Skip to main content

Terminology, Power and Offensive Language
draft-knodel-terminology-01

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft whose latest revision state is "Expired".
Expired & archived
Authors Mallory Knodel , Niels ten Oever
Last updated 2019-09-12 (Latest revision 2019-03-11)
RFC stream (None)
Formats
Additional resources
Stream Stream state (No stream defined)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
RFC Editor Note (None)
IESG IESG state Expired
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)

This Internet-Draft is no longer active. A copy of the expired Internet-Draft is available in these formats:

Abstract

This document argues for and describes alternatives that shift specific language conventions used by RFC Authors and RFC Editors to avoid offensive terminology in the technical documentation of the RFC series. Specifically, this document details two sets of terms that are normalised on the technical level but offensive on a societal level. First, arguments are presented for why any offensive terms should be avoided by the IETF/IRTF. Second, problem statements for both sets of terms are presented and alternatives are referenced and proposed. There is a third section on additional considerations and general action points to address the RFC series, past and future. Lastly, a summary of recommendations is presented.

Authors

Mallory Knodel
Niels ten Oever

(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)