I brought this up back when PetSet was just a proposal, but it didn't get much response. At the risk of being labeled or dismissed as an "SJW" or "preachy vegan," or of stirring up drama, please hear me out:

The name PetSet is derived from the common metaphor in infrastructure of "pets vs. cattle." The metaphor encourages infrastructure developers to think of cloud servers as anonymous and fungible resources rather than things to be manually managed by a person. The implication is that instead of treating a server like a pet, which you take care of and treat when it becomes sick, you simply destroy the server and replace it with a new one, as a cattle rancher would simply kill an animal that didn't serve its economic purpose to the rancher. The pet has a personal and emotional value to you, but the cattle is just a commodity.

The lesson in infrastructure here is quite a good one, and its value should be preserved, but using this particular metaphor is quite unfortunate, because it perpetuates the belief that the life and well being of an animal has value only in relation to its value to humans.

This may seem like making a mountain out of a molehill, but try to think about how our language perpetuates our culture and our beliefs. Try to think about it in the context of how future generations will see it. In the same way that homophobic or racist language was (and in some cases still is) commonplace and accepted in days past, in the modern world we generally recognize this language as unacceptable because it promotes a negative world view that we have progressed past. Imagine how angry people would be if this feature were called "WifeSet" and the analogy were "wives vs. bar hook-ups." We're in an era of increasing empathy, and that empathy is not bounded only to other humans. It affects any being that can feel pain, sadness, or loss, like we can.

While I don't claim to have a perfect substitute for this analogy that might replace PetSet, the one I have been using myself is to compare the role of owning a car vs using a taxi or ridesharing service. When you own a car, it is your personal possession. You take care of it. You keep it fueled, cleaned, and maintained in good shape. When it breaks, you get it fixed. In contrast, a taxi or ridesharing service is using a car as a fungible resource. You hail one only when you need the service it provides, and you use it only as long as you require that service. You don't care which car picks you up, or who is driving it, as long as it is fulfills the service. So my own suggestion for a replacement for PetSet is CarSet. If someone has a better idea that seems to "click" with people more, all the better. And of course, the feature could be named something more general—it doesn't have to use an analogy. (I recall that originally "NominalSet" was being considered.)

This issue is not about me or anyone else being "offended," or requesting that the name be changed to CarSet specifically—it's just asking specifically not to invoke the pets vs. cattle metaphor in the name of this feature.

Thank you very much for considering this.

For context, here is my previous comment from back in the proposal phase.