TR Hot 5: Workplace sexism heats up the forums

I'm Sonja Thompson with TechRepublic's Hot 5, and during this episode -- on May 14th, 2010 -- we're going to count down the hottest discussions of the week. Stay tuned.

Justin James (aka J.Ja) was busy this past week with a couple of posts that made the hot 5 list. This little bitty one was about Apple's iPhone Developer agreement and whether or not you would sign it. According to the poll, at least at the time of this recording, the vast majority of respondents said, "Nope, not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. Not at this juncture." Alright, they just selected "No," but they had a lot more to say about it in the discussion thread.

One comment that I thought was particularly interesting was written by Brenton Keegan, who voted yes, even though he's spoken against Apple in the TechRepublic forums. He said, "Is the agreement fair? Not really. As Justin James stated, it's very restrictive and favors Apple." But he also acknowledges that the iPhone is a major player in mobile devices, and the agreement doesn't relinquish the ownership of his intellectual property or prevent him from deploying his products on other platforms. There you go, Brenton.... just take a little bite!

The other hot post by J.Ja was also short and sweet, and it included a poll, but this one was of the Geekend variety. Alright, J.Ja, you confessed that you don't like Monty Python, which is unheard of, but can you read this shirt?

J.Ja asked the TR community, "How do you not meet the geek expectation?" At the time of this recording, there were over 1,300 votes, and I thought that it was interesting that the majority selected the option, "I know how to dance, play a sport, etc." Ha! Sure you do. Actually, I have my own confession, J.Ja. -- it's called "All of the above - except for gaming." Does that mean that I'm really not a geek after all?

Sterling Chip Camden made the Hot 5 this week with his posts about buzzwords -- or rather, how you should get rid of them to communicate more clearly and concisely with clients. How's that for alliteration?

Chip offered some tips -- what he referred to as "the keys to clarity" -- and then he started off the discussion thread by asking the TR community if his post inadvertently included any buzzwords. Well, after scanning through all of the comments, I'd just like to point out that "wedgie" and "warm fuzzies" are not the kind of buzzwords that Chip was talking about. (sigh)

TechRepublic's Editor in Chief, Jason Hiner, mirrored what TR member dcolbert said a couple weeks ago about Apple maybe not being so popular with techies. In fact, Jason said that there's evidence that Apple is actually losing some of its luster with the IT community.

Now, these fellas aren't only two folks talking about this issue, as you can see from the resources within Jason's post. Jason also included a poll, asking you all if your opinion of Apple is higher or lower than it was a year ago. And at the time of this recording, over three-fourths of the respondents selected (thumb down).

The hottest discussion of the week (by far) was inspired by Toni Bowers, TechRepublic's Head Blogs Editor, and it was about workplace sexism. So, very controversial topic but Toni did an excellent job of sharing her personal experiences, attitudes and behaviors she's witnessed, as well as a few common explanations why some male IT pros are perceived as being unfriendly to women.

Ironically, the people who supported Toni sent encouraging words via email, and the members who disagreed with her posted comments in the discussion thread -- with over 450 comments, that's a lot of flack! But Toni said that after about the 200th posting, she just decided to just sit back and let everyone prove her right.

And finally, it's time to give a shout out to the TR members who have posted the most comments over the past week, and that short list includes OH Smeg, NickNielsen, Ron K., Palmetto, and santeewelding.

That's a wrap! Be sure to tune in next week for another TR Hot 5.