5 ms·

Yet we kill “child” processes all the time, especially those pesky orphaned ones. No one has a problem with the phrasing above when the context is understood.

p49k 6y ago
Sure but there isn’t a growing population of people who actively support randomly killing children in the same way that hateful/racist movements are growing in the US and elsewhere. That context matters.
- henriquez 6y ago
  Context does matter. A good portion of the U.S. believes that abortion is the same as killing children, but we aren’t changing tech companies, implementing codes of conduct, or devising newspeak to suit _those_ peoples’ political sensibilities, are we? When the pendulum swings the other way, after we’ve normalized the complete politicization of our day to day institutions, will we all be okay with potentially having an opposing political belief system forced upon us? Or do we need not think that far ahead?
  - imustbeevil 6y ago
    Luckily we aren't having any political belief system forced upon us. People are independently choosing to remove terms they personally don't want included in their projects. If someone feels the same way about the use of the term "child" in code they can freely update their projects today; they don't have to wait for any pendulum.
    - henriquez 6y ago
      Kind of like how you choose to accept the terms of service.
      - imustbeevil 6y ago
        Sorry if I'm just missing it, but I'm not sure how this relates. Something I've noticed in my own writing is that the more I write the less likely it is to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. By that I mean, it would be easier to have a dialogue if I knew what connection you were drawing between people choosing to update their projects and my acceptance of terms of service. I can imagine many connections, but to respond to the connection you're making I'd need to know which one it is.
        henriquez 6y ago
        Sorry for being too ambiguous there. Yes, anyone can choose to remove “master / slave” terminology from their own project. The issue I take is a bit bigger than a matter of individual choice. I have a problem with companies adopting extremist political policies in an effort to cater to a growing population of hostile young puritans who want to LARP as activists but lack any meaningful civil rights issue to worry about and have thus resolved to make up shitty, fake civil rights battles. In order to not be considered “problematic” in this modern landscape we’re expected to play along with these shitty, fake civil rights battles. That’s a game I’m personally tired of playing and I think it ends when everyone, including its own vocal proponents, are burned by it. I didn’t choose to get rid of the “master” repo, but now we’re changing terms. Literally the terms of service have changed.
        imustbeevil 6y ago
        So my understanding of the legal requirements of terms of service (which are generally not strongly enforced either way) is that if it changes you just have to sign the new one, or decide that you disagree enough with the changes that you won't sign it. To the "extremist" point, I have to say I really don't see it. Changing "master" to "main" doesn't seem like an extreme political position to me. Extreme would be someone murdering protesters, tweeting someone chanting "white power", or hanging black people from trees in Texas. Those are pretty easy things to not want in your society. The same with people setting businesses on fire or brandishing weapons in public. But I don't see how someone trying to reduce their harm externalities by changing words is particularly extreme. This may come down to the difference between the ideas and the people holding the ideas. I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea. I think we can both agree that we wouldn't want people harassing each other for either making or not making this change, as anyone should be free to make whichever decision they feel is right. To the extent that the "left" is the cause of the harassment, I can agree I'd rather those people deal with this more calmly. But again, they're not the ones murdering people.
    - apta 6y ago
      > People are independently choosing to remove terms they personally don't want included in their projects No issue with that, except that people who don't are going to be accused of wrongthink, and may potentially lose their jobs or affect their careers.
- ThrowawayR2 6y ago
  > "people who actively support randomly killing children" -cough- pro-choice movement -cough- (For the record, I am pro-choice.)
- wayneftw 6y ago
  I've seen very few people of color expressing their offense at the terms master/slave as used in technology in these threads here at HN, Reddit and on Twitter. Many more people of color have said that they're not offended by the terms and that this is an empty-headed change. So, what we have is a group of people who mostly aren't black, who are mobbing up to demand this change. Does that sound accurate to you? Do you think setting a precedent of giving into these peoples demands is a good idea?
- jaekash 6y ago
  > hateful/racist movements are growing in the US and elsewhere. Not a thing that is happening

p49k 6y ago

Sure but there isn’t a growing population of people who actively support randomly killing children in the same way that hateful/racist movements are growing in the US and elsewhere. That context matters.

