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> If it does offend anyone at all, why not change it? If it might offend anyone at all, why not change it? Did you read the article? He answers this question.

• smachiz 8y ago
  With no compelling reasons... If we instead called it Guard and Concentration Camp Prisoner would more people feel differently? Yes, if we go to the fringes there are ridiculous things that people can get upset by - but this doesn't seem like one of them. There are plenty of words that are just as descriptive that we can use in place of master/slave at literally zero cost to clarity.
  • meowface 8y ago
    "master" and "slave" are abstract concepts that don't just apply to humans or even organisms at all, while "concentration camp prisoner" and "concentration camp guard" are very specific human concepts. If it took no effort to make this change, this discussion probably wouldn't even be an issue in the first place since many project owners would change the terminology just to stop the whining and discussion. But it's not that easy, so many people have decided to not bend over backwards for every term that could possibly be twisted into being considered offensive when taken out of context, including "master / slave", "whitelist / blacklist", "forking", and "killer app". Yes, people have taken issue with all of those terms [1] and will probably take issue with even more if developers start to appease them. This kind of thing is a slippery slope. [1] https://twitter.com/andrestaltz/status/1030200563802230786 https://twitter.com/andrestaltz/status/1030200563802230786