kint: Deprecate blacklist/whitelist in favour of blocklist/allowlist
There’s the $parser_plugin_whitelist and there’s the BlacklistPlugin with quite some occurrences of these problematic strings. Of course also in the test. I guess we can’t simply replace the one strings provided by PHPUnit but maybe let’s start by providing alternatives for the ones we currently have in Kint and deprecate the old ones for now.
About this issue
- Original URL
- State: closed
- Created 4 years ago
- Reactions: 13
- Comments: 25 (1 by maintainers)
No
@jnvsor: Could you please explain why a list of items to be blocked should be called a “black” list - what definition of “black” do you consider the relevant one? Ditto for why a list of items to be allowed should be called a “white” list. Thank you.
great idea @leymannx!
How about
$parser_plugin_allowlistandBlocklistPlugin?Perhaps you could elucidate more on this reply. Replying with a simple “No” and then not engaging further can come across as a little tone-deaf.
Many other projects (such as MySQL, Github themselves and even Linux) are going down this path of more inclusive language. Why not join them?
@jnvsor Python, Drupal, Github, and Django have all worked to remove master/slave language and promote more inclusive language. Apple and Twitter are removing the term blacklist. Does this project have to keep words with racist undertones, which communicates to open source developers that not everyone is welcome in this community?
Wow, look at this change record from PHPUnit 9.3 I’ve been just made aware of! All references to blacklist/whitelist are now deprecated and replaced by exclude-list/include-list references. So they are one step ahead now. I think Kint is such a great tool and definitely should catch up. References to black=bad and white=good can easily be seen as offensive language and there are so many better terms to replace them.
Like @Schnitzel specified from the issue title
$parser_plugin_allowlistandBlocklistPluginsound fine. But maybe$parser_plugin_includelistorExcludelistPluginare good candidates as well.@damienmckenna Because white is the presence of all colours, and black is the absense of colour. “All other colors are reflections of light, except black. Black is the absence of light”.
I don’t believe this is empathy, I believe this is political correctness grounded in post-modern thought.
I don’t believe it is making people more empathetic, I believe it is making people fearful of saying the wrong thing.
True racism is when we stop seeing the skin colour, blacklist and whitelist are just words, they are not associated with race.
I value your opinion and I don’t see a contradiction in renaming these terms though. I like that you don’t associate these terms with race. Maybe you can imagine that others do associate them with race. That language can be racist. But language also can be inclusive. No one needs to be afraid of making mistakes. That’s okay. We can learn. We can develop. Let’s simply choose neutral equivalents for these imprecise terms. 🤗
When does political correctness go too far?
Thank you! I knew: When we talk about (language) politics the programmer’s way, we can quickly come to an understanding. 😉
It is not so much I have a problem with this particular change of terms, it is the ideology which drives it which I see as a problem. But I still welcome your perspective, I just don’t think langauge can be racist, it is the intention behind language which makes it racist.