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I may be wrong as well, but here's another attempt to explain myself: 1. (If I understand correctly) Straw man is when you say someone supports an argument he

I may be wrong as well, but here's another attempt to explain myself: 1. (If I understand correctly) Straw man is when you say someone supports an argument he actually doesn't 2. (If true, I don't know) Developers say he's the rightful "leader", but their definition of leader can't be the one Wingo says it means for them. The GNU licenses forbid that. 3. Stallman also has a definition of "successful GNU leader" that is not the one Wingo believes in: we know because he invented it, implemented it and considers himself successful 4. We know that Wingo believes Stallman shares with him his own definition of leader because Wingo claims that Stallman needs to pretend to do things he doesn't to continue being considered successful > If Stallman doesn't "run things" at least to some extent, then what decisions is is referring to when he writes at https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2019-10/msg00005.. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2019-10/msg00005.... : Surely not ones that go against GNU licences, since licenses are legally binding (in theory) in guaranteeing that software, developers and users keep their "freedoms" and are not a matter of any leadership, be it GNU leadership or any other. Your link is interesting, I'll read it tomorrow, but at least for me the reason I care about GNU is not to be a part of a group but the opposite. I dislike being around most people, from my point of view distrust is a virtue. But as an individual, if it's part of a GNU project I can still contribute to build something that is both ethical according to my values and bigger than I could achieve alone. It's a way to contribute selectively only when I know that, once in a while, I agree with what those people are doing. (It's not like I have developed a dislike for Wingo now, I admire him and his work even if I don't agree with the fact Stallman has had a greater negative impact then the false claims made against him in the past)

eesmith 7y ago
Wingo is responding to an argument that could be made by some readers, and which Wingo believes is asserted by "many (most?) GNU developers". He does not believe it to be a valid argument. Under your definition of straw man (which I believe is incorrect; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man ), it would be a straw man only if so few people were presenting that argument that it doesn't make sense to even bring up, in order to reject it. I believe there are enough people who believe that Stallman is the leader of the GNU project that it's worthwhile to bring up. I think a "strawman argument" is more like one where I point out that Stallman says he is involved in making GNU project decisions, and ask when those decisions are, then you point out that he cannot be involved in making GNU license changes which break legally binding obligations. The structureless essay has come up many times before on HN - search the archive for comments.

eesmith 7y ago

Wingo is responding to an argument that could be made by some readers, and which Wingo believes is asserted by "many (most?) GNU developers". He does not believe it to be a valid argument. Under your definition of straw man (which I believe is incorrect; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man ), it would be a straw man only if so few people were presenting that argument that it doesn't make sense to even bring up, in order to reject it. I believe there are enough people who believe that Stallman is the leader of the GNU project that it's worthwhile to bring up. I think a "strawman argument" is more like one where I point out that Stallman says he is involved in making GNU project decisions, and ask when those decisions are, then you point out that he cannot be involved in making GNU license changes which break legally binding obligations. The structureless essay has come up many times before on HN - search the archive for comments.