I just copied-and-pasted a whole bunch of paragraphs from e-mails between myself and a friend of mine (both of us male). Every time, without exception, the "Gender Genie" thought the author of the text was female.

Maybe if they inverted the equation...

Posted by: Matt on August 29, 2003 02:48 PM

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Copied this section from The Wonderful Wizard of OZ - Chapter 9, where Dorothy, Scarecrow and Tin Woodman see the Cowardly Lion for the first time:

The Tin Woodman was about to reply when he heard a low growl,
and turning his head (which worked beautifully on hinges) he saw a
strange beast come bounding over the grass toward them. It was,
indeed, a great yellow Wildcat, and the Woodman thought it must
be chasing something, for its ears were lying close to its head
and its mouth was wide open, showing two rows of ugly teeth, while
its red eyes glowed like balls of fire. As it came nearer the Tin
Woodman saw that running before the beast was a little gray field
mouse, and although he had no heart he knew it was wrong for the
Wildcat to try to kill such a pretty, harmless creature.

Got a no idea!!!

Posted by: Wolf on August 29, 2003 02:58 PM

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Actually, that isn't the Cowardly Lion at all; he appeared earlier. Sorry.

Posted by: Wolf on August 29, 2003 03:03 PM

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I pasted the preface to my book. I am female apparently. I didn't think I was, but can technology be wrong? What are they teaching kids in school these days?

Posted by: the poster formerly known as fajalar on August 29, 2003 04:40 PM

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According to their survey results, it's correct almost exactly 50% of the time! Based on this, I was able to accurately reproduce their system using only a quarter.

Posted by: Michael on August 31, 2003 06:16 AM

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I tried a test of a book 'written as' by a ghost author. Specifically Robert Ludlum (now dead) written by Gayle Lynds. From 'The Altman Code':

On the north bank of the Huangpu River, giant floodlights glared down on the docks, turning night into day. Swarms of stevedores unloaded trucks and positioned long steel containers for the cranes. Amid the squeals and rasps of metal rubbing metal, the towering cranes lifted the containers high against the starry sky and lowered them into the holds of freighters from across the world. Hundreds streamed in daily to this vital port on China's eastern coast, almost midway between the capital, Beijing, and its latest acquisition, Hong Kong.
To the south of the docks, the lights of the city and the towering Pudong New District glowed, while out on the swirling brown water of the river itself, freighters, junks, tiny sampans, and long trains of unpainted wood barges jostled for position from shore to shore, like traffic on a busy Paris boulevard.
At a wharf near the eastern end of the docks, not far from where the Huangpu curved sharply north, the light was less bright. Here a single freighter was being loaded by one crane and no more than twenty stevedores. The name lettered on the freighter's transom was The Dowager Empress; her home port was Hong Kong. There was no sign of the ubiquitous uniformed dock guards.

This was rated as male.
I would guess she would need to come across this way; maybe it's speciffically why she was chosen.

Posted by: Wolf on August 31, 2003 08:16 AM

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Amazing! Gender Genie does an astonishing job of correctly guessing my gender 50% of the time!

Posted by: Jim Tule on August 31, 2003 10:16 PM

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Jim -

And, unlike at the Carnival or Circus, you don't get the prize for the other 50%. Now I anticipate the release of the Weight Genie!

Posted by: Wolf on September 2, 2003 01:05 PM

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