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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'

#441

Post by seletz »

JungleGymSam wrote: post #121
avolcano wrote: 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?

Yes, you should be. The problem is that people (perhaps you) are elevating something marginally offensive to something hateful and worth shutting down at all costs. The dragging down of minor offenses to serious offenses is a dangerous thing. It's surprising how little intellectual honesty there is in modern society. It's even more surprising here that some people (perhaps you) are willing to abandon any rational thi…

Oh wow -- this is actually a comment which IMO points out the real issue here.

This sort of censorship/filter/whatever-you-call-it is bad because it add way too much value to words. So it's not about what is actually said or the context but only about words.

By that logic it's completely PC if someone is actually offended but in such a way that no bad words are used. But as soon as a Bad Word (TM) is used -- bam.

This is really really dishonest, shallow, and disgusting.

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

#442

Post by IshKebab »

grkvlt wrote: post #374

So, why on earth are similarly 'offensive' repositories like https://github.com/meh/retarded (may be NSFW based on language) still available? This seems either a very selective policy, or there is something else going on beyond the mere use of the word 'Retard' here. I found the example above with a simple Google search, and I'm sure there are many more that can be picked out, depending on the choice of obscenity or…

Likely someone flagged this repo and not the one you linked.

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

#443

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

BetaMechazawa wrote: post #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.

It's not about meaning, it's about usage and impact. Slurs like "r@t$rd" are used against people with mental health issues and make it hard for them to participate in such spaces.

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

#444

Post by tux3 »

02 wrote: post #415
deciplex wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1. This isn't censorship of the type that is illegal or not allowed. It is a private company deciding a word was inappropriate. This is about the dumbest argument in favor of censorship theoretically possible, btw. Free speech doesn't start and stop at the first amendment to the US constitution. > 2. It seems like most in this comment thread agree that this action, as a singular act, is a good thing. The word was o…

> Free speech doesn't start and stop at the first amendment to the US constitution. You never had the freedom of speech you think you have. You never had the right to say what you like in my house without getting kicked out, and you never had the right to say 'retard' on GitHub. Sorry. You can mourn its loss now if you like.

We do, however, have the right to complain about it and take our business elsewhere. I'm not sure why you would see a problem with that.

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

#445

Post by huu »

sklogic wrote: post #393
DanBC wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your first line is wrong. This is not about swearing, it's about using a word that causes harm. > Then they came for me, and there was none left to speak out. ...apart from the vast majority of people, because most people don't feel the need to use words like nigger or retard in their open source projects.

> it's about using a word that causes harm Words do not cause harm. It's a slippery slope to total censorship and thought policing to think otherwise.

Imagine you're a parent who happens upon a repo that uses the word "retard" as a replacement for "stupid person" or "idiot". You also happen to have a mentally disabled child.

Perhaps you would have contributed to that repository and now you won't. That seems materially harmful to me, to reduce the sum total of people contributing to open source.

Compare that to the potential of falling down a slippery slope to "total censorship" and I think there's a reasonable case, in a utilitarian sense, for Github's actions here.

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

#446

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

grkvlt wrote: post #374

So, why on earth are similarly 'offensive' repositories like https://github.com/meh/retarded (may be NSFW based on language) still available? This seems either a very selective policy, or there is something else going on beyond the mere use of the word 'Retard' here. I found the example above with a simple Google search, and I'm sure there are many more that can be picked out, depending on the choice of obscenity or…

Like every site, GitHub acts under safe harbour. It can't and doesn't police every piece of content uploaded. But it can respond to reports. That's what's happened here.

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

#447

Post by MrDosu »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #319
thedz wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. This isn't censorship of the type that is illegal or not allowed. It is a private company deciding a word was inappropriate. 2. It seems like most in this comment thread agree that this action, as a singular act, is a good thing. The word was offensive. Github asked the repo to change it. They did. The end. 3. As for the larger context, the problem with the frequent use of slippery slope arguments and cries of "ce…

> This isn't censorship of the type that is illegal or not allowed. This is a weirdly common kind of thing for people to say. I don't understand what the point is supposed to be. It's still a bad thing. We have prohibitions on the government doing this because it's bad. We don't have prohibitions on people censoring third parties in their own homes, because that would be worse. This is still bad for all the same reas…

This is exactly the point.

If you are actively being stabbed, the legality of it is pretty irrelevant to your situation. It is about a place that hosts a large part of the open source community. Should a private company have power over all their contents?

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

#448

Post by onion2k »

bad_user wrote: post #424
onion2k wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GitHub censoring content means they are not a neutral platform for hosting public repositories and they are showing their potential for becoming the next Sourceforge. In the same way that because I punched my brother as a child I might go on to be the next Stalin.

Punching your brother doesn't make you Stalin, but it's still an action you have to apologize for, otherwise you're an asshole, hence my argument.

As you say, punching your brother doesn't make you Stalin, just as requesting a repo changes it's name doesn't mean you'll go on to infect all the downloads with malware.

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

#449

Post by warkid »

DanBC wrote: post #387
lordfoom wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why should you be able to say nigger and retard on hacker news? Why stop at open source repos? Why not extend it to all forums and social media?

You have to be careful in the way you use nigger or retard on HN. Calling other people a those will probably result in a comment killed by user flags. Repeated use will result in a shadow ban. Casual use of the word retard (not in the context of mechanisms) might see a few downvotes to poke people into more creative insults. Most people don't want to use such words and are glad they aren't used in normal conversation…

> Most people don't want to use such words and are glad they aren't used in normal conversation. They don't miss cross-burnings; they don't miss similarly violent words.

Most people don't have this tradition of "cross-burning" in their past and therefore don't attach any negative/violent meaning to the "n-word".

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

#450

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

jonah wrote: post #163
Randgalt wrote: post #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…

Martin Niemöller's quote[1] is an important one, possibly even more so today than when he first said it. We're so caught up in our own selfish bubbles, we're failing to consider those around us. There are many variations of the saying - several from himself, but the best known version goes: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionis…

Ah yes, the famous quote about Nazi Germany.

So, do people use the same quote about how the German government banned Nazi symbols in the aftermath of that?

Oh wait, no they don't. I wonder why that might be.

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