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Comment by xj9 | Hacker News Reader

> speaks volumes to me about the author's character and state of mind.

this is a source repo. the only relevant topic is the code. its free software so it honestly doesn't matter who the author is.

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Perhaps not to you, but clearly to others, it does.

if a nazi and an $acceptable_political_alignment independently write programs that accomplish the exact same task, there is no technical basis to claim that one program is accomplishes the task more effectively than the other because of the character of the author. there are a lot of ways to approach a code review, but starting with "i don't agree with your politics, so i'm going to assume you don't know how to write code either" is very unprofessional.

note: i'm not defending whatever politics the gitgud people have. i'm objecting to the idea that you can base a technical critique on non-technical details. let the software or the math or whatever stand on its own. identity politics are really stupid. i really don't care who is behind the code as long as i can read the source and use it to get my work done.

Your feelings are clear!

This claim is equivalent to me selling asbestos soda bottles and claiming that "the only relevant material is the sugar water inside."

More like selling soda bottles on Amazon, which also sells copies of the Turner diaries and Mein Kampf. You should really lighten up.

I actually have a problem with Amazon selling (some) copies of Mein Kampf as well: Neo-Nazi groups have been caught selling their own editions as a way to raise funds. That, to me, seems like a cut-and-dry example of a Bad Thing.

Like I said to 'ehsankia, it's intent that interests me.

Yeah, I was referring to academic editions, and the fact that you have to contort the analogy proves how stupid the argument you're making is.

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