FSF doubles down on Richard Stallman's return: Sure, he is 'troubling for some' but we need him, says org
(2021/04/13)
- Reference: 1618271168
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/04/12/free_software_foundation_doubles_down/
- Source link:
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) on Monday apologized for mishandling the announcement last month that founder Richard Stallman, or RMS, had been reelected to its board of directors – and published a statement from RMS both justifying his behavior and apologizing for it.
"FSF staff should have been informed and consulted first," the FSF said. "The announcement by RMS at LibrePlanet was a complete surprise to staff, all those who worked so hard to organize a great event, to LibrePlanet speakers and to the exhibitors. We had hoped for a more inclusive and thoughtful process and we apologize that this did not occur."
[1]
The foundation's director, deputy director, and chief technology officer [2]walked away away from the organization as a result of Stallman's [3]surprise return , we understand from conversations with FSF staff.
The FSF also defended its decision to restore RMS to its board, a year and a half after controversial remarks and allegations about past behavior led him [4]to resign .
[5]
RMS, the organization [6]said this week, "has a deep sensitivity to the ways that technologies can contribute to both the enhancement and the diminution of basic human rights," and it suggested he is essential to its mission, even as it acknowledged that "his personal style remains troubling for some."
RMS, the FSF said, regrets "how anger toward him personally has negatively impacted the reputation and mission of FSF." And the organization published a link to Stallman's [7]apology of sorts .
Stallman explains his behavior by suggesting that he's neurologically atypical, consistent with past self-characterization as [8]borderline autistic . He says he grew up not understanding people's social cues and as a result his behavior prompted negative reactions.
I sometimes made others uncomfortable or even offended them – especially women
"Tending to be direct and honest with my thoughts, I sometimes made others uncomfortable or even offended them – especially women," he said. "This was not a choice: I didn't understand the problem enough to know which choices there were."
His temper, too, attributes to his lack of social skills and urges people to focus their anger at him rather than the organization he founded. "Some people could cope with this; others were hurt," he said. "I apologize to each of them. Please direct your criticism at me, not at the Free Software Foundation."
While acknowledging that he is tone-deaf to social cues, RMS nonetheless stands by his defense of late MIT professor Marvin Minsky after someone on a mailing list argued that the AI pioneer, who had ties to financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was as guilty as Epstein. As Stallman sees it, Minsky was unjustly accused.
"It was right for me to talk about the injustice to Minsky, but it was tone-deaf that I didn't acknowledge as context the injustice that Epstein did to women or the pain that caused," he said.
It appears these statements from the FSF and RMS will only reignite the smoldering controversy in the software development community about acceptable speech and behavior, and the extent to which disciplinary action can be decided in the court of social media outrage.
[9]Red Hat pulls Free Software Foundation funding over Richard Stallman's return
[10]Free Software Foundation urged to free itself of Richard Stallman by hundreds of developers and techies
[11]Richard Stallman says he has returned to the Free Software Foundation board of directors and won't be resigning again
[12]GNU means GNU's Not U: Stallman insists he's still Chief GNUisance while 18 maintainers want him out as leader
[13]Glibc 'abortion joke' diff tiff leaves Richard Stallman miffed
[14]Open source turns 20 years old, looks to attract normal people
[15]Stallman's GNU at 30: The hippie OS that foresaw the rise of Apple - and is now trying to take it on
The members of the openSUSE board responded by [16]reiterating a decision announced earlier this month that it will no longer sponsor organizations and events affiliated with the FSF.
Grady Booch, IBM Fellow and chief scientist for software engineering, [17]scoffed at the FSF's claims about its dedication to fighting for software freedom. "Saying it does not make it so," he said via Twitter. "If you are so dependent on RMS, then you have a cult, not an enduring, vibrant organization."
The 3,000+ open-source community signatories who called for the removal of the entire FSF board in an open letter [18]reiterated that demand on Monday.
The 6,000+ who supported Stallman in [19]a counter-open-letter , curiously many from Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, have yet to respond in unison.
