Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [PATCH] CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology

Dan Williams
2020-07-07T04:19:19Z

On Mon, Jul 6, 2020 at 9:07 AM Mike Rapoport <rppt@linux.ibm.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Chris,
>
> On Mon, Jul 06, 2020 at 12:45:34PM +0000, Chris Mason via Ksummit-discuss wrote:
> > On 5 Jul 2020, at 0:55, Willy Tarreau wrote:
> >
> > > On Sat, Jul 04, 2020 at 01:02:51PM -0700, Dan Williams wrote:
> > >> +Non-inclusive terminology has that same distracting effect which is
> > >> why
> > >> +it is a style issue for Linux, it injures developer efficiency.
> > >
> > > I'm personally thinking that for a non-native speaker it's already
> > > difficult to find the best term to describe something, but having to
> > > apply an extra level of filtering on the found words to figure whether
> > > they are allowed by the language police is even more difficult.
> >
> > Since our discussions are public, we’ve always had to deal with
> > comments from people outside the community on a range of topics. But
> > inside the kernel, it’s just a group of developers trying to help each
> > other produce the best quality of code. We’ve got a long history
> > together and in general I think we’re pretty good at assuming good
> > intent.
>
> I don't think anybody doubts your intentions. But they say, the road to
> hell is paved with good intentions.
>
> I had a "privilege" to live in the USSR and back there Newspeak was not a
> fiction but a reality.
>
> And despite the good intent, I have a really strong feeling that this
> could be a step in a wrong direction...

I've experienced some professional training classes for visiting other
countries and they tell you helpful things like "avoid making jokes
about X" or "Y topic is sensitive". It's not about censoring it's more
about how to keep discussion focused on the job at hand. So I'm hoping
this is more of the mundane advice of "what's the best way to
communicate my point efficiently to the widest possible audience" and
not a "step in a wrong direction"... time will tell.