View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5484 | Composr | core | public | 2023-12-01 14:00 | 2024-07-25 18:01 |
| Reporter | PDStig | Assigned To | PDStig | ||
| Priority | normal | Severity | feature | ||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Summary | 5484: Pedantic: Replace all uses of the word "master" | ||||
| Description | As technology evolves and the coding landscape moves away from using the term "master" due to its highly-racist connotations, we should probably consider the same for Composr CMS. Proposed changes: * Master password -> Maintenance password * Master branch -> Main branch (should also make this change on the branch name itself) (probably should NOT make this change until v10 is out of support or v11 becomes master/main) * HACK_ATTACK_INFO: reporting any found vulnerabilities to their 'master' -> reporting any found vulnerabilities to their 'host' * Master site -> Main site or Primary site * Master database: Leave alone as this is still a used term in SQL * The master of redundant quick exit points -> The chief of redundant quick exit points * All others: Master -> Primary or Parent * Slave -> Secondary, child, or auxiliary (though I don't recall "slave" used anywhere in Composr) Also add a lang_spelling unit test check for the term. | ||||
| Additional Information | * I'm very confident in changing "Master password" to "Maintenance password" and will likely follow through with that; "Maintenance password" is more concise anyway, racist terms aside. * I will probably also follow through with Master branch -> Main branch. This is a change happening within the git community. All other changes, I'm holding off for now for further discussion. Please leave your thoughts below. | ||||
| Tags | Risk: General incompatibility , Roadmap: v11 | ||||
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| Sponsorship open | |||||
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I still don't understand regardless of connotations why these words in the context they exist would offend anyone at face value. I don't mind if the words are replaced with something more meaningful but if the reasoning is racism that seems daft to me. MasterCard better watch out, eh. Maybe censor their logo if it exists in Composr ;P |
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@Adam funny because I was just thinking about MasterCard when making this issue. The reason why the dev community is moving away from "master/slave" is because that was a term pairing which originated from slavery. I'm personally on the side of not feeding into concept creep (e.g. if a word is being used for its non-offensive meaning such as in this case, then there is no need to censor it or change it). However, I'm thinking large scale for Composr. Other people will see it and they will get offended by it / decide not to use Composr because of it. And there is an understandable reason why. Slavery is not one of the U.S.' proudest moments (of course, I can only speak for the U.S. but slavery has and sometimes does still exist in other countries). So, I think it is more beneficial to be PC (to a degree) and thus welcoming of more people to try Composr than to turn people away by not being careful of our word choices. We don't have MasterCard in Composr, haha. We just have CCBill, PayPal, and Authorize.net. Composr was not designed to be an immediate credit card processor. (Submitted again since the first time, my session was invalid) |
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The “master/slave” metaphor in technology dates back to at least 1904, describing a sidereal clock system at an observatory in Cape Town, according to a 2007 essay by Ron Eglash, a professor at the University of Michigan. https://www.wired.com/story/tech-confronts-use-labels-master-slave/#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9Cmaster%2Fslave%E2%80%9D%20metaphor,at%20the%20University%20of%20Michigan. That doesn't mean the terms aren't racist of course, to some people. As I said, no objections overall. Not many companies or products with slave in the name but there's quite a few with master. Young men are often called Master. Something can be mastered, etc. |
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Added "general incompatibility" tag. Changing the branch name from master to main, which I'll likely do as that is the new(-ish) GitLab standard, may break any code which focuses on branch names. Off of the top of my head, this would include the following: * _config.php for some users * The git addon (it prevents use on the master branch) * Possibly release tools |