[20]
But Libreboot project leader Leah Rowe, a signatory of that latter letter who has argued the campaign against RMS is motivated by corporate desire to [21]destroy free software , celebrated the FSF announcement with a tweet. "I hope we can all move on past the divisive, hateful politics of recent weeks," she [22]said . ®
Get our [23]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/30/fsf_mass_resignation/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/22/richard_stallman_back_on_fsf_board/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/17/richard_stallman_final_interview/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.fsf.org/news/statement-of-fsf-board-on-election-of-richard-stallman
[7] https://www.fsf.org/news/rms-addresses-the-free-software-community
[8] https://www.oreilly.com/lpt/pr/635
[9] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/redhat_fsf_funding_richard_stallman/
[10] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/23/fsf_stallman_outcry/
[11] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/22/richard_stallman_back_on_fsf_board/
[12] http://www.theregister.com/2019/10/07/gnu_stallman_protest/
[13] http://www.theregister.com/2018/05/09/gnu_glic_abort_stallman/
[14] http://www.theregister.com/2018/02/03/open_source_turns_20/
[15] http://www.theregister.com/2013/10/07/stallman_thiry_years_gnu/
[16] https://news.opensuse.org/2021/04/12/a-message-from-the-opensuse-board/
[17] https://twitter.com/Grady_Booch/status/1381700275686105089?s=20
[18] https://rms-open-letter.github.io/
[19] https://rms-support-letter.github.io/
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[21] https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html#our-opponents-wish-to-destroy-free-software
[22] https://twitter.com/n4of7/status/1381648845000544258?s=20
[23] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"FSF staff should have been informed and consulted first," the FSF said. "The announcement by RMS at LibrePlanet was a complete surprise to staff, all those who worked so hard to organize a great event, to LibrePlanet speakers and to the exhibitors. We had hoped for a more inclusive and thoughtful process and we apologize that this did not occur."
[1]
The foundation's director, deputy director, and chief technology officer [2]walked away away from the organization as a result of Stallman's [3]surprise return , we understand from conversations with FSF staff.
The FSF also defended its decision to restore RMS to its board, a year and a half after controversial remarks and allegations about past behavior led him [4]to resign .
[5]
RMS, the organization [6]said this week, "has a deep sensitivity to the ways that technologies can contribute to both the enhancement and the diminution of basic human rights," and it suggested he is essential to its mission, even as it acknowledged that "his personal style remains troubling for some."
RMS, the FSF said, regrets "how anger toward him personally has negatively impacted the reputation and mission of FSF." And the organization published a link to Stallman's [7]apology of sorts .
Stallman explains his behavior by suggesting that he's neurologically atypical, consistent with past self-characterization as [8]borderline autistic . He says he grew up not understanding people's social cues and as a result his behavior prompted negative reactions.
I sometimes made others uncomfortable or even offended them – especially women
"Tending to be direct and honest with my thoughts, I sometimes made others uncomfortable or even offended them – especially women," he said. "This was not a choice: I didn't understand the problem enough to know which choices there were."
His temper, too, attributes to his lack of social skills and urges people to focus their anger at him rather than the organization he founded. "Some people could cope with this; others were hurt," he said. "I apologize to each of them. Please direct your criticism at me, not at the Free Software Foundation."
While acknowledging that he is tone-deaf to social cues, RMS nonetheless stands by his defense of late MIT professor Marvin Minsky after someone on a mailing list argued that the AI pioneer, who had ties to financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was as guilty as Epstein. As Stallman sees it, Minsky was unjustly accused.
"It was right for me to talk about the injustice to Minsky, but it was tone-deaf that I didn't acknowledge as context the injustice that Epstein did to women or the pain that caused," he said.
It appears these statements from the FSF and RMS will only reignite the smoldering controversy in the software development community about acceptable speech and behavior, and the extent to which disciplinary action can be decided in the court of social media outrage.
