4 ms·

Ask HN: I made a JavaScript library called NippleJS and people are getting angry

33 points by YoannMoinet 8y ago

It all started with an issue on my library, https://github.com/yoannmoinet/nipplejs/issues/80 which is cool, because we can discuss about the issue and the point raised was fair IMHO. But it all went to shit pretty quickly, so I locked the thread and decided not to change the name. Now the guy is just insulting me on twitter. https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054658757228195840 https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054768005249462272 I still think NippleJS is a funny and innocent name. Everybody has nipples, so it's pretty inclusive too. I don't know anymore... is it? I'm really looking for advices on how to handle this before it goes sideways. Sorry for the drama.

clamato 8y ago
Just ignore him. It's him who wants to create the drama.
- YoannMoinet 8y ago
  Thanks! I'll do just that then.
room271 8y ago
Yeah just ignore. His initial tweet ('precious white dudes...') is borderline racist even. Reading the github issue, you handled things well even if others didn't, regardless of the merits of renaming the library or not.
- YoannMoinet 8y ago
  Thank you, that's reassuring. I'll proceed with ignorance then.
- lysp 8y ago
  Not sure how colour/race and gender come into the issue at all. The fact that he's bought them into the argument to emphasise his point shows his point has little merit.
quickthrower2 8y ago
Simple. It is called "compromise". Understand their concerns (they are valid IMO) and offer to change the logo but say you will keep the name for discoverability. Using for example a baby bottle as your logo would be less offensive. IMO.
- YoannMoinet 8y ago
  That's actually a good idea. I'll figure something out. With the current logo I really wanted to integrate the actual output of the library, and it was fitting the name quite well, I thought.
saluki 8y ago
y, sounds like it worked out, I think you handled it perfectly. Nice work btw, I'll have to find a use for this.
- YoannMoinet 8y ago
  Thank you, it's old code, but it works :D mostly.
rl3 8y ago
>I still think NippleJS is a funny and innocent name. Everybody has nipples, so it's pretty inclusive too. I agree. The entire situation is absurd. The advice to ignore the naysayer(s) seems to be the correct course of action. That said, the original issue has some comedy gems in it which I feel are worth mentioning here: https://github.com/yoannmoinet/nipplejs/issues/80#issuecomment-416608625 https://github.com/yoannmoinet/nipplejs/issues/80#issuecomme... and in a later post (different author): "And if nipples really make you uncomfortable, maybe you should visit a professional? Today you can't run away from nipples, they are everywhere and you will just be more and more uncomfortable."
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
nil_pointer 8y ago
That Twitter guy should be ignored, some people just want to find something to be outraged about.
zmix 8y ago
NippleJS is a totally cool name! Guy is insecure, not your problem. Move on, is what I'd recommend.
svirelka 8y ago
such a cool name
carc1n0gen 8y ago
Giving you a star just for the name!
dpc_pw 8y ago
Don't change the name. It's awesome. Every time a request like that is honor, the world becomes a little bit more riddicolous place.
colecut 8y ago
I'm sorry you have to deal with this.. I find it very amusing that he says "It feels like a microcosm of politics in 2018" I agree with him there, if he means people finding reason to be offended over anything.. He was scared of mentioning using your library to his colleagues, but has no worries shouting about it to the world on twitter? It makes me sad that people go out of their way to rob the harmless small joys of others.
nickthemagicman 8y ago
He's trying to bully you into changing the name, instead of accepting the communities decision.
kahlonel 8y ago
I hate how politics keeps creeping in software industry. A few weeks ago there was a heated debate on Twitter over changing "SLAVE" to "REPLICA" in Redis, and sadly the maintainer gave in to the pressure.
cimmanom 8y ago
Woman here. I don’t find the name offensive or foul or exclusionary, though I don’t find it especially humorous either and could understand why it might make some people uncomfortable. With that in mind, I’d describe it as a bit crass; and in a career context, unprofessional. Not worth getting into a flame war over, either way.
jstewartmobile 8y ago
"A virtual joystick for touch capable interfaces." Tune out the Twitter peasants. The name is perfect.
datahipster 8y ago
Here's an article of a developer who went through something similar: http://findingscience.com/ruby/2014/11/17/why-im-renaming-a-gem.html http://findingscience.com/ruby/2014/11/17/why-im-renaming-a-... The bit that stands out to me is an e-mail he received from a female engineer: > While the idealist in me would love to aim for a world where sex was treated more equally and openly, the unfortunate reality of tech is that it has been a haven for misogynistic men and the environment is heavily male dominated. While in an ideal world the name SexMachine would be something that both genders could joke about, the reality is that the tech community is not ready or capable of that today.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago
  From the comments on that thread: > RapeLiberalSluts • 4 years ago > For your own mental health, stop believing this nonsense about misogyny. Your peers are brainwashing you. That's even 4 years ago when it wasn't quite as popular to be so edgy/hateful outside of certain communities.
  - cimmanom 8y ago
    Edgy?
kazinator 8y ago
Baby bottles have nipples. Also, those little nuts in a bicycle wheel rim that hold the spokes in place and apply tension to them? They are called spoke nipples. This numbnut that is harassing you will have a heart attack if he ever brings a bike with a broken spoke into a shop. Some sort of short connector in plumbing is called a nipple, also.
lysp 8y ago
And the customary xkcd: https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/ (nsfw language)
nmstoker 8y ago
It did take an unfortunate turn. Good luck with the library, whatever you decide. In a curiously pertinent piece of timing, you are not the only one rejecting calls to rename: https://mobile.twitter.com/hardmaru/status/1054872232722223104 https://mobile.twitter.com/hardmaru/status/10548722327222231...
flukus 8y ago
Let the people who are complaining maintain a rebranded fork, then we'll see if they really care or not.
Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
> https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054768005249462272 https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054768005249462272 One of the tweets in response to this one: > Thanks for doing this. It is especially tone deaf at this moment in time when trans rights are under direct attack in the US for a group of cis men to feel entitled in how they talk about other bodies. What the hell does this have to do with trans people? "entitled in how they talk about other bodies"? What? It's a nipple. Men have nipples. Women have nipples. Everyone has nipples. My cat has nipples. This has nothing to do with trans people. At worst, the name is unprofessional, but definitely not worth changing.
rayalez 8y ago
Haha that's hilarious. Don't worry about it, internet is full of dumb people. The only way to never offend anybody is to never do anything and have no personality whatsoever. Keep the name, don't let them police all the delightful quirkiness out of the world.
Artemix 8y ago
I don't think of it as offensive. It's an anatomy part, why would someone be offended by their body? Imho, don't change it, because there's no reason for such an action
julienreszka 8y ago
just block the commies

