Feminists outraged by the word "him" in open source project's comments, makes main developer leave

[LAwLz]

Someone on GitHub found a comment in the source code that used the word "he" and changed it to "they" to avoid using gender specific words. He submitted a pull request without specifying what modules he changed nor did he sign a CLA (which proper pull requests should include).

 

One of the main developers, called bnoordhuis, replied with "Sorry, not interested in trivial changes like that" and denied the patch, and the thread freaked out calling him a "douche", "fucking pathetic" and "sexist". The patch was then pushed through to the company that owns the project (the project being node.js) where a person from the company said that if bnoordhuis had worked for him, he would have been fired. Wanna know why he couldn't be fired? Because bnoordhuis has written ~30% of the code in the project for free. The only reason he couldn't get fired was because he was working for free, and after this he decided to leave the project. It's worth noting that most people outraged by the word "him" instead of the gender neutral "they" are guys by the way.

 

If anyone want to read the the pull request as well as the comments, you can read them here: GitHub

 

 

Not sure which picture sums up my reaction the best, so here are two:

[Jack.EXE]

well that's stupid.

[Vitalius]

White Knights without a purpose.

What has happened to masculinity in general? Where has it gone?

[MzCatieB]

The post needs a pic or 2 feels too text heavy

[Osmium]

I want those idiots hung. They must not be allowed to spread their filthy genes.

[Volbet]

Why do they spend their time on this? There are legit gender issues that could be tackled and yet they use their time on discussing a simple term used in the code of a program. 

[lilc]

At the very least it wasn't his full time job. Seriously how can people be like this, it's so ridiculous. 

[LAwLz]

Oh and here are my thoughts on this:

This is why so many people are against feminism. Is it even worth the effort to whine about the use of the word "him" in a comment? In the end the patch was merged but does it really matter? I am all for equality but calling someone pathetic and a douche for simply not wanting to approve of an incorrectly submitted patch that simply changes the word "him" to "they", saying that he should be fired when he actually works for free? Yeah that's over the top.

 

Why not work for equality where it actually matters? That goes in both directions by the way, equality for both men and women. Obviously we will never be treated 100% equally, but I don't think we should either. For example, I am a man so I have an easier time building muscles than most women, and therefore I am OK that I might have to carry the heavy boxes when helping someone move out. I don't expect to be at home with my (future) newborn child as long as my (future) wife, because the baby NEEDS the mom more than the dad during the first months of its life. men and women aren't 100% the same, so I don't think we should be treated 100% equally in every single situation.

In the areas we are equal we should obviously be treated equally though, for example if we do the exact same work then we should be paid equally.

 

Stupid stuff like this is just a witch-hunt and distracts from real issues.

 

 

 

The post needs a pic or 2 feels too text heavy

I'll fix it as soon as I find a fitting image.

[Vitalius]

Why do they spend their time on this? There are legit gender issues that could be tackled and yet they use their time on discussing a simple term used in the code of a program. 

Because it's easy (real activism is hard and dangerous), it's on the internet (it's anonymous), and it makes them feel good (white knights).

Of all the good things the internet has brought, this is one of the few bad things I can think of it has done. Given potential activists an outlet that allows to pretend to be activists. Without doing anything. At all. Or hurting people/projects. Either or.

[Imabigmac]

Amazing rash people are when reapond to this sort of thing . As if the comments are fueled by hate for someone who has donated their time to work on the project and didn't want to change to the word.

[helping]

[mr moose]

Feminists are their own worst enemy, and for the hardcore they are too blind to see it.

[alpenwasser]

Reading through the github thread: Wow, that escalated quickly. :lol:

TBH though, merging the patch would probably have been the politically smart play here,

it's not like the work hadn't already been done, and it's a very easy way to gather

some goodwill and sympathies (seriously, somebody else does the work for you and you

can get points for it). If sticking to proper procedure is important, then bnoordhuis

could have just told alex how to properly submit the patch instead of denying it, would

have been so much easier than what followed.

Regardless of whether or not one agrees with alex' commit request/code changes, bnoordhuis

didn't exactly display astute situational awareness here, this had crapstorm written all

over it from the get-go. How he didn't see the fallout coming is beyond me (or maybe he

did and just didn't care, but I don't get that impression from reading that thread).

