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Ask HN: Less culturally loaded terms for “Master/Slave”“
I'd like to move us away from those terms and would love to hear from others what terms they have come up with. There is "primary/secondary" but it seems long and doesn't type nicely. What ya got?
- jgrahamc 7y agolord/serf
- jascii 7y agoHmm, not sure I'd call that less culturally loaded..
- Jamwinner 7y agoCan you cite any instance of these terms actually being problematic in practice? This is usually a political statement dressed in concern troll clothing.
- jascii 7y agoJust asking what alternatives others have come up with because we would like to use something different. I'm not really interested in having an in-depth discussion as to why at the moment. But thanks for your input.
- pietroglyph 7y agoI’ve seen leader and follower on some motor controllers that I’ve used.
- kens 7y agoIt depends if you're talking about replicated databases, flip flops, hydraulics, or something else. (I'm currently writing about flip flops, so I'm interested in terminology for that case.) Wikipedia has some suggestions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology)#Terminology_concerns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology)#Term... Also see the HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17954823 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17954823
- itamarst 7y agoSwitching away from problematic terminology is also a good opportunity to make it more accurate and specific. In some situations it's "process A allows writes, process B only allow reads", in which case "writer/reader" maybe? In other situation it's "process A is in control, but process B will take control if process A fails". In which case "controller/fallback", maybe?
- rogerkirkness 7y agoParent and child.
- dekhn 7y agoI tried various alternatives (daimyo/peasant), but after using them for a while I realized they had similar connotations.
- buboard 7y agogovernment/citizen
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- JamesVI 7y agoI had a manager who was big into amateur dramatics so I used Director/Actor.
- AnimalMuppet 7y agoActive/fallback?
- madcaptenor 7y agoI have the same question regarding "Scrum Master". Obviously nobody is explicitly calling the team members "slaves" but it's still not a good look.
- Ghjklov 7y agoWhat, we can't even use "master" as a way to describe a really skilled person anymore?
- madcaptenor 7y agoThat's not how I hear it - is the Scrum Master just someone who's really skilled at Scrum?
- Ghjklov 7y agoSomeone who has mastered or became really skilled at Scrum could be described as a Scrum Master yes. Or in another instance, he who has mastered the art of baiting, is the Master Baiter.
- coralreef 7y agoIf a martial arts teacher is referred to as "master" by their students, does that infer that they are slaves?
- madcaptenor 7y agoI guess not. I suppose I have more respect for a martial arts teacher than a scrum master.
- jimmyvalmer 7y agozed/gimp
- yamrzou 7y agoWhat exactly is wrong with using master/slave?
- jolmg 7y agoYou know, what's funny is that it probably would stop being culturally loaded if people stopped giving special treatment to words like these, trying to avoid them. I imagine that OP is making reference to African American enslavement in US history, but I wouldn't even consider this relation if it weren't for this post.
- sesuximo 7y agoworker/manager?
- arh68 7y agoLeader/Follower (pietroglyph's is probably best), Cam/Follower, Sender/Receiver, Drive/Pulley (?), Reference/Replica, Model/Instance, Broker/Agent, Supervisor/Worker, maybe even Coordinator/Helper (these are a bit long), Lead/Rhythm, Lead/Understudy, Boss/Worker Also good but maybe weird: Alpha/Beta, Red/Black (and if we need 3+, I think Hearts/Spades/Clubs[/Diamonds[/Jokers..]] is fine if you write down the object of the game, so to speak) Slightly humorous but not best: Hivemind/Drone, Hypnotoad/Zombie, Sauron/Saruman, Don/Capo, Drummer/Dancer
- jascii 7y agoI ended up going with `-prim` and `-sec` which seemed reasonably self-descriptive.
- sethammons 7y agoWrite (master), wo / replica, reader, ro
- ressetera 7y agoa/b