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They have been trying to get rid of Stallman last year. https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/debian_stallman_vote/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/deb

They have been trying to get rid of Stallman last year. https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/debian_stallman_vote/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/debian_stallman_vote/

blueflow 4y ago
And the support letter got more signatures in the end.... which was an interesting outcome.
- KennyBlanken 4y ago
  ...because one of the letters against Stallman stopped accepting signatures at three thousand people, but the "pro" Stallman letter never did. It included sixty open-source organizations were among those three thousand individuals. SUSE, Mozilla, GNOME, Creative Commons, X.org, etc. The point was made. A huge number of people and organizations wanted Stallman gone. Stallman literally said a sex-trafficked child wasn't a "rape victim", and this isn't the first time he's espoused, on technical mailing lists, that golly, 'age is just a number' when it comes to children having sex with adults. He's an infamous serial sexual harasser - for decades. Threatening to kill himself if women won't date him, hosting barely-clothed "cuddle puddles" on the bare mattress in his office at MIT, and women in his office building stuffing their offices full of house plants because Stallman was known to hate them, and it was the only thing that would make him leave women alone. When Redhat and others pulled funding, the board was clear they weren't interested in prudent governance of the organization, but solely about petulantly supporting their geek deity. His refusal to step down, and the board's refusal to remove him, irreparably harmed their reputation and finances.
  - daptaq 4y ago
    > ...because one of the letters against Stallman stopped accepting signatures at three thousand people, but the "pro" Stallman letter never did. It was always a hunch, but I suspected that part of the reason they stopped is that they reached a plateau, while the open letter was continuing to rise in popularity. https://linuxreviews.org/Grass-roots_Richard_Stallman_Support-Letter_Has_Reached_3600%2B_Signers https://linuxreviews.org/Grass-roots_Richard_Stallman_Suppor... Regarding the other accusations, my understanding is that they are unfounded or intentional misrepresentations https://stallmansupport.org/debunking-false-accusations-against-richard-stallman.html https://stallmansupport.org/debunking-false-accusations-agai... I have personally communicated with RMS, even privately, and see a discrepancy between the way he is portrayed and the way he behaves on a regular basis. Of course, I might have just caught his good and kind side, who knows? Either way, my impression remains that those who see him as bad want to see him as bad.
    - hutzlibu 4y ago
      - daptaq 4y ago
        I am male, and I do get what you mean, which is why I wrote "Of course, I might have just caught his good and kind side, who knows?". As a person living in Germany, with a non-German accent, I also understand that not everyone perceives everything. Any person who feels excluded from participating in the Free Software movement is a loss. The more people with more perspectives, the stronger the movement is, which is in everyone's interest. That being said: I do agree that some of the statements made in the past were tasteless, and I am disappointed that he did so. Yet when reading his own texts like https://stallman.org/articles/necessary-changes.html https://stallman.org/articles/necessary-changes.html, I have to either conclude that he agrees but has made mistakes or is himself lying. Another thing might be that I have only had contact with him via Email. Perhaps he is different in person, that I cannot say.
        sgc 4y ago
        I often remind people that you are only ever duped by those you trust. I have no idea how you could think email exchanges with someone would lend credence one way or another in respect to this type of accusation. It is well-known that even serial murderers are often charming and everyone is surprised when they are caught. How kind, cordial, or charming someone is means nothing in this type of situation.
        daptaq 4y ago
        OK, but just because a serial murdered can be charming, doesn't mean that every charming person in a serial murderer. It is true, I can't deduce anything with certainty from my personal and public correspondence, or the messages I see him send to others. But as opposed to the serial murderer, the issue here is the way he communicates and behaves. I guess you could try this out empirically, by creating a throwaway Email address and sending him a dry, technical question under a female name, and see how he responds.
  - blueflow 4y ago
    Yes, RMS is a problematic person, but i'd prefer him over people who slander their opponents in public. I'm open to replacing RMS, but.. not like that. Toning down would have helped your cause.
    - mistrial9 4y ago
      the supply of perfect people as candidates for leadership and invention is currently constrained; the sinless one among you, throw the first stone
    - antonvs 4y ago
      Is anything he wrote not factual?
      - blueflow 4y ago
        Yes, pejoratives, which he has several sprinkled in, are a judgement and not factual.
  - fluoridation 4y ago
    >When Redhat and others pulled funding, the board was clear they weren't interested in prudent governance of the organization, but solely about petulantly supporting their geek deity. His refusal to step down, and the board's refusal to remove him, irreparably harmed their reputation and finances. Alternatively, they decided they weren't going to be strong-armed into doing something that they saw no need to do.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
upofadown 4y ago
The first line of the article: >The Debian developer community has decided to say nothing about the new controversy surrounding Richard Stallman reelection to the board at the Free Software Foundation.
guilhas 4y ago
Or they were being pressured to take some action. The community voted not to do it

They have been trying to get rid of Stallman last year. https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/debian_stallman_vote/ https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/19/debian_stallman_vote/

blueflow 4y ago

And the support letter got more signatures in the end.... which was an interesting outcome.

