News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by thfuran on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:21PM (#36606539)
Do you think things like removing "blacklist" from open source projects are meaningfully related to marginalized folks' struggles to get afforded basic dignity?
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by cubefox on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:24PM (#36606582)
Not to mention removing "master" as the main branch name in Git.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by sterlind on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:31PM (#36606688)
I think removing "master" is probably just virtue signaling, but so what? It's trivial for me to switch my projects to "main", and then I can get back to my life. It's a weird hill to die on.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by vorpalhex on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:47PM (#36606862)
You can't appease arbitrary and meaningless demands.

There will just be more of them.

So you remove "master" and "blacklist", then next week it's "brown bag" and "merit".

So instead we pick a reasonable point, draw a line in a sand and indicate a hard boundary. We say no. We will not play a game of trying to appease arbitrary demands.

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by esafak on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:44PM (#36607593)
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by yanderekko on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:29PM (#36606659)
Going after mentions of "fields" is going to make 2024 a lot of fun.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by jstarfish on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:51PM (#36606922)
Hey now, that's 50% of the work required to get a free t-shirt every October.

Add a couple typo correction commits and you're dressed for the next year.

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by connorgutman on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:31PM (#36606687)
It's basically effortless to implement such changes and helps foster a more inclusive and educated online community. Why can't we aim to right all wrongs? Just because there's more pressing issues doesn't mean we can't tackle all forms of injustice.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by cubefox on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:08PM (#36607138)
> helps foster a more inclusive and educated online community

No, I think it does absolutely not help with that. It only creates the illusion of progress and of having done something effective, when the only achievement was to tread the euphemism treadmill.

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by beepbooptheory on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:31PM (#36606684)
If those people are saying it is, then you gotta take their word for it.

But it is beside the point! Whether or not any given effort is actually meaningful or not will be always hard to measure. But the world around prompts us to at least try, and making light of people trying to do something good, however wrongheaded it might turn out to be, is always a jerk move.

This tendency to try and call out things like this is always so illogical. Those who protest, always seem to protest a little to much, and I can never understand how they don't see that and how bad it makes them look!

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by cubefox on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:16PM (#36607247)
So according to you, there is no limit at which one is allowed to say "this is absurd, stop"? Note there is no upper bound for potential absurdity. Below someone suggested "field" and was downvoted, presumably because that would be too absurd. But a few years ago censoring "blacklist" was equally absurd. You offer a finger, and over time, they demand your hand.
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by beepbooptheory on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @06:32PM (#36608123)
I don't know, saying something is absurd sounds more like the conclusion of some argument, and something possibly constructive if there is in fact an argument behind that. But just using these issues to make fun of people different than you feels distinct from that, no?

For the other things, I am not sure what you mean. Who is the "they" here who is demanding your hand? What makes you feel you are on some certain side against a monolithic force? Does that seem like a rational thing to feel, considering the broad and abstract concepts we are dealing with here?

This point that there is something at stake with changing the terms we use, the idea that fingers are being offered, is pretty weird to me, no offense. For me, it doesn't really make a difference if use one term or the other, as long as I am understood. I don't feel bad if I learn that a term I use turns out to be possibly offensive, I just adjust in the future so that I don't possibly offend.

Like beyond that, who cares? What even is there to care about that much?

Again, whatever you want to say to argue about this, just know that it looks really bad to most people who are not in your circle. This is especially true when you choose to make such a fuss about such small thing as what (arbitrary) signifier we use to designate one thing or another. It cannot ever come across as some righteous fight for justice/common-sense or whatever side you feel like you are on, because its simply not a fight anyone with a lucid mind would think is worthwhile.

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by refulgentis on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:31PM (#36606683)
It's nice to be nice to people.

This is the sort of argument that seems silly to your kids, because there's no reason not to.

You're arguing from a place of "why?" against "why not?", it's not some grand civilizational struggle, and it's completely off-topic for this article, especially escalating it. Very woke.

Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by thisisthepoint on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @04:45PM (#36606844)
Is a masters degree ok? Why or why not?
Re:With plugins, GPT-4 posts GitHub issue without instructio... by refulgentis on Wednesday July 05, 2023 @05:04PM (#36607098)
Let me know if anyone starts complaining and I'll let you know how serious they are and my plan

(this is such a good example of how programming / law are the same skills but different, this breaks programmers brains but is obvious to a lawyer)