View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0004261 | Composr | core | public | 2020-06-08 15:01 | 2020-06-09 02:36 |
| Reporter | Chris Graham | Assigned To | Chris Graham | ||
| Severity | Feature-request | ||||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | |||||
| Fixed in Version | |||||
| Summary | 0004261: Change whitelist/blacklist terminology | ||||
| Description | Generally in society there is a sense for 'white' being good and 'black'/'dark' being bad. Examples: - Whitelist vs Blacklist (the issue being discussed here) - Black magic - Black arts / Dark arts - Black humour / Dark humour - Black/white thinking Brains are association-making machines, and they work on both subconscious and conscious levels. If people keep hearing black as bad, they will generalise that on a subconscious level, which may contribute to racism. I know it may sound a bit silly to some, but I think it is actually accurate if you understand human psychology. Actually I've thought this was a problem for years, and obviously it is difficult/disruptive to change a language and a society to remove negative associations that are deeply embedded. But we can make a start. I hadn't even thought about blacklist/whitelist being problematic specifically as it's so ingrained, but other projects have started using exclusion-list/inclusion-list, which actually is clearer anyway, so making this change really is dealing with low-hanging fruit. | ||||
| Additional Information | There is also master/slave terminology, which we reference only slightly. This is a different kind of problem to white/black - it normalises what is a racially-charged term that should really only be used in the sense of discussion historic inequities. Drupal changed it years ago https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/2275877. However, I do think this is problematic to change as it's probably built into the SQL spec, and the DB vendors are the ones who really need to change it. If downstream changes it inconsistently then it will just confuse everybody. IMO it's best to focus activist energy there, then downstream can follow. If there is other terminology we should change please bring it up. | ||||
| Tags | Roadmap: v11 | ||||
| Time estimation (hours) | 1 | ||||
| Sponsorship open | |||||
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I want to preempt anyone who may talk about slippery slopes. We can deal with issues in a practical way as we find them, and it doesn't commit us to any particular further action unless we individually and collectively decide to do it, with proper thought and discussion. However, societies continue to improve over time, so further improvements are likely. Maybe some day we will decide it is worth removing the word 'kill' for example. It's up to us, based on what we think is important and what we think we can achieve, at any point in history. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-06-08 15:01 | Chris Graham | New Issue | |
| 2020-06-08 15:01 | Chris Graham | Tag Attached: Roadmap: v11 | |
| 2020-06-08 15:04 | Chris Graham | Additional Information Updated | View Revisions |
| 2020-06-08 15:04 | Chris Graham | Description Updated | View Revisions |
| 2020-06-08 15:07 | Chris Graham | Note Added: 0006588 | |
| 2020-06-08 15:07 | Chris Graham | Note Edited: 0006588 | View Revisions |
| 2020-06-09 02:36 | Chris Graham | Assigned To | => Chris Graham |
| 2020-06-09 02:36 | Chris Graham | Status | non-assigned => resolved |
| 2020-06-09 02:36 | Chris Graham | Resolution | open => fixed |
| 2020-06-09 02:36 | Chris Graham | Description Updated | View Revisions |
