Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Moving Forward

[D. Joe Anderson]

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 12:01:42PM -0400, Deb Nicholson wrote:
>  On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 11:08 AM Paulo Henrique de Lima Santana 
> <paulo@phls.com.br> wrote:
> 
>  Hi Deb,
>  On 24/09/2019 10:13, Deb Nicholson wrote:
>  > It also brought to the center of the conversation, many of the other
>  > times that women have been belittled, written off or subjected to
>  > harassment here in free software.

>  I have read a lot of people celebrating Stallman resignation.
>  My feeling is the "Epstein-Minsky-MIT" debate was, as we say in
>  portuguese "a gota d'água" (something like "last drop of water in the
>  bucket"). And a lot of people from free software community decided not
>  deal with this kind of behavior anymore.
>  Am I right?
>
>   That's definitely what I think is happening.

I think so too. Some common ways of describing this sort of thing in English 
that come to mind are "watershed moment," "tipping point," and one I've 
encountered several times about this situation already "the straw that broke 
the camel's back" often just "the last straw".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_point 

thinking back to my high school science classes, I often think of these sorts 
of moments as a "phase change" too.
 
also ... 

>   It's confusing that the poorly written piece basically went viral, but 
> there's been a pattern
>   of problematic behavior. You (and others) may find this piece
>   interesting,
>   
> https://medium.com/@thomas.bushnell/a-reflection-on-the-departure-of-rms-18e6a835fd84

Yes, I did find that a better take than so much of the poorly-done reporting. 

Thanks for bringing it to these discussions

As for articles, another I've found unstinting even while maintaining some 
sympathy, has been

https://www.wired.com/story/richard-stallman-and-the-fall-of-the-clueless-nerd/

Levy establishes his bona fides early in the piece, for those unfamiliar with 
his work and with his connection to hacker history.

For those who *are* more familiar with his work, but haven't seen this link yet

http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/programming-forgetting-new-hacker-ethic/

please consider it. It's been making the rounds beyond the confines of this 
mailing list. It's one of the things I've found it helpful in improving and 
broadening my own understanding of the ethical challenges we face with regard 
to inclusion in the free software movement.

There are, as has been noted, many other resources out there for those with a 
good-faith interest in understanding better what has brought us to this point 
and how we might (as the Subject: indicates!) move forward in a way that makes 
the quest for "user freedom" include all users.