To me the design of HN actually inherently helps the gender balance. Here comments are read at face value & not pre-judged according to who the poster is. I lik

To me the design of HN actually inherently helps the gender balance. Here comments are read at face value & not pre-judged according to who the poster is. I like that. The comment is at the forefront of the post. The user name is not emblazened atop of the post in size 72 font (unlike in other forums) A distinct lack of user icons, real names & sigs make HN so comment-centric that I come back here most of all. I've never felt what the OP has described. Welcome yes - no fuzzy warm comments when I declare "hey guys, girl alert" (just to clarify - I don't do that!). No unusual responses - even with a quite obviously female username. I think where the community bustles here is on controversial posts. Personally, I don't comment on those types of thread. Maybe it's the type of posts the OP is posting on or that she mentions that she is female within her comment that gets a skewed response.