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Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

sferik.github.com

21–30 of 59 posts

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#21
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love the name (though I'm sure many would consider it sexist).

(because it is)

Can you elaborate on why? It's an honest question, because I genuinely don't understand why. Good to see the 'ole downvote-without-discussion at work, too.

I understand sexism to be about discriminating based on gender. Does it also mean "naming software a body part a certain gender happens to have?" If I name my software "penis", or "testicle" (a great name for a tongue-in-cheek test suite) am I going to be accused of being sexist toward men?

As for "clit", can I understand potentially offensive to certain people who are sensitive to sexual matters? Sure. Demeaning or discriminatory to women? Please convince me of it. I think the sexism brush is getting really loose, and it's such a strong, legally-damaging word to throw around.

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#22

A brief plug for my friend's command line tool TTYtter: http://www.floodgap.com/software/ttytter/ super-crazy powerful, has an interactive mode, is scriptable, etc, etc... Also, I'm glad you are able to manipulate lists in T by just typing names (t list add presidents BarackObama Jasonfinn). This is a _total_ pain on the website where you can only manipulate lists by clicking about 5 buttons per person you want to ad…

[deleted]

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#24
post #20

So if someone follows me, and I don't follow them back, I become their leader? /me unfollows everyone on a serious note: Leaders? too cool for school?

I was torn about what to call them. I actually tweeted a request for suggestions: https://twitter.com/sferik/status/193015186045681665 I got some interesting replies but ended up going with "leaders" based on the logic that if someone follows you, you are their leader. Simple and easy to remember. That said, I'm still open to other suggestions.

Ah, I see. Makes perfect sense.

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#25

A brief plug for my friend's command line tool TTYtter: http://www.floodgap.com/software/ttytter/ super-crazy powerful, has an interactive mode, is scriptable, etc, etc... Also, I'm glad you are able to manipulate lists in T by just typing names (t list add presidents BarackObama Jasonfinn). This is a _total_ pain on the website where you can only manipulate lists by clicking about 5 buttons per person you want to ad…

You beat me to it. I only know Cameron from his work and his mailing list. His Retrobits site is a kick:

http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#26
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(because it is)

Can you elaborate on why? It's an honest question, because I genuinely don't understand why. Good to see the 'ole downvote-without-discussion at work, too. I understand sexism to be about discriminating based on gender. Does it also mean "naming software a body part a certain gender happens to have?" If I name my software "penis", or "testicle" (a great name for a tongue-in-cheek test suite) am I going to be accused…

It's not my job to teach you Sexism 101, so I'll be brief. It reinforces to the minority of women in tech that they will be routinely otherized by their colleagues.

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#27
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on why? It's an honest question, because I genuinely don't understand why. Good to see the 'ole downvote-without-discussion at work, too. I understand sexism to be about discriminating based on gender. Does it also mean "naming software a body part a certain gender happens to have?" If I name my software "penis", or "testicle" (a great name for a tongue-in-cheek test suite) am I going to be accused…

It's not my job to teach you Sexism 101, so I'll be brief. It reinforces to the minority of women in tech that they will be routinely otherized by their colleagues.

I'll ignore the pointless first statement just as you ignored several of my questions. If you don't want people questioning your opinions, don't share them publicly.

How, exactly, does the choice of name minimize women? If a woman wrote 'clit', would you say the same thing? If a woman wrote 'dong', would we call her sexist? I understand the problem, but we're really throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. An effective solution to stamping out sexism in the workplace does not, in my opinion, hinge upon commanding people to ignore the presence of their sexual organs and doing so is, I think, more damaging.

I don't want to live in a world where the mere mention of a body part launches an accusation of sexism. Neither do several women in tech that I know. Can we agree that in certain cases, we're being a touch too sensitive when it comes to fixing the problem, and we should really choose more important battles than accusing a dev of sexism due to the name of a one-off, pointless Twitter client that he's not billing as the next Tweetdeck?

Fix sexism: Treat everybody equally, regardless of gender identity.

Don't fix sexism: Pretend gender identity and, by extension, sex, doesn't exist.

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#29
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not my job to teach you Sexism 101, so I'll be brief. It reinforces to the minority of women in tech that they will be routinely otherized by their colleagues.

I'll ignore the pointless first statement just as you ignored several of my questions. If you don't want people questioning your opinions, don't share them publicly. How, exactly, does the choice of name minimize women? If a woman wrote 'clit', would you say the same thing? If a woman wrote 'dong', would we call her sexist? I understand the problem, but we're really throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. An e…

With a universe of possible ASCII combinations to choose from - just because a particular iteration is witty, it does not automatically exclude it from offending one or more groups of people (whatever the reasoning).

If you want widespread adoption of your tool, your best bet is to try to offend as few groups as possible.

Re: Introducing T: A command-line power tool for Twitter

#30
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(because it is)

Can you elaborate on why? It's an honest question, because I genuinely don't understand why. Good to see the 'ole downvote-without-discussion at work, too. I understand sexism to be about discriminating based on gender. Does it also mean "naming software a body part a certain gender happens to have?" If I name my software "penis", or "testicle" (a great name for a tongue-in-cheek test suite) am I going to be accused…

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