[atonse]

Here’s a better example that’s not as obvious: if I am not aware that ze was an accepted pronoun and someone told me to use it, how do I know its real and not them jokingly using “the” with a French accent? Should I report it as someone fooling around?

[Kye]

Is the post otherwise good? If so, Google/quack/whatever for ze pronoun and see what comes up. Search engines are better at surfacing explanations for them these days.

In practice, you won't encounter them often, and it should be obvious if they're a troll. Those should be reported and otherwise ignored. You can worry yourself sick with these hypotheticals. You are more dynamic than you give yourself credit for.

[emiliobumachar]

Fun fact: googling "apache attack helicopter pronoun" turns up a few things, and it may not be immediately obvious to all good-faith searchers that it's bogus.

https://www.google.com/search?q=apache+attack+helicopter+pro...

[drstewart]

>If so, Google/quack/whatever for ze pronoun and see what comes up.

No, I don't think I will waste my time Googling every little thing to avoid manufactured outrage.

[Kye]

Do you typically refuse to learn new things because some people who know those things are toxic assholes? I never would have learned anything about computers, writing, or music with a policy like that.

You do you. I'll be over here learning new ways to expand on the human experience.

[atonse]

It's not about refusing to learn new things. You're missing the point. It's about having to think about (and having to apologize for it if you don't think about) something that's completely irrelevant to the conversation.

Others have rightly pointed out that there are some StackExchange networks where your pronoun matters. And I'm sure in those, it's worth putting in the effort. But for StackOverflow, MathOverflow, Electronics, these things are absolutely, positively irrelevant to the subject. It neither adds nor takes away a sense of inclusivity because _it's not relevant_. It's a neutral thing.