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'Creepy' is right. I wonder how many people refrained from using an otherwise-useful mailing list because of someone they didn't want thinking about the color

'Creepy' is right. I wonder how many people refrained from using an otherwise-useful mailing list because of someone they didn't want thinking about the color of their underwear. I further wonder if reluctance to talk about their underwear color publicly impacts different genders disproportionately.

GuiA 11y ago
This tradition plays so lightly with a taboo so mundane and it is so easy to just send a one word email ("white") to the mailing list to pass the test that I have to wonder about the state of mind of anyone calling this "creepy".
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
Thriptic 11y ago
You could just lie, or not do it, or use an anon email, or use a MIT mailing list, or just not take things so seriously...
Laaw 11y ago
I actually do wonder how many people refrained from using this mailing list because of the underwear color requirement, because I honestly suspect it to be literally zero, and would be fascinated by any other answer.
DanBC 11y ago
It is creepy. But US colleges have done far far worse. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-lea... > ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing. > Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Not quite sure what's happening with the votes on this post, with some up and some down votes. In case it wasn't clear: several US universities took nude "posture photographs" of most people who attended, and did so for decades. They took the photos in the name of science, but that science was probably junk. That feels worse than an unofficial email list asking people what colour underwear they have on before accepting their post.
  - rashkov 11y ago
    Hey I voted you up. I really enjoyed the article and came back to upvote for that. My initial knee jerk reaction to your post was that it's slightly besides the point -- an interesting aside but somewhat off topic for the post. I suppose that could be why you were getting downvoted. Anyway it's super interesting, thanks for sharing
- jessaustin 11y ago
  One wonders whether the entire seven-page article were written solely for the sake of the final sentence.
ljim4a 11y ago
From one debate on bc-talk: "I'll point out that I've met someone who wanted to post on bc-talk but didn't just because they were uncomfortable with the whole underwear color thing. Also, I haven't been doing it when I post because it seemed weird to me." So at least 2.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
mfringel 11y ago
It does not appear that you are wondering. It appears that you are making assertions, while using the word 'wonder'.
- gyardley 11y ago
  No, I am wondering. Yes, it seems likely to me that talking about underwear color would prevent some students from using the list and those students would disproportionately be likely to be female, based on my own experiences in engineering school. But I posted what I did specifically because I wanted to see if my suspicions were correct.
  - omginternets 11y ago
    The horror.
  - lazaroclapp 11y ago
    I personally think this is probably intended to be just a funny tradition (and hopefully taken in that spirit by most students, of either gender). However, I think is fair to wonder about possible side-effects. The fact that the question gets downvoted here makes me, if anything, more likely to believe someone raising the issue within MIT, or choosing to send something like "unspecified"/"E_NO_ANSWER" to the mailing list,might receive, at best, an unkind response.
    - maus42 11y ago
      >unkind response Some of responses in this comment thread look very much like blatant schoolyard bullying behaviour manifesting. "Why take things so seriously" "Spoilsport" et cetera ... Partake in the hazing rituals, or else.
      - douche 11y ago
        18-22 year olds are all about hazing each other... It's not like you have to be honest about what you're wearing, you could say any old thing - the email list police aren't spot-checking you to make sure you are indeed wearing yellow rubber ducky underpants. I'm sort of surprised that there was not a sizable proportion of jokers that wrote-in "skidmarked"
dvt 11y ago
Oh come on, it's not that creepy. At UCLA, we had yearly undie runs[1]. You sound repressed. Plus, underwear color could just've been made up. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaP9CdbvD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaP9CdbvD4
- maus42 11y ago
  You know, judging whether people are repressed or not, especially over internet, isn't very considerate. I wonder why the top comment in this thread is being downvoted so hard. I could see it being a legitimate concern for some people.
  - Retra 11y ago
    Just because it may be concern that people actually have doesn't make it legitimate in any way.

GuiA 11y ago

This tradition plays so lightly with a taboo so mundane and it is so easy to just send a one word email ("white") to the mailing list to pass the test that I have to wonder about the state of mind of anyone calling this "creepy".

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

Thriptic 11y ago

You could just lie, or not do it, or use an anon email, or use a MIT mailing list, or just not take things so seriously...

Laaw 11y ago

I actually do wonder how many people refrained from using this mailing list because of the underwear color requirement, because I honestly suspect it to be literally zero, and would be fascinated by any other answer.

DanBC 11y ago

It is creepy. But US colleges have done far far worse. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-league-nude-posture-photo-scandal.html http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-lea... > ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing. > Shocking, because what he found was an enormous cache of nude photographs, thousands and thousands of photographs of young men in front, side and rear poses. Disturbing, because on closer inspection the photos looked like the record of a bizarre body-piercing ritual: sticking out from the spine of each and every body was a row of sharp metal pins.

DanBC 11y ago
Not quite sure what's happening with the votes on this post, with some up and some down votes. In case it wasn't clear: several US universities took nude "posture photographs" of most people who attended, and did so for decades. They took the photos in the name of science, but that science was probably junk. That feels worse than an unofficial email list asking people what colour underwear they have on before accepting their post.
- rashkov 11y ago
  Hey I voted you up. I really enjoyed the article and came back to upvote for that. My initial knee jerk reaction to your post was that it's slightly besides the point -- an interesting aside but somewhat off topic for the post. I suppose that could be why you were getting downvoted. Anyway it's super interesting, thanks for sharing
jessaustin 11y ago
One wonders whether the entire seven-page article were written solely for the sake of the final sentence.

ljim4a 11y ago

From one debate on bc-talk: "I'll point out that I've met someone who wanted to post on bc-talk but didn't just because they were uncomfortable with the whole underwear color thing. Also, I haven't been doing it when I post because it seemed weird to me." So at least 2.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

mfringel 11y ago

It does not appear that you are wondering. It appears that you are making assertions, while using the word 'wonder'.

gyardley 11y ago
No, I am wondering. Yes, it seems likely to me that talking about underwear color would prevent some students from using the list and those students would disproportionately be likely to be female, based on my own experiences in engineering school. But I posted what I did specifically because I wanted to see if my suspicions were correct.
- omginternets 11y ago
  The horror.
- lazaroclapp 11y ago
  I personally think this is probably intended to be just a funny tradition (and hopefully taken in that spirit by most students, of either gender). However, I think is fair to wonder about possible side-effects. The fact that the question gets downvoted here makes me, if anything, more likely to believe someone raising the issue within MIT, or choosing to send something like "unspecified"/"E_NO_ANSWER" to the mailing list,might receive, at best, an unkind response.
  - maus42 11y ago
    >unkind response Some of responses in this comment thread look very much like blatant schoolyard bullying behaviour manifesting. "Why take things so seriously" "Spoilsport" et cetera ... Partake in the hazing rituals, or else.
    - douche 11y ago
      18-22 year olds are all about hazing each other... It's not like you have to be honest about what you're wearing, you could say any old thing - the email list police aren't spot-checking you to make sure you are indeed wearing yellow rubber ducky underpants. I'm sort of surprised that there was not a sizable proportion of jokers that wrote-in "skidmarked"

dvt 11y ago

Oh come on, it's not that creepy. At UCLA, we had yearly undie runs[1]. You sound repressed. Plus, underwear color could just've been made up. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaP9CdbvD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaP9CdbvD4

maus42 11y ago
You know, judging whether people are repressed or not, especially over internet, isn't very considerate. I wonder why the top comment in this thread is being downvoted so hard. I could see it being a legitimate concern for some people.
- Retra 11y ago
  Just because it may be concern that people actually have doesn't make it legitimate in any way.