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There Is No .bro In Brotli: Google/Mozilla Engineers Nix File Type As Offensive

theodp writes: Several weeks ago, Google launched Brotli, a new open source compression algorithm for the web. Since then, controversy broke out over the choice of 'bro' as the content encoding type. "We are hoping to establish a file ending .bro for brotli compressed files, a command line tool 'bro' for compressing and uncompressing brotli files, and a accept/content encoding type 'bro'," explained Google software engineer Jyrki Alakuijala. "Can I talk you out of it?," replied Mozilla SW engineer Patrick McManus. "'bro' has a gender problem, even though the dual meaning is unintentional. It comes of[f] misogynistic and unprofessional due to the world it lives in." Despite some pushback from commenters, a GitHub commit made by Google's Zoltan Szabadka shows that there will be no '.bro' in Brotli. "I have asked a feminist friend from the North American culture-sphere, and she advised against bro," explained Alakuijala. "We have found a compromise that satisfies us, so we don't need to discuss this further. Even if we don't understand why people are upset from our cultural standpoint, they would be (unnecessarily) upset and this is enough reason not to use it."

28 of 781 comments (clear)

  1. Big Sister is watching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Call it .sis or .vag, that'll work, right?

    Male bad, female good?

    1. Re:Big Sister is watching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Only the tip of the iceberg...

      Remember, git is a derogatory term in England/Great Britain.

      I'm sure to avoid offending people, both the git project and github will immediately change their names.

    2. Re:Big Sister is watching by dreamchaser · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You really need to get a sense of humor, or have you not ever heard the crude expression 'bros before hos?' It was a joke. You can laugh now.

    3. Re:Big Sister is watching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Remember, git is a derogatory term in England/Great Britain.

      And that's exactly why Linus chose that name. "I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First 'Linux', now 'git'".

    4. Re:Big Sister is watching by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wish the dried up crones working in tech could get bent an loosen up a bit. This type of loser catering is about offending the majority to preserve the feelings of the minority / mentally disabled.

      Yep, it's SJW's to the rescue, the perpetually offended casting about for anything to get their XXXX-Large sized panties in a twist over.

      Seriously, when they start complaining about files extensions, my response is simply, "FUCK OFF!"

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    5. Re:Big Sister is watching by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I have asked a feminist friend from the North American culture-sphere, and she advised against bro,"

      I asked a friend from a subgroup of the Congolese Luba people and in their dialect of Luba-Kasai "br" means "sodomise my three-year-old with a cucumber". Only three people actually speak this dialect and they're all over ninety, but still, someone somewhere finds it offensive, so your choice of "br" cannot be used as it is both offensive and racist.

      I demand that you change the extension to "cutefluffybunniessoftcottonwoolwarmness", but only after polling every single ethnic group, subculture, and political and religious belief in the world to ensure that none of them can figure out a way in which it offends them.

    6. Re:Big Sister is watching by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Seriously, when they start complaining about files extensions, my response is simply, "FUCK OFF!"

      But nobody except the HR cares about your response. After all, this is a corporate-backed project, so what matters is the response of your corporate patron, in this case Google. Which, apparently, cares more about getting things done than defending some arbitrary line in sand.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    7. Re:Big Sister is watching by jcr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Your loss, bro. Take it from those of us who actually have a sense of humor, it was funnier than anything any SJW ever said.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    8. Re:Big Sister is watching by jones_supa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There's no need to artificially truncate filename extensions to 3 letters anymore. Just call it ".brotli" and call it a day. Adobe Premiere professionals deal with ".prproj" every day.

    9. Re:Big Sister is watching by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Picking a neutral name that doesn't have any negative connotations is just sensible.

      It's not just sensible, it's impossible. If your whole raison d'etre is being offended, you will find something to be offended about.

      Now excuse me, I need to go and turn off the ... ummm ... green cauliflower.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Re:Dear SJW morons by tnk1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or failing that, perhaps they could not read gender politics into a three letter file extension.

  3. What next? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I guess the FAT filesystem has to go too.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    1. Re: What next? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful
      I just alias apropos to woman for the best of both worlds :-) Honestly, all this SJW crap is demeaning to women, as are the push for more girls to pick up coding and having it be assume that we have to be protected from a three letter file extension.

      OMG 0xCAFEBABE IS SEXIST. Not!

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  4. Re:Dear SJW morons by Panoptes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "bro' has a gender problem"

    No. North America has a gender problem.

  5. The 1980s called... by Dadoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...and they want their 3-letter filename extensions back. Seriously, "br" would be fine, as well as "brot" or even "brotli". It amazes me that, 20 years after MS/DOS basically reached its end-of-life, people are still thinking within those constraints.

