This is a very tiny thing, but I really don’t like using “Alice, Bob, Carol, Dave/Dan, Eve/Erin, Frank” as the generic characters in parables/dialogues/problems. Why are we alternating binary genders?? Even leaving aside nonbinary inclusivity, it’s literally just clearer and easier to write if I’ve got a he, a she, and a zie (rather than it being ambiguous whether “she” refers to Alice or Carol). I’m not always consistent with it, but generally my imaginary characters are more like Alice, Bob, Charlie, Delilah, Ethan, Fern, etc, and Charlie and Fern use gender-neutral pronouns like they/them or xe/xir. (Though I’ve also been contemplating the idea that it’s better to cycle the names and use different ones per post, so you can refer back to the ideas using the names as a handle: Alice, Bob, Charlie, Delilah, Ethan, Fern, Georgia, Hassan, Indie, Julie, Kasimir, Lei...)
This is a very tiny thing, but I really don’t like using “Alice, Bob, Carol, Dave/Dan, Eve/Erin, Frank” as the generic characters in parables/dialogues/problems. Why are we alternating binary genders?? Even leaving aside nonbinary inclusivity, it’s literally just clearer and easier to write if I’ve got a he, a she, and a zie (rather than it being ambiguous whether “she” refers to Alice or Carol). I’m not always consistent with it, but generally my imaginary characters are more like Alice, Bob, Charlie, Delilah, Ethan, Fern, etc, and Charlie and Fern use gender-neutral pronouns like they/them or xe/xir. (Though I’ve also been contemplating the idea that it’s better to cycle the names and use different ones per post, so you can refer back to the ideas using the names as a handle: Alice, Bob, Charlie, Delilah, Ethan, Fern, Georgia, Hassan, Indie, Julie, Kasimir, Lei...)
(edited for brevity)