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> I know people on HN do not have respect for RMS What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one. And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sur

> I know people on HN do not have respect for RMS What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one. And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sure it's possible to be in this site's target demographic and not know who he is.

the_af 11y ago
I might be wrong, but I think I've sometimes seen it here; in any case it definitely happens in many "programmer" online circles (say, programmers.stackexchange: search for questions about the GPL or GNU or open source software): RMS is sometimes disparaged as a loon and an extremist. The Free Software movement as a whole is often disparaged as impractical and out of touch with reality. I cannot say these people self-describe as hackers but... I dunno... they are asking and answering questions in a stackexchange community about programmers... I do remember this also happened in Slashdot occasionally. People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist. Which is pretty disappointing, given that many of the people doing the disparaging are using software borne out of the efforts of said free software / hacker movements.
- golergka 11y ago
  > RMS is sometimes disparaged as a loon and an extremist. The Free Software movement as a whole is often disparaged as impractical and out of touch with reality. > People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist. I agree with these views, but it doesn't mean that I don't respect him.
  - justinlardinois 11y ago
    Same.
  - the_af 11y ago
    I don't know about you, but I consider it pretty hard to hold both views simultaneously: to respect someone and consider him/her an extremist loon who is out of touch with reality. "I respect this lunatic whose views are divorced from reality"... isn't this damning him with faint praise, and therefore confirming user _RPM's first sentence?
    - tropo 11y ago
      Hitler was quite the orator. Had you been there, you'd have been cheering.
      - the_af 11y ago
        Speak for yourself; I would have been shot or gassed. Even if I hadn't been Jewish, I would have found his xenophobic, warmongering views repulsive.
        burfog 11y ago
        It worked on most people. You can't see your own weakness. True skill is convincing normal people to do things that they would normally find repulsive.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
        dang 11y ago
        Please don't make threads like this even worse by responding to trolls.
        the_af 10y ago
        You are right. I cannot delete my comments now, and they don't add anything to this discussion. Can you delete them? Thanks.
        dang 10y ago
        We'll delete the ones that don't have any replies.
totally 11y ago
> And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sure it's possible to be in this site's target demographic and not know who he is. Taking opportunity to clarify what we're talking about is just good communication.
jakub_h 11y ago
> What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one. Richard M. Strawman, to be precise.
dang 11y ago
This subthread turned into a sorry flamewar that went straight to Hitler. How embarrassing. We detached it from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11591910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11591910 and marked it off-topic.

the_af 11y ago

I might be wrong, but I think I've sometimes seen it here; in any case it definitely happens in many "programmer" online circles (say, programmers.stackexchange: search for questions about the GPL or GNU or open source software): RMS is sometimes disparaged as a loon and an extremist. The Free Software movement as a whole is often disparaged as impractical and out of touch with reality. I cannot say these people self-describe as hackers but... I dunno... they are asking and answering questions in a stackexchange community about programmers... I do remember this also happened in Slashdot occasionally. People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist. Which is pretty disappointing, given that many of the people doing the disparaging are using software borne out of the efforts of said free software / hacker movements.

golergka 11y ago
> RMS is sometimes disparaged as a loon and an extremist. The Free Software movement as a whole is often disparaged as impractical and out of touch with reality. > People using free software criticizing RMS as an extremist. I agree with these views, but it doesn't mean that I don't respect him.
- justinlardinois 11y ago
  Same.
- the_af 11y ago
  I don't know about you, but I consider it pretty hard to hold both views simultaneously: to respect someone and consider him/her an extremist loon who is out of touch with reality. "I respect this lunatic whose views are divorced from reality"... isn't this damning him with faint praise, and therefore confirming user _RPM's first sentence?
  - tropo 11y ago
    Hitler was quite the orator. Had you been there, you'd have been cheering.
    - the_af 11y ago
      Speak for yourself; I would have been shot or gassed. Even if I hadn't been Jewish, I would have found his xenophobic, warmongering views repulsive.
      - burfog 11y ago
        It worked on most people. You can't see your own weakness. True skill is convincing normal people to do things that they would normally find repulsive.
        deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - dang 11y ago
        Please don't make threads like this even worse by responding to trolls.
        the_af 10y ago
        You are right. I cannot delete my comments now, and they don't add anything to this discussion. Can you delete them? Thanks.
        dang 10y ago
        We'll delete the ones that don't have any replies.

totally 11y ago

> And there's no need to list off software. I'm not sure it's possible to be in this site's target demographic and not know who he is. Taking opportunity to clarify what we're talking about is just good communication.

jakub_h 11y ago

> What? That's one hell of a strawman if I ever saw one. Richard M. Strawman, to be precise.

dang 11y ago

This subthread turned into a sorry flamewar that went straight to Hitler. How embarrassing. We detached it from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11591910 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11591910 and marked it off-topic.