You can basically set your watch to the frequency that a post on some blog or an article in some rag about how we can get more women to do X when it comes to geeky things if we just did Y and Z. After reading this I was vaguely amused that the author did not realize that what she was basically calling for, despite claiming to be a "geek girl," is a complete redefinition of what "geek" means. Sounds a lot like the latest (soon to be aborted) trend to change what constitutes Computer Science to try to get more women to sign up for it as a major in college.
What's stupid about this argument to change what makes Digg, Digg is the fact that this is how most young men behave one way or another. They love of gadgets, blowing stuff up, "objectification of women" (hey Cosmopolitan magazine...) and stuff like that is normal for young men. The insulting comments that she thinks are poisonous are just normal bantering among young men. When juxtaposed to the faux civility that masks the backstabbing, chicanery and such common between women, it's not that big of a deal. Being engaged to a bonafide geek girl, I've just about seen it all in that respect.
So what should change to make Digg and geekness in general more appealing to women? What compromises should be made? What should get watered down? That's what is basically on the table here. A better question is why should Digg cater to a demographic that is largely apathetic to the things that Digg focuses on?
And when you get right down to it, no one has ever even stopped to see if geek girls even care about these things. I've never known one to get incensed about these things, to even pay them the time of day. It seems to me more like there are a lot of people who are uncomfortable with the idea of geek men being geek men, having sites that cater almost exclusively to them.
Yep, after all, we must have diversity in everything, no?
Let's just claim there's a genetic reason behind such geek behaviour, and then let's call the people who want to change their behavious racists. That'll shut 'em up.
What I still will never understand is how when everyone is given a chance to do something and more X choose do it than do Y, the difference is considered de-facto evidence of a problem.
X just isn't that appealing to me, some of the time. Often Y is alone, sad, and in desperate need of attention, therefore my needs adapt, changing to where I'm needed most.
X is a choice.
Y is a choice.
A choice is (you guessed it) a choice :-P
Whenever a bunch of boys decide to form a club and build a treehouse, there's always some bratty little girl who demands to be let in. It seems many of these girls never grow out of that phase.
The only difference is that their methods are now more sophisticated and threatening.