(the same could be said about used car salesmen... but i am not one of those)
this rubs me up a bit wrong... as humorous as the intent is.
People do have this name[1][2] so it's not exactly a misspelling. Not a very common one though.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad#Other_spellings
[2] http://hamariweb.com/names/muslim/arabic/boy/achmed-meaning_...
1.) never seen an arab transliterate the name this way. ahmed, ahmad and akhmed... but the k tends to symbolise a different letter (and sound) present in the arabic too. (so this turns out to be a flawed piece of thinking)
2.) the first time i saw this spelling was as 'achmed the dead terrorist', which has biased me. (p.s. i find that very funny, and i think the difference is that the comedian is specifically mocking a group of people who definitely exist vs. using an arab name to imply terrorism [or dishonesty or incompetence... or anything])
i'm sure its not meant with any particular ill will towards arabs, but i can't shake that feeling that this is some casual racism...
It's also fine if it "seems racist" to you - another opportunity, to see if it actually is. In this case, it isn't; if anything, it's making a joke in the opposite direction, as other comments point out.
I think the author of the bug was British. If you look at the user agent line at the top of the bug, the culture is "en-GB", and the phrase "who knows a bit about computers" sounds like British (or possibly Indian) English.
Edit: I have kids, they get home crying, because people call them this or that. So, it's time to grow up.
"Hey, this reads as a bit racist to me" isn't really "crying to mommy/daddy", it's expressing an opinion on the text. Legislating what is and isn't an appropriate (ie, "not oversensitive") opinion on a text is counterproductive.
p.s. I am doing this as I wind down after a long day of productive work. I wouldn't assume that anyone browsing HN places particular value on the discussion here beyond its own intrinsic value... its certainly not wasting my precious few moments.
(pps. i did not downvote, but upvoted, because conflicting and honest opinions are vital to healthy discussion, and yours is perfectly valid imo).
> I have kids, they get home crying, because people call them this or that. So, it's time to grow up.
The "sticks and stones" argument, really? How about you call the next black person you see the N-word and then tell them to grow up when s/he becomes 'sensitive'.
That's part of the joke!! :D You see, (imho) this means to attack our poor security, not your sensibilities. It plays on (y)our social programming to add an element of ^^terror boogy-men^^ wooooo... that peddlers of this security industry and their friends sell us on, though those in connected industries use much more physical "protections". (again imho) We need to get past this `cultureA v. cultureB` etc as anything but a con, worth only ridicule, scorn, and occasionally humor.
That doesn't mean stock characters can't be offensive or racist of course, but in this case I don't think joke is at the expense of the Arab people in general.
But then the joke is on you I guess
There's a benign interpretation too -- the author might protest that it's America, and there are plenty of flim-flammers of all races. But it's insensitive, and the post could've been equally funny without invoking the stereotype.
In another context besides a global community of open source programmers and users, it might be OK.
Signed, The guy who marked that bug report invalid.
At the current moment, it is questionable why some CAs – TURKTRUST comes to mind – are considered trustworthy, when they are barely more trustworthy than your random street dealer.
Edit: Appears to be a parody of Comodo issuing rogue certs. More - http://www.scmagazine.com/experts-weigh-in-on-comodo-ssl-cer...
