Meta post I’ve decided to make. I enjoyed the unixporn subreddit a lot when I used reddit more. I enjoy customizing my linux de as much as the next nerd.

But you definitely shouldn’t use racist slang to refer to the process.

To be clear, I didn’t know the origin of the term ‘ricing’ until fairly recently. I was chattimg with my friend and used it to describe my de setup. They informed me that apparently it’s from car customization, and is a pejorative against generally asian men who customize their car to look like a racecar.

After learning this I was sad to realize just how engrained it is in linux de customization culture. I personally have stopped using the term, and I would ask everyone here stop as well.

  • Blaze
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    1 year ago

    Interesting question.

    !pcmasterrace@lemmy.world had a kind of similar conversation, with a poll.

    Maybe that’s something that should happen here too?

      • Blaze
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        1 year ago

        I agree with you, but I’m not that confident as the moderation had a few questionable actions in the past (pushing this community to LW, not moderating it for a while)

    • inasaba@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I was also very disappointed that the users there voted against the change. The name has a bad history, and there’s no better time to change a community name than when you make a move to a new platform.

      This isn’t neatly as big of a change, though. I don’t think a poll should be needed. The mods should just take a stance against racism and enforce that the term not be used.

      • eskimofry@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Why is there huge pushback in this thread from reclaiming a word by changing it’s meaning from a racist one to something cool and inclusive?

        • Solemn@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Hi. Targeted minority here. I do not, and have not ever wanted to reclaim this term. I’d argue against calling it reclaimable at all, since to reclaim would require the term to have ever had a valid use to begin with before it became a racist perjorative.

          I don’t want to see this used, because it hurts me to see it. This is due to the deep pain that racism has caused to me, even in my very blessed life. While I get that you have good intentions, I want to clarify that your actions will only lead to you causing me further pain.