The plant thing is yet another obvious joke made at Stallman's expense. At MIT, Stallman was not seen as some kind of powerful figure whose authority people wou

The plant thing is yet another obvious joke made at Stallman's expense. At MIT, Stallman was not seen as some kind of powerful figure whose authority people would be afraid to challenge. He was seen as an awkward irritating nerd many people made fun of (which seems to be missed by pretty much all of these "newcomers being warned about Stallman" reports). With so many of these accusations boiling down just to "people don't like nerds", it's hard to take them seriously. And when you add things like giving "pleasure cards" being interpreted as unwanted advances, it's just a painful to watch sad grotesque.