I appreciate your work on making HN a welcoming, supportive community. You’ve given a great deal of thoughtful attention to the feelings of folks who may be con

I appreciate your work on making HN a welcoming, supportive community. You’ve given a great deal of thoughtful attention to the feelings of folks who may be contributing from different cultural contexts, which is admirable. My argument is we ought to give at least as much attention to the concerns of women in our community who have objected to the diminutive use of “girl”. I gave a hypothetical to demonstrate the principle that how language is received is just as or more important than the intent in which it is given. I think we can agree that we should not assume the worst intentions and should be constructive with feedback. But that is not to say that posts should not be “sanitized” (your term) simply because the poster may not have been aware of how the language would be received more broadly (internationally). We must also consider that some language, even if a mere misunderstanding, can make marginalized communities feel unwelcome. Thanks for your time on this.