33 points by YoannMoinet 8y ago

clamato 8y ago

Just ignore him. It's him who wants to create the drama.

YoannMoinet 8y ago
Thanks! I'll do just that then.

room271 8y ago

Yeah just ignore. His initial tweet ('precious white dudes...') is borderline racist even. Reading the github issue, you handled things well even if others didn't, regardless of the merits of renaming the library or not.

YoannMoinet 8y ago
Thank you, that's reassuring. I'll proceed with ignorance then.
lysp 8y ago
Not sure how colour/race and gender come into the issue at all. The fact that he's bought them into the argument to emphasise his point shows his point has little merit.

quickthrower2 8y ago

Simple. It is called "compromise". Understand their concerns (they are valid IMO) and offer to change the logo but say you will keep the name for discoverability. Using for example a baby bottle as your logo would be less offensive. IMO.

YoannMoinet 8y ago
That's actually a good idea. I'll figure something out. With the current logo I really wanted to integrate the actual output of the library, and it was fitting the name quite well, I thought.

saluki 8y ago

y, sounds like it worked out, I think you handled it perfectly. Nice work btw, I'll have to find a use for this.

YoannMoinet 8y ago
Thank you, it's old code, but it works :D mostly.

rl3 8y ago

>I still think NippleJS is a funny and innocent name. Everybody has nipples, so it's pretty inclusive too. I agree. The entire situation is absurd. The advice to ignore the naysayer(s) seems to be the correct course of action. That said, the original issue has some comedy gems in it which I feel are worth mentioning here: https://github.com/yoannmoinet/nipplejs/issues/80#issuecomment-416608625 https://github.com/yoannmoinet/nipplejs/issues/80#issuecomme... and in a later post (different author): "And if nipples really make you uncomfortable, maybe you should visit a professional? Today you can't run away from nipples, they are everywhere and you will just be more and more uncomfortable."

