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John Sullivan resign as executive director of the Free Software Foundation

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

#181

Post by smolder »

clappski wrote: post #16
risky_opinions wrote: post #9

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 als…

> I don't want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can't be blunt and speak our minds. Freedom of speech isn't the freedom to not be publicly judged about what you say.

True, and I'm judging the public on their flimsy judgement and groupthink. 90% of the outrage and even half the argument on subjects like this comes from people joining in without having had an independent thought or any first hand experience with the source material (RMS and his behavior)

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

#182

Post by gimboland »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #69
gimboland wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to live in a world where we can't be forgiven. Forgiveness requires accountability and commitment to change, neither of which have been forthcoming.

Have you seen his blog? He's admitted failings and mistakes in the past.

I have not, and would be interested to see a link to that (the posting(s) in question, not the whole blog), particularly if it addresses the many accusations of sexual harassment, as my understanding was that this had not happened. Prompted by your comment, I had a look on his site, but nothing seemed to be fit the bill, either in the "Political Articles" section or the "Non-political Articles" section — but maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? Please, enlighten me.

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

#183

Post by [deleted] »

mhh__ wrote: post #135
haunter wrote: post #61

Says a lot about the HN community that a lot of people need to post under throwaways because there are legit others would otherwise go after them or their employers Say whatever you want about reddit but at least it's more anonym than this site

Is there evidence that this is really the case (the "going after" rather than the throwaways)? e.g. I think Stallman is driving free software into the ground regardless of how right he is about it's value, but I'm not going to chase anyone up - beyond thinking they're stupid

[deleted]

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

#184

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

Ar-Curunir wrote: post #122
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because of the toxic effect he has on the community, in particular driving women -- and more recently, those repulsed by pedophilia -- away. Can you name one person who was driven away from contributing to free software because of Stallman? Sarah Mei? Lol. I believe that it is unlikely for someone _really_ willing to contribute to society to abandon this idea simply because some person he's never met being an unple…

What absurd nonsense. If you see a community supporting opinions you hold vile, you will simply go and join a less toxic community. This attitude that FLOSS supporters should be dedicated to the cause no matter the cost is why the GCC and copyleft communities are dying.

In FLOSS nobody cares who you are. Not your sex, your gender, not even your real identity. All that matters is the value you provide, mostly in the form of code. Those who contribute good code are lauded, others - not so much.

If you are seeking things like recognition, acknowledgement or other ways to entertain your vanity, you should really join some other community. FLOSS could use more engineers and fewer activists who contribute only to the community, not to the code or documentation/teaching materials.

Also, copyleft communities are not dying. They are fine and growing.

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

#185

Post by ikerdanzel »

aboringusername wrote: post #23
risky_opinions wrote: post #9

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 als…

> 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 take issue with this. I'm not hugely adept at history but from my understanding there has never been a time where you can just blurt out a communication and have it be "accepted" by society - this seems to me very American and appears very detached from reality and real world experience. Yes, you are…

Fully agreed. Unfortunately, being snowflakes and snowflaking because their feelings are hurt blindsided them to what matters. They are a lot of them.

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

#186

Post by krapp »

birracerveza wrote: post #171
clappski wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to live in a world without American freedom of speech - where we can't be blunt and speak our minds. Freedom of speech isn't the freedom to not be publicly judged about what you say.

>Freedom of speech isn't the freedom to not be publicly judged about what you say. This is not just about being judged, it's about being judged and executed for your opinions. The judges and the juries have already handed out their verdict and will personally hand out the punishment, and if you dare question it you'll likely be next on the list. For example, I've seen that those who sided against RMS create a script…

>For example, I've seen that those who sided against RMS created a script to block those who signed the petition that supported him.

And people who support RMS want to have Molly Le Blanc arrested for starting the petition to remove him[0].

[0]https://debian.community/molly-de-blanc-arrest-and-prosecuti...

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

#187

Post by Taniwha »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #147
risky_opinions wrote: post #9

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 als…

> Richard Stallman single-handedly created the free software movement The "Free Software" movement (cap F, cap S), yes. > and he's the reason we all have jobs No. There was a sizeable movement for public domain software before Stallman. Stallman brought along a particular ideology and one which resonated with a lot of people, as well as coding a bunch of software himself. But it is an incredible reach to say that, wi…

Yup, long before I ever heard of Stallman we were passing around mag tapes full of software to share - people brought stuff to conferences and conference tapes were a thing

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

#188

Post by orra »

2pEXgD0fZ5cF wrote: post #172
bitwize wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the bit about singular "they". RMS for some reason doesn't like singular "they", despite the fact that it predates singular "you" in common English usage. Singular "they" also happens to be, by far, the preferred pronoun of nonbinary people. By telling people not to use singular "they", RMS is harming, offending, and driving away nonbinary people from participation in GNU projects.

In the linked guidelines it says the following: > Honoring people's preferences about gender identity includes not referring to them in ways that conflict with that identity. For instance, not to use pronouns for them that conflict with it. > There are several ways to avoid that; one way is to use gender-neutral pronouns, since they don't conflict with any possible gender identity. > One choice is singular use of “th…

> There are several ways to avoid that; one way is to use gender-neutral pronouns, since they don't conflict with any possible gender identity.

I have explained elsewhere in this thread why it's problematic to call a he/him trans man "they" and never "him"

> That does not spell a strong opposition to the supposedly preferred use of "they".

A previous version of the guidelines banned singular they. It has single been updated, even though Stallman on his personal site continues his disapproval.

> Is that all it takes to qualify as a transphobe person, despite all the other points

Rejecting gender identities is core to being a transphobe.

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

#189

Post by GTP »

risky_opinions wrote: post #9

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 als…

>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.

I'm not sure I understood what are you trying to say here, are you suggesting that a "small dose" of bullying is beneficial to a child's development?

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