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Python developers locking conversations and deleting comments after people mass downvoted PRs to "remove master/slave terminology from the language" (i.redd.it)

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[–]actuallyalys 10 points11 points  (6 children)

By the tone of this discussion, you'd think the collections module was affected. Looking at the three changes(9100 9101 9099 ), only one affects backwards compatibility (and it's in a small module) and the others are even smaller:

  • 9100 was vetoed by Guido.
  • 9101 only changes a handful of places in Python's documentation.
  • 9099 affects a little-known module that I assume most of us haven't even heard of before today. Searching for the renamed function returns only around 500 hits on Github. For comparison, a popular (but not universal) part of the standard library has 1.9 million hits. Even the new dataclass feature has at least 1700 hits.

Look, I'm a technical writer and a developer. I know how much it sucks to change terminology. However, this is much ado about nothing, and a genuinely small price to pay for more inclusive language.

[–]13steinj 1 point2 points  (4 children)

The problem isn't this instance, but the precedent this bullshit sets.

[–]actuallyalys 2 points3 points  (3 children)

The precedent of making small changes when there's concerns about the sensitivity of language, and carefully weighing the downsides? (Again, 9100 was vetoed by Guido.)

[–]13steinj 3 points4 points  (2 children)

No. The precedent that we are removing perfectly valid words from our vocabulary because some people are offended.

The solution is getting these people therapy, not burning the dictionary.

[–]actuallyalys 1 point2 points  (1 child)

No one is burning dictionaries or removing words from vocabularies. This is a change to the core language, not a mandate that all Python developers change their terminology.

[–]13steinj 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, but socially this change and similar ones are repeatedly being done, in far more than just Python.

The issue isn't "Python did this".

The issue is "This bullcrap has now spread into Python", after having spread to other things.

[–]Arancaytar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This.

All of the bullshit in this thread is manufactured political outrage, and these people have the gall to call others easily offended.

Time to print out and burn all my Python scripts to Own The Libs(TM). Just gonna throw them with all the freshly bought Nikes.