Not that his contributions to the project aren't to be valued (and TBH I don't really

think the company handled the situation very well, their reaction has panic-mode damage

control written all over it), but still, some political foresight would have spared him

a lot of grief, no matter if he thought he was in the right or not.

[Mooshi]

Someone on GitHub found a comment in the source code that used the word "he" and changed it to "they" to avoid using gender specific words. He submitted a pull request without specifying what modules he changed nor did he sign a CLA (which proper pull requests should include).

 

One of the main developers, called bnoordhuis, replied with "Sorry, not interested in trivial changes like that" and denied the patch, and the thread freaked out calling him a "douche", "fucking pathetic" and "sexist". The patch was then pushed through to the company that owns the project (the project being node.js) where a person from the company said that if bnoordhuis had worked for him, he would have been fired. Wanna know why he couldn't be fired? Because bnoordhuis has written ~30% of the code in the project for free. The only reason he couldn't get fired was because he was working for free, and after this he decided to leave the project. It's worth noting that most people outraged by the word "him" instead of the gender neutral "they" are guys by the way.

 

If anyone want to read the the pull request as well as the comments, you can read them here: GitHub

 

 

Not sure which picture sums up my reaction the best, so here are two:

1247594559960.gif1246226252950.gif

 

Feminists aren't real people. They are some sub-species that only care about those with headers and not those with dongles.

 

On a serious note, feminists annoy the hell out of me. We should head towards "humanist" and not some screwed up version of "equality" that favors one gender over another. BOTH genders suffer inequality in some area.

 

Shame some guys are brainwashed by them.

[Night]

I think the world is actually kind of doomed with its current view of equality. Men and Woman are supposed to be equal, yet woman just freak out whenever someone hints at anything sexist towards them and they end up with the upper hand in regards to just about everything.

I really hate woman because of that. Like why do the females I work with get to wear what ever shoes they want but I only get to wear dress shoes like im told? Isnt that sexist?? 

[TOMPPIX]

[beebskadoo]

White Knights without a purpose.

What has happened to masculinity in general? Where has it gone?

it was never actually there, it's always been artificially implanted.

[LinusTech]

One issue is that "they" is plural, and therefore is often not grammatically correct when it replaces "he" or "she".

 

just saying.

[Giggitygoebbels]

One issue is that "they" is plural, and therefore is often not grammatically correct when it replaces "he" or "she".

 

just saying.

He/she is also fine imo

[LinusTech]

He/she is also fine imo

 

That's a matter of opinion. Some won't accept it iirc.

 

Just like "his/her" is not as correct as "his or her"

[MzCatieB]

My view on this in a fluffy cat:

[Giggitygoebbels]

That's a matter of opinion. Some won't accept it iirc.

Just like "his/her" is not as correct as "his or her"

Exactly the point of me writing "imo".

[mr moose]

White Knights without a purpose.

What has happened to masculinity in general? Where has it gone?

It disappeared when we allowed woman to leave the kitchen:

 

[MzCatieB]

in my honest opinion... most males worry more about feminism then females do.

Its like White people worrying about racism, just the individual adding more to their ego.

[tobben]

Oh and here are my thoughts on this:

This is why so many people are against feminism. Is it even worth the effort to whine about the use of the word "him" in a comment? In the end the patch was merged but does it really matter? I am all for equality but calling someone pathetic and a douche for simply not wanting to approve of an incorrectly submitted patch that simply changes the word "him" to "they", saying that he should be fired when he actually works for free? Yeah that's over the top.

 

Why not work for equality where it actually matters? That goes in both directions by the way, equality for both men and women. Obviously we will never be treated 100% equally, but I don't think we should either. For example, I am a man so I have an easier time building muscles than most women, and therefore I am OK that I might have to carry the heavy boxes when helping someone move out. I don't expect to be at home with my (future) newborn child as long as my (future) wife, because the baby NEEDS the mom more than the dad during the first months of its life. men and women aren't 100% the same, so I don't think we should be treated 100% equally in every single situation.

In the areas we are equal we should obviously be treated equally though, for example if we do the exact same work then we should be paid equally.

women and men ARE different, it's that easy, and seriously it's these stupid ass femenists that creates the real difference in treatment, shaking it up making equality not a thing anymore .. these rights for men and these rights for women.., that's not equality.

 

and i think the very idea of being paid differently for the same work is unheard of in most modern countries, if not illegal.