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GitHub, fuck your name change

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Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#181

Post by albertopv » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:12 AM UTC

iamflimflam1 wrote: post #104

This topic has been done to death. If you're offended by the name change from master to main then you really need to be asking yourself why you're so upset about it. And you need to be answering that question honestly.

Because it's utterly useless, stupid, out of context. Why Git, github, Azure DevOps, everyone have to change that and possibly broke backward compatibility with scripts, pipelines or who know what(yes, I can branch master from main, but why I have to?)? Why? Should we completely stop to use master word altogether?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#182

Post by ecmascript » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:12 AM UTC

wott wrote: post #46

ecmascript wrote: post #5

This is a topic I feel cannot be openly discussed on HN (and basically everywhere else), sadly. I switched from Github to Gitlab after this change. Political correctness is a great way to know that a company has the completely wrong focus and will be unable to innovate and create good products.

> I switched from Github to Gitlab after this change Ah ah. You didn't believe you could run away, did you? https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2021/03/10/new-git-default-bra...

Sigh, I wonder when smart people did become so unbelievable stupid?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#183

Post by emteycz » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:13 AM UTC

Freak_NL wrote: post #155

vmception wrote: post #47

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

Aren't you worried that by applying political labels like 'left' (or equally often seen in the US context: 'liberal') for something that does not really represent that political ideology, you are at risk of further polarizing such debates? This specific instance seems like an overreaction of some in both corporate and social media culture. One poster already pointed out that this is likely more about corporate fear o…

Who on the right is pushing this stuff?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#184

Post by caseyross » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:13 AM UTC

zimpenfish wrote: post #134

tda wrote: post #12

Though I initially sympathized with the name change from master to main (cause I don't care what it is called), I am now more of the opinion that this kind of window-dressing might actually be harmful as it distracts from addressing the root cause. It is a bit complicated as the name change in itself is not bad, but given the context, and that it distracts from addressing real issues it actually is. Same thing with p…

> as it distracts from addressing the root cause. This would imply that people are capable only of doing one thing at a time and, potentially, that they're only capable of doing one thing full stop. I would honestly be amazed if a single person, anywhere[1], looked at this change and thought "yep, I don't have to think about slavery now". > think of themselves as somewhat environmentally responsible. Well, I guess th…

> I would honestly be amazed if a single person, anywhere[1], looked at this change and thought "yep, I don't have to think about slavery now".

Surprisingly, human minds do seem to work that way. After doing a "good" deed, we're liable to believe that we've done our part, and owe society no further action. Even if our good deed didn't actually change anything.

This effect is often called "moral licensing".

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#185

Post by yoavm » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:13 AM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #170

Does master not also designate a person that has achieved mastery in a given craft or art, like a "Kung Fu master"? Within git I think the term is used in the meaning of a "master copy" in the sense of a reference. I also think this change is pointless, and it will break so so many things.

It does not origin from "master copy" or "Kung Fu master".

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/474419/does-the-...

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#186

Post by mythz » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

Well 'main' is a more intuitive & UX friendly name than 'master' which new devs are going to intuitively relate to as it's commonly used to refer to the 'main thing', e.g. main road, main course, etc. I can't recall the last time I used 'Master' as a synonym to 'main' outside of technology (as a Redis Client author I still deal with Master nomenclature a bit). Can only think of 'Masters degree' but that has to do with Mastery knowledge rather than 'Master copy'. The only other usages of 'Master' I can think of (from TV & Films) is basically what they're trying to move away from.

As a library author I often deprecate & rename new APIs when I can think of (or have been proposed) a more appropriate and a descriptive name to replace a misleading name. I put a lot of weight into the name of symbols as it basically has the largest bearing in understanding its functionality & purpose. This is effectively what GitHub is doing, deprecating 'master' in favor of 'main' for new repos, which I don't see a problem with as it's looking pretty clear that all new technology is moving away from master/slave terminology - I don't see why Software needs to be forced to use their old legacy names forever if they're able to deprecate it and move to new more appropriate naming without immediate breaking changes.

This change hasn't broken any of my 100+ existing repos, GitHub is only changing the default branch to 'main' for new repos & have implemented a bunch of work behind the scenes to reduce the friction for orgs & users who also wish to rename their existing mater branches [1]. I don't understand the hate this effort to more modern & inclusive naming is inciting, if you want to criticize GitHub for their lack of action in other areas, criticize that instead.

[1] https://github.com/github/renaming#renaming-existing-branche...

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#187

Post by emteycz » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

dsincl12 wrote: post #110

vmception wrote: post #47

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

As a white dude, I feel really ashamed for this even though I'm not involved in this at all. Sorry man, you deserve a better world.

Why would you be ashamed because of your skin color?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#188

Post by ianai » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

vmception wrote: post #47

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

to be heard you do need to speak. Write your representatives in Congress your views on things they are or aren’t doing. Write a blog or vlog.

Oftentimes simply being talking in public gains otherwise obscure or even unhelpful views traction simply by being available.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#189

Post by realfinec » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

vmception wrote: post #47

I’m a black American and agree with everything that this person in London wrote. It is also a common criticism of the American “left”, and is entirely accurate. For everyone perplexed about black Americans and other people of color walking away from the left, its because you/they don't see us as equals that can be bothered by the exact same things that other Americans can be bothered by: being told what to think, wat…

Lol, as another black guy, even before opening the thread I knew I'd find one of these grovelling comments from a house-type here.

I, at least, completely support GitHub's actions.

Btw, we're not "walking away from the Left", as is indicated in the recent election results. You might be confusing your own people for Hispanics.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#190

Post by brmgb » Wed, Mar 17, 2021, 9:14 AM UTC

rvnx wrote: post #52

Wasn't it GitLab actually ? Otherwise, about the article, it's unfair to say that we need to correct the AI/ML to a more "neutral" perspective. I'm always worried about artificial "neutrality", as neutrality often ends up just adding more weight to the perspective that you consider more socially and politically acceptable. In Australia for example, French people have a bad reputation because they tend to steal from s…

> Should we artificially add more examples of non-stealing French in the dataset just because it's socially more acceptable ?

You are completely missing the point.

This issue is simple. Take two groups A and B. Ceteris paribus if you control twice as much in group A than group B you will see twice as much positive events in group A. That's a sampling bias. Then you conclude group A is worth and should be controlled more leading to even more positive. It's all about sampling bias and feedback loops.

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