That's sort of a semantic argument. To be clear: I was contrasting "choosing a side" (in this case by senselessly pranking your npm customers) as being a "practical" choice, vs. the "principled" stand taken to avoid the conflict out of a general sense of open source decorum. Obviously in some sense all decisions are based on "principle".

And the point is that it's a war. We've crossed the "bad things are going to happen" Rubicon already. You can't make principled arguments like that against people who have chosen to engage in a war out of the hope or desire for one side to win. They already did that moral calculus. It's like telling someone they shouldn't defend their home because pacifism is more important. You might be right, but you won't change anyone's mind.