Earlier quoted context omitted.
Holding firm to your ideal includes getting your message across effectively. If you want social change, which Stallman does, you have to 'preach beyond the choir'. I don't think Stallman's positions are silly. A touch extreme, but I generally agree with them. I just think his name-calling runs counter to what he wants to achieve.
RMS isn't writing for a general audience, he is writing for us. We hackers can spread the word in a palatable manner; RMS's job is to hold us to account, push us to the highest standards of ethical conduct and hold a mirror up to our hypocrisies. The world needs pragmatists, but it needs zealots too.
Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
301–310 of 376 posts
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#302Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#303Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#304As someone who has never used Facebook, I often feel like I am talking to members of some sinister cult when I meet someone who asks me about Facebook and I say I don't use it. The surprise and weird eyes they give me really unnerves me, it's not just a website to some people, it has become a integral part of their life and has seeped into their mind. It has gotten to the point that I am deliberately rude about it, f…
Look, people are surprised because Facebook has become an integral way to communicate with someone whether it be via chat with messenger or as a broadcast message via a newsfeed post. Internalize this: Facebook has become as integral to communication as having a cell phone was in the last decade. If you met someone who didn't have a cell phone today (whether it be a smartphone or otherwise), wouldn't you be surprised…
I have missed out in a lot of things by not "being used" (in the spirit of the discussion) by facebook, buy I still think you have to be a special kind of crazy to use it.
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
So what can you tell me about the founders or CEOs of McDonalds?
Seriously? How about the McDonalds, and Ray Kroc? Never heard of those names?
You're overestimating how famous this guy is.
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not use "democrap" or "republicant", as they do not promote the discussion or understanding in any way. However, I did adopt Stallman's "Copy Restriction" (instead of "Copy Protection") and "Digital Restriction Management" (instead of "Digital Right Management") - because they are a much better description of what the concept actually is for 99% of the people. I started doing this after I told someone that I wil…
> You are, indeed, used by facebook when you interact with it All HN useds already realize this. If this by it self is a reason not to use a service, very few sites can be used.
Exactly.
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even the appropriation of generic terms like "free" to mean very, very, very specific and non-intuitive things reeks of intellectual dishonesty. He did not "appropriate" the term free. FreeBSD and OpenBSD call what they do "free software" and they also call the gcc "free" and the phrase "free software" predates the Free Software Foundation. He insists on the term, but he doesn't mean something very specific when he…
> He insists on the term, but he doesn't mean something very specific when he says "free". Unlike what most of his opponents seem to believe, he does not mean "copyleft only" when he says "free". He means the exact same thing as "open source", just like "global warming" means the same thing as "climate change". Same thing, different political slant. That's not remotely true. When RMS says "free", he means "copyleft".…
https://opensource.org/licenses https://opensource.org/faq#free-software
The terms Free Software and Open Source are the same from a technical point of view, to the extent that they describe the same set of software. However, they are different in that they connote different views about the world---people saying free (or libre) software take a stance in that software should be free in order to build more just society, while people saying open source don't necessarily take a political stance with regard to software, and often see licensing only from a business point of view.
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#308Who here has frequently used facebook and then got off the platform? What's been the hardest part without it? Was it hard? Do you feel disconnected or has communication actually been affected with the people who matter to you?
I am however missing out. You'd be surprised how many companies and such that jump at the opportunity to become locked in. Many simply stop entertaining other communication channels.
since I am no longer easily invited to events, all but my close friends bothers inviting me to things.
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#309I was a used a few months ago until I just quit. I enjoy trail running and time-permitting I try to do 5-7 races per year. This year I totally missed 2 races b/c I was not in the loop anymore. Organizers don't even have a website or newsletter anymore, just a FB page. Then I realized this is happening to businesses as well. They seem to ignore the fact that they are giving FB full control over its brand/audience. Any…
Re: Reasons not to use (i.e., be used by) Facebook
#310The same goes for terms like Copy protection, DRM, etc.
Stallman is publishing his views with an obviously adult audience in mind, but the way he explains things is as if he were explaining it to children.
If you're talking an adult audience, it's a reasonable expectation that they would understand (once told) the concept that the "rights" in DRM mean the rights of the creator/producer, rather than the rights of the listener/viewer, or that "copy protection" is a method to prevent the creation of copied works.
This whole thing honestly sounds like his approach to software licenses as well. Stallman and his followers have claimed that when software is released under a less restrictive license, it's a terrible loss, because anyone else can then come along and use that software for whatever they want, including for-profit products that include their own improvements that are not released as open source.
Having that view point is a personal choice, and I don't have any issue with you for it, but more often than not any discussed of a permissive vs copyleft licenses ends up in claims that choosing MIT/BSD/etc is "wrong". And suddenly the picture gets clearer:
Stallman's ideas are not just his ideas, they're basically his religion, and if you don't join his religion (i.e. subscribe to his ideas, you're wrong, because you couldn't possibly be as smart as he is. We are but mindless children who cannot possibly have made an informed, educated decision about something, if our opinion on something differs from his.