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Comment by benjamuk | Hacker News Reader

Hey Executive Director of Open Source Collective here.

I signed the agreement on behalf of >2,500 open source projects (and the communities who maintain them) because I agree the call to action would strengthen the community, not weaken it.

This is not about the FSF or the GNU Project, it’s about building a safe space for people to participate in and build a commons that is as diverse and welcoming as it is free and open.

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I'm generally a fan of the open collective, and I appreciate your contributions to open source. But I'm disappointed to learn that you took part in this irrational attack on the FSF. I feel that it has in fact made the open source space weaker and significantly less safe. I hope you will reconsider your stance on this issue.

(I'm not a fan of RMS btw, this isn't about him at all. It's about principles and protocols)

not exactly welcoming to neurodivergent individuals and those who don't perfectly conform to the approved orthodoxy. that letter is gross, slanderous and cult-like ("dangerous force", "These sorts of beliefs"). it's straight out of Scientology's Suppressive Person playbook. it does not speak for the open source community. it speaks for a small set of authoritarians who wield weaponized empathy and threat of banishment as a means to control people.

please reconsider.

Another fan of Open Collective here donating to projects. Please reconsider your decision. There is zero basis for all accusations and if Stallman did something bad, let’s put him in front of a judge and let’s prove him guilty. Otherwise live with it.

Related discussion by supporters of free software: https://forums.puri.sm/t/stop-sponsoring-the-free-software-f...

> I signed the agreement on behalf of >2,500 open source projects

Did you ask them for a vote, or is there a general arrangement that you / OSC speaks for them?

I am on open collective, you claim to represent 2500 projects, but no ... you do not represent those projects, you are not the spokesperson for them either.

I recommend that your organization officially stays away from the internal politics of other free software organizations, because you do not represent 2500 projects and are not a spokesperson for them.

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