A suggestion - profile genders

[von Corax]

Awesome!  I am fine with the traditionals, it's not that i would be angry for being missgendered or something like that (i am very used to that from my daily life anyway... I honestly feel secure enough in my self to not actually taking offense), it's just nice to hawing it there  if there would not be too much trouble implementing it. 

It shouldn't be any trouble at all; apparently it's actually a feature of the current version of the software.

[The Bullet]

If possible I would add a free text field as option.
So the admins do not have to include the next to uncountable options but everyone is free to enter what He/she/,.... likes.

Would make things easier for all of us.

[von Corax]

If possible I would add a free text field as option.
So the admins do not have to include the next to uncountable options but everyone is free to enter what He/she/,.... likes.

Would make things easier for all of us.

I think that would actually over-complicate things greatly if it were possible, which it isn't. I'll certainly consider further suggestions, but for any more subtle distinctions, such as personal pronouns, there's always the Personal Text field.

[von Corax]

I think that would actually over-complicate things greatly if it were possible, which it isn't.

I've looked at the settings pages again, and it turns out it would be possible to make "Gender" a free-text field. This would raise a number of complications, however. Do we restrict this field to declarations of gender, or do we allow any text to be entered? What even is a "declaration of gender?" What do we do if someone enters an unacceptable value in this field? What is acceptable or unacceptable? Who decides what's acceptable or unacceptable?

As it is, we have a list of light-heartedly acceptable options, and a policy of considering (and possibly adopting) additional options that may be presented. For more subtle or graduated declarations, there's always the "Personal Text" field.

[J. Wilhelm]

I think that would actually over-complicate things greatly if it were possible, which it isn't.

I've looked at the settings pages again, and it turns out it would be possible to make "Gender" a free-text field. This would raise a number of complications, however. Do we restrict this field to declarations of gender, or do we allow any text to be entered? What even is a "declaration of gender?" What do we do if someone enters an unacceptable value in this field? What is acceptable or unacceptable? Who decides what's acceptable or unacceptable?

As it is, we have a list of light-heartedly acceptable options, and a policy of considering (and possibly adopting) additional options that may be presented. For more subtle or graduated declarations, there's always the "Personal Text" field.

A big part of the problem is that it's quite easy to over-specify. When it comes to LGBTQIA+ definitions you have too many, because you're not just talking about gender (of which there are uncountable categories), but also you have sexual attraction (not the same as gender) and other cultural definitions (Two spirit,Muxe, and Hijra), which go well beyond Western social science/sexology concepts.

Honestly, from personal practice, it's best to just have a flag. Almost every category of sex/gender has a flag. Even Native Mexican Muxes have their own flag! For those not included, there are many flags that are "generic" (ie the non binary flag, and the usual rainbow flag). When a new category emerges, you're sure to have a new flag design for it. The alternative to a drop down menu is to not denominate gender at all in words, which will change in time anyway. Like you wrote, that can be entered elsewhere.

[J. Wilhelm]

I've tested Android emojis to see if flags can be displayed, but apparently only two symbols (a rainbow, not the flag 🌈, and a transgender symbol ⚧️) can be displayed, the other emojis and flags get mapped to unknowns ASCII or Unicode characters.

(There are a lot of other interesting symbols and a few fonts, though
(eg 𝕬𝔡𝔪𝔦𝔯𝔞𝔩 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝕷𝔲𝔣𝔱𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔩, 𝟙𝟡𝟚𝟘𝕤 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕣).

EDIT: Hold on... I just found more symbols (in Unicode), but it's very limited mostly concentrates on sexual attraction and physical form and just glances by gender. These are very old characters.
♂ Male (㊚ for Japanese)
♀ Female (㊛ for Japanese)
⚢ Lesbian
⚣ Gay
⚤ Bisexual
⚥ Bigender or Intersex
⚦ Trans Male (F to M)
⚧ Transgender
⚨ Trans Female (M to F)
⚩ Non Binary or Other Gender
⚲ Agender
⚬ Asexual

Other symbols
⚭ Married
⚮ Divorced
⚯ Unmarried partnership

All Unicode characters can be used in the custom title and signature segments of the member's profile.

[mizzarrogh]

The ancient Deep ones fits perfect for me...