IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: Friday, May 07, 2021

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From: Thomas Lord

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Subject: Re: Support RMS

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Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2021 13:23:10 -0700

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The raising of voices in conversation does not have a context independent or culturally universal emotional valence. For some it is normal and expected. For some it borders on a taboo.

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Taking the complaint about RMS raising his voice at face value: it borders on antisemitism. I don't mean that every Jew communicates in the style of RMS (of course). Perhaps we can step back and think about this complaint in that context.

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Here is a story that might help: Long ago, in the very early days of the FSF, I was an employee and there was more or less one person handling most of the operational day to day corporate business. One day, I had done something that (understandably) pissed RMS off. You see: after a brief chat with a board member other than RMS, I unilaterally decided to work remotely. I packed up and moved several states away, almost overnight, to

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be near my sweetheart (who is now my wife - it's a very romantic story, in retrospect). I did not notify RMS I was doing this. It upset him. He called and yelled. I was very distressed by this - I didn't expect it at all. I sought and received consel—very good consel—from that woman who was running the day to day business. “Just hang up on him if he gets like that,” she advised. Later I understood this could be generalized

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walk away, if need be. One can also really productively engage, sometimes, also, just by yelling back if you have something relevant and coherent to say. As an older person now, I realize that part of RMS' reputation comes from him being actually a better and more dynamic conversationalist than most people have ever met— and yes, that can be hard to come to grip with at first.

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This doesn't mean that RMS or anyone has free reign to be a constant holy terror, always screaming and yelling, but that is not what I ever saw RMS do and is not what any of the complainers have said he does. Raised voices among friends and allies typify some cultural backgrounds—including mine, ironically enough. It can, when in those cultural contexts, a bit creepy if someone does not communicate this way. One asks: what is

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that quiet person hiding from us?

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Interruption is a similarly culturally variable communication style. In some cultures I mix in, it is expected and is often a sign of engagement with what one is saying - silence comes off as rude / checked out. In other cultures, the opposite—interruption—is not allowed. In a multi-cultural world, we should all be tolerant and flexible in our communication styles. (RMS, meanwhile, is being made to do the limbo by people who

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think they get to define the One True Civil Converstation Style. Flexibility in style is a two-way street, chums.)

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None of this means that people making complaints have invalid feelings that should be ignored. Of course not. But it does mean that the particular demands against RMS, and the relentless character assassination, need to stop.

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Lastly, neither Deb nor any of us is qualified to assess whether or not a single person, RMS in this case, “drives people away from the movement” on balance. That's an incredibly arrogant assertion that centers one own cultural expectations and projects them onto an entire planet of people. Can we end the pointless debate of such assertions once and for all?

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-t

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https://pclosmag.com/html/enter.html

Techrights-sec

May 07 01:06

-TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-pclosmag.com | PCLinuxOS Magazine 2021 Index

May 07 01:06

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<li>

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<h5><a href="https://hothardware.com/news/linux-kernel-developer-umn-invesigation">Linux Technical Advisory Board Issues Findings On UMN's Shady Kernel Conundrum</a></h5>

-TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell- ( status 400 @ https://hothardware.com/news/linux-kernel-developer-umn-invesigation">Linux )

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<p> To move forward from both this and the other issues that cropped up recently, the TAB has two specific recommendations for UMN so they can “continue to work together successfully in the future.” These recommendations include improving “the quality of the changes that are proposed for inclusion into the kernel,” as well as having the TAB work with researchers to create a document “explaining best

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practices for all research groups to follow when working with the kernel (and open-source projects in general).” </p>

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<p> The TAB hopes that this will be enough to bring the kernel and research communities together once again as well as prevent future incidents like this. However, the TAB also believes that UMN should bring in a review process for development as it would otherwise be “difficult to re-establish the trust between UMN and the kernel community.” </p></blockquote></li>

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ytalk got jammed for a very long time, I had to restart the session

May 07 09:55

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there were some network problems here but only (I thought) on the other LAN

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it should not have affected ytalk

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since that is on a different LAN

x https://www.databreaches.net/ryuk-ransomware-finds-foothold-in-bio-research-institute-through-student-who-wouldnt-pay-for-software/

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-TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-www.databreaches.net | Ryuk ransomware finds foothold in bio research institute through student who wouldn’t pay for software

x https://www.databreaches.net/fr-ransomware-attack-on-environmental-center-resulted-in-data-loss/

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# windows tco; not using windows at all would have prevented that;

-TechrightsBN/#boycottnovell-www.databreaches.net | Fr: Ransomware attack on environmental center resulted in data loss

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# using ZFS with snapshots on the server-side could have mitigated the damage;