[I am not subscribed to debian-bsd.] On Sun, Dec 14, 2003 at 11:37:44PM -0500, Nathan Hawkins wrote: > On Sun, Dec 14, 2003 at 06:53:15PM -0500, Branden Robinson wrote: > > I doubt you'd have known they were names from Christian demonology if I > > hadn't told you. I didn't propse that we use better known names like > > "Lucifer" or "Satan". Even names like "Belial", "Asmodeus", and > > "Mephistopheles" are unfamiliar to uneducated Christians (which is most > > of them, at least in the U.S.). > > Sorry, I had a somewhat unique education. Anyway most people in the > U.S. are appallingly uneducated, regardless of their religion. We're certainly in agreement there. > I fail to see the point. The point is that one has to both be fairly knowledgeable *and* parochial in one's viewpoint to be offended by this choice of names. I'm saying that segment of our audience is too small to worry about. For me, parochiality of mindset is not a factor to be taken into account in the first place, but other Debian developers may disagree, in which case I point out that the number of people likely to be bothered as matter of practical fact is very likely vanishingly small. One other proposal has us using slang names for LSD -- am I the only one who's able to predict an avenue of tiresome critique for *that* choice? Come on, who *really* believes more people are familiar with the demon name "Forneus" than the drug term "acid"? > For myself it's not a matter of offense. I simply don't want my work > named after evil, whether real or imaginary. Think of this as an opportunity to rehabilitate the names. Redemption's a Christian concept, ain't it? > > In any event, for any name that doesn't raise trademark issues (and > > thus potentially jeopardize the entire project), I'd say > > the choice remains up to those who are actually doing the work -- and > > that would be the Debian *BSD porters. > > As one of the Debian BSD porters, I'm objecting. Okay. I think your reasons are flimsy, but if you're one of the people doing the work, I won't object to you casting your vote. -- G. Branden Robinson | For every credibility gap, there is Debian GNU/Linux | a gullibility fill. branden@debian.org | -- Richard Clopton http://people.debian.org/~branden/ |
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