Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

4 messages, 4 authors, 2021-06-10 · open the first message on its own page

Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

From: Junio C Hamano <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-07 18:56:47

"Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" [off-list ref] writes:
To futher justify singular "they" as an acceptable grammatical concept,
I include the careful research of brian m. carlson who collected their
thoughts on this matter [2] (lightly edited):
The use of "their" here I found going overboard, given that (1) it
is outside the topic of this change, where you are not referring to
a non-specific person, and (2) as Brian's siglines indicate, the
preferred pronouns for the particular person you are referring to is
"he/him or they/them".
+ When referring to an anonymous user, use singular "they/them" pronouns
+ as opposed to choosing between "he/him" and "she/her". Do not use more
+ complicated constructs such as "he or she" or "s/he". This recommendation
+ also applies to code comments and commit messages.
Short and sweet.

Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

From: Derrick Stolee <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-07 19:06:35

On 6/7/2021 2:56 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
"Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" [off-list ref] writes:
quoted
To futher justify singular "they" as an acceptable grammatical concept,
I include the careful research of brian m. carlson who collected their
thoughts on this matter [2] (lightly edited):
The use of "their" here I found going overboard, given that (1) it
is outside the topic of this change, where you are not referring to
a non-specific person, and (2) as Brian's siglines indicate, the
preferred pronouns for the particular person you are referring to is
"he/him or they/them".
I'll admit that I was trying to be instructive in my commit message
whenever possible, so specifically chose that option among brian's
preferred pronouns. If I misinterpreted the purpose of "he/him or
they/them" then I will absolutely change this instance.

For my part, I did run this message by brian before sending the patch,
to be sure that my use of the quote was appropriate. (Also, I'm
purposefully lower-casing "brian m. carlson" to match chosen email
signatures, but perhaps that is also incorrect?)

Thanks,
-Stolee

Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

From: Johannes Schindelin <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-10 08:39:18

Hi Junio,

On Tue, 8 Jun 2021, Junio C Hamano wrote:
"Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" [off-list ref] writes:
quoted
To futher justify singular "they" as an acceptable grammatical concept,
I include the careful research of brian m. carlson who collected their
thoughts on this matter [2] (lightly edited):
The use of "their" here I found going overboard, given that (1) it
is outside the topic of this change, where you are not referring to
a non-specific person, and (2) as Brian's siglines indicate, the
preferred pronouns for the particular person you are referring to is
"he/him or they/them".
For your record, while I sometimes mention that I use "he/him" to refer to
myself, I promise I will never be offended if you refer to me via
"they/them".

;-)

Ciao,
Dscho

Re: [PATCH 4/4] CodingGuidelines: recommend singular they

From: brian m. carlson <hidden>
Date: 2021-06-10 21:35:03

On 2021-06-07 at 19:05:19, Derrick Stolee wrote:
On 6/7/2021 2:56 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
quoted
"Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget" [off-list ref] writes:
quoted
To futher justify singular "they" as an acceptable grammatical concept,
I include the careful research of brian m. carlson who collected their
thoughts on this matter [2] (lightly edited):
The use of "their" here I found going overboard, given that (1) it
is outside the topic of this change, where you are not referring to
a non-specific person, and (2) as Brian's siglines indicate, the
preferred pronouns for the particular person you are referring to is
"he/him or they/them".
I'll admit that I was trying to be instructive in my commit message
whenever possible, so specifically chose that option among brian's
preferred pronouns. If I misinterpreted the purpose of "he/him or
they/them" then I will absolutely change this instance.
The intended meaning is that either is fine, whichever the speaker
prefers.  Most people do use he/him for me, probably because most people
are more comfortable doing that, but either option is equally
acceptable.
For my part, I did run this message by brian before sending the patch,
to be sure that my use of the quote was appropriate. (Also, I'm
purposefully lower-casing "brian m. carlson" to match chosen email
signatures, but perhaps that is also incorrect?)
Also correct.  I typically lowercase my name, and I prefer it that way.
For legal purposes, at least in the locales which are relevant to me,
case is not considered important, and most legal documents scream my
name in uppercase.  But when I have an option, I prefer lowercase when
that's possible.
-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA
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