Ask HN: Percentage of female users on HN

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11645290

by goodJobWalrus • 10 years ago

7 7 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I hope someone from HN answers this.

I was wondering what is the percentage of female users on HN, is their pattern of usage similar or different from male users, and if you do have this data, how did you get it? (since the users are anonymous).

Jaruzel2• 10 years ago

Can I ask a question about your question? What conclusions are you looking to draw from the answer? How is this ratio relevant seeing as majority skill-sets of HN regulars neither favours one gender or another?

LeonardA-L• 10 years ago

Why not simply out of curiosity ? People have a tendancy to assume tech people are men, or that people on the internet are men. I myself always picture HN users as 25-35 y.o white men with a beard and glasses. The Silicon Valley stereotype. Sometimes it's interesting to get a picture of what the HN community is actually made of, without any other conclusion than "oh, ok."

goodJobWalrus2• 10 years ago

Yes, I am usually assumed to be male here, and addressed as such. I don't mind it really, and I understand why it is happening tho.

goodJobWalrus2• 10 years ago

Honestly, I don't understand your question. I am not using HN for hiring leads, so I don't understand how skillsets of HN users are relevant to my question.

I am not looking to draw conclusions, just to get an answer to my question.

Jaruzel2• 10 years ago

I think my issue was, that there is already so much gender segregation online and in real-life, that bringing to a gender-neutral place such as HN seemed unwarranted.

Sometimes it's fine, not to know.

minionslave• 10 years ago

That's not a reliable way to get data. Because you'll get different results depending on the time of day.

dreamling• 10 years ago

does HN do demographic yearly surveys?

Ask HN: Percentage of female users on HN

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