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GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

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Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#41
post #21

Is there a list of objectionable words/language that one is not supposed to use? A quick search on the f-work gives thousands of hits on github.

Interestingly, a search for "retard" in code on GitHub yields over 200,000 results: https://github.com/search?q=retard&type=Code&utf8=%E2%9C%93 Not sure what made this particular case different.

Or, decidedly even more offensive: https://github.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=nigger&type=Code&...

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#42
post #21

Is there a list of objectionable words/language that one is not supposed to use? A quick search on the f-work gives thousands of hits on github.

Interestingly, a search for "retard" in code on GitHub yields over 200,000 results: https://github.com/search?q=retard&type=Code&utf8=%E2%9C%93 Not sure what made this particular case different.

Probably that someone complained

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#43
post #21

Is there a list of objectionable words/language that one is not supposed to use? A quick search on the f-work gives thousands of hits on github.

Interestingly, a search for "retard" in code on GitHub yields over 200,000 results: https://github.com/search?q=retard&type=Code&utf8=%E2%9C%93 Not sure what made this particular case different.

[deleted]

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#44
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't say I am. People should be free to use the language they wish. The words that were offensive 200 years ago are laughable today. It's just such a superficial thing, almost arbitrarily deciding which words are 'sensitive' and which ones aren't, I cannot stand behind efforts to censor the world. Once upon a time 'idiot' was the more common word for the mentally disabled. Has GitHub banned 'idiot,' too? Good long w…

>It's just such a superficial thing, almost arbitrarily deciding which words are 'sensitive' and which ones aren't This cannot be further from the truth. Words that are deemed offensive are deemed so because of the attitude and the meaning behind using these words The reason white people get yelled at for using n (don't know if I can post it on HN) is because it represents hundreds of years of oppression by white peo…

Good Lord, I have heard so many different takes on 'what makes something offensive.' My favorite was a teenager telling me only one person has to find something offensive before we have to all consider it as such and stop saying it.

The fact that words "have context and actual loaded meanings" is besides the point. I am saying that these things come into fashion and then pass away.

I'm sure you know it was only in the past 70 years that 'gay' took on its new meaning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay#Shift_to_homosexual

Stop trying to lock words in place and ban them. Let people use them or avoid them as they will, and their meanings will shift, as they always have.

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#45
post #6

Fine with me. It's an offensive term and GitHub has every right to police their service and ban content like this. Am I supposed to be concerned by this, and if so, why?

The noun "retard" is not considered profane. I don't think it would have to be bleeped over in broadcast television.

It's also a verb which means to slow down.

For example, it is necessary to retard the ignition timing of a gasoline engine, and more so at higher RPM, to prevent detonation.

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#46
github is within their rights to do this but it's horrendous that they are doing it. The corpus of offensive speech (or code in this case) is getting out of hand. The code is clearly humor. Not everyone appreciates the same humor but humor is _meant_ to be offensive. So, the policy will proceed to be no humor in code that isn't bland. But, then, all of silicon valley is moving toward this. A github founder got into a lot of trouble for "objectionable" humor. I'm certain I'll get lots of downvotes for this. But remember the old tale that "first they came for the Christians and I didn't complain because I wasn't a Christian..."

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#47
This obsession with making every single website a hugbox these days is moronic. The word retard/retarded is seldom associated with actual retardation instead it's just a synonym for moron.

Even if you dissagree with that you should still be able to see that even if we did s/retard/moron/ or replaced it with git, idiot etc it would still violate the TOS.

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#48
post #6

Fine with me. It's an offensive term and GitHub has every right to police their service and ban content like this. Am I supposed to be concerned by this, and if so, why?

I don't know, I guess I'm supposed to consider it censorship and be outraged or something?

Some people feel entitled to say what they want on any platform they choose and cry "censorship" when their offensive speech is removed.

My guess is GH doesn't actively monitor things like this, but someone complained. So they're removing it, and it's just a matter of time before we hear a thousand "slippery slope" arguments.

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#49

If someone was interested in moving their content off of GitHub, how would they go about doing so? Doesn't popcorn time use something else? Asking for a friend, of course... :3 Edit: Looks like they're running GitLab Community Edition https://about.gitlab.com/downloads/

GitLab is decent, Gogs is also useful (and has smaller system requirements, albeit slightly less features)

http://gogs.io/

Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'

#50
post #39

A honest question, why are most people here okay with this, but they’re not okay with for example Facebook censoring certain content?

Probably because facebook is by design a mechanism of human communication. Github is a mechanism for sharing code. The words used and then rejected were useless, and substituting them did not affect the communication in any meaningful way.

Calling vocabulary subs like this "censorship" greatly glorifies the users of said language, as unless they're deliberately trying to be offensive there is always an equally useful word at hand.

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