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Richard Stallman’s rider

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Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#191

Post by mikey_p »

derleth wrote: post #92
iqster wrote: post #14

Heh ... reminds me of the story of Van Halen's rider - no brown M&Ms or they have the right to not play the event (without penalty)! This actually served a purpose. The had exacting specs for some of their pyrotechnics. They reasoned that if someone had adhered to the rider carefully enough to notice the M&Ms clause, they likely would have been exacting for the other specifications as well.

> The had exacting specs for some of their pyrotechnics ... and their electrical gear (amps and so on), and possibly the sheer weight of everything they'd be bringing on to the stage, and the simple fact that, at the time that rider was drawn up, Van Halen was playing venues that had never had a serious rock band of their kind before and were likely to be unprepared to the point of putting the fans at risk of being k…

Are you thinking of Great White and The Station nightclub fire?

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#192

Post by nodata »

tibbon wrote: post #11
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.

Precisely. Nothing is left to ambiguity, and then hopefully the fewest possible things will go wrong. About the only thing that I laughed at (in joy) was the thing about parrots...

DON'T buy a parrot figuring that it will be a fun surprise for me.

I love to imagine that this actually happened.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#193

Post by Udo »

gonzo wrote: post #112

Whatever you do, do NOT let him stay in the home of someone you respect or like. I've done it twice, and both parties ended up literally burning the sheets, and wouldn't discuss further what had happened.

Details or it didn't happen.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#194

Post by johkra »

jackvalentine wrote: post #172

I detest Richard Stallman, probably not justifiably because I respect the work that he did 20 years ago, but cannot stand the man's absolutism today. However "I can speak in English, French, and Spanish." surprised me, and I see him in a different light, strangely.

If you want to get to know him a bit better, read his (freely licensed) biography: http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#196

Post by nikcub »

tptacek wrote: post #18

This is charming; gives a sense of the guy; seems like it would be useful information. Who thinks to say "do not buy me a parrot"?

"do not buy me a parrot" must be his "no brown M&M's". If he shows up to a gig and finds a parrot there, he knows that not everything is in order.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#197

Post by billpatrianakos »

phzbOx wrote: post #176

I, too, was disappointed by Richard Stallman' talk. We were a bunch of students in a conference in general software engineering. And he was invited to give a talk about copyright and freedom.. cool, right? Not exactly. He came in and started acting like he really didn't wanted to be there and didn't care at all about us, the place and the organizers. I'm usually not the kind to judge someone else dressing but Stallma…

I feel for you. Stallman seems to think we all live in some free love hippie commune where we can all just give source code away. The world doesn't work like that and his fundamentalist attitude doesn't take people's need to eat lunch into account. You can't deny his skill and the great work he's done. Free software has its place in this world but so does proprietary code too.

This rider while not being supremely high maintenance is riddled with superfluous explanations and liberally sprinkled with his own politics. Just write a damn list and get it over with. Save your speeches for the events, not the rider.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#198

Post by derleth »

mikey_p wrote: post #191
derleth wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The had exacting specs for some of their pyrotechnics ... and their electrical gear (amps and so on), and possibly the sheer weight of everything they'd be bringing on to the stage, and the simple fact that, at the time that rider was drawn up, Van Halen was playing venues that had never had a serious rock band of their kind before and were likely to be unprepared to the point of putting the fans at risk of being k…

Are you thinking of Great White and The Station nightclub fire?

Yes. Thank you.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#199

Post by maximusprime »

jtheory wrote: post #159
maximusprime wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's fair to assume most people have basic "people" skills, humility, manners etc. Unfortunately that isn't the case with Stallman. He's an obsessive fundamentalist only concerned with one topic.

He does, however, provide a rider before to anyone considering inviting him to speak that makes his personal obsession and his inflexibility around that obsession abundantly and explicitly clear. I have a suspicion that whoever booked him simply didn't read it, or didn't understand it. I mean, come on now -- other people make lots of noise about his eccentricities, and he himself basically wears a signboard explainin…

There are plenty of eccentrics who are still nice people.

Re: Richard Stallman’s rider

#200

Post by maximusprime »

slowpoke wrote: post #100

I'm still amazed at this man. You can like or dislike his views, but he has more dedication and, more importantly, integrity in every hair of his impressive beard than most people can ever hope to have in their entire body.

Many insane people get obsessed by things. That doesn't make them impressive. It's sad IMHO.
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