You should see what happened to me when my wife saw that a nice lady had
posted thanks to me, calling me "sweetie". I knew nothing was going on, but
my wife didn't. Sadly, when I asked the poster to refrain from such terms,
she was so embarassed I never heard from her again. Very sad!
I believe I remember making a similar mistake at one time myself a few years
ago. It didn't seem to shock you. Lynn is a perfectly good ambigenderous
name (I made up a new word!)
So, do the guys in the newsgroup often make passes at you? If they had seen
your beard, I think that might stop.