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Richard Stallman’s rider

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Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#71

Post by axusgrad »

heyrhett wrote: post #7

All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose. Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50 years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks. I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

"If you can find a host for me that has a friendly parrot, I will be very very glad. If you can find someone who has a friendly parrot I can visit with, that will be nice too."

He's fine with coach class, and will sleep on a couch. Better to have more info than too little.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#72

Post by astine »

heyrhett wrote: post #7

All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose. Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50 years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks. I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

"All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions."

Did you read the same list I did? He requests to stay in somebody's home but specifies a list of foods he doesn't like and demands he be consulted on any meals he's served. Some of his demands relate to his cause, and a few to his health, but overall I'd say he comes across as overly particular and demanding. I guess if he's heavily in demand he can get away with it as there will always be someone willing to accommodate him, but that someone won't be me.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#74

Post by BrandonM »

0x12 wrote: post #45
joshaidan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You see, that's the problem. His mission was to promote free software, instead of the mission the university hired him for: sending the graduates off on their next journey.

You don't hire a missionary with a vision to pat yourself or your audience on the back. That's like expecting Sylvester Stallone to do higher mathematics or Mother Theresa to do an arms deal for you. Some people are what they are and their environment/audience will have to accept them as they are. The problem lies squarely with the person that hired him, the abstract of the speeches listed should have adequately expl…

> What I found interesting on reading the 'rider' is that he still refers to the GNU operating system as though it is in daily use. I've yet to see a HURD based system do anything useful in production but half the world wide web seems to run on Linux these days. Of course linux is 'merely a kernel'.

Considering that glib, libc, gcc, emacs, the vast majority of the Unix utilities, bash, grub, autoconf, make, readline, gzip, tar, screen, wget, and Gnome are all GNU projects[0], I would say that GNU is most definitely in daily use. The Linux kernel isn't much use without the software on top of it, and it's nothing at all without the compiler that turns it into machine code.

[0] See https://www.gnu.org/software/software.html#allgnupkgs for the full list.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#75

Post by drivingmenuts »

astine wrote: post #72
heyrhett wrote: post #7

All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions. He is specific and verbose. Some of these things might seem strange to people who are younger than 50 years old, and aren't flown around the world to give hundreds of talks. I think that this demonstrates the value of a clear and verbose contract.

"All of his demands are either directly related to his health or the moral causes that he champions." Did you read the same list I did? He requests to stay in somebody's home but specifies a list of foods he doesn't like and demands he be consulted on any meals he's served. Some of his demands relate to his cause, and a few to his health, but overall I'd say he comes across as overly particular and demanding. I guess…

Written out in black-and-white it seems rather cold and heartless, but it merely clarifies what would be a normal practice.

If a guest in your house is uncomfortable/unable to eat what you're having, and has given no prior notice, then it can be quite a problem to find out right when mealtime is approaching.

This is a sensible way of avoiding unnecessary conflict.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#76

Post by JabavuAdams »

jolie wrote: post #21
Portmanager wrote: post #19

RMS is quite unkempt, his feet stink like a hobo. In general he has a retarded way of dealing with people, not a nice person to be in touch with. Just my 2 cents. PS: I did not mention his philosophy, neithe if his ideas are wrong. I just said he's got a bad personal hygiene and that he is has a retarded way of dealing with people, here are some quotes: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms It is plain wrong to offer…

RMS is a delightful man (I've had the pleasure of interviewing him at length in person), and his demands are completely in line with his philosophies. His dedication to free and open-source ideals, if impractical, is also inspiring and rare. Saying he has "a retarded way of dealing with people" is perhaps too general. I myself found him enchanting and enlightening in our interactions. Maybe you just didn't like the w…

> open-source ideals,

You didn't read the part of the rider about "open source".

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#78

Post by jsavimbi »

0x12 wrote: post #60
jsavimbi wrote: post #32

If there is something else interesting and unique in this link, please tell me about it. Maybe I will be interested.

At a guess, then you'll mail your daemon to fetch the page, to be mailed back by the daemon?

Only after I find a trustworthy wi-fi connection that'll allow proxy-less SSH.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#79

Post by drivingmenuts »

bitwize wrote: post #9

"So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at 3 in the morning, looking for 1000 brown M&M's to fill a brandy glass, or Richard Stallman wouldn't go on stage that night."

Just fill it with parrots.

I mean, that wasn't specifically mentioned as a no-no.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#80

Post by sfg »

Anechoic wrote: post #62

I've helped to organize large conferences in the past, and right now I'm organizing a reception to honor some prominent Boston-area acousticians. Given those experiences, I would absolutely love to have this kind of a rider for honorees and speakers. It removes a lot of guesswork in planning large events and would make things go smoothly. Sure, some of the statements in the rider might seem odd, demanding or even irr…

"It would save a ton of time coordinating with speakers beforehand making sure everything is in accordance with their (and our) expectations,"

Saving time is a probably one of the main motivations for this document. From the rider:

"I have no vacations. (Don't feel sorry for me; idleness is not something I wish for.) I have to spend 6 to 8 hours every day doing my usual work, which is responding to email about the GNU Project and the Free Software Movement. Work comes in every day for me, and if I skip it one day, I have to catch up another day"

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