Github Nukes Repository Over Use Of The Word 'Retard'from the stupidity-ensues deptFirst of all, GitHub is an online service used mostly by software programmers to store, share, and organize code.
Secondly, NSFW stands for Not Safe For Work. It's a standard warning given when the subject matter being discussed might involve content that is forbidden in certain work environments.
Finally, the news item at hand: Apparently GitHub decided to delete a user because the user used the word RETARD. The problem is that the person did not use the r-word in a pejorative manner. Rather he used the word in its verbal form (to slow something down). Whether GitHub uses an automated system to scan their website for forbidden words is not clear, but the problem here is the enforcement of politically correct language. I find such efforts to control self-expression to be reprehensible and objectionable. Shame on GitHub for caving into the social justice warriors!
The problem is that Github has also become indispensable for so many people. Given this power, it can deploy its rules stupidly and capriciously and still get away with it. That's what pains users of large, centralized services the most. Smaller, agile platforms with multiple competitors need to carefully consider their terms of service and the consequences of arbitrary enforcement. Those with more power and market-share are far more likely to use supposedly strict rules as nothing more than guidelines subject to moderators' moods and shifts in the ideological winds. In doing so, they allow hecklers to control the veto power… even when the heckling is coming from inside the house office.
LINK:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150802/20330431831/github-nukes-repository-over-use-word-retard.shtml