Open Source Initiative bans co-founder, Eric S Raymond

Then I see Eric write this:

> Usually (and in this case) accompanied by a lot of bafflegab about “inclusion” and “diversity” so thay anyone who isn't a fan of the new, censorious rules can be cast as some sort of bigot.

:/ Eric, we can have it both ways. I hammer it home into the engineers I’ve lead that code is the ultimate source of truth. I‘ll guide them from, for example, “do we need a mutex here” through to object code to generated assembly through to an intel reference manual, because I want to demonstrate that as engineers, we are in full control of our creations. The engineers I work with all challenge each other, and ask difficult questions, and put ideas through difficult tests. Because we’re mature adults, we can do so with language more advanced than “this is shit” (an open source favorite). It’s real easy. How about, “what happens when ” or “have you considered ”.

In fact, by soliciting more feedback and criticism, you are being more inclusive - as long as the conversations play out in a constructive way! Yes, it can be hard to teach that, but that’s why we pay people managers and technical leads to do a job.

Honestly, though, what sucks most of all is when you see that people who were so influential to you early in life would apparently look down on the person you are, just because you would ask to be respected in return.

Absolutely, it's quite a quandary. The thing is, there's a difference between "random tool ten people use and no one would create with person X" and, say, Open Office and there are a variety of shades in between. At some point, the "I created this and I can manipulate it any way I want" thing is really problematic and stands in the way of a semi-important standard/application/library but at other points, there is no easy alternative.

Data point. Read http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/sextips/.

Data point. It took ESR less than 15 minutes from meeting my ex in late 1999 to make an undesired pass at her. (He knew she was married to me, and was turned down.)

Data point. I was at a PerlMongers meeting in 2003. And happened to remark that, "Someone needs to tell ESR that he's not God's gift to women." After the laughter died down, a woman at the table gave an account of his making an unwanted pass at her. This opened a floodgate as every woman at the table had her own similar story in turn.

There are many more such data points. But clearly ESR's behavior has been a problem for a long time.

However I am still deeply concerned that he establishes a convenient precedent that will be applied to other, much less problematic, people.

Founding shit like this took a special kind of dinosaur, the kind who criticizes everything. The self critique being the most important kind. In an ideal world you can never have enough of that. Sadly for other people, if you have a lot of it, it is hard not to project it outwards as well. It takes a great struggle to not subject others to the same standard one holds himself to. It can be done... until codez of conduct are coined then such person just explodes - which is funny. Fuzzy little creatures then make a home in the hard shell they leave behind.

I grew up in a rather hard-core religious environment where shaming was a common tactic to enforce conformance. I have no desire whatsoever to return to that.