this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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    [–] Broadfern@lemmy.world 153 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Tbf Dolphin calls them folders

    [–] thenextguy@sh.itjust.works 152 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    And every Linux directory icon is a folder. This is a non issue.

    [–] HouseWolf@pawb.social 119 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    Shhhh the CLI purists haven't figured out what icons are yet.

    [–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 43 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    You mean those religious pictures old Italian and Russian people have?

    [–] BartyDeCanter@piefed.social 26 points 1 month ago

    oh oh! Are those the extra logos and things added by nerdfonts?

    [–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
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    [–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
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    [–] _NetNomad@fedia.io 118 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    something very similar in mainframe land where they call files "datasets." if you call a dataset a file, get ready to get an earfull!

    which is ironic considering IBM themselves often call them files and one of the most popular dataset utilities is called FileAid. but if we acknowledge that, we lose a valuable opportunity to belittle and exclude newcomers

    [–] bobzrkr@sh.itjust.works 69 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    In AWS S3, they're objects, not files. But you upload files to objects. And can download an object to a file. But they're not files. Trust me bro.

    [–] AmyAye@nord.pub 29 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    You know, the same deal kind of applies about "losing newcomers". Because I avooded using AWS because everything seemed cryptic and weird with its terminology. So other companies got my business.

    [–] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago

    Cryptic and weird and their documentation is the worst.

    avooded

    Awoooo!

    [–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    That's mostly because it doesn't have real directories, it just simulates them with string prefixes and if you forget that on large buckets you are going to have a bad time.

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    [–] sik0fewl@piefed.ca 31 points 1 month ago

    It’s called gatekeeping. You wouldn’t get it.

    [–] rtxn@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Reminds me of the oilfield unit hell. If you even mention an SI unit on an offshore drilling platform, your beheaded carcass will be displayed on top of the derrick as a warning for others, left to be devoured by birds and the salty wind.

    [–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    For what it's worth, they're referred to as directories by command prompt and PowerShell (effectively the new Windows command prompt) tools as Windows as well.

    [–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    And always had been in DOS before Windows.

    Folder is just an easier concept for the average person to grok, so I say folder to them.

    [–] cylinder0093@fedinsfw.app 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    It's two fewer syllables and a more straightforward analogy. It's just a better name

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    [–] DontRedditMyLemmy@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Call them inodes and see what happens next

    [–] Forester@pawb.social 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

    An inode is not a folder it's metadata for a folder OR a file.

    It would be more correct to say all folders are txt files

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    [–] Dookieman12@piefed.social 30 points 1 month ago

    Just call it a 'container object' and you can be technically correct in almost every context.

    See also: in SQL and Dataverse, a row is called a 'record', but in SharePoint and Lists, a row is called an 'item', and MAN do people get all pissy if you get them mixed up or refer to it as a 'row'.

    It's even more aggravating when you understand that 1) they're all different implementations of the 'table' data structure, so the term is still accurate; 'records' and 'items' are just subsets of 'rows', and 2) SharePoint and Lists are just SQL on the backend anyway.

    Like, obviously you knew what I meant, but how is your ego gonna get stroked unless you preach about pedantic details that don't matter?

    [–] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    That's idiotic. We all know it's a file, everything's a FILE!

    [–] phorq@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    Would that make linux users filephiles?

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    [–] squinky@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    Anyone gives me a hard time about that, I’m reverting to Amiga and calling it a β€œdrawer”

    i just call 'em all "that fuckin' thing" and if anyone complains, they can talk to this guy

    [–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 27 points 1 month ago

    Don't care, KDE says "create new folder", it's a folder.

    [–] Sanctus@anarchist.nexus 26 points 1 month ago

    I use directory and folder interchangeably

    [–] Gormadt@slrpnk.net 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

    You'll pry my old outdated terminology from my cold dead hands lol

    [–] comador@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

    I'll toast to that from my Remix OS coffee mug currently sitting on my SunOS mouse pad.

    [–] AntY@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

    They’re called files!

    [–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 month ago

    I got binders full of .txt files.

    [–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip 15 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

    If I'm browsing in a GUI they're folders. If I'm using a CLI they're directories. Except when I decide to do the opposite in either situation. Everything I do is the correct method and the only people who are wrong are whoever disagree with me. Unless they're hot.

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    [–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 12 points 1 month ago

    I call them "bags of holding" because their capacity is undefined.

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