Not only did they ask them to change the name / verbiage; in a particularly Stalinist twist they asked them to delete it from the entire history.
GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
81–90 of 845 posts
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am saying that these things come into fashion and then pass away. If words can come INTO fashion for various reasons, then some must be allowed to LEAVE fashion for other reasons. Letting them pass out of empathy is probably one of the most noble and equitable reasons we could have to change our language. Your argument is so strange. You argue that language is fluid then get angry, confused and dismissive when pe…
Yes, I'm very angry and confused.
You certainly act like you don't understand.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#83Yeah, when you host all your code with a 3rd party, and you run all your services with a 3rd party, and you depend on another 3rd party for significant chunks of your functionality, you will find that starting up is a lot easier, as long as you don't mind giving up a very significant chunk of your independence and freedom to do as you wish. I don't understand the obsession with github, google, amazon and the like. We…
Are you serious? Maintaining things is hard. Even for relatively simple stuff, things fall over all the time and suddenly your job is "make sure your mail server is up" instead of "accomplish your core business task". I don't have that sort of free time anymore.
For git, literally all you need is a server with Git and SSH installed.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#84I like how the parent repo hasn't been taken down.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#85Oh no, what would happen to https://github.com/nvbn/thefuck?
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#86Fine 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?
Is it offensive? Yes. Does Github have the right to take it down? Yes. Is it unethical for Github to take it down? Not at all. But should they? I don't know, I don't think I would have. It's kind of scary to use cloud services where it's hard to tell if your content might be judged in violation of some rule and might suddenly disappear as a result. If the offensiveness were more extreme (say, a repo dedicated to maki…
Your first three questions/answers, summarized, is that "Github ethically and legally removed an offensive word"
Should they? Yes.
I feel slippery slope arguments get brought up way too much sometimes. Every issue is turning into a binary all-or-nothing ordeal, with no room for nuance or context.
As long as what Github did is 1. ethical (removing a generally accepted as offensive word), 2. legal, then I see no problem with it.
If, IF Github starts making more arbitrary calls, then I think its the time to be angry or worried.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would it be alright, then, if it said, "WebM for Black People?" It isn't important to quibble over what words we consider offensive in the past, present, or future. The real problem is speaking about a classification of human being as being less than fully human or using those classifications as shortcuts for "inferior." A person with darker skin is no less human than one with lighter skin. Similarly, two people with…
Normally, I don't argue with people on the internet. Tonight, I'm bored and I'm making an exception. That being said, this isn't an argument about how we should treat people. This is an argument over whether we should be allowed to say what we wish and let others react how they will. If people don't want to use this individual's code because of his questionable mentality, let that be their choice. Instead we're now p…
Say whatever you like. Do it on your own resources. And when you run a server, boot off whoever you like for acting against whatever standards or lack of standards you choose to have. And if you run a bookstore, you're welcome to carry or not carry whatever books you like.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#88Is 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.
Isn't the name "git" (and therefore "github") itself considered pejorative? IIRC, Linus did name the tool after the British slang word.
"Git is a mild pejorative with origins in British English for a silly, incompetent, stupid, annoying, senile, elderly or childish person. It is usually an insult, more severe than twit or idiot but less severe than wanker, arsehole or (redacted)."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(slang)
ps. Yes, I'm a prude. And yes, I redacted a word from the Wikipedia definition above.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#89Earlier 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…
Yes, the developer had every right to say retard. 100% correct. And if they said it in front of me, I'd have every right to kick them, hard. Both of us will have paid a price, sure, but hey, freedom of speech wasn't violated. You're free to call me a retard. I'm free to kick you for doing it. Everybody wins. But your calling me a retard isn't a divinely bestowed right to get away with it without a response just becau…
>And if they said it in front of me, I'd have every right to kick them, hard.
Where do you live? In most countries, that would be assault, and is considered a crime.
Re: GitHub threatens to shut down a repository for using the word 'retard'
#90For people who don't see what's wrong here. The issue is not about whether the word 'retard' is or is not offensive to anyone. You need to consider that GitHub currently hosts a large percentage of the web's open source repositories. This is censorship plain and simple, something that IMO has no place in open source. The issue is that there are plenty of things some people might find offensive on GitHub but you dont…
They can do whatever they want, that is the market at work. If enough people find it offensive, they will produce/migrate to an alternative.
sure, they're legally entitled to do whatever they want, but you're failing to consider the most important point:
>You need to consider that GitHub currently hosts a large percentage of the web's open source repositories
would you be happy if google abused its position as the leading search engine to favor right leaning websites over left leaning websites? what about censoring websites that are "offensive" to muslims?