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I don't really understand why open source maintainers somehow cannot make political statements. Why are they special? Commercial organisations make political st

by ylyn 4y ago

I don't really understand why open source maintainers somehow cannot make political statements. Why are they special? Commercial organisations make political statements all the time, usually at their own peril, so why can't open source projects do the same?

TAForObvReasons 4y ago
Those sorts of comments sound like "shut up and code", the software equivalent of "shut up and dribble"
koheripbal 4y ago
They can do whatever they want, obviously, but when my toaster starts preaching a political agenda while I'm making breakfast, I'll probably get a different toaster. ..."free" doesn't mean you don't lose the respect of your users when you go off mission. People who preach sometimes forget how often most of us are preached to, and how little we're interested in hearing some random dev's political opinion. There are also legitimate security concerns around devs with political motivations and the willingness to leverage their projects for their agenda.
- closewith 4y ago
  The developer is hardly preaching by refusing to support - for free and in their own time - a use-case that they don’t agree with. Unless you seek out their help, this doesn’t affect you at all.
- shafyy 4y ago
  > I'll probably get a different toaster. And you're free to use a different open source library.
- shreddit 4y ago
  And this is the “best” part about open source. The dev does not have to care about any ones opinion. You don’t pay their rent. You don’t pay their food. If they loose you, they don’t care. They don’t need you at all. You need their software. You want security? Pay for it. You don’t want a political statement? Pay for it.
- TomSwirly 4y ago
  > when my toaster starts preaching a political agenda while I'm making breakfast, I'll probably get a different toaster. Equating human beings with disposable machines is one of the great sins of predatory capitalism. Someone, some person and not a toaster, has contributed a lot of uncompensated work. It's their right to do with that work as they please. Also, hating cryptocurrencies is not a "political" issues. For me, that fact that huge companies flout the securities laws repeatedly over a decade is a huge red flag, and I shared this belief with people whose political beliefs are completely the reverse of mine.
woojoo666 4y ago
I don't really distinguish between open source and proprietary for these issues. It's more about relevancy. For example, if Grindr wanted to ban conservatives from the platform, I could understand that. But if say, Microsoft wanted to ban liberals from using Windows, that would feel a bit weird.

by ylyn 4y ago

TAForObvReasons 4y ago

Those sorts of comments sound like "shut up and code", the software equivalent of "shut up and dribble"

koheripbal 4y ago

They can do whatever they want, obviously, but when my toaster starts preaching a political agenda while I'm making breakfast, I'll probably get a different toaster. ..."free" doesn't mean you don't lose the respect of your users when you go off mission. People who preach sometimes forget how often most of us are preached to, and how little we're interested in hearing some random dev's political opinion. There are also legitimate security concerns around devs with political motivations and the willingness to leverage their projects for their agenda.

closewith 4y ago
The developer is hardly preaching by refusing to support - for free and in their own time - a use-case that they don’t agree with. Unless you seek out their help, this doesn’t affect you at all.
shafyy 4y ago
> I'll probably get a different toaster. And you're free to use a different open source library.
shreddit 4y ago
And this is the “best” part about open source. The dev does not have to care about any ones opinion. You don’t pay their rent. You don’t pay their food. If they loose you, they don’t care. They don’t need you at all. You need their software. You want security? Pay for it. You don’t want a political statement? Pay for it.
TomSwirly 4y ago
> when my toaster starts preaching a political agenda while I'm making breakfast, I'll probably get a different toaster. Equating human beings with disposable machines is one of the great sins of predatory capitalism. Someone, some person and not a toaster, has contributed a lot of uncompensated work. It's their right to do with that work as they please. Also, hating cryptocurrencies is not a "political" issues. For me, that fact that huge companies flout the securities laws repeatedly over a decade is a huge red flag, and I shared this belief with people whose political beliefs are completely the reverse of mine.

woojoo666 4y ago

I don't really distinguish between open source and proprietary for these issues. It's more about relevancy. For example, if Grindr wanted to ban conservatives from the platform, I could understand that. But if say, Microsoft wanted to ban liberals from using Windows, that would feel a bit weird.