we're always happy to discuss questions of timing or look over a draft if you'd like.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:52 AM on September 6, 2013