[9]Red Hat pulls Free Software Foundation funding over Richard Stallman's return
[10]Free Software Foundation urged to free itself of Richard Stallman by hundreds of developers and techies
[11]Richard Stallman says he has returned to the Free Software Foundation board of directors and won't be resigning again
[12]GNU means GNU's Not U: Stallman insists he's still Chief GNUisance while 18 maintainers want him out as leader
[13]Glibc 'abortion joke' diff tiff leaves Richard Stallman miffed
[14]Open source turns 20 years old, looks to attract normal people
[15]Stallman's GNU at 30: The hippie OS that foresaw the rise of Apple - and is now trying to take it on
The members of the openSUSE board responded by [16]reiterating a decision announced earlier this month that it will no longer sponsor organizations and events affiliated with the FSF.
Grady Booch, IBM Fellow and chief scientist for software engineering, [17]scoffed at the FSF's claims about its dedication to fighting for software freedom. "Saying it does not make it so," he said via Twitter. "If you are so dependent on RMS, then you have a cult, not an enduring, vibrant organization."
The 3,000+ open-source community signatories who called for the removal of the entire FSF board in an open letter [18]reiterated that demand on Monday.
The 6,000+ who supported Stallman in [19]a counter-open-letter , curiously many from Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, have yet to respond in unison.
[20]
But Libreboot project leader Leah Rowe, a signatory of that latter letter who has argued the campaign against RMS is motivated by corporate desire to [21]destroy free software , celebrated the FSF announcement with a tweet. "I hope we can all move on past the divisive, hateful politics of recent weeks," she [22]said . ®
Get our [23]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/30/fsf_mass_resignation/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/22/richard_stallman_back_on_fsf_board/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2019/09/17/richard_stallman_final_interview/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.fsf.org/news/statement-of-fsf-board-on-election-of-richard-stallman
[7] https://www.fsf.org/news/rms-addresses-the-free-software-community
[8] https://www.oreilly.com/lpt/pr/635
[9] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/redhat_fsf_funding_richard_stallman/
[10] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/23/fsf_stallman_outcry/
[11] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/22/richard_stallman_back_on_fsf_board/
[12] http://www.theregister.com/2019/10/07/gnu_stallman_protest/
[13] http://www.theregister.com/2018/05/09/gnu_glic_abort_stallman/
[14] http://www.theregister.com/2018/02/03/open_source_turns_20/
[15] http://www.theregister.com/2013/10/07/stallman_thiry_years_gnu/
[16] https://news.opensuse.org/2021/04/12/a-message-from-the-opensuse-board/
[17] https://twitter.com/Grady_Booch/status/1381700275686105089?s=20
[18] https://rms-open-letter.github.io/
[19] https://rms-support-letter.github.io/
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YHUXWRxKpoIENBXFB3lPzAAAABA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[21] https://libreboot.org/news/rms.html#our-opponents-wish-to-destroy-free-software
[22] https://twitter.com/n4of7/status/1381648845000544258?s=20
[23] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
FlamingDeath
Is this another one of those twitter storms in a tea cup where the professionally offended get...well....offended
#MeToo
"he is essential to its mission"
sbt
No one is indispensible. Booch (via quoted tweet) is right.
Offensive
HildyJ
I can forgive what Stallman's "apology" addressed. What I cannot forgive is some of the things he wrote on his personal website stallman.org including:
"I think that everyone age 14 or above ought to take part in sex, though not indiscriminately. (Some people are ready earlier.) It is unnatural for humans to abstain from sex past puberty, and while I wouldn't try to pressure anyone to participate, I certainly encourage everyone to do so."
Or “There is little evidence to justify the widespread assumption that willing participation in pedophilia hurts children.”
Re: Offensive
james 68
Totally agree, the guy is scum.
While I cannot say without proof that he's an actual pedophile, he certainly has no problems voicing active support for pedophillia.
He got where he was by being an irritant and not taking "no" for an answer
Gene Cash
Stallman spent decades being loud-mouthed and pigheaded about "free software" (stupid and confusing term) and not listening to everyone's view that it was a waste of time and effort.
I don't see why people expect him to be any different now.
I don't think he even understands the phrase "dude, you need to chill"
Vorwärts !
To sign the letter without registering at Github [ a curious choice for Open Source/Free Software ] the sign-up sheet is here:
https://codeberg.org/rms-support-letter/rms-support-letter/issues/1