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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'

#611

Post by hhandoko »

seivan wrote: post #588
hhandoko wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm genuinely curious, why do you take the view that this is a private conversation in public?

It's his/her repo, not being sold, not being advertised, not being linked to specific people e.g harassment. It's not for YOU to care about. It's dongle-joke between two friends in the open. Who the fuck are you to act on that? I don't mean you personally, I mean in general. Don't compare this to racism or hate-crime like someone else did. That's just watering down words.

Got the reference to the dongle-gate now, and for the record I don't agree on public shaming.

The fact that this got into the HN front page and received hundreds of comments means that some people do care and this is an actual issue(?), censorship or what not.

Which is sort of my point. You never know when your repository will become popular for reasons good or bad, but it will reflect on both the author and GitHub.

GitHub will probably get the flak either way: for censorship if they try to force the author to change it, or they might be seen condoning the behaviour if they do not do anything.

Just an aside. I'd like to think that anything people put on GitHub is going to become somewhat like public record. It will stay there long after the project has been abandoned.

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

#613

Post by jlarocco »

ersii wrote: post #411
jlarocco wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Nobody is saying what GitHub did was illegal or not allowed. 2. My biggest complaint about blocking the word is that they singled out this one guy. Even the parent repo still has "retard" and is still available. How ridiculously arbitrary is that? As a GitHub user do I have to worry that maybe one day somebody at GitHub will get butthurt and randomly disable my account over a technicality? Either make the rules ap…

Regarding 2) It does say in the linked message [1] from GitHub Support that this repository (nixxquality/WebMConverter) was disable as a consequence of the parent repository (WebMBro/WebMConverter) got disabled by GitHub. [1] https://imgur.com/QC51FZz

It looks like it's changed now, but at the time of my posting the parent repo was up and still used "retards", despite what the image says.

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

#614

Post by [deleted] »

ersii wrote: post #411
jlarocco wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Nobody is saying what GitHub did was illegal or not allowed. 2. My biggest complaint about blocking the word is that they singled out this one guy. Even the parent repo still has "retard" and is still available. How ridiculously arbitrary is that? As a GitHub user do I have to worry that maybe one day somebody at GitHub will get butthurt and randomly disable my account over a technicality? Either make the rules ap…

Regarding 2) It does say in the linked message [1] from GitHub Support that this repository (nixxquality/WebMConverter) was disable as a consequence of the parent repository (WebMBro/WebMConverter) got disabled by GitHub. [1] https://imgur.com/QC51FZz

[deleted]

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

#615

Post by KirinDave »

plonh wrote: post #603
KirinDave wrote: post #561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"idiot" is not a synonym for the word in question here. This is similar to saying that "t *ny" and "transsexual" are synonyms. They're not. Let me give you an example of how referring to you in an insulting way can change your attitudes and discourage conversation. 1. Words have a lesser impact on you because you've [a lucky person] who doesn't live a life were they have been used to deny you opportunity and basic hu…

Uh, you might want to look up "idiot" in the OED. "moron" also.

Do you think it's clever to point out 'archaic' uses? Someone else has been trying to make the case that we also live 200 years in the past and modern social context shouldn't be relevant.

"Uh", at least try to keep abreast of the conversation "also."

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

#616

Post by renata »

hhandoko wrote: post #215
ryandrake wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would also be ethical and legal to comb through their hosted content to remove any other words, but I'd argue it's a ret...er...wasteful use of their resources. Also, I must have missed the memo when 'retarded' became "generally accepted as an offensive word". Are "stupid" "moronic" and "idiotic" also offensive? I guess I need to keep up with the times--as soon as I think I've figured out the list of everything th…

If you direct it at a particular person, then your intent is to offend, and by all means it is offensive.

So not at all in the case of this repo?

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

#617

Post by simeonf »

bduerst wrote: post #249
foiboitoi wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free speech isn't just a legality. It's a valuable principal that's stood the test of time of being one of the few core features of functional societies. Free speech is a value that we should all uphold regardless whether it legally applies or not. So stop making excuses for bad corporate behaviour.

"Free Speech" isn't a blank check to say and do whatever you want. Even SCOTUS says that direct threats of violence aren't protected by the first amendment. I'm tired of reading people nebulously defining "free speech philosophies" online to act as a shield to justify nefarious behavior on private property. Free speech exists as a protection from government censorship, and it doesn't protect you for acting like a dic…

Worst xkcd ever. http://sealedabstract.com/rants/re-xkcd-1357-free-speech/ is a decent reply if less pithy.

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

#618

Post by to3m »

_jgdh wrote: post #599
to3m wrote: post #593

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a bastard - in the strict sense - which is uncommonly used nowadays, other than mischievously - if born out of wedlock. Being brought up by a single parent is a separate matter. Urban dictionary has a definition for git that is a bit closer to how I've always understood it. See #2: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Git

I misspoke when I implied that all children brought up by single parents are bastards. In any case, my point stands. Github makes children born out of wedlock feel unwelcome and they should change their name.

Git may be a synonym (sort of) for "bastard", but not for all of its meanings. I doubt anybody would link "git" to birth out of wedlock.

(Judging by this particular hoohah though it may be true though that Github might eventually turn out unwelcoming to those fitting definitions #2 or #3 from the above link.)

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

#619

Post by grotsnot »

andylei wrote: post #565
th0waway wrote: post #564

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sooo, what you're saying is that it's OK for any company to ignore any rights of yours that they don't agree with? Interesting. Of course, it isn't illegal, but does that still mean they should do it?

rights? you have a right to save your content onto their servers?

That's what users pay them for, is it not?

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

#620

Post by eli_gottlieb »

KirinDave wrote: post #561
sklogic wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course semantics can hurt, obviously. But the choice of synonyms does not, and anyone claiming otherwise must try really hart to prove such an outrageous claim.

"idiot" is not a synonym for the word in question here. This is similar to saying that "t *ny" and "transsexual" are synonyms. They're not. Let me give you an example of how referring to you in an insulting way can change your attitudes and discourage conversation. 1. Words have a lesser impact on you because you've [a lucky person] who doesn't live a life were they have been used to deny you opportunity and basic hu…

The fact that you are hurt by certain words doesn't actually grant you quite enough moral authority to call up a rage-mob and apply it to the face of every entity that acts as a medium to provide an open, public space in which some people say the words that hurt you. There is real harm in rendering public space hostage to the moral outrage of self-selected groups and individuals.

It's nowhere near the harm caused by genocide, of course, but we're not even physically in the realm of genocide, so that was never an accurate framing in the first place.

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