KennyBlanken 4y ago
...because one of the letters against Stallman stopped accepting signatures at three thousand people, but the "pro" Stallman letter never did. It included sixty open-source organizations were among those three thousand individuals. SUSE, Mozilla, GNOME, Creative Commons, X.org, etc. The point was made. A huge number of people and organizations wanted Stallman gone. Stallman literally said a sex-trafficked child wasn't a "rape victim", and this isn't the first time he's espoused, on technical mailing lists, that golly, 'age is just a number' when it comes to children having sex with adults. He's an infamous serial sexual harasser - for decades. Threatening to kill himself if women won't date him, hosting barely-clothed "cuddle puddles" on the bare mattress in his office at MIT, and women in his office building stuffing their offices full of house plants because Stallman was known to hate them, and it was the only thing that would make him leave women alone. When Redhat and others pulled funding, the board was clear they weren't interested in prudent governance of the organization, but solely about petulantly supporting their geek deity. His refusal to step down, and the board's refusal to remove him, irreparably harmed their reputation and finances.
- daptaq 4y ago
  > ...because one of the letters against Stallman stopped accepting signatures at three thousand people, but the "pro" Stallman letter never did. It was always a hunch, but I suspected that part of the reason they stopped is that they reached a plateau, while the open letter was continuing to rise in popularity. https://linuxreviews.org/Grass-roots_Richard_Stallman_Support-Letter_Has_Reached_3600%2B_Signers https://linuxreviews.org/Grass-roots_Richard_Stallman_Suppor... Regarding the other accusations, my understanding is that they are unfounded or intentional misrepresentations https://stallmansupport.org/debunking-false-accusations-against-richard-stallman.html https://stallmansupport.org/debunking-false-accusations-agai... I have personally communicated with RMS, even privately, and see a discrepancy between the way he is portrayed and the way he behaves on a regular basis. Of course, I might have just caught his good and kind side, who knows? Either way, my impression remains that those who see him as bad want to see him as bad.
  - hutzlibu 4y ago
    - daptaq 4y ago
      I am male, and I do get what you mean, which is why I wrote "Of course, I might have just caught his good and kind side, who knows?". As a person living in Germany, with a non-German accent, I also understand that not everyone perceives everything. Any person who feels excluded from participating in the Free Software movement is a loss. The more people with more perspectives, the stronger the movement is, which is in everyone's interest. That being said: I do agree that some of the statements made in the past were tasteless, and I am disappointed that he did so. Yet when reading his own texts like https://stallman.org/articles/necessary-changes.html https://stallman.org/articles/necessary-changes.html, I have to either conclude that he agrees but has made mistakes or is himself lying. Another thing might be that I have only had contact with him via Email. Perhaps he is different in person, that I cannot say.
      - sgc 4y ago
        I often remind people that you are only ever duped by those you trust. I have no idea how you could think email exchanges with someone would lend credence one way or another in respect to this type of accusation. It is well-known that even serial murderers are often charming and everyone is surprised when they are caught. How kind, cordial, or charming someone is means nothing in this type of situation.
        daptaq 4y ago
        OK, but just because a serial murdered can be charming, doesn't mean that every charming person in a serial murderer. It is true, I can't deduce anything with certainty from my personal and public correspondence, or the messages I see him send to others. But as opposed to the serial murderer, the issue here is the way he communicates and behaves. I guess you could try this out empirically, by creating a throwaway Email address and sending him a dry, technical question under a female name, and see how he responds.
- blueflow 4y ago
  Yes, RMS is a problematic person, but i'd prefer him over people who slander their opponents in public. I'm open to replacing RMS, but.. not like that. Toning down would have helped your cause.
  - mistrial9 4y ago
    the supply of perfect people as candidates for leadership and invention is currently constrained; the sinless one among you, throw the first stone
  - antonvs 4y ago
    Is anything he wrote not factual?
    - blueflow 4y ago
      Yes, pejoratives, which he has several sprinkled in, are a judgement and not factual.
- fluoridation 4y ago
  >When Redhat and others pulled funding, the board was clear they weren't interested in prudent governance of the organization, but solely about petulantly supporting their geek deity. His refusal to step down, and the board's refusal to remove him, irreparably harmed their reputation and finances. Alternatively, they decided they weren't going to be strong-armed into doing something that they saw no need to do.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

upofadown 4y ago

The first line of the article: >The Debian developer community has decided to say nothing about the new controversy surrounding Richard Stallman reelection to the board at the Free Software Foundation.

guilhas 4y ago

Or they were being pressured to take some action. The community voted not to do it