Asklemmy

i think he's a pretty positive force overall, he practically founded the free software movement, put in an insane amount of work into fundamental components of software like the GNU family, other tools, the FSF etc

yeah, of course he's extreme, in the sense that what he advocates for is almost unachievable in the reality of modern world, but an ideology is a direction, not an end goal, and i agree with him about the direction of free software he's advocating for

i've heard that he did some questionable things, but at this point I don't even remember what those things were, which is not to say that these things are perfectly fine and excusable or whatever, rather, that overall the work he's done makes him a positive force in the world

I think Stallman is misunderstood and his contributions to technology are misunderstood and often understated. In my view, he is one of the most - if not the most - influential figures in technology in the last 40 years. The GNU Project and the GPL are directly responsible for what uninformed people variously refer to as "Linux" or "open source." Stallman is criticized as being pedantic or stubborn in insisting on certain terms, but this is actually not uncommon especially in the realm of business and politics (political and government leaders strongly insist you use the correct term for their party) and there is a reason for this; indeed, I think there is a direct correlation to the general misunderstanding of Stallman and the widespread usage of terminology which erases his philosophy and contributions.

At the same time, in the last few years I have come to believe Stallman is seriously flawed as a leader and a spokesperson. In 2018, for example, he insisted on including a joke referring to the "global gag rule" in the documentation for abort() in glibc. This joke was widely criticized for various reasons, such as its inappropriateness in a technical manual, its US-centricism, its effect in creating an unwelcoming atmosphere, and so on. The discussion was moved to a private mailing list, but my understanding was that Stallman pulled rank as "Chief GNUisance" to insist that the joke remain in the manual, despite community objections.

Stallman's "eccentric" behavior has been previously noted, and seems to do more harm than good. I've read reports that he has contributed to an unwelcoming environment particularly for women, both off and online, and I have no reason to doubt those reports. It is telling that many of those reports came from people who worked at FSF or in the GNU project for/with him. Those have more credence than "open source" people or random internet anons slinging shit.

More generally, a fundamental flaw of Stallman's in my opinion is that he often seems to form opinions on matters that do not concern him and without consulting relevant communities, often running counter to the widely accepted opinion in those communities. Most controversial is his article against singular they/them (which, to my knowledge, runs counter not only to consensus in the trans and non-binary communities but also to generally accepted linguistic practice overall) but he shows this tendency elsewhere for example when he argues that "piracy" is a smear term (which was technically true at some point - but this term has long since been "reclaimed" (for lack of a better word) by the data sharing community, a fact he does not even seem to mention). His anti-glossary is full of more examples.

It's entirely possible that Stallman is a brilliant thinker and hacker, but a poor leader and spokesman. I wouldn't consider myself an effective leader either. I still greatly respect Stallman, his philosophy, and his work. I no longer "hero worship" him as I did a decade or even 5 years ago.

I would rather not discuss his controversial opinions as well, mostly because I think if one really reads his posts, they would see they're not actually controversial.

Anyway.

He has greatly impacted my life in so far as being aware of freedom (and the lack of) in software. I do think it's NOT unfair to call him extremist - but, as a leader in a realm (in this case free software), I want him to be a stickler. What I respect most about RMS is that he doesn't just tell me what is good - he truly does that himself. Again, with the misunderstanding, he is pretty clear that he encourages part way steps towards free software. He even endorses making free software compatible for MS Windows! If i wasn't lazy, I could go and find direct quotes to source, but he has said many times, any steps towards freedom is better than nothing - so he doesn't expect everyone to be extremist. I like that fact that leaders will lead by example as well lecture and RMS does that even at the expense of being labeled extremist.

He certainly is a controversial person for multiple reasons, not just one.

The criticism that he is a 'free software extremist' and other 'his ideas are utopian hippie nonsense' type 'criticisms' are obviously a farce to conceal anti-freedom ideologies in general.

The one that eventually got him "cancelled"... I think he was just talking a bit clunkily. If you actually read into what he said, he is straight up right. Just the way and the timing he said that in is... unfortunate. But the large smear campaign to get him deplatformed was based on false ideas of what he actually said.

The only problem I have with the man is that he sometimes holds crude opinions on things he doesn't know a whole bunch about for unreflected reasons. He has a lot of good opinions, but he also has a bunch of eh ones.

But (and this is a big but): he was never meant to be a corporate PR spokesperson. He's a hacker. He's chaotic good. He has a big mouth. But he's lovable for it. Sometimes he talks shit, yes, but in personal correspondence, he totally used they/them for me. He's not meant to be a big PR guy choosing the path of least resistance and most precise wording. He is more of a hacker collective kind of guy, and behaves like it, like a guy talking smack in a bar who gets shoved in the limelight as if this was Hollywood. I respect him for keeping his youthful attitude and not becoming another bland face in the tech world. Tech and hacking was a juvenile hobby.

Hard to judge someone or know someone if you never spoken to him in person isn't it.

https://thenewstack.io/why-almost-everyone-wants-richard-stallman-cancelled/

Love the memes tho.

I prefer to think of him as a historical figure

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Go to stallman.org and type in pedophilia in the search bar

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Larry

Lhhhh

Rrrr

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