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> On 22 Mar 2022, at 06:23, Tal Mizrahi <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> The following sentence caught my attention in the RTGWG discussion
> about inclusive language in RFC5798 bis
> (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/113/materials/slides-113-rtgwg-3-vrrp-5798bis-01):
> 
> "Please don’t make alternate suggestions without
> detailed knowledge of both the VRRP protocol
> and the English Language."
> 
> Ironically, this sentence is not inclusive (I am sure this was not 
> intentional).
> FWIW, I believe all opinions should be heard, regardless of whether
> people are fluent English speakers or not.
> My two cents.
> 

Whilst you are correct, I can see where they are coming from.

The words were a bit harsh, but I am sure well intentioned.

Alternative words bring their own context and it is necessary to understand the 
precise explicit and implicit semantics of the suggested replacement word. 
Eventually the technical community will pick an alternatives to words such as 
master that we all understand with the same degree of precision as the original 
terms, but until then we risk having a poorly understood set of replacement 
terms with imprecise meaning, that risk the precision of the protocol 
definitions. We also risk wasting hours in semantic debate between people that 
have different understandings of the subtle consequences for the protocol of 
their preferred replacement term.

Perhaps in this case an alternative approach is to invent a new name say retsam 
and provide it with an identical definition to master but with any human 
concepts excluded or replaced by machine concepts.

Stewart


> Regards,
> Tal.
> 
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