    --
    Sit, Ubuntu, sit. Good dog.
  6. Re:Dear SJW morons by NotInHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not just america. Parts of Europe have it, too.

  7. Re: What the fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The end of the patriarchy. And it is awesome. 50000 years of injustice are about to be unravelled.

    Because nothing says "We're strong enough to take over!" like screaming "I need to be protected!" whenever dealing with such horrible things as "offensive file extensions".

  8. Re:Dear SJW morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    rant:

    No. The world has a "Whiny immature woman without a spine" problem. Lately we can't even bring up the topic of "gender" without having some fucking whore (yes, I'm using it intentionally. It's the internet. If you don't like it close the window. No one is forcing you to read this comment.) whining that "It's SOOOOOO offensive, and my little brain can't deal with the (non-intended) meanings so let's ban it!"

    /rant

    I've got a one step solution to all of this:
    1. Stop giving a fuck until these morons grow up and actually have a real issue to present.

    Seriously, every time I read shit like this, I wonder what kind of fucked in the head woman read / heard / whatever the material. Because a rational person would not read ".bro" and immediately think of "Gender inequality!" A person who would is either seriously fucked up in the head, or out to get something by taking advantage of others. This needs to stop. It's not solving any real issue and it takes away focus from the real issues that need to be addressed. For example: Equal pay regardless of gender, better support for abuse victims, etc.

    As for the sane women out there, 1. I apologize, but it needed, and still needs, to be said. 2. You need to start decrying these abusers and force them off the stage. Because for every single time you bring up a real issue that does need to be addressed, people think of these abusers and that puts them into a mindset of suspicion of intent, or just an outright unwillingness to help you.

  9. A timeline... by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Frat boys call each other bro, such that it becomes part of a stereotype.

    Feminists start using the word as a slur to evoke the stereotype in order to ridicule anyone they perceive as too masculine.

    People start using bro ironically in a totally different context.

    Feminists lose their shit and call *that* "offensive".

    I'm guessing what they're really upset about is their insult losing its negative connotation.

  10. Re:Dear SJW morons by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Problem is you can't really ignore it. Every time some professional victim comes around whining about how much their life sucks (which their life only sucks because they think it sucks -- ask any psychologist this question, they'll agree with me) then we start getting stupid laws that make everybody else bend over backwards for the professional victims.

    Take for example all of the lawsuits against businesses for not complying with ADA rules, even when the supposed "victim" didn't even try to go the business they're suing.

  11. *.SJW by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's so obvious, it's hard to *not* use.

    Could even have an mascot of such a warrior.

  12. Re:Dear SJW morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > As amply demonstrated by the SJWs who down-modded my comment.

    If you are arguing that people shouldn't be so sensitive, your whining about being downmodded isn't doing your cause any favors.

  13. Re:The shouldn't have backed down by 0123456 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    GIMP is fantastic software, but it's audience is tiny relative to Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tinder, etc. If you're aiming at a large audience you've got to mind your PR a little better than calling your product GIMP.

    The limited use of GIMP has very little to do with its name, and very, very, very much to do with its appalling, abysmal, clunky, counterintuitive user interface. For example, developers who do stupid things like removing the ability to save as anything other than GIMP's own .xcf format from the 'save as' dialog, thereby making it even less intuitive and even less compatible with any other GUI app out there.

    I mean, seriously, when I have to search the web to find out how to save a .jpg with a new GIMP release, the UI is fscked.

  14. A better society has more ridiculous complaints. by trout007 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Think about it for a second. Things are so great for women in the western world that this is what generates complaints. When the complaints are I get hit with rocks trying to go to school, or they cut off my clitoris then you know you are living in a hell hole. Those women don't have time to worry about .bro extensions. When it gets down to the only complaints being file extensions it's means thing are pretty damn good.

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  15. Re:Gag? by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I assume the objection is a gag. Nobody is this brainless.

    SJW's are, so are 3rd wave feminists. Which of course is why you now see popular culture starting to mocking them. And why 82% of women no longer call themselves feminists, rather they're following egalitarianism or something along those lines. They already know that modern feminism has a man-hatred problem, and large numbers of people see a serious problem with SJWs and their public attacks on people, and being perpetually outraged.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  16. Fixed article summary by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    replied Mozilla SW engineer Patrick McManus

    Pretty sure that should read "replied Mozilla SJW engineer Patrick McManus"

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  17. Re:The North American culture-sphere? by quantaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Who says that?

    My hunch is someone who doesn't live in the North American culture-sphere.

    --
    I stole this Sig
  18. Re:Seriously? by rubycodez · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We're offended that open source projects have to waste time considering this kind of PC femi-nazi stupidity, and moreover that they then cave into it.