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

nil_pointer 8y ago

That Twitter guy should be ignored, some people just want to find something to be outraged about.

zmix 8y ago

NippleJS is a totally cool name! Guy is insecure, not your problem. Move on, is what I'd recommend.

svirelka 8y ago

such a cool name

carc1n0gen 8y ago

Giving you a star just for the name!

dpc_pw 8y ago

Don't change the name. It's awesome. Every time a request like that is honor, the world becomes a little bit more riddicolous place.

colecut 8y ago

I'm sorry you have to deal with this.. I find it very amusing that he says "It feels like a microcosm of politics in 2018" I agree with him there, if he means people finding reason to be offended over anything.. He was scared of mentioning using your library to his colleagues, but has no worries shouting about it to the world on twitter? It makes me sad that people go out of their way to rob the harmless small joys of others.

nickthemagicman 8y ago

He's trying to bully you into changing the name, instead of accepting the communities decision.

kahlonel 8y ago

I hate how politics keeps creeping in software industry. A few weeks ago there was a heated debate on Twitter over changing "SLAVE" to "REPLICA" in Redis, and sadly the maintainer gave in to the pressure.

cimmanom 8y ago

Woman here. I don’t find the name offensive or foul or exclusionary, though I don’t find it especially humorous either and could understand why it might make some people uncomfortable. With that in mind, I’d describe it as a bit crass; and in a career context, unprofessional. Not worth getting into a flame war over, either way.

jstewartmobile 8y ago

"A virtual joystick for touch capable interfaces." Tune out the Twitter peasants. The name is perfect.

datahipster 8y ago

Here's an article of a developer who went through something similar: http://findingscience.com/ruby/2014/11/17/why-im-renaming-a-gem.html http://findingscience.com/ruby/2014/11/17/why-im-renaming-a-... The bit that stands out to me is an e-mail he received from a female engineer: > While the idealist in me would love to aim for a world where sex was treated more equally and openly, the unfortunate reality of tech is that it has been a haven for misogynistic men and the environment is heavily male dominated. While in an ideal world the name SexMachine would be something that both genders could joke about, the reality is that the tech community is not ready or capable of that today.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 8y ago
From the comments on that thread: > RapeLiberalSluts • 4 years ago > For your own mental health, stop believing this nonsense about misogyny. Your peers are brainwashing you. That's even 4 years ago when it wasn't quite as popular to be so edgy/hateful outside of certain communities.
- cimmanom 8y ago
  Edgy?

kazinator 8y ago

Baby bottles have nipples. Also, those little nuts in a bicycle wheel rim that hold the spokes in place and apply tension to them? They are called spoke nipples. This numbnut that is harassing you will have a heart attack if he ever brings a bike with a broken spoke into a shop. Some sort of short connector in plumbing is called a nipple, also.

lysp 8y ago

And the customary xkcd: https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/ (nsfw language)

nmstoker 8y ago

It did take an unfortunate turn. Good luck with the library, whatever you decide. In a curiously pertinent piece of timing, you are not the only one rejecting calls to rename: https://mobile.twitter.com/hardmaru/status/1054872232722223104 https://mobile.twitter.com/hardmaru/status/10548722327222231...

flukus 8y ago

Let the people who are complaining maintain a rebranded fork, then we'll see if they really care or not.

Sohcahtoa82 8y ago

> https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054768005249462272 https://twitter.com/lazerwalker/status/1054768005249462272 One of the tweets in response to this one: > Thanks for doing this. It is especially tone deaf at this moment in time when trans rights are under direct attack in the US for a group of cis men to feel entitled in how they talk about other bodies. What the hell does this have to do with trans people? "entitled in how they talk about other bodies"? What? It's a nipple. Men have nipples. Women have nipples. Everyone has nipples. My cat has nipples. This has nothing to do with trans people. At worst, the name is unprofessional, but definitely not worth changing.

rayalez 8y ago

Haha that's hilarious. Don't worry about it, internet is full of dumb people. The only way to never offend anybody is to never do anything and have no personality whatsoever. Keep the name, don't let them police all the delightful quirkiness out of the world.

Artemix 8y ago

I don't think of it as offensive. It's an anatomy part, why would someone be offended by their body? Imho, don't change it, because there's no reason for such an action

julienreszka 8y ago

just block the commies