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@Adam understandable, thus why I'm currently hesitant changing anything beyond "master password" (because I believe maintenance password is a better, more concise term anyway) and "master" branch (which is now "main" by GitLab standards). Everything else is pedantic; no set standard on them right now and no reasoning beyond racism. So at the moment, I don't think I will change anything else unless there are better reasons for doing so. I made a similar change with the term "lame". However, aside from that term also being offensive, I reasoned "lame" was a very vague term (unless referring to the LAME encoder), and that we should be using more concise terminology. E.g. "LAME_SPAM_HACK" doesn't mean much. So I changed it to "BLACKHOLE_SPAM_HACK" because it was being used when a spammer triggers the black hole. |
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Yes that sounds sensible. I do think Slave is the main issue when combined with Master, but Master on it's own shouldn't really offend anyone. I do agree Maintenance password is more on point and indicative. |
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I don't think I'm going to proceed with any further changes in this regard. "Master password" was the main issue and could be more concisely defined with "maintenance password" regardless of the racial history of the word master. |
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> the term "master" due to its highly-racist connotations I think that's silly without context. "Master" can mean a whole lot of things. Please let's avoid hyberbole when it comes to issues like this as it undermines communication around things that are actually highly-racist, and it also just turns people off from a subject they should otherwise care about (backlash-effect). > Master password -> Maintenance password That's fine, maintenance password is a better term anyway and we already made sure we didn't break compat. > HACK_ATTACK_INFO: reporting any found vulnerabilities to their 'master' -> reporting any found vulnerabilities to their 'host' Taskmaster, Spymaster - not anything to do with slaves. > Master site -> Main site or Primary site I believe this is talking about a master copy - so again, not anything to do with slaves. > Master database: Leave alone as this is still a used term in SQL Actually: https://dev.mysql.com/blog-archive/mysql-terminology-updates/ I think I already dealt with this in the v11_cloud branch. > The master of redundant quick exit points -> The chief of redundant quick exit points Schoolmaster, master's degree, master and apprentice - again nothing to do with slaves. > LAME_SPAM_HACK Good call, that is actually a little offensive and I didn't think of it. |
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I agree on your points, though this got me thinking about blacklist / whitelist. We use those terms. Should we change those as well (considering MySQL and others have)? blocklist and allowlist IMO are more concise terms anyway that better explain what the list does. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-12-01 14:00 | PDStig | New Issue | |
| 2023-12-01 14:03 | PDStig | Additional Information Updated | |
| 2023-12-01 14:06 | PDStig | Tag Attached: Roadmap: v11 | |
| 2023-12-01 14:07 | PDStig | Description Updated | |
| 2023-12-04 18:01 | Adam Edington | Note Added: 0008088 | |
| 2023-12-04 18:04 | Adam Edington | Note Edited: 0008088 | |
| 2023-12-04 18:06 | Adam Edington | Note Edited: 0008088 | |
| 2023-12-04 18:07 | Adam Edington | Note Edited: 0008088 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:11 | Guest | Note Added: 0008090 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:12 | PDStig | Note Added: 0008091 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:20 | PDStig | Description Updated | |
| 2023-12-05 00:20 | PDStig | Description Updated | |
| 2023-12-05 00:21 | Adam Edington | Note Added: 0008092 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:24 | PDStig | Tag Attached: Risk: General incompatibility | |
| 2023-12-05 00:26 | PDStig | Note Added: 0008093 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:26 | Adam Edington | Note Edited: 0008092 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:27 | Adam Edington | Note Edited: 0008092 | |
| 2023-12-05 00:30 | PDStig | Description Updated | |
| 2023-12-05 13:16 | PDStig | Note Added: 0008095 | |
| 2023-12-05 13:17 | PDStig | Note Edited: 0008095 | |
| 2023-12-05 20:05 | Adam Edington | Note Added: 0008103 | |
| 2024-03-30 03:39 | PDStig | Assigned To | => user4172 |
| 2024-03-30 03:39 | PDStig | Status | Not Assigned => Resolved |
| 2024-03-30 03:39 | PDStig | Resolution | open => fixed |
| 2024-03-30 03:39 | PDStig | Note Added: 0008486 | |
| 2024-03-30 03:39 | PDStig | Project | Composr alpha bug reports => Composr |
| 2024-03-30 03:44 | PDStig | Category | General / Uncategorised => core |
| 2024-07-25 01:05 | Chris Graham | Relationship added | related to 4333 |
| 2024-07-25 01:24 | Chris Graham | Note Added: 0008923 | |
| 2024-07-25 01:35 | PDStig | Note Added: 0008925 | |
| 2024-07-25 18:01 | Chris Graham | Relationship added | related to 5483 |
