Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Me

@helloiamskylar F A L S E H O O D
S PROGRAMMERS BELIEVE ABOUT ME SKYLAR MACDONALD

@helloiamskylar 2010

@helloiamskylar ANYTHING SOMEONE TELLS YOU IS THEIR NAME IS —
BY DEFINITION — AN APPROPRIATE IDENTIFIER FOR THEM. Patrick McKenzie Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names

@helloiamskylar SKYLAR MACDONALD

@helloiamskylar SKYLAR MACDHÒMHNAILL

@helloiamskylar THE NAME I’VE GIVEN YOU IS WHAT’S ON MY
ID #1

@helloiamskylar Ali Shaker / VOA

@helloiamskylar

@helloiamskylar Flickr / Brandon Dimcheff

@helloiamskylar ASK.

@helloiamskylar DO NOT EXPECT IDENTITIES TO BE CONSISTENT

@helloiamskylar MacDonald

@helloiamskylar Tesco

@helloiamskylar MY NAME IS ONE UPPERCASE LETTER, FOLLOWED BY LOWERCASE
LETTERS #2

@helloiamskylar McElroy

@helloiamskylar O’Neill

@helloiamskylar van Dyke

@helloiamskylar van den Broek

@helloiamskylar MacDonald

@helloiamskylar MacDhòmhnaill

@helloiamskylar skylar@macdhòmhnaill.com

@helloiamskylar [email protected]

@helloiamskylar Google

@helloiamskylar MY NAME CAN BE RENDERED IN ASCII #3 (OR
ANY GIVEN CHARACTER SET)

@helloiamskylar DVLA

@helloiamskylar I HAVE THE SAME LAST NAME AS MY FAMILY
#4

@helloiamskylar THE AMOUNT OF TIME I HAVE BEEN ALIVE ==
THE AMOUNT OF TIME I HAVE HAD THIS NAME #5

@helloiamskylar PEOPLE’S NAMES DO NOT CHANGE #6

@helloiamskylar PEOPLE HAVE EXACTLY ONE CANONICAL NAME #7

@helloiamskylar PEOPLE HAVE EXACTLY n NAMES  (FOR ANY VALUE OF
n) #8

@helloiamskylar THE FACT THAT I’VE CHANGED MY NAME MEANS I’VE
GOT MARRIED #9

@helloiamskylar THE FACT THAT I’VE CHANGED MY NAME MEANS I’VE
GOT DIVORCED #10

@helloiamskylar THE FACT THAT I’VE CHANGED MY NAME MEANS I’M
NOW IN A CIVIL PARTNERSHIP #11

@helloiamskylar YOU KNOW HOW TO SPELL MACDHÒMHNAILL BETTER THAN I
DO #12

@helloiamskylar YOU THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE “MACDHÒMHNAILL”, SO
YOU’RE GOING TO TRY IT #13

@helloiamskylar YOU THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE “MACDHÒMHNAILL”, SO
YOU’RE GOING TO TRY IT — EVEN THOUGH I’VE TOLD YOU IT’S PRONOUNCED ROUGHLY LIKE “MACDONALD” AND IT’S GOING TO BE EASIER FOR EVERYONE IF YOU JUST SAY “MACDONALD” #13

@helloiamskylar Ò IS THE SAME AS Ó, RIGHT? #14

@helloiamskylar SCOTTISH GAELIC IS THE SAME AS IRISH GAELIC #15

@helloiamskylar MY NAME IS IN GAELIC, SO I MUST SPEAK
GAELIC #16

@helloiamskylar YOUR SYSTEM UNDERSTANDS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “LEGAL NAME” AND
“PREFERRED NAME”, SO EVERYONE’S MUST, SURELY? #17

@helloiamskylar IF YOU GET THIS WRONG, IT’LL BE BASICALLY FINE.
#18

@helloiamskylar NAMES ARE CENTRAL TO OUR IDENTITIES, VIRTUALLY BY DEFINITION.
Patrick McKenzie Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names

@helloiamskylar I CHANGED MY NAME TO SKYLAR MACDONALD. Well, yes,
MacDhòmhnaill, but whatever.

@helloiamskylar DO NOT CALL ME BY THE NAME I USED
PREVIOUSLY.

@helloiamskylar THAT’S NOT MY NAME.

@helloiamskylar YouTube / VEVO

@helloiamskylar DEADNAMING

@helloiamskylar DEADNAMING PUTS PEOPLE AT RISK

@helloiamskylar Snapchat / GitHub (Keybase) / HubSpot

@helloiamskylar Facebook

@helloiamskylar Wikipedia

@helloiamskylar Medium / @zip

@helloiamskylar Facebook

@helloiamskylar Facebook / DVLA Facebook

@helloiamskylar

@helloiamskylar YOU NEED TO KNOW MY GENDER #19

@helloiamskylar YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF GENDER IS THE SAME AS MINE
#20

@helloiamskylar I IDENTIFY WITH A GENDER THAT IS PART OF
YOUR FINITE LIST #21

@helloiamskylar IF YOU GET THIS WRONG, IT’LL BE BASICALLY FINE.
#22

@helloiamskylar Twitter / @coyohti

@helloiamskylar Kylie Jack

@helloiamskylar DON’T ASK.

@helloiamskylar DO NOT EXPECT IDENTITIES TO BE CONSISTENT

@helloiamskylar DO NOT EXPECT IDENTITIES TO BE CONSISTENT Kylie Jack

@helloiamskylar FORMS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

@helloiamskylar ! " Apple

@helloiamskylar

@helloiamskylar # Apple

@helloiamskylar PEOPLE’S IDENTITIES ARE NOT EDGE CASES

@helloiamskylar IF YOU OUT ONE TRANS PERSON YOU HAVE FAILED 
AS A DEVELOPER

@helloiamskylar YOU HAVE FAILED  AS A DEVELOPER IF YOU EXCLUDE
ONE NON-BINARY PERSON

@helloiamskylar YOU HAVE FAILED  AS A DEVELOPER IF YOU CAN’T
CHANGE ONE PERSON’S NAME

@helloiamskylar ASK THE QUESTION YOU ACTUALLY WANT THE ANSWER TO

@helloiamskylar DON’T COLLECT INFORMATION YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED

@helloiamskylar 2017

@helloiamskylar @helloiamskylar skylarmacdonald.com FALSEHOODS PROGRAMMERS BELIEVE ABOUT ME Format Development
With thanks to  Patrick McKenzie Sam Kitajima-Kimbrel Jessica Rose Alex Dytrych Daniel Irvine Dan Pelensky Franzi Sauerwein

Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Me

Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Me

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