Hilarious Online Gender Testing Results

December 2, 2008

I’ve always been dubious about online testing, or any tests for that matter. And I’ve found the results are often biased towards the beliefs of the person writing the test. But these tests can still be amusing, so when Hunter Nuttall sent me a link to the Gender Analyzer, I couldn’t resist trying it out.

Here’s how the gender analyzer works. You enter the name of any website and it can tell you the gender of the webmaster - or so it says. Here’s some of the results I got:

We guess CathLawson.com is written by a man (58%), however it’s quite gender neutral. Wrong. As most of you are aware, I’m not a man, but I’m glad, it finds my blog quite neutral, as that’s what I intended.

HunterNuttall.com: We guess HunterNuttall is written by a woman (53%), however it’s quite gender neutral. Wrong again. No sane lamp rubbing woman would write, Greatness Without Genies - The Law Of Attraction For Realists.

BloggingWithoutABlog: We think it is written by a man (65%). Wrong again. Blogging Without A Blog, is written by Barbara Swafford. I thought it might get this one right. I mean, a man wouldn’t write, Blogger Exposes Herself - Traffic Soars

We think MomGrind.com is written by a woman (87%). Correct. This is the first one it got right, but I’m guessing that the word “Mom” in the domain name and the fact that Vered is a Mommy Blogger was a big giveaway. And I don’t know any man who would write Female Athletes Say Skimpy Outfits Are Not Sexist.

Dooce: We have strong indicators that Dooce is written by a man (99%). Wrong. I had to check out this one, after the MomGrind result. Heather Armstrong’s blog is probably the oldest, best known mommy blog on the Internet. But the machine thinks she’s a daddy blogger.

A Daring Adventure: We have strong indicators that A Daring Adventure is written by a man (99%). Correct. The webmaster there is Tim Brownson. Only a man could review a book called Self Development For Smart People, then realise he got the title wrong.

Loving Pulse: We think http://lovingpulse.wordpress.com/ is written by a woman (66%). Correct. This video, by Davina Haisell could only have been recorded by a woman: Preparation Inspires Self Confidence.

Have you taken any online tests lately? Were they accurate?

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Comments

28 Responses to “Hilarious Online Gender Testing Results”

Jannie on December 3rd, 2008 12:49 am

last week Christine Kane had the link to http://www.typealyzer.com , a Meyers Briggs personality test for your blog. My overall impression with the result was (for ME,) it was akin to a horoscope, could be interpreted loosely. But it was fun!

Okay, with out checking first, I’m guessing my site will come up 94% female (all that talk of female undergarments and such,) wouldn’t surprise me at all. Or maybe ever higher.

Now I’ll go check!

Jannie’s last blog post..And some SEO in a pear tree
Jannie on December 3rd, 2008 12:54 am

Ah, lol, the oposite — 65% Written By A MAN for me. Makes sense, tho. I guess guys are dreaming of lingerie?

Jannie’s last blog post..And some SEO in a pear tree
Brett Legree on December 3rd, 2008 1:39 am

Neat! It said my blog was mostly neutral (57 percent) but most likely written by a man.

I guess if it ranks you neutral, that’s okay (assuming you write for women and men), and you can excuse it for not knowing which gender to choose.

I wonder how the algorithm works to decide, and if it takes into account comments.

-Brett

Brett Legree’s last blog post..midterm report - week 3.
Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blog on December 3rd, 2008 1:58 am

Hi Catherine - This is too funny. How do you find this stuff? BTW: Thanks for testing mine and sharing the link love.

Barbara Swafford - Blogging Without A Blog’s last blog post..(Not So) NBOTWs - Oldies But Goodies
Hunter Nuttall on December 3rd, 2008 2:42 am

Ah, but it only checks one page, not the whole site. When you test hunternuttall.com/blog, it says man (52%). Every time the posts on your main page change, your gender could change too!

How does it think Tim of all people is 99% male? He was just writing about how effeminate he looked in that picture!

Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Greatness Without Genies: The Law Of Attraction For Realists
Vered - MomGrind on December 3rd, 2008 2:57 am

This is funny. I’m not surprised: my blog IS very female. Right now I have posts on the homepage titled “worst mom ever”, “desperate housewives” and “I read a Vogue article and now my brain hurts”, so it’s pretty obvious. Blogs that deal with business or self-improvement are probably harder to identify.

