this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2023
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I have no idea why I get downvoted every time I say this. If there are a large number of people out there saying 'I was called this name due to my disability, it makes me feel like shit, and the fact that a popular FOSS project continues to use it despite being told this time and time again makes me feel that the FOSS community sees me as less than human' how is it remotely complicated to have the common courtesy to apologize, pick a better name, and carry on? This is not hard, it costs nothing, and it's just basic human respect.
Following that logic we should rename lots of things, as any word can be use in a despicable way. I get your point. But again. It's just the name of an app.
Any word CAN be, but in this case you have a group of people telling you it IS hurtful to them. Those aren't the same thing.
The word has been considered a serious slur for years. If, by chance, you wind up naming your project with a tier-1 slur, yes, you should absolutely rename it.
Gimp is one of the few FOSS projects with some notoriety outside of tech circles. It, VLC and Linux are possibly the only names I could expect some random person to have heard of. Changing its name would probably torpedo years of work to become seen as a reliable piece of software and send it back to the realm of "software that only people who watch the code repository know about".
And the whole changing the name to avoid offending someone is a losing battle in the first place. According to this thread, "rice" is potentially racist. I had no idea anyone could find "Gimp" offensive, but apparently they can. By this point, it's part of american internet culture to be offended and no word is safe from americans turning it into a slur, dog-whistle, etc etc and advocating that everyone else in the world should stop using it.
The fact that g--p is a slur is not a new thing. It's the equivalent of f----t or r----d for a large number of disabled people, and has been for years. The fact that you did not know this doesn't make it any less true.
Do you honestly believe a name change would vault the project into obscurity? Seems like a quick press release would do it.
When I hear gimp outside of the context of the software, I think of gimp suits. In my area I've never heard gimp used as a slur for disabled people.
I get that there's regional slang and what not, but if every word that offended anyone anywhere was banned, we would have to limit our words to the point of barely being able to communicate.
In my area, depending who you are, a silly term as "goof" is offensive. I almost got beat up for calling a guy one as a joke. Should I petition Disney to rename Goofy?
I'm hearing this point a lot, but it just makes clear that people aren't reading or understanding my other remarks. This isn't a random word that someone decided was offensive. This is a slur that is well known to large number of disabled people. They have been telling us this for some time. You haven't heard it used that way? That's great, but that also doesn't mean that it isn't. You know who does know what slurs are used against them? The people who are targeted by them. I'll bet there are plenty of slurs you haven't heard of that are, in fact, still slurs regardless.
Honestly, I find the name Nathan really offensive.
Are you going to do something about it?
Have you got any real arguments for me?