Doing end-of-year bookkeeping (year end was September 30); already delayed a week because of this video card nonsense. I find I must check something in KiCAD, so I go to open the program (Kicak 6 because that's what was installed) and find it doesn't work, complaining about a library missing that no doubt was deleted during the recent "upgrade."
After several hours of work trying to compile KiCAD 8, I ended up digging out the backups to restore the old library so I could run 6.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •Sandelinos
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •Matthew Skala
in reply to Sandelinos • • •Sandelinos
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •Matthew Skala
in reply to Sandelinos • • •Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos Those particular examples are suspect, too: Mastodon has attempted to colonize the pre-existing federated network with a number of problematic cultural-change campaigns, this being part of that pattern; and git and the Linux kernel were both under duress with blackmail threats aimed at Linus Torvalds.
However, I mention the "others are doing it" point only because you did; it's not a positive argument "against," only to be hesitant about one of the arguments made "for."
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos More importantly, signing onto the social justice campaign that the Contributor Covenant represents is not what free software is about, and not a harmless background point either. I don't know if you read the articles by Patterson and Penner I linked to shortly after my Kicad comments, but they are quite relevant, as is this one I wrote myself:
ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/355
When they bring in the idols - Ansuz - mskala's home page
Ansuz - mskala's home pageMatthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos It is an important principle that ideas are not responsible for who thinks them; and if the Contributor Covenant is a good or a bad thing we ought to be able to evaluate that on the strength of the document itself, not who wrote it.
However, that general principle cannot be absolute, especially not in the case of evaluating something that is part of an organized political campaign and where our decision on it will be used by that campaign to pressure others.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos So adopting it has consequences beyond just whether it is or isn't a good standard of acceptable behaviour for the one project. We can't escape and shouldn't try to escape from having to think about the context created by adoption; facing those issues head-on is part of free software's job.
And - although this has to be rare and invoked only in the most extreme circumstances - the movement must protect itself. Those who campaign to destroy the movement must be sanctioned, and
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos sanctioned by banishment. When someone has repeatedly, viciously, and to the exclusion of other contributions, attempted to destroy and co-opt the infrastructure of the free software movement; then that person has made herself no longer a member of the movement, and her creations can no longer be used.
That describes Coraline Ada Ehmke, author of the Contributor Covenant. She and her works can only be treated as poison now. The same is true of geekfeminism dot org.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos I hope it's clear that I don't say anything like that lightly. The general principle to which it is an exception, is an important and foundational general principle.
Now, all the above is "meta," consisting of reasons to reject the Contributor Covenant because of where it came from or how it's being pushed, rather than anything related to the content of the document itself. I would rather look at the content of the document itself.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos On the content of the document itself, it embeds consequentialist ethics: what is or isn't right is determined by its effect on others rather than the conduct itself. (This point is less true in recent versions of the document than the first versions, but still a problem.) That raises what in AI is called the frame problem: one can never really know the consequences of one's actions.
Real-life law has checks and balances, adopting some consequentialism when necessary but using
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos deontology as the fundamental basis instead: the idea that there are rules and what's right and what's wrong is what's according to the rules or not according to the rules. That has problems too, of course, but in the context of *making a code of written rules* it's pretty much absolutely necessary.
This may seem an arcane and abstract way of evaluating a code of conduct but it's really important, and the issue most convincing to me.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos One of the most important minority groups in the software world is the "neurodivergent," that is, autistic people. Who, because this is more or less what autism *is*, have trouble understanding and predicting the reactions of others. Consequentialist ethics based on demanding we all predict others' feelings about our actions, is notably uninclusive to such people.
And the neurodivergent are noticeably not listed in the list of protected groups at the head of the Covenant,
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos which is otherwise quite a comprehensive list. At most they might be swept into "invisible disability." Given that they're such an important group in the world of software in particular, not mentioning them specifically when other much less salient groups get individual shout-outs, sends a clear message.
The articles I've already linked (Patterson's in particular) talk about why inclusion of neurodivergent people is especially important for software.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •Matthew Skala
in reply to Matthew Skala • • •@Sandelinos Skipping back a bit, something else I had planned to say about the greengrocer:
At this point, *unlike* the greengrocer who really does have to answer to the secret police, free software still has a choice. It's important not to forfeit that choice lightly, nor to help create a situation where we or others won't have a choice. The default shouldn't be "adopt, to avoid trouble." The default has to be to not adopt, and demand the strongest justification for overriding that default.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Matthew Skala • •@Matthew Skala
Can you provide more context on this statement? This is the first I've heard of either, and it feels pretty ad hominem as it stands.
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Matthew Skala
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •@me Indeed, that's why I said it's a point I don't like to raise - individuals shouldn't matter.
Ehmke's attacks on GitHub are a good starting point.
Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Matthew Skala • •Matthew Skala likes this.
Matthew Skala
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Matthew Skala • •@Matthew Skala Honestly, I lack enough information on the subject to form an informed opinion. There's really only one remedy to that.
C'est la vie.
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Jonathan Lamothe
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Matthew Skala
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe • • •