never even looked at the credit for the article. "this guy" was just a generic reference to random person I don't know. kind of like Canadians refer to anyone as buddy.
Unlike buddy, it's an inaccurate generic reference. It's a little more typing, but replacing "guy" with "person" or in this case "engineer" would be more precise (and inclusive).
"Guy" is a perfectly acceptable word for a man or a woman in much of the United States. When the PBS children's show The Electric Company starts with the cry, "Hey, you guys!" it is not excluding the female of the species. It's an idiom.
There are places where "you guys" is unusual. For example, when I moved to a certain part of Texas, it was unfamiliar to the people living there. Perhaps you live in a place where "guys" is uncommon and are unfamiliar with the term. In that case, I suggest you respect other people's cultures and embrace diversity.
Exactly. For example, the phrase "bad guy" could apply to a man or a woman. You can't just change that to "bad girl" and keep the meaning. "Bad girl" means something else entirely.
"The one guy" is literally the opposite of uncountable.
Guys, this doesn't have to be so hard. Just check the authorship before commenting about the author! If you get it wrong and someone points it out, say "oops, I should have checked" and it's over.
I debated calling this out and decided against because I knew you all would do it for me.
This, right here, is precisely why this issue is important. We have gendered pronouns that are so ingrained we try to pretend they're not gendered.
"All" is a _shorter_ and more inclusive substitute for "guys".
If you think this isn't important, just replace every occurance of "guys" that you see with "gals". If you're cool with that, good on you, but if you think for one second "oh don't say gals that might piss someone off" then, well, there's the kicker.