I suggest changing the references from 'users' to 'humans' in the admin pages of a drupal site.

I realise that this can be achieved with string overrides but I think it is an important and meaningful change that Drupal could make at the core to reinforce it is a CMS for human beings (as Ubuntu strives to do for Linux).

I think it would help to establish that each 'user' on a site is first and foremost a human being. Not just a unit from a database to sell other units to or a categorised piece of data reinforcing man-made divisions that cause conflict.

As Drupal grows I think it can and does (intentionally or not) have influence on how people view things including software licensing, global communities and the liminal space software creates between humans.

Therefore I think it important that there is some care taken in the choice of words used as I think there is as much chance to limit awareness and understanding as there is to increase or aid it.

Thanks for taking to time to read what may seem a very inconsequential issue for such a powerful system as Drupal is.

Richard

Comments

heather’s picture

heather commented
Component: user interface text » other
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

Hello Richard,

This is interesting, and not inconsequential. A change like this would have huge ramifications. This is not simply a 'ui text' issue. Nor is it just related to any particular version of Drupal.

I think this is more the start of a debate and discussion, however. The issue queue is generally for problem solving, including bug fixes, submission of screenshots and testing of patches.

Considering this, I think you would best go to IRC for this type of discussion. Actually, discussion should not be done on the issue queue generally.

In the meantime, I am marking this as 'won't fix', and removing the other marks. This is to save someone who is reviewing user interface text the time to come and read this.

Check out the Getting involved handbook, especially How to enact change within the Drupal community. I suggest either using the forum, or IRC to start this conversation.

I'm not the person to ask however, but I just want to clear up this out of the issue queue to save some time. It's a busy list.

Best wishes,

- Heather