Is the term blacklisted racist? (1 Viewer)

No reasonable person thinks that a software blacklist has any racial connotation, but if that terminology is completely removed, then the company doesn't have to ever deal with the possibility of an attack based on that term.

If you've been paying attention to whats been going on some computer language development, such as Python and Rust, you might want to reconsier that.

 
If you've been paying attention to whats been going on some computer language development, such as Python and Rust, you might want to reconsier that.


That is around Master/slave terminology, but searching the article, they do not discuss blacklist.
My company is also removing master/slave terminology.
 
If you've been paying attention to whats been going on some computer language development, such as Python and Rust, you might want to reconsier that.

Nobody is denying that master/slave has negative racial connotations, in fact, if you've been paying attention, it's been mentioned a few times in this thread and at least once by the person that you are quoting if I'm not mistaken. What tomwaits is referring to, a "blacklist," as well as whatever other words that are used that include the word "black" more than likely do not, so asking him to reconsider something that has already been well considered in this thread is a bit redundant.
 
Nobody is denying that master/slave has negative racial connotations, in fact, if you've been paying attention, it's been mentioned a few times in this thread and at least once by the person that you are quoting if I'm not mistaken. What tomwaits is referring to, a "blacklist," as well as whatever other words that are used that include the word "black" more than likely do not, so asking him to reconsider something that has already been well considered in this thread is a bit redundant.

That is around Master/slave terminology, but searching the article, they do not discuss blacklist.
My company is also removing master/slave terminology.

Here's the one for Rust - replaced whitelist/blacklist with AllowList and DenyList

 
Here's the one for Rust - replaced whitelist/blacklist with AllowList and DenyList


Allow and deny has it's own positive and negative connotations. :scratch:
 




You can argue if this word or that word is or isn’t racist

Maybe it is or maybe it isn’t

It might be a silly argument but it might not

But I do think it can all have a cumulative subconscious effect

We need more Muhammad Alis on this planet no matter what race they are.
 
Here's a possible perspective on supporting a change:

While its true the origins of 'blacklist' and 'whitelist' do not originate in anything have to do with race, probably < 1% of the population is actually aware of this. I sure didn't, and I'm not exactly ignorant of history. I could tell you, without looking it up, the exact year for the Battle of Stamford Bridge, which country it took place in, and who the opposing generals were (well, at least one of them :)

Now compare this to something that uses color that also has positive and negative connotations. Being 'in the black' vs. being 'in the red'. Pretty much any adult who has a passing familiarity with finance, knows immediately these terms come from the color of the text used to indicate dollar amounts for profit/loss (black for > 0, red for < 0,but not sure about 0 itself ;-)
 
Allow and deny has it's own positive and negative connotations. :scratch:
So do positive & negative. Which by the way brings up a totally different color conundrum. How the heck do they come up with the different color coding of electrical wiring and what connotations does THAT imply?
 
That is very interesting.
I'll never forget my father telling me about male/female connections. I was absolutely shocked. Then he told.me about a Chinese colleague in his lab who hadn't encountered the terminology in China and was appalled. :hihi: I have no clue whether or not we can or should do anything about these designations. :eek:
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom