this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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There are cultural traditions of using colors as symbols, many of which are harmless -- red for anger, blue for sadness, green for envy. Whitelist and blacklist come from the very long-standing theme of using white to represent good and black to represent evil.
Regardless of how you feel about the origin of those themes, it makes sense to start moving away from them now. Whether intentional or not, they can be harmful and aren't really necessary.
not only that but whitelist-blacklist are just bad names.
even greenlist-redlist would be better (at least while we have light signals at intersections) as green means go red means stop are more universally understood.
but allowlist and blocklist are just plain better, they are self explanatory words. you don't need to learn what they mean since it's right there in the name.
whitelist-blacklist are names where you need to learn the meaning of them, sticking to them just because they were used in the past is not the best argument.
Words often work like unique signifiers "symbols", often by using them you learn them and dont question it. Thats a neutral phenomenon. It has advantages and disadvantages. Mainly, redlist is as disconnected from meaning as much as blacklist is. Requiring the understanding of what a "car" is, and why they cant "wheel their way" thru a cross shaped road becuse of a colored light being there. (Mabe even "across" may make no sense anymore in the future) It sounds really stupid when put like that, but accessability is important.
it isn't though. you don't need cars to learn red means stop, we literally had miniature roads, crossing and signs at my pre-school (or whatever it's called in English, the one you go at age 3 till 6, you start school at 6).
Stop sign is red, pedestrian crossing are just red - stop, green - go. you learn that from a very young age so the association is natural.
Also, just to be clear, I didn't say redlist is good, just that it's less stupid than blacklist.