Skip to main content
I've wasted enough brain cells on RMS but still disappointed that the "pro-RMS" letter has 3x the number of signers as the "anti-RMS". The #FOSS community has a lot of work to do. Reinforces why I'm publicly stating I'm not engaging with FSF or RMS or any events they are part of.
#foss
Michael 🇺🇦
Michael 🇺🇦  
•
I have the feeling as if many people of the community are mostly logically focused people and not so much focused on emotions or politics. From a logical standpoint one could defend RMS.

But from a political standpoint this person is totally burned. There are accusations in the room which are leading to a rift between different groups who are normally united for a common goal. So this common goal is weakened. People who normally would work together for this common goal are now opponents, possibly even will become enemies. This will most likely weaken the community.

So from a political standpoint RMS should step back.

In this post I haven't looked at any accusation, since they don't matter at all at this point. Also his track record doesn't matter as well. The only thing that matters is the damage that he is currently causing to the open source community.
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
Even from a logical standpoint, how much code is RMS contributing to free software these days?
ermanno
ermanno  
•
He he is definitely a GNUisance…… But, seriouisly, you think you are defending womans rights attacking him, or what?
Michael 🇺🇦
Michael 🇺🇦  
•
You completely missed the point that I was referring to. Please read and understand what I wrote about the "political standpoint".
ermanno
ermanno  
•
Yes, the ‘political’ standpoint, but the accusations are ridiculous did you read them? It is clearly a smear campaign against him, whay policy sentences a man to death just because of accusations? What policy leads to your ‘political standpoint’?
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
Has he been sentenced to death? Who's being ridiculous?
ermanno
ermanno  
•
That is an hyperbole of course, but it might be the next step, if everybody tolerates that someone is forced to resign just because of a smear campaign. Did you read the accusations? Do you think a human being should fe found guilty of anything because of that?

BTW Hamburg is famous for its dolly haus, since prostitution is legal, and the age of consent in Germany (and Italy) is 16 …. There is a double standard maybe?
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
I see your slippery slope argument but unfortunately for you, we know that nothing further will happen to RMS after he hopefully resigns from the FSF board because he already did it once.

And yes, there is a double standard. If you had published the same opinions as him, nothing would have happened to you because you don't happen to be on the board of the FSF. RMS himself doesn't matter, his symbolic public prominence does.
Michael 🇺🇦
Michael 🇺🇦  
•
Like I already said: I don't care at all about the exact accusations. I only see that the presence of RMS in that position had created rift - and that there seems to be no effort of him trying to fix this problem. This is extremely bad leadership.
ermanno
ermanno  
•
Sorry, but that is too much, he was accused of nothing, he did nothing illegal, nothing immoral but he should fix it? How? He is the victim of a vicious attack, if there is a rift and some people will side with the bad actors that are behind a smear campaign, well it is probably ok, so remaining in that position will get rid of some bad guys.

If you want to talk about bad leadership, the fact that he had been in that position for too long, the latest GNU license was not exactly exiting we can.

But in this particular case he is the victim, and it cannot be accepted that a smear campaign forces him to resign or at least it must be clear that he has not done anything illegal, anything immoral and his private live has been needlessly exposed.
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
If he hasn't done anything to warrant resigning, why did he resign then? This argument could have held water during the first campaign calling for his resignation, but now that he actually did it once, it is a moot point. He resigned and the FSF wrongly reinstated him, which warrant his resignation again, regardless of what he did or didn't do.

Again, this isn't a court of law, we aren't judging legality, we are judging whether he is fit to be in a prominent public position, and the simple fact that there are people ready to side against him is a clear sign he isn't. He isn't owed this position on the FSF board and can easily abandon it again like he did once.
Anonymoose
Anonymoose  
•
this is a very weird argument. Couldn't the same be said the other way? If he did something worthy of resignation, why was he reinstated? The fact that he was reinstated, regardless of what he did or didn't do, is proof that the resignation was not warranted 🤷‍♀️
Hypolite Petovan
Hypolite Petovan  
•
If he did something worthy of resignation, why was he reinstated?
This question is valid and also shifts the onus from RMS to the FSF's decision. If RMS's resignation really wasn't warranted, the FSF could have rejected it. Since they accepted it, his reinstatement looks wrong on its own, regardless of the the reasons why they accepted it in the first place.
⇧