Hacker News Reader

Comment by pdog | Hacker News Reader

> By using the Keybase app you agree to the following terms: you'll be a nice Internet person.

Unfortunately, Keybase cannot be considered free software because of this clause.

Not necessarily. The clause only seems to apply to the binaries provided on the iTunes or Google Play store, and not to the actual source code, which is BSD licensed [1], or any binaries you might build yourself.

I am speculating that the clause is intended to be part of the Keybase terms of service, but because the software and service are tightly coupled, it is phrased as a software license restriction.

[1] https://github.com/keybase/client/blob/master/LICENSE

I am really tiring of these cute, but vague clauses.

I think discussing important topics like war, death, and censorship are needed, but then again maybe I'm not "nice" bring up uncomfortable issues especially when they don't make your hero/candidate look good.

You can bring up sad and negative topics without being an asshole. That means you are being nice.

For example, you are not nice if you say:

trumptards do x,y

You are nice if you say:

x,y is not good in my opinion, because (list of arguments without resulting to offensive stuff)

I think the broader point is that (pseudo-)legislating politeness is bad policy.

Certainly, in decades of commenting you'll never find a comment where I call someone a foul name.

...but we're just hoping at this point that they use your definition of "nice" and not the version I gave where having "bad" opinions is "abuse".

I know what you mean.

I had this issue before. I was complaining about a product on a forum and was a bit annoyed because it was expensive and did not work properly. I didn't call them names, but it was obvious in my tone that I was dissatisfied. Sadly, the moderators on that forum called it "trolling" and I got banned. Those moderators sadly also made money through the company I complained about since the forum is linked to the store.

So yeah. I can see what you mean.

I'm pretty sure it's just a joke. There's no way such a thing would be enforceable.

Sure but this is the type of thing that shies corporate lawyers from approving usage of something.

"We can't guarantee we'll be nice ..."

More specifically "define 'nice'"

See also "don't use for evil" clause in JSON library by Douglas Crockford and a special exemption for IBM: "I give permission for IBM, its customers, partners, and minions, to use JSLint for evil." [0].

[0]: http://dev.hasenj.org/post/3272592502/ibm-and-its-minions

It is a joke but a stupid one that harms adoption of the product. It's conceivable the author could decide say, eating meat isn't "nice" and sue an organization using it that packages meat products for consumption. A judge may find it unenforceable but having to potentially get tied up in a legal battle in the first place already makes it unpalatable to many organizations. See one of the replies here about a similarly juvenile clause where organizations got written permission to use a product "for evil". Not sure a few giggles is worth harming the adoption of technology many people have worked hard to deliver.

If I give Keybase a not nice review will they revoke my license?

On eBay I stopped giving neutral reviews because if it wasn't 5 star then I'd get negative reviews back on my own account. Neutral = Negative to some people.

I think its more to do with the community you're interacting with. Five stars means that the product meets reasonable expectations, anything less means there's something wrong.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com