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Wikipedia, Mozilla, Gnome... they've all been found to be poor stewards of donated money, using it for pet ideological projects instead of the projects that are

Wikipedia, Mozilla, Gnome... they've all been found to be poor stewards of donated money, using it for pet ideological projects instead of the projects that are the foundation of each organization. If I go to the discussion site for many FOSS projects, it's hard to go very long without seeing lots of political activism being pushed. FOSS decided to become political or those who are political decided to invade FOSS. Either way, they've made their bed and now it's shrinking their pool of potential resources.

darkwater 4y ago
FOSS had always beeen political. How the heck is giving you the freedom to modify and tinker the source code of the software you are using, no string sattached, not a political act? I think it's fair to say that then "the ones who just want to have things for free as in beer" came. But FOSS has always been pretty utopian.
- drdeca 4y ago
  The word "political" is used in a number of ways. When someone says "How could <x> __not__ be political? Of course it is political." in response to someone complaining about <x> becoming political, I think the person responding is typically using the word "political" in a way different from how it was being used in the original complaint. I think it would be best to attempt to understand what the person complaining meant by "political", (and if one dislikes using the word "political" by itself to express that idea, or if is unsure if one is interpreting correctly, perhaps rephrase the idea in one's own words, and maybe ask if that was what was meant) and respond to that. I saw a poll result the other day, which said that, in 2020, some voters and some corporate executives were asked whether they approved of companies expressing support for political/electoral/whatever causes/social issues, and given the options of "yes", "yes, but only if directly related to the company's core business", and "no". According to this poll result, less than 40% of voters picked "yes", and almost 80% said either "yes" or "yes, but only if directly related to the company's core business". (for completeness, but not really relevant to my point : over 60% of the corporate executives polled said "yes", and under 10% said "no") Perhaps an analogy can be drawn between these two situations?

darkwater 4y ago

FOSS had always beeen political. How the heck is giving you the freedom to modify and tinker the source code of the software you are using, no string sattached, not a political act? I think it's fair to say that then "the ones who just want to have things for free as in beer" came. But FOSS has always been pretty utopian.

drdeca 4y ago
The word "political" is used in a number of ways. When someone says "How could <x> __not__ be political? Of course it is political." in response to someone complaining about <x> becoming political, I think the person responding is typically using the word "political" in a way different from how it was being used in the original complaint. I think it would be best to attempt to understand what the person complaining meant by "political", (and if one dislikes using the word "political" by itself to express that idea, or if is unsure if one is interpreting correctly, perhaps rephrase the idea in one's own words, and maybe ask if that was what was meant) and respond to that. I saw a poll result the other day, which said that, in 2020, some voters and some corporate executives were asked whether they approved of companies expressing support for political/electoral/whatever causes/social issues, and given the options of "yes", "yes, but only if directly related to the company's core business", and "no". According to this poll result, less than 40% of voters picked "yes", and almost 80% said either "yes" or "yes, but only if directly related to the company's core business". (for completeness, but not really relevant to my point : over 60% of the corporate executives polled said "yes", and under 10% said "no") Perhaps an analogy can be drawn between these two situations?