henriquez 6y ago
Context does matter. A good portion of the U.S. believes that abortion is the same as killing children, but we aren’t changing tech companies, implementing codes of conduct, or devising newspeak to suit _those_ peoples’ political sensibilities, are we? When the pendulum swings the other way, after we’ve normalized the complete politicization of our day to day institutions, will we all be okay with potentially having an opposing political belief system forced upon us? Or do we need not think that far ahead?
- imustbeevil 6y ago
  Luckily we aren't having any political belief system forced upon us. People are independently choosing to remove terms they personally don't want included in their projects. If someone feels the same way about the use of the term "child" in code they can freely update their projects today; they don't have to wait for any pendulum.
  - henriquez 6y ago
    Kind of like how you choose to accept the terms of service.
    - imustbeevil 6y ago
      Sorry if I'm just missing it, but I'm not sure how this relates. Something I've noticed in my own writing is that the more I write the less likely it is to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. By that I mean, it would be easier to have a dialogue if I knew what connection you were drawing between people choosing to update their projects and my acceptance of terms of service. I can imagine many connections, but to respond to the connection you're making I'd need to know which one it is.
      - henriquez 6y ago
        Sorry for being too ambiguous there. Yes, anyone can choose to remove “master / slave” terminology from their own project. The issue I take is a bit bigger than a matter of individual choice. I have a problem with companies adopting extremist political policies in an effort to cater to a growing population of hostile young puritans who want to LARP as activists but lack any meaningful civil rights issue to worry about and have thus resolved to make up shitty, fake civil rights battles. In order to not be considered “problematic” in this modern landscape we’re expected to play along with these shitty, fake civil rights battles. That’s a game I’m personally tired of playing and I think it ends when everyone, including its own vocal proponents, are burned by it. I didn’t choose to get rid of the “master” repo, but now we’re changing terms. Literally the terms of service have changed.
        imustbeevil 6y ago
        So my understanding of the legal requirements of terms of service (which are generally not strongly enforced either way) is that if it changes you just have to sign the new one, or decide that you disagree enough with the changes that you won't sign it. To the "extremist" point, I have to say I really don't see it. Changing "master" to "main" doesn't seem like an extreme political position to me. Extreme would be someone murdering protesters, tweeting someone chanting "white power", or hanging black people from trees in Texas. Those are pretty easy things to not want in your society. The same with people setting businesses on fire or brandishing weapons in public. But I don't see how someone trying to reduce their harm externalities by changing words is particularly extreme. This may come down to the difference between the ideas and the people holding the ideas. I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea. I think we can both agree that we wouldn't want people harassing each other for either making or not making this change, as anyone should be free to make whichever decision they feel is right. To the extent that the "left" is the cause of the harassment, I can agree I'd rather those people deal with this more calmly. But again, they're not the ones murdering people.
  - apta 6y ago
    > People are independently choosing to remove terms they personally don't want included in their projects No issue with that, except that people who don't are going to be accused of wrongthink, and may potentially lose their jobs or affect their careers.
ThrowawayR2 6y ago
> "people who actively support randomly killing children" -cough- pro-choice movement -cough- (For the record, I am pro-choice.)
wayneftw 6y ago
I've seen very few people of color expressing their offense at the terms master/slave as used in technology in these threads here at HN, Reddit and on Twitter. Many more people of color have said that they're not offended by the terms and that this is an empty-headed change. So, what we have is a group of people who mostly aren't black, who are mobbing up to demand this change. Does that sound accurate to you? Do you think setting a precedent of giving into these peoples demands is a good idea?
jaekash 6y ago
> hateful/racist movements are growing in the US and elsewhere. Not a thing that is happening