Re: [Gimp-user] Violation of GNOME Code of Conduct - ablelist language and discrimination

[Simon Budig <simon budig de>]

Hi all.

Adrian Midgley via gimp-user-list (gimp-user-list gnome org) wrote:
> What does Michael Richards do?

Please stop this kind of implied ad-hominem attack. Thank you.

And to all others: Thanks for your input. Seems the name discussion
rears its head again.

It is not necessary to explain that the term GIMP is not offensive to
you. Nobody really disputes that GIMP is a "harmless" word to the
majority of the worlds population. But "majority" is not necessarily the
relevant metrics here.

And that "whataboutism" regarding other software projects with possibly
problematic names is not really helping, since there is nothing to learn
from that.

Also nobody really disputes that the original naming of the project is
influenced by the pulp fiction movie and also in knowledge of the
derogatory use. And while I was not aware of that issue until a few
years after getting involved I certainly can understand the thinking
that likely happened with the naming, as in "hah-hah-funny" as well
as preferring to undersell and demeaning your own project instead of
overhyping.

Personally I appreciate the feedback from people who might be the target
of the derogatory term. These are the most relevant people in this
discussion. But then we do have a self-selecting bias on this
mailinglist, since the people offended by the term are less likely to
participate here.

This is a knotty discussion, because on the other hand we *do* have a
huge brand recognition with our name and renaming the project certainly
will have an effect on me (as a non-native english speaker and als not
in the "target group" of the derogatory term) and my 24-year-connection
with the project. I am very much emotionally attached to that name.

There are tons of technical implications with a renaming and I
personally believe they are prohibitive. Even if we were to rename
(unlikely) we'd still have to keep our hands on the term GIMP, if only
to protect our users from scammers trying to step in the then empty
shoes.

> From past discussions with other team members I know that we're quite
unlikely to change then name, but we *are* willing to work on the issue
by other means. We're willing (and have done so in the past) to reduce
the appearance of the acronym and put more emphasis on the fully written
name of the Gnu Image Manipulation Program, although it is really hard
to not just type the acronym  :)

We're willing to engage with other groups in projects that might
help reducing the stigma of disabilities and if we somehow would be able
to use the power of our brand to help reducing the impact of the
derogatory term I firmly believe we'll gladly do that.

Thanks,
        Simon

PS: Just to clarify: While I am fairly confident that I have an idea
about what the other team members think on that issue I do not speak on
their behalf. All of the above are my own opinions, this is not an
official statement.

-- 
              simon budig de              http://simon.budig.de/