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They also gladly index and help you find brainfuck repos. I can't say fuck on TV, but it's ok on Github. I can't say retard on Github, but it's ok on TV. I'm

They also gladly index and help you find brainfuck repos. I can't say fuck on TV, but it's ok on Github. I can't say retard on Github, but it's ok on TV. I'm glad we've accomplished something here.

chuckreynolds 11y ago
lol right? sigh
DanBC 11y ago
Doesn't that reassure you? Assuming this letter is true: they're not stopping you from using offensive words, they're stopping you from using a very small set of words because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. TV is a poor example: it's fine to make jokes about male rape on TV, but everyone loses their shit when an obscured nipple is shown.
- Mikushi 11y ago
  >Assuming this letter is true: they're not stopping you from using offensive words, they're stopping you from using a very small set of words because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. Says who? What you are describing is textbook censorship. You're offended? So what. Not my problem, step away from the computer.
  - ectoplasm 11y ago
    > You're offended? So what. Not my problem, step away from the computer. Fortunately, you don't own GitHub.
    - DanBC 11y ago
      The cognitive dissonance of people downvoting comments when they are complaining about censorship is baffling. The hypocrisy is weird.
      - palmer_eldritch 11y ago
        Downvoting isn't equal to censorship. The content remains available for anyone with an account. The commit history of this project remains available too... however, they forbid the authors to use the word in the live version if they want their project to be hosted on github. Now, I guess it's their prerogative to set the rules for people using their service. But I think it's also fair to say that being the facebook of programming it feels like they're kind of bullying the authors into compliance... I'm pretty sure it's a really a non-story. Someone at github overreacted when a complaint was received. Big deal. If they started blocking accounts for reasons like this on a regular basis, many people would move somewhere else. It's not like they don't have competitors with equally good solutions. Their only advantage is their large userbase.
        DanBC 11y ago
        > I'm pretty sure it's a really a non-story. I agree. In this thead I'm assuming that the email is real.
        morganvachon 11y ago
        > Downvoting isn't equal to censorship. Except when it is. Given sufficient downvotes, a post will fade to the same color as the background, making it easy to scroll past and not see it. Whether you want to admit it or not, brigading happens here too, and once in a while a perfectly valid, thoughtful, and reasoned response is silenced because it doesn't fit in with the group mentality here. The only solution for this issue would be for everyone to adopt a personal policy of only downvoting trolls, intentionally misleading comments, off topic comments, spam, and "me too!" style comments that don't contribute to the discussion. Unfortunately we're only human, and instead of rebutting a comment one disagrees with, many of the users here take the lazy path and downvote. There's no easy fix for that, so the brigading continues, as does the censorship of valid but controversial ideas. As for the topic at hand; while I agree with most people that the word "retard" is offensive and derogatory towards a specific group of people, I find it hilarious that its use is being questioned by people running a site/service named after an equally offensive and derogatory word.
- retrogradeorbit 11y ago
  > because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. No it doesn't. Where's your proof? Plenty of people have said plenty of nasty things throughout the years, and no one died. Yet our empire uses remote control drones to bomb small children, and that's totally OK. (Now there's a real "culture that causes actual harm") What is really harmful, and what isn't? Take a good, hard look around. Sticks and stones (and bombs) will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Try it. Go on. Call me whatever you want. And watch me not give two fucks what you think.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
    > Sticks and stones (and bombs) will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I guess you've never experienced school.
    - tracker1 11y ago
