Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer

In my last post, I mentioned the sequence of events leading to me being banned from Fedora. I used my last few minutes to call the guy Khaytsus (Walter Francis), Red Hat’s moderator, what I think he is.

Saying his name is not a “doxing” It’s listed right on the Fedora Project Web site and the accusations he made against me are in a public forum.

It would be pointless to sum up my technical observations about Flatpak, which IBM/Red Hat develop and promote, as opposed to their much more stable, reliable, secure, and efficient RPM format. They were laid out as a direct quote of what led to this in my last blog post.

Honestly, I can’t see “Wow man, lay off the meth.” and “Seek help. Serious real medical help.” in response to me making a technical criticism of their decision to delete LibreOffice from Fedora as anything other than shit-spreading and smut.

That’s all it is. Argumentum ad hominem. A fallacious style in which the respondent has nothing, so they respond with “attack on the person”, in this case a very specific, serious, and false allegation of “meth use” and then a disgusting attack involving mental illness.

Then Fedora becomes “Fun for the whole family.” and you get banned, by Walter, who apparently thinks meth and mental health slurs are “fun for all ages”.

It’s unfortunate that IBM Red Hat allows this man to be their voice and their muscle on IRC.

I call on them to take action against this behavior in accordance with the “Code of Conduct” for the Fedora Project, which is said to apply in the chat rooms and forums.

In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as the Fedora community pledge to collaborate in a respectful and constructive manner, and welcome everyone willing to join us in that pledge. We welcome individuals regardless of ability, age, background, body size, education, ethnicity, family status, gender identity and expression, geographic location, level of experience, marital status, nationality, national origin, native language, personal appearance, race and/or ethnicity, religion, sexual identity and orientation, socioeconomic status, or any other dimension of diversity.

Our channels, mailing lists, and posts should focus on Fedora and on free and open source software and content. We pledge to make participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone. We pledge to avoid personal attacks on others, and to avoid inflammatory language and speech that perpetuates discrimination. Furthermore, we pledge to not use the Fedora Project and its platforms as a basis to engage in personal campaigns against other organizations or individuals.

[…]

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

• The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances



• Initiating controversy for controversy’s sake (repeatedly asking disingenuous questions under a guise of sincerity)



• Saying insulting/derogatory comments and making personal attacks.



• Repeatedly instigating conflict, and baiting people into arguments



• Public or private harassment



• Publishing someone else’s private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission



• Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following



• Violent threats or language directed against another person



• Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or exclusionary statements, even if they were meant as jokes



• Excessive swearing



• Unwelcome physical contact



• Sustained disruption of talks or other events



• Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting even if the conduct may be legal under the laws of some jurisdiction.

-Fedora “Code of Conduct” (emphasis on the part that Walter, AKA Khaytsus, violated today

It’s interesting how Codes of Conduct only send other people to the Death Camp of Tolerance, isn’t it?

They harbor worse than Walter deep inside the Fedora community.

Homophobes, transphobes, etc. They don’t punish them at all. It seems the only thing they do care about is users with technical complaints.

When you peel back the layers of this rotting onion, you see the Fedora project in a new light. ⬆