Oh absolutely, if following the trail of your beliefs leads you to a conclusion like this it should be a reason to interrogate those core beliefs and/or recognize where other core beliefs take priority, and not doing this is a major failure on his part that I’m sure is largely motivated by ultimately not really caring that much about sexual violence. It’s just that the pattern of reasoning here is so consistent with his approach to every other issue that he writes about that I think it’s reasonably likely that he just defends possession of CSAM on principle (as twisted as that is) rather than as as a defense of actions he’s made. This is not a defense of the man, to be clear, just a guess as someone familiar with his idiosyncrasies. What we know for sure from his own mouth should be more than enough to condemn him and get him the hell out of the FSF. Having a man who actively defends pedophilia in a leadership role in any capacity is an embarrassment and a failure of the organization as a whole, even if he also laid the intellectual foundation for its mission.
- 3 Posts
- 18 Comments
This would only really make sense if they were trying to throw around the weight of the authors, which they clearly are not. Who makes these points is irrelevant when it’s simply highlighting rms’ own words and linking to them directly. Why should I care who wrote it?
Entirely possible but he’s also a stubborn man obsessed with his own ideological consistency and absurdly precise (if not commonly understood) language. He’s clearly a creep but having kept up with him over the years I think it’s similarly possible that those statements aren’t self-serving and are instead sincerely held dominoes 15 down the line from following the implications of some core principles.
That doesn’t make them not disgusting and also does not mean he should remain the voice of our movement, of course.
You’re free to look at the context that they frequently link to, it doesn’t help. His political notes that contain the majority of his public musings are typically very brief and the quotes used typically replicate the entirety of the original text or cut off changes of subject.
Stallman is very clear in his beliefs.
What you’re asking for is distributions to roll their own solutions instead of contributing upstream to make it better for everyone. Distributions and the organizations behind them frequently do things to make the user experience better, it’s just that the preferred way to do this is by making the projects they use better…which will just look like a DE version bump by the time it makes it to a distro changelog.
Whom@beehaw.orgOPto
Free and Open Source Software@beehaw.org•Fossify: Community fork of SimpleMobileTools after their saleEnglish
1·2 years agoI believe Android calendars are stored and managed outside of the apps themselves so whatever you have will probably just transfer over. If not, you can get an ics export.
Whom@beehaw.orgOPto
Free and Open Source Software@beehaw.org•Fossify: Community fork of SimpleMobileTools after their saleEnglish
4·2 years agoNo clue, I’m not sure SMT have said anything, tibbi has been pretty quiet. Regardless, I’d stay very far away and would be researching other custom Android versions or a new phone entirely if I had one.
Whom@beehaw.orgOPto
Free and Open Source Software@beehaw.org•Fossify: Community fork of SimpleMobileTools after their saleEnglish
28·2 years agoNo, but it’s coming. Near as I can tell Gallery is the only one with a new release already and I’m grabbing it using Obtainium.
Whom@beehaw.orgto
Linux@lemmy.ml•The Unity Desktop Environment an Underrated MasterpieceEnglish
5·2 years agoUnity started with pretty awful performance (much like GNOME 3) and coincided with some infamous decisions on the part of Canonical, namely that whole business with the Amazon integration, so it’s permanently tainted in the minds of many. It also meant that the largest distro in town was suddenly using a desktop that was much less inviting to newcomers than the familiar GNOME 2.
I’m glad it’s being kept alive as it does have a unique vibe to it, but I always found the workflow a bit awkward and much prefer GNOME for something modern and xfce or MATE for when I want something traditional.
Whom@beehaw.orgto
Linux Gaming@lemmy.ml•Cyberpunk runs 30% faster on linux than on windows 11English
10·2 years agoSometimes there are also unimplemented/broken features on Linux which people don’t notice and save frames. Legit performance improvements over Windows do happen (especially on memory and cpu-limited systems) but I’d be skeptical of any particularly huge ones.
Don’t they typically do minor anti-burn in changes during idle, basically having a built-in screensaver? Still, an additional one could be nice for peace of mind.
Whom@beehaw.orgto
Technology@beehaw.org•Linus Tech Tips issues response to Madison's accusationsEnglish
122·2 years agoFrom what Madison said it sounds like it goes far too deep for this to change much. I hope things get better (since it’s unlikely LTT just up and disappears immediately), but from what we’ve seen this culture of dismissal goes right to the top.
Whom@beehaw.orgto
Technology@beehaw.org•Linus Tech Tips pauses production as controversy swirls - The VergeEnglish
10·2 years agoI was willing to watch along and hope they do better with the initial stuff from GN since it was ultimately junk food entertainment for me, but at this point fuck them and I hope the innocent people there get away and end up okay.
I dunno, I’d expect journalists to provide that information instead of assuming you’re familiar with a charity which has a name that sounds like any ol gaming event. I don’t think it was done out of malice but I do think it’s your job as a journalist to recognize how that will sound to people unfamiliar with the charity and to inform them in turn. Leaving that ambiguity makes GN’s argument’s sound stronger to those uninformed and I think most writers are familiar with that effect. You aren’t saying anything untrue or even really lying by omission, but you are making use of people’s ignorance.
My point isn’t that that was some major deception or a massive problem, just that if I was on the other end of that I would want it to be very clear what that auction was being run for, as it can impact if people think you’re being malicious or if you’re just incompetent. God knows LTT makes bigger mistakes regularly nowadays.
(and yes, I do think Linus pinpointed the issue about the block because it’s the easiest to address without changing anything or addressing any real problems)
I don’t even think he’s pulling it out as an intentional tactic, I get the feeling he legitimately wants to be a good guy and is barely able to handle the suggestion that he isn’t acting like one. Just a fragile ego and self-image.
I don’t know why you say “pretend” there. Having seen the GN video first, the tone and lack of specificity definitely led me to believe it was being sold for profit (I was surprised when I found out it was for charity), and I would totally want to clear that up if I were in Linus’ position.
I dunno, I don’t really care that much about a company screwing over another company and then paying them back once it’s publicized. Both options come off to me as the kinds of minor transgressions that I assume happen regularly and aren’t really the kind of thing people who aren’t personally involved should care much about. For me, the big problems are the slipping quality of their test results and other issues caused by their release schedule and I wish GN didn’t even bother bringing up the auction in the first place. Doing it for profit impacts my view differently from doing it for charity, but it’s all just peanuts in the end.
Eh, I’d say the difference between selling it for themselves and for charity is meaningful. One seems like a play for dollars taking advantage of their connections while the other just sounds like a communication fuckup where the ones taking care of the block weren’t in contact with the ones making promises to return it. Neither is good, of course, but to someone outside the situation they do impact my view of the company differently.
Regardless, the main issue is their absurd pace and he doesn’t address that at all. I hope their new CEO is more willing to budge on that than Linus has been, but it’s too early to tell.

I’ve no idea what Swartz said on the subject and I’m not sure if this implication is intended by you but I would not characterize rms as just being uninformed. There’s lots of evidence in this piece that he encountered information and testimonials from abused parties and nevertheless landed at the conclusions he did. I don’t know if he holds CSAM or not but I do know he is long past the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his words.