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Open Source Idle Linux

Developer Misinterprets Linux Code of Conduct, Suggests Replacing F-Word with 'Hug' (neowin.net) 402

Seeking compliance with Linux's new Code of Conduct, Intel software engineer Jarkko Sakkinen recently requested comments on a set of changes to kernel code comments which Neowin described as "replacing the F-word with 'hug'. "

80 comments quickly followed on the Linux Kernel Maintainer's List: Several contributors responded to the alterations calling them insane. One wondered if Sakkinen was just trying to make a joke, and another called it censorship and said he'd refuse to apply any sort of patches like this to the code he's in charge of...

Some of the post-change comments read "Some Athlon laptops have really hugged PST tables", "If you don't see why, please stay the hug away from my code", and "Only Sun can take such nice parts and hug up the programming interface".

Eventually LWN.net publisher Jonathan Corbet deflated most of the controversy by pointing out that Linux's new Code of Conduct applies to future comments but clearly indicates that it does not apply explicitly to past comments.

And Jarkko Sakkinen acknowledged that he had missed that part of the discussion.
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Developer Misinterprets Linux Code of Conduct, Suggests Replacing F-Word with 'Hug'

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  • by mfearby ( 1653 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @06:38PM (#57733626) Homepage

    If seeing the F-word in the Linux source code is a bit too much for you, then perhaps you'd be better off making yet another set of pretty icons for GNOME or KDE.

    • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @06:41PM (#57733642)
      It's the intent behind it that matters.
  • Oh, brother (Score:5, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @06:43PM (#57733646)

    I can't hugging believe this...

    • Re:Oh, brother (Score:5, Interesting)

      by rl117 ( 110595 ) <rleigh@ c o d e libre.net> on Sunday December 02, 2018 @07:21AM (#57735806) Homepage
      I know you meant it as a joke, but language can change exactly like this. When I was at school, a popular insult was to call people a "spaz" (spastic). Because of its use as a generic insult, some do-gooders required everyone to refer to disabled people as "special". Result: "special" becomes a generic insult. Like: "You're a bit special, aren't you" is equivalent to "you're a spaz" or "you're a retard". More recently, the charity the Spastic Society renamed themselves to "Scope". Result: spastic children are now insultingly referred to as "scopers". So the word "scope" is now also an insult in its own right. The point being, no matter how much do-gooders and SJWs clamp down on acceptable language use, the remaining "permitted" words will be adapted to replace them, turning the "new inclusive terminology" on its own head. This isn't a battle they can win, because human nature, at its nastiest best, will always be creative enough to come up with new "bad" language! And while I don't condone bullying or insulting, it does make me happy to see people sticking their fingers up at the SJW-enforced norms.
  • newspeak (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Just last night I had a nightmare where I had to submit to the SJW thoughtpolice agenda or get shunned out of my programming group. It was straight out of 1984. That's exactly where this is heading. Fuck your feelings. Stop this Code of Conduct nonsense now.

    • by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
      I was under the impression that banning words like 'fuck' in the US comes from Christian Conservative Political Correctness? Or is that what 'SJW' means to you?
  • by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @06:44PM (#57733654)
    I'm glad to see that the code of conduct is resulting such good use of developer time.

    These sad, sad people clearly need a hug.
  • PST Table (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dohzer ( 867770 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @06:50PM (#57733686)

    What's a PST table used for, and why is it a problem with Athlon laptops?

  • Oh just go and get absolutely Hugged!

    I am sick to Hugging death of these MotherHugging Hugs,
    sticking their Huggers into things that do not concern them.

    The absolute Hugs!

    When I was young, no-one gave a Hug about this Smile.

    Now we are up to our ears in Smile, while every Hug
    whines about how no-one give a Hug about them.

    Everything is Huggy, and we have to call it all the Hug out.

    Peace, my Neckers.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 01, 2018 @07:04PM (#57733760)

    It's a good idea to treat people with respect.

    But saying a piece of hardware fucked up some table is not attacking a person. We're going too far with the SJW speech-police. Sometimes it's necessary to make a point strongly.

    If you want equal rights, that means you don't get to demand special protections for your feelings. Equal means equal: you should be adult enough to accept that the real world has some level of swearing in it.

    This kind of thing is a cancer and will spread if it isn't carved out. Eventually we'll be more focused on policing speech than on technology. It will not end well.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      But saying a piece of hardware fucked up some table is not attacking a person

      What happens if I identify as a piece of hardware? Didn't think about that did you.

    • by ClickOnThis ( 137803 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @08:11PM (#57734118) Journal

      What does this have to do with equality? This is about civility.

      There have been many professions that have achieved a practice of civility without sacrificing value. I see no reason why software development can't do the same.

      • What does this have to do with equality? This is about civility.

        There have been many professions that have achieved a practice of civility without sacrificing value. I see no reason why software development can't do the same.

        I'm not so certain. Go read #metoo.

      • Are we in Bizarro World? The Left has spent the last few decades burning down civility as you consider it a tool of oppression. Now that you have power, suddenly we need to be civil? This makes zero sense.
    • Sometimes it's necessary to make a point strongly.

      As a person that swears quite a lot, and thinks Americas tv/radio ban on curse words is absolutely ridiculous; there is a time and place for everything, and in "official" written text it is almost never appropriate.
      If you can't make a point strongly without cursing, you are probably not that good at communicating.

  • by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @07:05PM (#57733764)

    That's why these kinds of exercises always end up in disaster. If your rule is any more complex than "Nobody shall prohibit anyone their natural rights to freedom of speech" it ALWAYS ends up being initially misinterpreted, and later abused by those in power.

  • And Hug as another.

    I don't condone the word fuck in comments, but it does stand out as an advisory for people who are messing with things they probably don't appreciate or understand,

    Hug on the other hand doesn't really have the same warning value...

    • Hug on the other hand doesn't really have the same warning value...

      But "Hug" is sexual assault unless enthusiastically agreed to. Just because it is typed out makes it no less sexual assault.

  • All you gradual maternal-huggers writing code for Linux but are afraid of a few words need to consume soil and depart! I'm tired of inferior code being promoted because some feline cried because his gradual donkey was offended!

    Enough of this soil! ;)

  • by ChunderDownunder ( 709234 ) on Saturday December 01, 2018 @07:33PM (#57733884)

    in the town square with the cardboard sign that said Free Hugs.

    Shouldn't that be Libre Hugs?

  • Why not the synthetic "frack," " fracking," from Battlestar Galactica, or "taffing," "taffers," from the Thief series of video games.
  • by Baki ( 72515 ) on Sunday December 02, 2018 @03:52AM (#57735400)

    Word police cannot change the way people think.

    The result will be that more and more people, when using "hug" in the normal way, will associate it with todays use of the f-word. So they will seek and find a replacement, use a synonym, when really wanting to express "hug".

    It is a pointless excercise, only making the language a bit poorer or distorted.

  • By code. Fast. 3 weeks in and they have a new meaning Just like Fuck has at least two. Goes to show that compelled speach is nonsense.

  • I think he needs a Hug.

  • Who the fuck really cares? Political fucking correctness gone fucking crazy. Fuck this.

Someday somebody has got to decide whether the typewriter is the machine, or the person who operates it.

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