John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

The FSF has been under a lot of (undue, in my opinion) pressure lately, regarding the composition of its board. It is understandable that the ED, who is part of the hired staff and not a member of the board, has a limited patience. I hope all is well with him, his work as executive director has been great.

Re: John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

#6

Post by tester34 » Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 9:20 AM UTC

vocal twitter minority reaching their goals again?

current state of internet is pretty sad,

I bet you'd just need 30 people/twitter(or reddit) accounts

in order to create drama of significant size

Re: John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

#7

Post by fen4o » Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 9:21 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #2

Is this related to Stallman going back to the FSF?

See https://rms-open-letter.github.io/ and the counter-letter https://rms-support-letter.github.io/

Re: John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

#8

Post by rich_sasha » Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 9:22 AM UTC

A whole different angle, I wonder how well the FSF folk get on with RMS. For all the defenses people mount of him, no one says he's a nice guy to be around.

I'm still against the Twitter mob etc., I do wonder though if RMS nuked his own organisation by joining the helm again. Life's unfair.

Re: John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

#9

Post by risky_opinions » Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 9:22 AM UTC

I'm creating a throwaway that I hope won't irk dang. If this breaks the rules, I'm sorry and I'll stop.

Richard Stallman single-handedly created the free software movement, and he's the reason we all have jobs. Google and Facebook might not have been possible in a world where you couldn't spin up a server for free and compile code without paying a license.

Richard Stallman has said some sexist and edgy things. He also has Asperger's, which poses challenges many of us do not face. He hasn't, as far as I know, committed any crimes.

Do we destroy the pillar we've built our entire livelihoods upon to satisfy a mob?

Have all of us been truly without blame? Who hasn't said something they shouldn't have? Or done something that marginalized someone at some point in time (even if it wasn't on the basis of sex, gender, race, etc.)?

I don't want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can't be blunt and speak our minds.

I don't want to live in a world where we can't be forgiven.

I was reading comments in another HN thread, and one poster suggested that this might arise from raising kids without bullying. Like the immune system, if we don't develop a central tolerance, perhaps we start attacking everything we find unpleasant? No basis in behavioral science, of course.

And then there's the engagement-driven social media monster. Twitter, in particular. It's destroying careers.

We're badgering the members of the FSF. We're denying Richard Stallman any chances.

This isn't good. It's horrific.

What do we do about this?

Re: John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

#10

Post by wiz21c » Mon, Mar 29, 2021, 9:23 AM UTC

tester34 wrote: post #6

vocal twitter minority reaching their goals again? current state of internet is pretty sad, I bet you'd just need 30 people/twitter(or reddit) accounts in order to create drama of significant size

seems so. It'd be a better world if people would understand the difference between walking a thin line and actually crossing it.