Herrings Article

I disagree with Herrings article on discussion style. I believe that the World Wide Web is way to broad to make assessments like the writer of this article made. I think the way that women communicate is way to unique and broad, all women are not the same so you can not go along with these arguments, especially not this day in age. This article definitely seems a little outdated to me.

In Herrings reading she says that the female writing style is more preferable than the male style. I agree with her becuase the female writing style is simple and to the point. The male style of writing is agrumentative and forceful of their specific views.

Herring's Hypothesis: A Little Outdated?

Whereas I do agree with Herring on her observations of some of the differences in the ways that males and females communicate online, I do believe her ideas are just a little outdated. I remember growing up in a world where girls are supposed to wear dresses and play tea party politely, and boys were rowdy lil snots that were supposed to come home with skinned knees & black eyes. However, I feel that this emphasis on external gender scripts is not quite as predominant as it was in the past. Yes, there is still some evidence of aggressiveness from males and supportiveness from females, but most of that is due to the biological hardwiring.

Herring makes some good points, but they are just a little too overgeneralized for my taste. They might have been very compelling arguments 13 yrs. ago, but not for today's society.
Therefore, I would have to agree with my colleagues' opinions.

-Carly

Herring Article

Herring does bring up interesting differences between male and female communication, but I have to disagree with this article. When reading posts online I can’t always tell male from female and even so both can use their fair share of “flaming” and forceful language. And I don’t see that women’s online communication styles are any less valued along those of men in this growing medium where everyone can have there own voice.

herring response

i have to agree with other students who disagree with herrings assessment of discussion style. to me there is no way you can tell if a male wrote it or if i a female wrote an article simply because at the end of the article they use a male or female name. Also, depending upon the forum, a certain style of writing is probably more acceptable then other instances say instant messenger. so i have to say that again i disagree with herrings argument

Response to Herring

I don’t agree with Herring’s argument. The internet is a vast place with many different forums for discourse that, if searched for, can cater to aggressive women as well as passive men. I think the internet’s range and potential is far to broad to apply such gender communication stereotypes; they may exist, but I don’t feel that these patterns of discourse can be documented in a large enough number of examples to claim genders discuss differently online universally. The context of communication and the members participating have a lot to do with the type of discourse. Women in general may have a different way of communicating but that is not to say that women do not participate in “flaming” or that men do not acknowledge and thank others. I think that the few communities Herring examined may have demonstrated patterns of gendered discourse but she cannot claim that these observations are universal patterns of online communication.