Richard Stallman defies push by 27 GNU Project developers to end his leadership | Hacker News Reader

Richard Stallman defies push by 27 GNU Project developers to end his leadership

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19 pointsMilnerRoute19 comments

I think even before this "scandal" Stallman's extreme ideology has only further alienated GNU. Stallman should have been out years ago.

I am just wondering if it is possible to link to the myriad calls for Stallman's resignation prior to the recent events?

I somehow missed all of them, but it seems every recent comment section on Stallman contains a great many people saying it was time for him to go anyway.

Stallman's advocating of an extreme ideology and it permeating the otherwise extremely capitalist tech world is in fact the only good thing he did in his career.

What has Stallman done that is so bad? I can't seem to find anything specific. Not asking to be controversial, but seeking to understand.

He resigned after these conversations blew up https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6405929-091320191420... but there has never been a shortage of things he's said to make headlines. I'd recommend skipping the commentary/news/blogs on it and just forming your own opinion and going from there.

So, like 27 SJWs out of how many people actually partitipating in the GNU movement?

Like my grand-father would say, "storm in a glass of water".

I'm wondering if this is what it will take to finally push politics out of software development.

Decent behaviour respectful and inclusive to all?

You have to remember most people wanting more minority are more likely than not themselves part of the majority. It's just an outlet for people to make themselves feel better. It is not even slightly altruistic its just terribly hid narcism and egoism.

I've never heard any of those social and political correctness bullshit outside of US even worse most Europeans I talk to, minority or not, find it beyond ridiculous. Meritocracy is the only way.

But who should be responsible of deciding if Stallman was indecent or not inclusive and why?

Who should be responsible of deciding if anyone is indecent or inclusive? Are decency and inclusivity even real?

what's the definition of 'decent' behavior and who gets to decide? What if cheating on your spouse is considered indecent to me. should anyone that gets caught cheating get kicked out of their open source project?

On top of this, Stallman hasn't been convicted in any courts. It's only a court of public opinion where a mere allegation means you are already guilty.

1984 in 2019.

> On top of this, Stallman hasn't been convicted in any courts.

And no one has as far as I've seen, suggested imprisoning him. Just removing him from a position of authority.

The GNU and stallman are political. "Removing politics" from software would require a definitive answer to GPL or MIT being a better license.

MIT is the better license because it is more free than GPL. GPL comes with specific obligations.

The specific obligations in GPL are there to ensure the continued availability of modified sources--that is keep the software free.

I understand why they are there but that has nothing to do with freedom. Forcing people to obey rules if they want to use the software is not freedom. In contrast, MIT gives and requires nothing. That is true freedom.

See Copyleft

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft

GPL puts more importance on the software's freedom.

MIT puts more importance on the developer's freedom.

Arguably, it's not really possible to claim one is better than the other because they have different philosophies. If you feel that ensuring the code must stay free is important, GPL is probably the better license. If you're more interested in the freedom of the developer to use the code even in a non-free way, then MIT would be the better license.

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