Re: Question regarding "offensive" material
On Wed, Jun 15, 2005 at 12:51:31PM +0200, Ralf Hildebrandt wrote:
> I'm asking for guidance regarding this bug:
> #313492: xscreensaver/GLSnake has sexually inappropriate imagery
> This reminds me all to well of the "hot-babe" controversity, with the
> difference that xscreensaver has been in Debian for ages a nobody ever
> complained about that "offensive" material.
> My questions:
> =============
> 1) Is it a bug at all?
> There's no technical problem in the program per se. It's just that
> this one person may find it contains "sexually inappropriate imagery".
The idea of being "sexually offended" by a particular configuration of
simple geometric shapes seems rather bizarre. Nevertheless, I don't see any
reason for the genitalia references here, so -- why *not* call the first of
these models "wizard's staff with a knob on the end"?
GLSnake also seems to make singularly curious use of the word "flaccid"; and
none of these models seem to correlate very well with the many penises and
vaginas that WebCollage has been showing me; so I think it would be best if
this package were updated to either disable these models by default, or to
include better names for them. Or split the screensaver into GLSnake and
(disabled) GLTrouserSnake components, I guess...
Is it a bug? Well, the package does not perform in a way that matches the
expectations of a large number of users. Unless you believe it's somehow a
*feature* that the GLSnake screensaver is unsuitable for these users (while
giving no overt indication that this is the case), then the other
explanation is that it's a bug.
> 2) Which "Severity" is fitting (if it is considered a bug)
Does the severity matter? It should be trivial to fix, should it not? I
would personally be inclined to treat this as severity: important, were it
my package; but changing severities is less important than fixing bugs.
> 3) Is there any section in the Debian Policy that addresses these
> social/psycholgical issues? I had a look, but could only find
> issues related to freedom and licenses.
Nope...
--
Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer
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