4 ms·

He belongs to Wall of Shame.

by xenator 13y ago

swombat 13y ago
I'd delete this comment if I were you. You're running the risk of getting hellbanned for this.
nmridul 13y ago
Atleast you should explain why you think he belongs there ?
- hawkw 13y ago
  Probably that video of RMS eating something from his foot...
  - zxcdw 13y ago
    What about it, exactly? Doesn't affect your life, shouldn't make a difference.
    - astrodust 13y ago
      If he's the representative of the Free Software Movement, is it unreasonable to have certain expectations of what this representative presents himself as? If he was only representing himself, as if he was just a writer or a programmer, you'd be right.
      - gillianseed 13y ago
        His views on open source represent that of the Free Software Movement, I don't see anyone questioning the german football coach's abilities of football and managing the german team due to him eating a booger on live tv during a game. Yet when it comes to Stallman, his detractors seem to focus on ridiculing his person rather than argue against what he is saying. If I find anything disgusting, it's such cowardly behaviour.
        astrodust 13y ago
        We're all entitled to our own personal quirks, but Stallman is an outlier with issues compounded by more issues. Obviously these have an impact on his ability to be a spokesperson because they are a constant distraction. Why is it so insane to suggest he's moved to an "emeritus" position so someone new can push the organization forward? It's ironic that an organization dedicated to change is reluctant to change anything of this nature. As demonstrated recently, even the Pope is capable of stepping aside when it's best.
HNJohnC 13y ago
Yup, apparently very few capitalists around here. It's easy to shout rah rah rah in response to RMS from the sidelines but if he had his way very few of the posters here would be making a living writing code, perhaps they don't though, that would explain it I guess. I've not been a HN member for long but the support for Stallman here is one of the most surprising things I've seen about this place.
- omegaham 13y ago
  There are Congressmen that are really, really far left and far right. They're widely seen as kooks, but they serve a valuable purpose - they go against the groupthink of everyone else and get them to think about things differently. Sure, they're crazy. Often their ideas are completely at odds with reality. But the more rational parts of their beliefs also get communicated with their kookiness, and it helps everyone. For example, Dennis Kucinich made a great Congressman. That being said, he would most definitely not make a good President. Richard Stallman is the same way. Is it a terrible idea to take all of his ideas and mold the programming community in his image? Yes. It would be impractical and completely insane to expect everyone to work for free. But that doesn't mean that we should completely discount everything that he says. There are great ideas in there right alongside the craziness.
  - gillianseed 13y ago
    >It would be impractical and completely insane to expect everyone to work for free. Do you have any examples of him saying that code should be free of cost. As far as I know he has no problem with people charging for programs, only that the source code should be made available to recipients, along with rights to modify and redistribute (the latter obviously poses problems for business-schemes based upon artificial scarcity). I also seem to recall him arguing for micropayment schemes to be used to finance developers (and artists), this is something which could perhaps become a reality in the (hopefully not too distant) future, as shown by successful kickstarter type projects like for example openshot: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421164014/openshot-video-editor-for-windows-mac-and-linux http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421164014/openshot-video...
- 13y ago

He belongs to Wall of Shame.

by xenator 13y ago

He belongs to Wall of Shame.

swombat 13y ago

I'd delete this comment if I were you. You're running the risk of getting hellbanned for this.

nmridul 13y ago

Atleast you should explain why you think he belongs there ?

hawkw 13y ago
Probably that video of RMS eating something from his foot...
- zxcdw 13y ago
  What about it, exactly? Doesn't affect your life, shouldn't make a difference.
  - astrodust 13y ago
    If he's the representative of the Free Software Movement, is it unreasonable to have certain expectations of what this representative presents himself as? If he was only representing himself, as if he was just a writer or a programmer, you'd be right.
    - gillianseed 13y ago
      His views on open source represent that of the Free Software Movement, I don't see anyone questioning the german football coach's abilities of football and managing the german team due to him eating a booger on live tv during a game. Yet when it comes to Stallman, his detractors seem to focus on ridiculing his person rather than argue against what he is saying. If I find anything disgusting, it's such cowardly behaviour.
      - astrodust 13y ago
        We're all entitled to our own personal quirks, but Stallman is an outlier with issues compounded by more issues. Obviously these have an impact on his ability to be a spokesperson because they are a constant distraction. Why is it so insane to suggest he's moved to an "emeritus" position so someone new can push the organization forward? It's ironic that an organization dedicated to change is reluctant to change anything of this nature. As demonstrated recently, even the Pope is capable of stepping aside when it's best.

HNJohnC 13y ago

Yup, apparently very few capitalists around here. It's easy to shout rah rah rah in response to RMS from the sidelines but if he had his way very few of the posters here would be making a living writing code, perhaps they don't though, that would explain it I guess. I've not been a HN member for long but the support for Stallman here is one of the most surprising things I've seen about this place.

omegaham 13y ago
There are Congressmen that are really, really far left and far right. They're widely seen as kooks, but they serve a valuable purpose - they go against the groupthink of everyone else and get them to think about things differently. Sure, they're crazy. Often their ideas are completely at odds with reality. But the more rational parts of their beliefs also get communicated with their kookiness, and it helps everyone. For example, Dennis Kucinich made a great Congressman. That being said, he would most definitely not make a good President. Richard Stallman is the same way. Is it a terrible idea to take all of his ideas and mold the programming community in his image? Yes. It would be impractical and completely insane to expect everyone to work for free. But that doesn't mean that we should completely discount everything that he says. There are great ideas in there right alongside the craziness.
- gillianseed 13y ago
  >It would be impractical and completely insane to expect everyone to work for free. Do you have any examples of him saying that code should be free of cost. As far as I know he has no problem with people charging for programs, only that the source code should be made available to recipients, along with rights to modify and redistribute (the latter obviously poses problems for business-schemes based upon artificial scarcity). I also seem to recall him arguing for micropayment schemes to be used to finance developers (and artists), this is something which could perhaps become a reality in the (hopefully not too distant) future, as shown by successful kickstarter type projects like for example openshot: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421164014/openshot-video-editor-for-windows-mac-and-linux http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421164014/openshot-video...
13y ago