      that has to be one of the absolute most asinine concepts of insanity ever unleashed on the public. Only someone deprived of all sanity and logic would assume that the censoring of certain words would prevent someone from being subject to abuse. You are obviously incapable of the capacity for such understanding, what with your brain cavity filled with fish entrails and pig excrement. I say the above as a bit tongue in cheek. I've made similar statements in the past regarding being asked to implement a language/bad-word filter on a sight. By contrast, "That is the most fucking bad-ass thing I've ever seen," is a positive statement but uses words that would normally be filtered. While the former statement is completely insensitive and insulting without using any "bad" words.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    There are cases of people who have completed suicide because of bullying based on their LD. There are cases of people who have attempted suicide because of bullying based on their LD. These are significant because people with LD are under-represented in suicide statistics. > Try it. Go on. Call me whatever you want. And watch me not give two fucks what you think. Next time you need medical treatment to keep you alive I'll tell the doctor that you have a severe and profound learning disability, and that will limit the length of your life and severely impairs the quality of your life. I'll argue that we should avoid resuscitation, and maybe even stop food and water. Then I'll see if your corpse gives two fucks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19570364 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19570364 http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/our-news/blog/120919/ http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/our-news/blog/120919/
- shkkmo 11y ago
  'retarded' in it's current usage is not offensive. It means "very foolish or stupid." 'retarded' in it's dated usage is offensive, but it wasn't being used in that sense in the repo in question. This dated usage has fortunately fallen pretty much completely out of common usage. If I tell you "my brother is retarded" you know exactly what I mean because if I had wanted to tell you that my brother has a learning disability I would have used a different word than 'retarded'.
  - petercooper 11y ago
    So like how "lame" used to mean crippled or physically disabled but now generally doesn't in an informal context?
    - shkkmo 11y ago
      Except for "lame" in a formal context is still a relevant term. I can't remember the last time I heard "retarded" used with the intention of referring to a developmentally disabled kids. Whenever I do hear that usage, I do point out to those people that the term when used that way is offensive and they should stop using it that way.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    > 'retarded' in it's current usage is not offensive. It means "very foolish or stupid." Maybe where you live. Where I'm from "retard" is about as bad as nigger. Feel free to say it. Just don't be surprised when people tell you how annoyed they are at you for using it. EDIT: not quite as bad. Media will use "the n word", but would not say "the r word".
vacri 11y ago
> I can't say fuck on TV, but it's ok on Github. 'Fuck' is frequently used on TV.
- Houshalter 11y ago
  No it's not. It's one of the "seven dirty words": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words You can get fined a lot of money if you say it over the air. The FCC doesn't regulate cable, however. But those companies set their own standards, as do advertisers, and do limit or ban cuss words. Typically cuss words will be bleeped if it is used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleep_censor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleep_censor . However people are so used to bleeps that their mind often fills in the cuss word.
  - dragonwriter 11y ago
    > No it's not. It may be frequent by some standard (e.g., some threshold of average number of total number uses per unit wall clock time), but only on a very small percentage of TV outlets (particularly, premium cable outlets that don't have to deal with either advertisers or broadcast regulation.)
  - vacri 11y ago
    'Seven Dirty Words' is from 1972, and includes 'piss' and 'shit'. It's hardly a canonical reference for 2015. I recall Grampa Simpson using 'piss' in the mid-90s, for example...
    - Houshalter 11y ago
      That's true, but I can't find an official list of bad words. Fuck is still forbidden as far as I know.

