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On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 11:26 AM, Karen Coyle <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Actually, I find the "playing" with Zoia itself offensive. As per my > response to my own message. > > It objectifies women. Treats them as play-things. Makes me very > uncomfortable. I think you're reading too much into Zoia's gender here. As Ross said, the previous bot was named panizzi (Anthony Panizzi). The names have just been picked from famous library folks. I don't imagine anyone would have a problem finding a famous male librarian to rename the bot to, though. I don't think there is anything to read into the gender of the bot here. > But to have a "play-thing" that is gendered is a really, > really bad idea. In fact, to have a "play-thing" of any kind on the channel > might not be a good idea. Would you object to a male name? I don't think "playing" with a bot is a bad thing. I've "played" with real people in the room in the same way. The nice thing about a bot is that you know you'll get a response (whereas rsinger might just ignore me). As I said, I think you're reading too much into the bot's gender in this case, but I can't imagine anyone would have qualms about renaming the bot to a male name. The name is pretty inconsequential; it was just meant as a tribute to famous folks in our field. Kevin