From 976f6a5bee6a84a59dc6381107134d1ca5aa3140 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Paolo Bonzini Date: Thu, 27 May 2021 12:30:25 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Emphasize using verbs or participles to replace whitelist/blacklist Languages other than English may not allow turning a noun into a verb with the same agility that English has. Some of them might not form compound words easily and resort to English loan words. In such a scenario, it would not be impossible for the translator to revert "allowlist" into a loan word based on "blacklist", because that's a more commonly known word to his audience of non-English speakers. This would make the effort to use inclusive language vain. Therefore, emphasize more the possibility to use not just the "-ed" form of verbs, but also the verbs themselves without the "list" suffix. Their past participles easily work as adjectives, and they are easily translated. Also propose "valid" and "invalid" as replacements for whitelisted/blacklisted as an adjective. See also: #45 --- content/language/word-list.md | 19 +++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/language/word-list.md b/content/language/word-list.md index f011bcd..17c8f84 100644 --- a/content/language/word-list.md +++ b/content/language/word-list.md @@ -10,8 +10,18 @@ Lists which permit or deny a set of nouns, or select enabled features. **Proposed alternative:** -* allowlist/denylist -* allowedNouns/deniedNouns +As a verb: +* For whitelist: allow, accept, enable, include +* For blacklist: deny, block, disable, exclude, skip, ignore + +As an adjective: +* For whitelisted: allowed, accepted, enabled, included, valid +* For blacklisted: denied, blocked, disabled, excluded, skipped, ignored, buggy, invalid + +As a noun: +* Use the adjective as an entity prefix (e.g., _allowedNouns_) +* Also acceptable: allowlist, denylist, etc. + **Reasoning:** @@ -19,8 +29,9 @@ The underlying assumption of the whitelist/blacklist metaphor is that white = go Because colors in and of themselves have no predetermined meaning, any meaning we assign to them is cultural: for example, the color red in many Southeast Asian countries is lucky, and is often associated with events like marriages, whereas the color white carries the same connotations in many European countries. In the case of whitelist/blacklist, the terms originate in the publishing industry – one dominated by the USA and England, two countries which participated in slavery and which grapple with their racist legacies to this day. -From a technical communication perspective, using whitelist/blacklist as a naming convention applies metaphor (and, in turn, unintended meaning) when it isn’t needed. -More directly descriptive words like allowlist/denylist enhances understanding. Allowlist/denylist, or simply using allowed/denied as an entity prefix has the added benefit of being easily translatable to other human languages. +From a technical communication perspective, using whitelist/blacklist as a naming convention applies metaphor (and, in turn, unintended meaning) when it isn’t needed. Using a suitable verb or adjective, either directly or as an entity prefix, enhances understanding and has the added benefit of being easily translatable to other human languages. + +In descriptive text (as opposed to code) you may want to prepend "list of"; e.g., "list of allowed recipients" instead of "recepient whitelist". Alternatively, words such as "allowlist" and "denylist" are still more descriptive than whitelist/blacklist. **Recommendation:** Adopt immediately