They also gladly index and help you find brainfuck repos. I can't say fuck on TV, but it's ok on Github. I can't say retard on Github, but it's ok on TV. I'm glad we've accomplished something here.

chuckreynolds 11y ago

lol right? sigh

DanBC 11y ago

Doesn't that reassure you? Assuming this letter is true: they're not stopping you from using offensive words, they're stopping you from using a very small set of words because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. TV is a poor example: it's fine to make jokes about male rape on TV, but everyone loses their shit when an obscured nipple is shown.

Mikushi 11y ago
>Assuming this letter is true: they're not stopping you from using offensive words, they're stopping you from using a very small set of words because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. Says who? What you are describing is textbook censorship. You're offended? So what. Not my problem, step away from the computer.
- ectoplasm 11y ago
  > You're offended? So what. Not my problem, step away from the computer. Fortunately, you don't own GitHub.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    The cognitive dissonance of people downvoting comments when they are complaining about censorship is baffling. The hypocrisy is weird.
    - palmer_eldritch 11y ago
      Downvoting isn't equal to censorship. The content remains available for anyone with an account. The commit history of this project remains available too... however, they forbid the authors to use the word in the live version if they want their project to be hosted on github. Now, I guess it's their prerogative to set the rules for people using their service. But I think it's also fair to say that being the facebook of programming it feels like they're kind of bullying the authors into compliance... I'm pretty sure it's a really a non-story. Someone at github overreacted when a complaint was received. Big deal. If they started blocking accounts for reasons like this on a regular basis, many people would move somewhere else. It's not like they don't have competitors with equally good solutions. Their only advantage is their large userbase.
      - DanBC 11y ago
        > I'm pretty sure it's a really a non-story. I agree. In this thead I'm assuming that the email is real.
      - morganvachon 11y ago
        > Downvoting isn't equal to censorship. Except when it is. Given sufficient downvotes, a post will fade to the same color as the background, making it easy to scroll past and not see it. Whether you want to admit it or not, brigading happens here too, and once in a while a perfectly valid, thoughtful, and reasoned response is silenced because it doesn't fit in with the group mentality here. The only solution for this issue would be for everyone to adopt a personal policy of only downvoting trolls, intentionally misleading comments, off topic comments, spam, and "me too!" style comments that don't contribute to the discussion. Unfortunately we're only human, and instead of rebutting a comment one disagrees with, many of the users here take the lazy path and downvote. There's no easy fix for that, so the brigading continues, as does the censorship of valid but controversial ideas. As for the topic at hand; while I agree with most people that the word "retard" is offensive and derogatory towards a specific group of people, I find it hilarious that its use is being questioned by people running a site/service named after an equally offensive and derogatory word.
retrogradeorbit 11y ago
> because those words contribute to a culture that cause actual harm. No it doesn't. Where's your proof? Plenty of people have said plenty of nasty things throughout the years, and no one died. Yet our empire uses remote control drones to bomb small children, and that's totally OK. (Now there's a real "culture that causes actual harm") What is really harmful, and what isn't? Take a good, hard look around. Sticks and stones (and bombs) will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Try it. Go on. Call me whatever you want. And watch me not give two fucks what you think.
- TazeTSchnitzel 11y ago
  > Sticks and stones (and bombs) will break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I guess you've never experienced school.
  - tracker1 11y ago
    that has to be one of the absolute most asinine concepts of insanity ever unleashed on the public. Only someone deprived of all sanity and logic would assume that the censoring of certain words would prevent someone from being subject to abuse. You are obviously incapable of the capacity for such understanding, what with your brain cavity filled with fish entrails and pig excrement. I say the above as a bit tongue in cheek. I've made similar statements in the past regarding being asked to implement a language/bad-word filter on a sight. By contrast, "That is the most fucking bad-ass thing I've ever seen," is a positive statement but uses words that would normally be filtered. While the former statement is completely insensitive and insulting without using any "bad" words.
- DanBC 11y ago
  There are cases of people who have completed suicide because of bullying based on their LD. There are cases of people who have attempted suicide because of bullying based on their LD. These are significant because people with LD are under-represented in suicide statistics. > Try it. Go on. Call me whatever you want. And watch me not give two fucks what you think. Next time you need medical treatment to keep you alive I'll tell the doctor that you have a severe and profound learning disability, and that will limit the length of your life and severely impairs the quality of your life. I'll argue that we should avoid resuscitation, and maybe even stop food and water. Then I'll see if your corpse gives two fucks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19570364 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19570364 http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/our-news/blog/120919/ http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/our-news/blog/120919/
shkkmo 11y ago
'retarded' in it's current usage is not offensive. It means "very foolish or stupid." 'retarded' in it's dated usage is offensive, but it wasn't being used in that sense in the repo in question. This dated usage has fortunately fallen pretty much completely out of common usage. If I tell you "my brother is retarded" you know exactly what I mean because if I had wanted to tell you that my brother has a learning disability I would have used a different word than 'retarded'.
- petercooper 11y ago
  So like how "lame" used to mean crippled or physically disabled but now generally doesn't in an informal context?
  - shkkmo 11y ago
    Except for "lame" in a formal context is still a relevant term. I can't remember the last time I heard "retarded" used with the intention of referring to a developmentally disabled kids. Whenever I do hear that usage, I do point out to those people that the term when used that way is offensive and they should stop using it that way.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > 'retarded' in it's current usage is not offensive. It means "very foolish or stupid." Maybe where you live. Where I'm from "retard" is about as bad as nigger. Feel free to say it. Just don't be surprised when people tell you how annoyed they are at you for using it. EDIT: not quite as bad. Media will use "the n word", but would not say "the r word".

vacri 11y ago

> I can't say fuck on TV, but it's ok on Github. 'Fuck' is frequently used on TV.

Houshalter 11y ago
No it's not. It's one of the "seven dirty words": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words You can get fined a lot of money if you say it over the air. The FCC doesn't regulate cable, however. But those companies set their own standards, as do advertisers, and do limit or ban cuss words. Typically cuss words will be bleeped if it is used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleep_censor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleep_censor . However people are so used to bleeps that their mind often fills in the cuss word.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > No it's not. It may be frequent by some standard (e.g., some threshold of average number of total number uses per unit wall clock time), but only on a very small percentage of TV outlets (particularly, premium cable outlets that don't have to deal with either advertisers or broadcast regulation.)
- vacri 11y ago
  'Seven Dirty Words' is from 1972, and includes 'piss' and 'shit'. It's hardly a canonical reference for 2015. I recall Grampa Simpson using 'piss' in the mid-90s, for example...
  - Houshalter 11y ago
    That's true, but I can't find an official list of bad words. Fuck is still forbidden as far as I know.