If select mods/admins could assign custom pronouns to users, then it would be possible to have pronoun request sticky threads in relevant communities.
I do not think it is possible for the current system to do both: give people all combinations they want, and avoid some combinations being used as jokes.
Some sincere identities are used as insults by others. Many slurs also function as pronouns, and while those should obviously not be allowed here, those do illustrate the contradiction you are dealing with here.
It could be worth taking /r/BlackPeopleTwitter as an example here, they actually verify that some users are allies or have the racial identity that they claim to have.
/r/BPT also verifies allies, forearm picture is only used because that takes less time and effort.
But you are missing the point, I mention /r/BPT because they show the principle of identities being co-opted for trolling, and they have been very successful at combating that.
I was not suggesting that you copy their methods.
It would be only vetting pronouns when those are custom requests besides provided defaults.
So only things like cat/girl, xe/xim, zir/zey, where selecting those pronouns might otherwise be abused.
That would not be a task for admins, but rather for mods of relevant communities to figure out themselves.
It takes only a cursory glance at post history to decide if somebody is sincere or trolling in most cases.
It is not about verifying gender identity, but verifying that they are not low effort trolling.
Even on /r/BPT people could fabricate pictures to get verified, it is not about getting perfect accuracy.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
Mods could require some minimum posting history, other users could vouch, figure out on discord, those details would be up to mods themselves.
They could adjust their approach depending upon how many custom pronoun requests those threads actually get.
Again this would only be applicable to pronouns that cannot simply be added to the drop-down list.
And it is only for filtering out trolls.
Another example /r/science also has custom flair that gets verified by mods: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair
That is effective both when number of requests is limited (/r/science, people using neopronouns) or verification process is simple (/r/BPT in most cases).
Another illustrative case is /r/polandball where users can set their own flair, but mods also award custom trophy flairs when users win competitions.
If select mods/admins could assign custom pronouns to users, then it would be possible to have pronoun request sticky threads in relevant communities.
I do not think it is possible for the current system to do both: give people all combinations they want, and avoid some combinations being used as jokes.
Some sincere identities are used as insults by others. Many slurs also function as pronouns, and while those should obviously not be allowed here, those do illustrate the contradiction you are dealing with here.
It could be worth taking /r/BlackPeopleTwitter as an example here, they actually verify that some users are allies or have the racial identity that they claim to have.
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/r/BPT also verifies allies, forearm picture is only used because that takes less time and effort.
But you are missing the point, I mention /r/BPT because they show the principle of identities being co-opted for trolling, and they have been very successful at combating that.
I was not suggesting that you copy their methods.
It would be only vetting pronouns when those are custom requests besides provided defaults.
So only things like cat/girl, xe/xim, zir/zey, where selecting those pronouns might otherwise be abused.
That would not be a task for admins, but rather for mods of relevant communities to figure out themselves.
It takes only a cursory glance at post history to decide if somebody is sincere or trolling in most cases.
It is not about verifying gender identity, but verifying that they are not low effort trolling.
Even on /r/BPT people could fabricate pictures to get verified, it is not about getting perfect accuracy.
Quantity has a quality all its own.
Mods could require some minimum posting history, other users could vouch, figure out on discord, those details would be up to mods themselves.
They could adjust their approach depending upon how many custom pronoun requests those threads actually get.
Again this would only be applicable to pronouns that cannot simply be added to the drop-down list.
And it is only for filtering out trolls.
Another example /r/science also has custom flair that gets verified by mods: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair
That is effective both when number of requests is limited (/r/science, people using neopronouns) or verification process is simple (/r/BPT in most cases).
Another illustrative case is /r/polandball where users can set their own flair, but mods also award custom trophy flairs when users win competitions.
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something something disagreement is the route to clarification
this is what's happening right now.