Vered - MomGrind’s last blog post..Female Athletes Say Skimpy Outfits Are Not Sexist
Betsy on December 3rd, 2008 3:01 am

“We guess http://passingthru.com is written by a woman (53%), however it’s quite gender neutral.”

Yay! I think…?

This was fun, thanks, Cath!

Betsy’s last blog post..PANIC
Kathy - Virtual Impax on December 3rd, 2008 3:36 am

I first took that test when my only blog was the one promoting my book (http://beyondnichemarketing.com). It thinks that blog is written by a man. I must admit, my feelings were hurt at the time. However, it thinks Virtual Impax is written by a woman.

Calculators are fun but rarely accurate! (By the way, I knew you were a business savvy woman from the very first post here!)

Kathy - Virtual Impax’s last blog post..Small Business Marketing Strategy & Tactics
Lin Burress @Telling It Like It Is on December 3rd, 2008 3:54 am

Ha! The gender analyzer was wrong about my site too. The indicators claim I’m a MAN 59%. Wrong! That was pretty funny!

Lin Burress @Telling It Like It Is’s last blog post..Sex Every Day for Married Couples - 30 Day Sex Challenge
Davina on December 3rd, 2008 4:48 am

Hi Cath. This was a much needed mental health break exercise. Thanks. That would have been too funny if the test indicated my video post was written by a man (thanks for the link). Apparently Gender Analyzer is written by a woman (66%). Very curious…

Davina’s last blog post..When Fear Closes In, Take Action
on December 3rd, 2008 4:57 am

I did that test too. My blog Yes to Me was considered woman. But Steve Pavlina exceeds me in femininity big time.

Akemi “spiritual entrepreneur” @ Yes to Me’s last blog post..Personal Development Tips Galore
RL David on December 3rd, 2008 5:44 am

It won’t do any of my current sites, but it said my old one was 100% male. Ha!

Now that I have a picture, we can all plainly see that I’m 100% female.

Heh, I love tricking tests
stevieboy66 on December 3rd, 2008 6:16 am

Mine has come out 81% male. I’m 100% male. Obviously 100% predictable. Must try harder.

stevieboy66’s last blog post..6 Reminders How To Get Your Message Across
Alex Fayle | Someday SyndromeI on December 3rd, 2008 9:30 am

My blog homepage came up 54% female but said it’s basically gender neutral. I’m good with the result. I’ve never bought into gender roles (having been stereotypically female on somethings and stereotypically male on others my whole life).

I’d love to know how it decides - is it by language use only? Do women really supposedly write that differently by men?

I’ve never noticed.

Alex Fayle | Someday SyndromeI’s last blog post..Fear, Unique Pathways & Self-Awareness: Lessons from the Lab-Rats
Brad Shorr on December 3rd, 2008 11:37 am

Hi Cath, My blog came up 59% female! Did I say that out loud? Grr. Need more posts about football and sex.

Brad Shorr’s last blog post..Interview with Novelist Lillie Ammann
Andrew on December 3rd, 2008 1:17 pm

I am very glad to see that it correctly predicted that I am a man.

It claims to be right 55% of the time.

Andrew’s last blog post..Must you pay on time when you’re short on cash?
Andrew on December 3rd, 2008 1:18 pm

If the analyzer doesn’t already, it should look at the names in the ‘About’ page.

Andrew’s last blog post..Must you pay on time when you’re short on cash?
Lance on December 3rd, 2008 1:46 pm

I never should have broke out the lipstick and dress on my blog! I’m 64% woman - whoa!! Time to throw in some more sports stories, hunting, and fights…

Lance’s last blog post..A Simple Holiday and Life Hack
cathlawson on December 3rd, 2008 2:10 pm

Hi Jannie - I was wondering how yours would come out and I was pretty certain it had to get it right. Even your new theme colours make it obvious you’re a woman.

Hi Brett - since you’re always talking about vikings and stuff you’d think it would know you were a man. Talking of comments. I forgot Friar - I wonder how it ranked him. Did you see what he wrote on Thanksgiving - all the things he was unthankful for? It was too funny.

Hi Barbara - It’s a funny machine. Hunter emailed me the link. I have to wonder if he didn’t make it. Remember that automatic article generator he made?

Hi Hunter - I didn’t think about that. So I guess it could keep changing. Did you build it?

I was surprised with Tim too - I remember his saying he looked so effeminate that most folk thought he was gay.

Hi Vered - That is true - It would had to have been pretty dumb not to get yours. I haven’t looked at Dooce.com for a while. I wonder what she’s written that convinces it she’s a man.

