Long ago I remember an argument in favor of rule #30 “There are no girls on the internet” which I will paraphrase:

The internet gives anonymity and if you have something of value to say, it should be able to stand on its own regardless of one’s weight, sex, religion, preferences, location or such. If you have to chime in that you are a girl, then you are either FBI (see rule 29) or looking for attention, but with nothing valuable to add. If you have nothing to add, then we go to rule 31 (show pics of your tits or get out).

Now, the reality is that such sentiment is sexist and ugly, but there is a general truth to the concept of an idea standing on its own merits regardless of source. Current social pressures lead to the behavior in question in that we’ve been somewhat conditioned to think that a) computers are for boys (this has become far less of a stereotype since smartphones became a thing), and b) veganism is unmanly/stupid (I don’t understand why this still has traction, either, given Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Lewis, and a bunch of butch people are vegan).

rules of the internet (some NSFW)