A Community-Culture Problem With Library Names

[Plu]

The girls in the gamejam site I visited didn't really seem to be subjected to creepy stares. Although I never asked them about it, because that would then probably become the creepiest part of the experience

Honestly if girls are terrified at the possibility of people crreepily staring at them, you've probably got bigger issues than some libraries with immature names.

[kclanc]

The girls in the gamejam site I visited didn't really seem to be subjected to creepy stares. Although I never asked them about it, because that would then probably become the creepiest part of the experience

Honestly if girls are terrified at the possibility of people crreepily staring at them, you've probably got bigger issues than some libraries with immature names.

I think it's a matter of being sensitive to the effects that your actions will have on the people around you. I don't know, maybe this isn't actually an issue at all. But why allow this as a possibility when it can easily be avoided?

[Plu]

I don't like walking on eggshells on the off chance that the people around me are made of glass. It's A) going to take me a lot of effort, mostly for nothing and B) those glass puppets will never turn into actual human beings if everyone keeps treating them like that.

[vrld]

But consider the following scenario: a girl becomes interested in programming and goes to a game jam. She finds a bunch of nerdy guys there. Okay, that is to be expected. But then when she asks what libraries to use, they start telling her things like LUBE, SECS, and Quickie. Don't you think that would make her uncomfortable?

Women do enjoy sex too, be it a Quickie or all night long (LUBE might come in handy), so I don't see why gender neutral innuendos should offend women more than it should offend men. To be clear though, library names like "Pantyshot", "Upskirt" (ex[?] Python modules, see also), "lolita" and "tramp" (Ruby modules) on do cross a boundary that we have not yet reached. I'd like to keep it that way.

[Xkeeper]

The way I look at it, it'd be like going to a bar and having drinks named Anal or Cock. It's not really a matter of being uncomfortable with sexuality as it is ... well, bringing sex into a place it doesn't really belong in. Save it for the upstairs.

Besides, having innocuous, sterile module names means you can save all the innuendo (or none of it at all) for the project itself.

It also might have an effect on internet filters, since anal/cock/lube etc. might trigger a filter that would block someone.


(Also, for the people who are always harping on about how you should just write your own modules: Working together and building strong, useful libraries that work well should be a goal, too, because it makes development of projects easier. Nobody should have to reinvent the wheel every time they need some basic animation or such.)

[davisdude]

I know it's a bit late, but I do have a point to bring into this argument:
I know of at least one library name that has been rejected. All of the creator's posts are "-snip-" because apparently they got hacked, but anyway, here's the link.

Note: I am actually against the whole "innuendo naming" thing, I just thought it was a good point to mention.

[micha]

ejmr, if you really rename all the libraries, then I will probably use the renamed ones.

Besides that, everyone can name his own library at will. It is not a task of the LÖVE-developers to forbid specific names. The authors, however, should be aware, that they deliver the library together with the name as one and that a bad name might damage the overall library-quality in the following sense: Of course, it would not change the functionality, but it could lower the number of users of the library. So if the initial aim is to help the community (which I assume holds for most libraries) then choosing an off-putting name goes against this aim.

The users have some influence on the author. They can decide to not use the library and then tell the author, why. I understand that a bit like an open market.

One thought about funny vs. offensive: Those, who do not find the library names offensive, but funny, are (that is my claim) at least aware that other people might find them offensive. Otherwise the names would be less funny. What if we named library after colors "BLUE", "RED", "GREEN"... or after furniture "WARDROBE", "CHAIR", "STOOL", "TABLE". That would be much less funny, wouldn't it?

And last, I would like to start a new idea for naming libraries in the future: Love does not always have to be sexual. How about we find non-sexual love-related words for libraries? Like "Date" or "Butterfly" or "First Sight" ...?

[Robin]

Ranguna259, rude is not the be-all and end-all of this community. Yes, his words have some weight, but that doesn't mean we have to obey his every word.
kclanc, you bring up a good point. I hadn't considered how the one thing can influence the other, and just saw them as two separate issues. But you're right.

why would this discourage any female more so than a male?

If you don't know that, I don't know what planet you've been living on your whole life. It's depressing how often sexuality is used to deny women agency and reduce them to their body parts and their relationships with men, in multiple ways (some examples from geek subcultures: booth babes, "you must be here with your boyfriend", "fake geek girls").

One final note: if you feel ethically obliged to feature library makers in your credits, fine. But if you object to the names of their libraries, then don't include those. Just say "uses libraries by A, B and C" or something.

[Azhukar]

why would this discourage any female more so than a male?

If you don't know that, I don't know what planet you've been living on your whole life. It's depressing how often sexuality is used to deny women agency and reduce them to their body parts and their relationships with men, in multiple ways (some examples from geek subcultures: booth babes, "you must be here with your boyfriend", "fake geek girls").

You haven't answered the question.

How does a library name featuring sex related words discourage a female more than it discourages a male?

[jjmafiae]

Those libraries aren't on the front page so how would a new comer be scared of them? you need to look a bit to find them, I first found those libraries 3-4 months after I joined and I wasn't scared away.