Re: Joint statement on the GNU Project

[Catallaxy]

Ludovic Courtès <address@hidden> wrote:

> So it really isn’t about what
> “the media” said last week or the week before.

If this is the case then the timing of this move is really very unfortunate. If 
this is a decision many years in the making then it seems hard to imagine a 
worse time to publicly act on it than in the midst of the shockingly unfair 
media pile-on that RMS has been subjected to recently. Anyone looking from 
outside is of course going to conclude that this action is directly related to 
the recent and widely publicized public lynching of RMS and not a reaction to 
other past issues that have not been publicly discussed or disclosed.

> We must keep it striving and reach
> out to those who’ve not yet joined us to share the software!

If it somehow was not clear to you before that this action would drive some 
people away (including people who already are firmly aligned with the true 
values of the free software movement) then it should be apparent now. The only 
reason I'm commenting is to add a voice to emphasize this in the hope that if 
you failed to realize you would alienate people (which seems to be the opposite 
of your stated aim) that you will realize it now and reconsider your approach.

Freedom has many powerful enemies and I can't have confidence in GNU's ability 
to stand up to enemies like nation states and global corporations if it is led 
by people who can't even stand up to a rabid twitter mob and a bunch of agenda 
driven journalists spreading lies and misrepresentations.