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Ask HN: Less culturally loaded terms for “Master/Slave”“

8 points by jascii ↗ HN
I'd like to move us away from those terms and would love to hear from others what terms they have come up with. There is "primary/secondary" but it seems long and doesn't type nicely. What ya got?

27 comments

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jgrahamc
lord/serf
jascii
Hmm, not sure I'd call that less culturally loaded..
Jamwinner
Can you cite any instance of these terms actually being problematic in practice? This is usually a political statement dressed in concern troll clothing.
jascii
Just asking what alternatives others have come up with because we would like to use something different. I'm not really interested in having an in-depth discussion as to why at the moment. But thanks for your input.
pietroglyph
I’ve seen leader and follower on some motor controllers that I’ve used.
itamarst
Switching away from problematic terminology is also a good opportunity to make it more accurate and specific.

In some situations it's "process A allows writes, process B only allow reads", in which case "writer/reader" maybe?

In other situation it's "process A is in control, but process B will take control if process A fails". In which case "controller/fallback", maybe?

dekhn
I tried various alternatives (daimyo/peasant), but after using them for a while I realized they had similar connotations.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
JamesVI
I had a manager who was big into amateur dramatics so I used Director/Actor.
madcaptenor
I have the same question regarding "Scrum Master". Obviously nobody is explicitly calling the team members "slaves" but it's still not a good look.
Ghjklov
What, we can't even use "master" as a way to describe a really skilled person anymore?
madcaptenor
That's not how I hear it - is the Scrum Master just someone who's really skilled at Scrum?
Ghjklov
Someone who has mastered or became really skilled at Scrum could be described as a Scrum Master yes. Or in another instance, he who has mastered the art of baiting, is the Master Baiter.
coralreef
If a martial arts teacher is referred to as "master" by their students, does that infer that they are slaves?
madcaptenor
I guess not. I suppose I have more respect for a martial arts teacher than a scrum master.
yamrzou
What exactly is wrong with using master/slave?
jolmg
You know, what's funny is that it probably would stop being culturally loaded if people stopped giving special treatment to words like these, trying to avoid them.

I imagine that OP is making reference to African American enslavement in US history, but I wouldn't even consider this relation if it weren't for this post.

arh68
Leader/Follower (pietroglyph's is probably best), Cam/Follower, Sender/Receiver, Drive/Pulley (?), Reference/Replica, Model/Instance, Broker/Agent, Supervisor/Worker, maybe even Coordinator/Helper (these are a bit long), Lead/Rhythm, Lead/Understudy, Boss/Worker

Also good but maybe weird: Alpha/Beta, Red/Black (and if we need 3+, I think Hearts/Spades/Clubs[/Diamonds[/Jokers..]] is fine if you write down the object of the game, so to speak)

Slightly humorous but not best: Hivemind/Drone, Hypnotoad/Zombie, Sauron/Saruman, Don/Capo, Drummer/Dancer

jascii
I ended up going with `-prim` and `-sec` which seemed reasonably self-descriptive.
sethammons
Write (master), wo / replica, reader, ro