Re:Open Source Initiative bans co-founder, Eric S Raymond
by catalogia on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @05:55PM
(#22540189)
> " "political ratfucking" (whatever that means)"
That might sound like generic senseless profanity, but it's actually a term with specific meaning: "Ratfucking is an American slang term for political sabotage or dirty tricks."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratfucking
Whether or not ratfucking is indeed happening here as ESR asserts is another matter. I mean only to comment on the meaning of the term.
Re:Open Source Initiative bans co-founder, Eric S Raymond
by monksy on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @05:32PM
(#22539950)
> conflating a code of conduct with "political ratfucking"
There are strong criticisms of CoCs and questioning of the necessity of that. I don't think that's too much of a reach in how that was communicated. A bit exaggerated yes.
Re:Open Source Initiative bans co-founder, Eric S Raymond
by Barrin92 on Tuesday March 10, 2020 @05:45PM
(#22540082)
Context is probably required to understand what 'free discussion' he thinks is under attack. Over the years ESR has blamed gay people for HIV, women for their own suicide, Chinese conspiracy theories and whatnot. To put it simply, he has basically gone mad.
Sure there is a nuanced discussion about what is too much for a CoC but the sort of discussion that he thinks is supposed to be cut out actually needs to be shut down. I'm surprised it took this long, to be honest.
It makes you sound like you're one bad day away from chasing swans through the park nakedly and it isn't really productive in any community.
People like Eric need to come to terms with the fact that being a productive contributor is not an excuse for anti-social behaviour, that open source communities these days are huge and people from many places who may not get your jokes or your political discussions are participating, and that cultures change.