Bonum Certa Men Certa

Beware People Who Enter Free Software Projects Only for Power Trips

Sociologists have long recognised the threat of insecure people in positions of power (imposters who overcompensate for a lack of qualifications)

Power trip



Summary: Overzealous moderators on a power trip are posing a threat to the integrity and atmosphere in Free software projects, where pressure, fear and vengeance become stronger motivators than something positive like altruism and enthusiasm (sharing one's technical skills)

AS NOTED by Daniel Pocock several times over the past year, it's not uncommon to find some harassment by the 'anti-harassment' people, who are equipped with disproportionate/asymmetric power over those whom they assertively accuse and duly punish (often without due process, let alone a process that can be publicly seen to be broadly trusted).



"This isn't to say that abuse isn't happening or ought not be tackled."It is a true shame if AH (anti-harassment) teams become hypocritical, or wind up perpetuating the same problems they were tasked to tackle. Oversight and introspection may be constantly needed.

This isn't to say that abuse isn't happening or ought not be tackled. Over the years I've witnessed abuse myself and sometimes something must be done; protocols are needed to ensure it is done consistently. Transparently too (this is often possible without focusing on people's names).

"A lot of these people never contributed anything technical to any project (some cannot even code), so they compensate for it by bullying those who did."First and foremost, in Free software communities members ought to treat all people like human beings (never mind various 'parameters' that differentiate them; every person is unique). Disagreement is fine, threats are not. In this age of provocation and entryism, however, if someone with little technical contribution rides in with the sole aspiration of becoming a 'moderator' (or 'cop') in a project, be sceptical and don't tolerate any action suggestive of power trips rather than actual needs. A lot of these people never contributed anything technical to any project (some cannot even code), so they compensate for it by bullying those who did. They love the sense of power; such people must never be given any position of authority/power, which will inevitably be misused. The United States has had a president like that for nearly 4 years.

"Be excellent to each other" isn't sufficient as a mantra when people come with the sole purpose of provocation, or weaponising "manners" to misframe the accused as an intolerant accuser; we've seen countless examples of that over the years and less than a couple of years ago Martin Krafft wrote the following message publicly in the Debian mailing lists. It's about Debian Account Managers (DAM) and people who turned against him (like they did Daniel Pocock and others):

Hello project,

It's very sad to read about what's going on.

I know that there's been at least another case, in which DAM and AH have acted outside their mandate, threatening with project expulsion, and choosing very selectively with whom they communicate. I know, because I was being targeted.

Neither DAM nor AH (the same people still active today) made a single attempt to hear me. None of my e-mails to either DAM or AH were ever answered.

Instead, DAM ruled a verdict, and influenced other people to the point that "because DAM ruled" was given as a reason for other measures. This was an unconstitutional abuse of DAM's powers, and in the case of AH, the whole mess also bordered on libel. Among others, the current DPL Chris Lamb promised a review in due time, but nothing ever happened.

It's not going to be a constructive use of anyone's time to attempt to establish transparency into issues of the past, and I've disengaged anyway, as a result.

But we, as a project, need to ensure that there is more transparency moving forward. And I think it would be wise to review the way that DAM and AH operate. We need to ensure they stick to protocol, and are held accountable for the use of their powers.

Thanks for your attention,

-- 
 .''`.   martin f. krafft <madduck@d.o> @martinkrafft
: :'  :  not-so-proud Debian developer
`. `'`   http://people.debian.org/~madduck
  `-  Debian - when you have better things to do than fixing systems




A lot of articles by Daniel Pocock dissected this kind of modus operandi. Pocock is now back in Planet Fedora, focusing again on technical projects, having done a splendid job exposing a real social problem in Free software projects. Agitation and irritation do no good to people's freedoms; they provoke people. In the name of "protecting" people, typically...

A tweet about Red HatOpinionated people are very much needed when we deal with technical matters as well as ethics, such as software freedom. We don't want mere 'robots' to produce code. Some former FSF staff told me some hours ago regarding IBM-led Red Hat: "They were established (after the merger with Cygnus) as a brain-drain to subvert the GNU project. Yes, they are a nice cushy place to go to not actually fight for software freedom." (Shown on the left with context)

There's this supposedly "moral" or rather immoral travesty wherein programmers with an opinion may be in violation of a Code of Conduct or CoC (facing expulsion, shaming, ostracised forever albeit with no right of appeal). This serves oligarchs best, or companies like IBM with a very dark past of eugenics and overt racism.

Does anyone out there find it a little demeaning when Torvalds refers to Richard Stallman (RMS) as “philosopher” or something similar in Revolution OS when RMS likely wrote far more code than Torvalds ever did?

BanThis dumb idea that you can either be a programmer or “philosopher” perpetuates an old myth/rule that coders aren’t allowed to think or have a moral opinion, as in “just code and shut up” (as if Torvalds has no opinions, which he expresses with strong words that run afoul of some CoCs).

Going back to people with confidence or insecurity issues, all they can offer in situations such as these is condemnation with severe punishment, such as banning Torvalds from future events. And for what? Merely expressing an opinion? At one point Pamela Jones of Groklaw deleted a comment posted by Torvalds because he was ranting about RMS. This sure earned Jones plenty of attention, but was this truly necessary? Exercising power in one's own site at the expense of free speech rights is far too easy, but is that just?

Recent Techrights' Posts

XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
 
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
OSI has been fairly quiet lately
Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
unlawful communications like threats
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025