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Comment by hutzlibu | Hacker News Reader

I am male, and I do get what you mean, which is why I wrote "Of course, I might have just caught his good and kind side, who knows?". As a person living in Germany, with a non-German accent, I also understand that not everyone perceives everything. Any person who feels excluded from participating in the Free Software movement is a loss. The more people with more perspectives, the stronger the movement is, which is in everyone's interest.

That being said: I do agree that some of the statements made in the past were tasteless, and I am disappointed that he did so. Yet when reading his own texts like https://stallman.org/articles/necessary-changes.html, I have to either conclude that he agrees but has made mistakes or is himself lying.

Another thing might be that I have only had contact with him via Email. Perhaps he is different in person, that I cannot say.

> Any person who feels excluded from participating in the Free Software movement is a loss.

Yes, but not every loss is equal, and in a changing world, growing groups will eventually reach a point where not everyone who wants to play will agree on the same ethics, which will lead to someone feeling unappreciated.

If I had the choice between losing a F/L/OSS contributor who has spend their life writing highly influential software and a F/L/OSS contributor who opened a 200-line-Python script once, half a year ago, I know who I would consider less of a loss.

I want to believe that this is not a necessary conflict, or rather is at best one that can be resolved. The choice still remains difficult, as you don't know the future, so it is preferable to have both on board.

I often remind people that you are only ever duped by those you trust. I have no idea how you could think email exchanges with someone would lend credence one way or another in respect to this type of accusation. It is well-known that even serial murderers are often charming and everyone is surprised when they are caught. How kind, cordial, or charming someone is means nothing in this type of situation.

OK, but just because a serial murdered can be charming, doesn't mean that every charming person in a serial murderer. It is true, I can't deduce anything with certainty from my personal and public correspondence, or the messages I see him send to others. But as opposed to the serial murderer, the issue here is the way he communicates and behaves.

I guess you could try this out empirically, by creating a throwaway Email address and sending him a dry, technical question under a female name, and see how he responds.

That would be anecdotal, and after the fact when he is trying to be on his best behavior. Also, email and online communication in general is not a good way to judge somebody. for better and worse, People read non-existent tone into things I write endlessly, and you have to just stop caring about the disconnect it is so bad.

To be clear, I have no idea as to the truth of this situation, I am just saying the criteria to judge it must be different than that, especially because creeps do their best to hide their creepiness to the general world.

> I happen to be white, too

Nobody would have guessed, also that you are male too. I really do believe that you have a problem with racism and sexism, but it won't be solved by accusing others.

> So as far as I know [...] quite some apparently have

You should not regurgitate these rumors without further evidence. I can imagine someone like Stallmann being awkward with women and maybe some of the accusations are true. That is certainly no reason to prosecute him like this. Not your job to do so, work on yourself instead. There is enough to do here and then you can lead by example.

> There is a reason, why the free software movement is largely dominated by men

Certainly not a fault of Stallman. Some women also do not like men trying to make their mark everywhere and these easy accusations of sexism or discrimination feel a bit like that. Pretty sure you won't find the "fault" for that in others.

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