From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91F6EC48BE5 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:00:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6943661356 for ; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:00:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S232784AbhFPMCw (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:02:52 -0400 Received: from cloud.peff.net ([104.130.231.41]:57460 "EHLO cloud.peff.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S232774AbhFPMCu (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:02:50 -0400 Received: (qmail 12786 invoked by uid 109); 16 Jun 2021 12:00:44 -0000 Received: from Unknown (HELO peff.net) (10.0.1.2) by cloud.peff.net (qpsmtpd/0.94) with ESMTP; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:00:44 +0000 Authentication-Results: cloud.peff.net; auth=none Received: (qmail 25968 invoked by uid 111); 16 Jun 2021 12:00:44 -0000 Received: from coredump.intra.peff.net (HELO sigill.intra.peff.net) (10.0.0.2) by peff.net (qpsmtpd/0.94) with (TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 encrypted) ESMTPS; Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:00:44 -0400 Authentication-Results: peff.net; auth=none Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:00:43 -0400 From: Jeff King To: "Robert P. J. Day" Cc: Junio C Hamano , =?utf-8?B?w4Z2YXIgQXJuZmrDtnLDsA==?= Bjarmason , git@vger.kernel.org, Derrick Stolee , Felipe Contreras , Bagas Sanjaya , Robert Karszniewicz , Emily Shaffer Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/6] doc: replace "alice" and "bob" examples Message-ID: References: <9217211e-aa26-c1c9-2528-a29b93ff174e@crashcourse.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit In-Reply-To: <9217211e-aa26-c1c9-2528-a29b93ff174e@crashcourse.ca> Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 05:30:14AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote: > On Wed, 16 Jun 2021, Junio C Hamano wrote: > > > Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason writes: > > > > > I suggested in [1] that the "alice" and "bob" examples in our > > > documentation would be better written without a reference to such > > > fictional characters, for reasons that have nothing to do with trying > > > to bend over backwards to avoid any reference to people's gender. It > > > just makes for better documentation. > > > > I actually do not mind cast of characters with concrete names, > > especially when there are more than three parties involved and > > having names for them help clarify the description. But I agree > > with you that Alice and Bob should be reserved for situations where > > appearance of Eve would reasonably be anticipated, or the use of > > these two names become distracting to those who happen to be aware > > how these characters are often used in CS literature. > > > > Perhaps s/Alice/Tabby/ and s/Bob/Fido/ or something like that ;-)? > > i look forward to the renaming of "git" to something more innocuous > and palatable because, somewhere, someone could conceivably, > hypothetically, theoretically take exception to it. > > seriously, can we start a second mailing list where people want to > talk about, you know, version control? Can you please tone down your responses a bit? One of the points under discussion here is whether those names end up being confusing to users because of their use in other places (like cryptographic examples). And I think the comprehensibility of our documentation is quite relevant to the project. But even if this were done purely for reasons of gender-neutrality, I still think your response is inappropriate. You are quite welcome to argue against such a change, but snarky or dismissive responses aren't welcome. (I'm referring to the last paragraph of your other response in this thread, too. I did find the wikipedia link you sent earlier helpful to the discussion, and personally I don't find the names confusing at all, for the reasons it mentioned. But that may not be universal). -Peff