> Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 3:06 AM > From: "Thomas Rodgers" <rodg...@appliantology.com> > To: "Jonathan Wakely" <jwakely....@gmail.com> > Cc: "Jonathan Wakely via Gcc" <gcc@gcc.gnu.org> > Subject: Re: removing toxic emailers > > On 2021-04-18 23:29, Jonathan Wakely via Gcc wrote: > > > On Mon, 19 Apr 2021, 02:41 Frosku, wrote: > > > > On Sun Apr 18, 2021 at 9:22 PM BST, Alexandre Oliva via Gcc wrote: > > That's why it's best to dissent politely, lest they incorrectly > > conclude > > their opinions are consensual, or majoritary, just because they've > > driven dissenters into silence. > > The problem is, Alex, that the trolls mostly haven't been on the > > dissenting > > side. All of the childish namecalling -- "jerks", "trolls", "crazies" > > -- > > and the insinuations that our voices aren't worth listening to because > > we > > don't get paid $250,000 a year by Google to contribute to GCC all day > > are > > coming from the pro-forking side. > > Google doesn't pay anybody to work on GCC all day. You know nothing > about > GCC or the "problems" you're complaining about. Your input to this > conversation is not constructive. > > > Once upon a time, free software developers understood that users' > > opinions > > were as valid as contributor's opinions. > > That depends on the user. > > Once upon a time, free software's developers *were* it's primary users, > i.e. they built the technology for themselves and made it freely > available in the hope that it would be useful to others. It's also the > case that the vast majority of GCC *current* users are not here making > proclamations about what GCC's project governance should be. Rather it's > a vocal and vanishingly small minority, who have contributed nothing of > value, code or insights, and continue to vocally do so. Many of GCC's > users are, however, watching in horror at the absolutely amateurish way > in which this is playing out and wondering if their long term commitment > should be to using this piece of software to build their > products/businesses.
Completely false. Free software's developers were people who were disgusted with the communities of software developers that started restricting users. The Free Software Community wanted software that they could use and modify code for any purpose, notwithstanding any prohibition other developers wanted to impose on them. The hackers of the 70s and 80s who transformed computing and the early internet were known for their wit. This included using a playboy photo of Lena Söderberg for image processing. They had got tired of the usually dull test images used at conferences. She rapidly became the First Lady of Computing. Many were very happy to meet her in person and ask her an autograph. n 1997, Forsén worked for a government agency supervising disabled employees who archived data using computers and scanners. In 2015, she was guest of honor at the banquet of IEEE, delivering a speech, and chairing the best paper award ceremony. Those were exciting times, but by now government-sepported and corporation-supported organizations have caught up; what was once a liberating technology has become a conduit for surveillance and manipulation. Even a chimp can write code. So I give the reply attributed to Eric Raymond, after Microsoft offerred him a job. I'd thank you for your offer of employment at Microsoft, except that it indicates that either you or your research team (or both) couldn't get a clue if it were pounded into you with baseball bats. What were you going to do with the rest of your afternoon, offer jobs to Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds? Or were you going to stick to something easier, like talking Pope Benedict into presiding at a Satanist orgy? - Eric Raymond There was a time when I felt too much at odds with Eric, but today he has became a friend.
