Spotted...

good point, although surely you can't know what his/her preference is without asking? could just be a man in a dress.

This is why I refer to him as "him". Without knowing what his preferred pronoun is all you can really do is guess. A guy wearing a skirt doesn't necessarily identify as female, he might identify as male but just like wearing skirts, and that's totally ok - as is identifying as female.

It makes it difficult for other people to assign a gender label unless they ask directly (which isn't always practical), but bollocks to other people's assignations, really. Without asking, you'll never know what the correct designation should be.

There's a big difference between 'him' which is a pronoun, and 'shim' which is a really rude kiddie schoolyard pronoun. It's like calling someone a 'fag', which I don't think it cool - what about you?

Ed isn't supporting "shim" as being a valid or acceptable designation, so I'm not sure why you're having a go at him. Ed's chosen to use the female pronoun instead of the male pronoun, which in the absence of having asked which is preferred is just as valid as using "he". Actually Ed's choice likely shows more sensitivity than those of us using "he" even if it does make a similar assumption about a stranger's identity.

Edit: I've just realised that you think Ed actually posted that. He didn't, you know. Anyone can edit anyone else's post when they quote to make it look as though they said something they didn't...