CompuServe Messages

There are no other 3DS women, I have scared them all away. It was the only way I could be sure to win the 3DS Homecoming Queen competition. <g> I know a few other female 3DSers, and they don't go to user group meetings much. I kinda like sitting around and discussing how to make a tiling texture map but some people don't. I'm thinking of one friend in particular who makes a point of not thinking about 3DS after 5pm unless she absolutely has to. If we're out socially and discuss graphics, we tend to talk about non-technical issues. Annoying clients get a lot of air time. I also remember spending an hour discussing different ways to use the color red, and this was before we ordered the Sangria. I don't think it's so much that 3DS is a guy thing, but that an intense love of TECHNICAL discussion tends to be a guy thing, and user groups are primarily made up of guys, so… If more women were involved we might see more discussions of non-technical issues such as freelancer marketing or client etiquette or How to Deal with Autodesk (or what to do with the color red), but since there aren't, we don't, and the women don't come… a Catch-22. User groups have also got the reputation for being, um, boring. If you've ever been to an AutoCAD user group meeting you'll know what I mean. <g> I find the Boston 3DS User Group meetings interesting and fun, but that's largely because it's the only time I get to see a lot of my friends, and because Ted Boardman is so cool, and because they let me run them sometimes. For me it's largely a social occasion. If the party is perceived as boring or inconvenient, women won't go. My aforementioned friend says she doesn't go to her local user group meetings any more because they're boring, but I think it's more that the meetings are held on Friday nights, and she simply has better things to do than, as she puts it, hang out with a bunch of geeks. But when I come to town we sometimes go together, then hit the clubs afterward. Then it's social and it's okay, although she does tease me about my vehement defense of automatic 3D Lofter beveling vs. the 2D Shaper two-shape method. So that's my completely opinionated view: user groups perceived as technical discussions = perceived as boring = women have better things to do, and user groups perceived as non-technical and/or social occasions = interesting = women will come. Michele PS. I hope I haven't offended any lurkers who read this message, or if I have, I hope they are too shy to bug me about it.