Hi Betsy - I was dying to see what it said for yours since you now officially have the best ass on the internet. But I thought I’d let you check.

Hi Kathy - I didn’t even see that first book. Is it recent? Are you still selling it? That reminds me - I ran a few blogs through Wordle and I was going to post the results on here, so long as folk don’t think I’m giving away too much about them.

Hi Lin - but you keep writing things about being a mean mother. Maybe it is the sex challenge. The machine probably thinks that married women wouldn’t want to do that.

Hi Davina - That’s what I thought. It’s funny that it can’t even tell 100% who it’s own website is written by. I wonder who made it?

Hi Akemi - LMAO off the first time I read that. I thought you were being cheeky about Steve Pavlina, then I realised you must have checked his rating too.

Hi RL - That’s a bit like what JK Rowling did. I must admit before you got a pic - I used to think you were a man too.

LOL Stevie - at least your result was more accurate than most people’s though.

Hi Alex - I’m wondering that too. I wouldn’t find it that easy to tell whether a man or a woman wrote something, if I didn’t already know. I felt quite guilty after I’d written this - I usually try to promote equality on this blog but I was a bit cheeky to some men.

Hi Brad - I’m betting the football and sex would swing it.

Hi Andrew - 55% isn’t so great. I wonder what the percentage would be if someone just did a random guess by looking at each homepage.
Graham Strong on December 3rd, 2008 3:04 pm

There’s a voting thingy on it to let them know if it is accurate. It got mine right (male, 84% though I like to think that I’m all man…) so I voted yes. According to the results, it is right 55% of the time.

Pretty much coin toss, but hey, it is still in Beta testing… And if the goal is just to have fun, well I think it succeeded there…

~Graham

Graham Strong’s last blog post..John Lennon
Kim Woodbridge on December 3rd, 2008 5:55 pm

Hmm … I had a feeling this would happen.

We think http://www.kimwoodbridge.com is written by a man (81%).

Women can’t write about tech stuff, right?

It also thinks my elephant site is written by a man 73%

Thanks Cath - That was fun, like The Typealyzer.

Kim Woodbridge’s last blog post..WordPress Support Forums: Rude Support is a Disservice to the Growing WordPress Community
Tim Brownson on December 3rd, 2008 11:08 pm

I’ve never in my life been called 99% male. I think there’s a mistake of cataclysmic proportions.

Tim Brownson’s last blog post..Special Pre-Cristmas Offer!
Davina on December 4th, 2008 2:25 am

@ Brad and Lance… you two… ! Hilarious I’m laughing so hard I can’t think of anything witty to say… so I’ll just keep laughing… not at you of course; with you.

Davina’s last blog post..When Fear Closes In, Take Action
Hunter Nuttall on December 4th, 2008 2:31 am

Cath, no, I didn’t build it. Mine would be way more accurate!

Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Optimism Or Pessimism: Do You Have To Choose?
Marelisa on December 4th, 2008 3:06 am

I got: We guess http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com is written by a woman (51%), however it’s quite gender neutral. I can live with that
Marelisa’s last blog post..Start 2009 With a Bang: Create a Life List
cathlawson on December 4th, 2008 10:52 am

Hi Kim - That’s a good point. I wonder if the machine assumes technical words to be written by a man?

Hi Tim - I thought it was quite funny too - especially after your post about appearing to be effeminate. I’m guessing the mis-spelling of Christmas is deliberate.

Hi Lance - I missed that post. Don’t talk any more about football please. It’s nice in moderation - but I like your other stuff better.

Hi Graham - It might improve with time - but like you say - it’s fun.

Hi Hunter - I’m just thinking about that article re-hasher and trying to imagine what you mean by more accurate.

Hi Mare - that was pretty good. I wonder how it decides, one way or another when the result is quite gender neutral?
Hunter Nuttall on December 4th, 2008 9:45 pm

As for more accurate, first of all, I’d have it identify my blog as 100% male! I’m not sure how you identify male vs. female writing, if they go by word choice, sentence structure, or what. But it says the Gender Analyzer is only right 55% of the time! I think they need to make some tweaks.

Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..Optimism Or Pessimism: Do You Have To Choose?
wilhb81 on December 5th, 2008 9:03 am

I took the test and this is the result:

We think wilhb81ez is written by a man (71%). Luckily, this analyzer got it right this time lool

wilhb81’s last blog post..Glad That You’re Happy, Debbie!