NOTE: This is a work-in-progress. This material may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this material other than as "work in progress."
Numerous technical organizations have identified terminology they find problematic in their code, standards and documentation and have taken the initiative to start using alternative terms. Here are some of the most common terms that have been identified by other organizations as problematic and some of the alternatives they have suggested:
| Term | Alternative | References |
|---|---|---|
| Whitelist | Allowlist, approved list, pass list, accept list, permitted | Bluetooth SIG, 3GPP, W3C, Avnu, Linux, Ansible, Twitter, Chromium, Apple, UK NCSC |
| Blacklist | Blocklist, denylist, unapproved list, reject list, refused, prohibited | Bluetooth SIG, 3GPP, W3C, Avnu, Linux, Ansible, Twitter, Chromium, Apple, UK NCSC |
| Master/slave | Leader/follower, primary/replica, primary/secondary, active/standby, main/secondary, leader/follower, orchestrator/worker, initiator/responder, central/peripheral | Bluetooth SIG, 3GPP, W3C, Avnu, Linux, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Python, Postgres, Redis, Django, Drupal, CouchDB |
| Master (e.g., branch, key, server) | Main, parent, server, central | Bluetooth SIG, W3C, Linux, Ansible, GitLab, Python, Redis, Mozilla |
| Grandfathered | Legacy status, historical | W3C, Twitter |
| Gendered terms (e.g., guys) | People | Twitter, Microsoft, Chromium |
| Gendered pronouns (e.g., he/him/his) | They, them, their | W3C, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Chromium |
| Man hours | Person hours, engineer hours, staff hours | Twitter, Google |
| Sanity check | Quick check, confidence check, coherence check | W3C, Twitter, Google |
| Crazy | Unexpected, surprising, puzzling | |
| Dummy value | Placeholder value, sample value | W3C, Twitter, Google |
| Dark Pattern | Deception Pattern | HTC, Fediverse, Twitter |
There are some other terms that have had alternatives suggested within the IETF context:
| Term | Alternative |
|---|---|
| Man in the middle (attack) | On-path attack(er), impersonation attack, interception |
| Third world nation | Developing nation |
| Balkanization | Bifurcation, segmentation |
| Military or violence metaphors (e.g., kill) | End, halt, stop, close, cease |
These lists are illustrative, not comprehensive.
In general, authors and reviewers of IETF documents should be alert about metaphors and other terms with explicit or implicit semantics that are based on:
- Gender
- Age
- Ability
- Ethnicity
- Race
- Nationality
- Socio-economic status
Authors and reviewers should aim to ensure that metaphors and other terminology in IETF documents are as technically accurate and clear as possible.
Sometimes IETF documents need to refer to terminology from older IETF documents or non-IETF documents. In such cases, authors of the new IETF document should explain the mapping of previously used terms to new terms.
Organizations that have published guidelines:
Other organizations working on changes to technical terminology:
React
Typescript
Django
Laravel
Facebook
Microsoft
Google
Alibaba
D3
Tencent