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GitHub, fuck your name change

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Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#651

Post by el_nahual »

headhuntermdk wrote: post #639
jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

I generally agree with your statement. I am also an African American but my first reaction to the change was very positive. On a more technical and pedantic level, having a "master" branch really doesn't make any sense without slave branches. So in this context a "main" branch eliminates any negative historical connotations and has a more precise meaning. To me, this another case of "that's how its always been" and s…

> On a more technical and pedantic level, having a "master" branch really doesn't make any sense without slave branches.

The reason master branches are called master branches is as an analogy to a music/record "master", which means "the original, the truest, the canonical".

(In an analog world where every copy necessitated deterioration, there was a need to say "this is THE version").

So git master branches meant the same thing: canonical. That's why the name "makes sense" even though there are no slave branches.

Just adding this here out of a sense of duty for historical accuracy, and not commenting on the name change itself.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#652

Post by matt-attack »

headhuntermdk wrote: post #639
jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

I generally agree with your statement. I am also an African American but my first reaction to the change was very positive. On a more technical and pedantic level, having a "master" branch really doesn't make any sense without slave branches. So in this context a "main" branch eliminates any negative historical connotations and has a more precise meaning. To me, this another case of "that's how its always been" and s…

Does having a master bedroom make sense without having “slave rooms”?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#653

Post by ipsocannibal »

jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

What habit is being changed? Aren't the default names defined by the git software? If so just change the software and push, but what habit was changed? Doesn't change current repos but why exactly is that the problem? If you are trying to set a precedent, i.e. stop the bleeding, then a git update would work just fine. Is it assuming that 'master' should be the default? The name 'master' doesn't have any special significance to the software interacting with it as the branch name is just an identifier. The term 'master' in the Comp. Sci. sense is jargon meaning basically 'the source of truth' not 'one that controls the wills of others'. The only habit I see being altered is to be readily conditioned to accept without question the dictates of political interest groups and large corporations as to what terminology is acceptable. Who defined these groups as the rightful arbitrators of this jargon?

"So, next time you are annoyed that you have to fix a script or you accidentally type master when you needed to type main, please just take a deep breath, change the name, and remember to reflect upon whether you have are subconscious habits or biases that work against diversity in tech."

In order words, the next time you have the urge to think critically about what you are allowed to type and who is forcing that decision upon you take a deep breath, shallow your skepticism, and reflect upon whether you have been indoctrinated enough into the new political Zeitgeist.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#654

Post by CRConrad »

conradfr wrote: post #560
jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

Or I'll reflect about an American company imposing change to the rest of the world about domestic issues.

It's not as if "master and slave" terminology is all that much better in the rest of the world; it's not a "domestic issue" -- at least not an American one.

Or did you mean "domestic" to you? Live in Arabia or something, do you?

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#655

Post by eplanit »

jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

I appreciate learning your perspective. Frankly, though, the argument you make for accepting and embracing such things to me reinforces the notion that the BLM movement feels like forced cultural revolution. Though you are not coming across with any such tone, the idea seems like "shut up, and take your medicine".

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#656

Post by nvarsj »

_nckn wrote: post #592

I'm Asian, wasn't born in America and didn't grew up in America as well. I don't have a horse in this race. I don't feel annoyed to change that term. I'm only annoyed if someone guilt trip me if I don't change the name out of ignorance (i.e, I don't follow politics, no time for social media). I don't think I have any bias against women or minority in tech. Changing main or master or slave doesn't ring a bell or evoke…

It's not an American thing, this happens everywhere. I moved to London from the US a few years ago, and when I first moved here, interacting with unfamiliar cultures, I made these kind of mistakes all the time.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#657

Post by itsoktocry »

knodi wrote: post #545
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…

What are you walking away to, the r̶e̶i̶c̶h̶ right?

Perhaps because it's annoying to be affiliated with people who think any and all deviation from their political norms makes you "evil".

Just a thought.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#658

Post by ryneandal »

optimiz3 wrote: post #608

When Darth Vader tells Luke that one day Luke will call him master, is he also committing a microagression? Maybe the writers were, but I doubt it. To most English speakers master just means person in control or source of truth. Or we should retcon Star Wars. Time to ban some more books and film I guess. Yay?

[flagged]

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#659

Post by ipsocannibal »

colllectorof wrote: post #624
jssmith wrote: post #538

I want to share my own reactions to the name change since this is a really interesting topic. For context, I'm an African American, so many of my ancestors were slaves. - The first time it occurred to me that "master" in this context could offend anyone was when GitHub changed the name (and broke my workflow). - My immediate reaction was, "this change is by white people for white people," where "white" means anyone w…

> Thus it is a useful reminder of the implicit bias that contributes to the lack of diversity in tech. This is a useful reminder. It's a reminder that associative thinking can invert causal relationships and turn anything into a symbol for anything else. There is no rational limit to things that can be attacked this way. Someone can demand you to change the way you talk or dress, what you read or watch, how you do yo…

Remember MS once told us 'Linux is Cancer'. Should we have believed them then? Now 'Microsoft loves Linux'. Which is it? I think which ever one aligns with their business interests at the time. That lens should used to view any change pushed by Redmond.

Re: GitHub, fuck your name change

#660

Post by himujjal »

My problem is that this is an American company trying to impose their culture to us. There are a lot of developers from China and India whom Github didn't even consider asking.

Question is why should "we" who face far worse challenges than the Blacks in US be asked to change the name. That is what doesn't make sense to me.

The idea imposition happens just because we are a poor country and nothing else. I am sure 20 years down the line, if I don't follow an American culture I will be a villain.

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